Saturday, August 18, 2007

Harvest Mania


Can you believe this harvest? This picture is from yesterday and doesn't even count the 5 ripe big and 23 cherry tomatoes that we got today. (Yes, that's Mackinaw sniffing at the harvest in the bottom right of the picture.) Now I need to make some more zucchini bread to go in the freezer for winter. Also, what can you do with more cucumbers than you can handle? I know, I should pickle them, but they're huge. What else can you do with them?
It's just me and the boys this weekend 'cause M is sailing in a three-day race. We went and saw the movie, Underdog, yesterday. It was cute. T and R laughed their patooties off during most of the movie. Today we went to the farmer's market. I had read in the paper that there was going to be an arts and crafts show and a car show at the farmer's market. T was soo excited about those extras. Alas, I read the date wrong and it's over Labor Day weekend. But, he handled the disappointment well. After they played in the park, we went grocery shopping. Then out for the most delicious garlic cheesy bread ever for lunch. Then we drove a half an hour to the next town to go paint pottery (which I have been promising T that we'd do all summer long.) I checked the times online last night and knew that they would be open from 1--5. We got there at 2:00 and the place was closed with a sign saying they were on vacation for four days. Poor T! A second disappointment (he says that it's a third disappointment because the arts and craft show was number one, the car show number two, and the pottery place number three.
We went home and I asked him if he wanted to do a craft with me, so he looked in my "ten minute craft book" (yeah, it's a cool book) and chose to do the paper-mache-on-a-paper-plate craft. We did the paper mache part today and will paint it tomorrow. By the way, I had a big brush to paint the paste mixture on and he asked if he could do it the way he learned how to do it -- which was to drag the paper through the paste and then push the excess off with his fingers. He had such a smile on his face as his hands got all messy! What a cutie.
Then, we made our own pizzas for dinner. We included bell peppers, tomatoes, and basil all from our garden. The boys had a little of the aforementioned veggies, but mainly put on cheese and little pieces of sliced ham (we forgot pepperoni when we were at the store.)
I let them stay up late to watch the National Women's Gymnastic competition ("Holy Cow! Look what she just did! R said over and over) and now they're tucked in bed and I'm headed for a nice long bath.

6 comments:

CaliforniaGrammy said...

You can make Bread and Butter pickles! Here's how:

BREAD AND BUTTER PICKLES

8 pounds large cucumbers (about 12 ) cut into 1/4 inch slices
8 large onions, cut into 1/8 inch slices
4 large green peppers, sliced
2/3 cup canning salt
6 cups vinegar
6 cups sugar
2 tsp celery seed
2 tsp mustard seed
1 tsp ground tumeric

In a large container combine cucumbers, onions, green peppers and salt. Add enough cold water to cover. Chill for two hours. Train and rince. In a large kettle, combine remaining ingredients, bring to a boil. Add cucumber mixture, return to a boil. Ladle hot into hot jars, leaving 1/4" headspace. Adjust lids. Process for 10 minutes in a boiling water bath.

Yield: 10 pints


Those bell peppers and eggplant are beautiful too. And T's face is cute enough to squeeze. And his way of making paper mache is how we do it too.

And I love the expression "Holy Cow" . . . wonder where he learned that!

Love you, great blog!

What a fun day you had with your boys.

A.J. said...

Yes, be sure to train those cucumbers before rinsing, some of them can try to jump out!

Uncle Rick just loves sliced cukes with seasoned rice vinegar, and nothing is simpler. Leftover wilted ones are good in sandwiches.

Is this harvest from your own garden?

Darling picture of T, and you know I love that Mackie got in there too. What an adorable doggie she is.

jennavar said...

Yeah S.. just do what mom said.. it sounds simple (hee hee). I'm sure T would love to watch them train and rince. He could eat a slice and say "Chew Chew" as he watches. LOL.. Personally I LOVE them Bread and Butter pickles but the whole leave "1/4" headspace.. adjust lids.. and 10 minute boiling water bath intimidate me somewhat. I also love them like AJ said but be sure you have the "seasoned gourmet" rice vinegar.. that makes them extra yummy. Great with some stir fry or chinese orage chicken with steamed rice.

LOVE the picture. I'm smelling eggplant parmesan already. OR any of it grilled.. yummo!

I'm so sorry about the THREE disappointments. I'm thinking Underdog is enough of a victory outing for the weekend. I'll have to try the whole paper mache thing. I remember sliding the goo off too when I was a kid.

FUN WEEKEND!

CaliforniaGrammy said...

Okay you guys, so there's a typo or two I see! I'll have to go to the Word document and change it too! Cuz I just copied and pasted. I do believe that should be "strain and rinse" - teeHee!

But what about Jennavar's "orage" chicken? Huh, huh, huh?

CaliforniaGrammy said...

I'm so curious as to what that skinny red thing is in T's left hand. Is it some kind of pepper?

Middle America Mom said...

I cracked up when I read "train and rince" too! I love that you all teased mom about that.

It is a pepper in T's hand -- R says it's a hot pepper (I agree). M doesn't know what kind it is, but he'll use it in his chile this year.