Taste of Tuesday :: Sun Dried Tomatoes

It's difficult to think anything but pleasant thoughts while eating a homegrown tomato.  ~Lewis Grizzard

This photo above still makes me laugh as I was making tomato-less bolognese sauce while those beauties sat waiting.

And sure, it's been months since I've walked into the kitchen just to see all of our home grown tomatoes staring back at me. But it's only been minutes since I've tasted the sweetness of summer... even with all the cold weather and snow outside. This year, in my effort to not let anything from our gardens go to waste, (and doing so without canning because I haven't been brave enough to take on that endeavor) I decided to make sun dried tomatoes. But instead of the sun, we used our oven. Super easy!! 

Sun Oven Dried Tomatoes: 

Quarter larger tomatoes, half smaller romas, and leave cherry tomatoes as is. Spread onto several baking sheets. (Some websites advised not letting them touch, but mine did and they shrunk up just fine).

Set your oven to the lowest temperature and bake for 6-24 hours. I checked mine after 7 hours and they were finally done after 12 hours. But if you are using larger tomatoes it may take longer. 

Just put them into mason jars and freeze. They are great for on top of salads or just as is. On a cold, gray, dark, winter day, there is nothing better than tasting the sweetness of your homegrown tomatoes.

Taste of Tuesday: Sugar Free, Dairy Free, Gluten Free Apple Crisp (and contemplations on food waste)

The average American wastes more than half a pound of food per day (source). 

This whole idea of food and waste has weighed on me for years. I shop with the intention of cooking up that bok choy only to find it rotting weeks later in the back of the fridge. I try to be a conscious consumer but I'm still guilty. I think I'm most especially effected when I see the food we have grown with our blood, sweat, and tears go to waste. But this year, I was trying my best to put all of our food to good use... and this is coming from someone who hasn't yet learned how to can. The basil got made into pesto which is now stored in cubes in the freezer. I picked all of the tomatoes (including the green ones) in the moonlight before the first frost. And the apples -- cortland and golden delicious -- harvested from our trees and sorted into two piles: apples for eating and apples for baking. In the past, I would have overlooked these worm laden, rotted spotted, mushy apples. Or I might have picked them all with the intention of using them, but watched as the fruit flies swarmed while they rotted in the garage or on the counter. Not this year!! I made applesauce and lots of it. But I still had apples left. And the kicker was that I was doing an intense nutritional program in which I cut out sugar, gluten, and dairy. So pies and crisps seemed out of the question. Until...

I saw this post from my friend Lisa over at Little Coffee Beans. She had concocted a crisp without sugar. Now, to go back a little, Apple Crisp... I grew up on it. Ate it for breakfast (alongside the fruity pebbles) topped with a huge blob of vanilla ice cream. I have monkeyed with the several crisp family recipes over the years and even created a gluten free version. Then a better gluten free version. It's probably the only thing that I can bake without a recipe. But I had yet to experiment with how to make this kid friendly - meaning without sugar. So Lisa inspired me to create my own crisp -- a crisp that I could enjoy even while doing this intense nutritional program and a crisp that I could share with Avi - a boy who eats his veggies and doesn't get sugar. 

So I took a bit of her concoction and tinkered with it to make it not only sugar free, but gluten free and dairy free as well! And because this isn't too sweet, it's actually great for breakfast... far greater than that sugar laden one I ate as a kid. 

Sugar Free, Gluten Free, Diary Free Apple Crisp

• Lots of Organic Apples. Cut into chunks, skins left on. (I used cortland and golden delicious).
• 1 Tbsp organic fresh squeezed lemon juice
• 1 Tbsp arrow root powder
• 1-2 Tbsp of organic coconut oil
• 3/4 (or more) Tbsp organic cinnamon
• 2 drizzles of organic maple syrup
• 1 Cup gluten-free oats 
• 1/4 Cup brown rice flour (though I may try coconut flour next)
• Large handful of your favorite coarsely chopped nuts or seeds

Preheat oven to 375. 

In a glass baking dish (8x8 or larger if you have more apples) combine apples, lemon juice, arrow root and cinnamon together with a drizzle of maple syrup. In a separate pan melt coconut oil and stir in the oats, flour, and any nuts or seeds you are using and another drizzle of maple syrup. Once mixed together nicely (about 2 minutes), remove from heat. Spread mixture evenly over the apples. Bake uncovered for 20 minutes. If browning too much, cover with foil and then cook for another 15-20 minutes. Enjoy!!!

What are the favorites from your childhood that you have remade?

What are you doing to lessen the wasting of food? 

Nine (this moment)s!

Yes, I know it's friday, but I'm having a little bit of thursday for friday. For those of you who don't know, I decided at the eleventh hour to teach again this fall. I started on Monday and that is partly the reason you haven't seen much around here. I hope to soon post about my decision to teach. In the meantime, here are Nine Moments!!!

-- Avi a little timid in the petting zoo. Mama leads the way! Thanks Jim and Paige for the invite!!

 -- The things you never knew existed until you go to a county fair. Who eats this stuff?

 -- Sand, Dirt, Mud... the natural progression. (taken by Michelle - our new and loved nanny).

-- Plum season!!! 

-- Gluten Free Plum Ginger Crumble  almost gone.

-- Folks Fest at Planet Blue Grass!!

 -- Making shade at the Folks Fest. 

 -- Avi's harvest of tomatoes and purple beans.

-- The chicken and feta didn't come from our sunless garden, but everything else we had for this dinner did!! 

big girl house AKA around the garden

Springtime poppies

When we moved into our home, we were lucky to have beautiful and immaculate flower gardens that were the labor of love of the previous home owners. Starting in late winter, the first harbingers of spring, crocuses and daffodils bloom with delight and just as they begin dying back, something else is starting to bloom. This cycle of dying back and opening up continues deep into fall. Many visitors have complimented us on our gardens, which even look beautiful from a distance when they are left to the lambs quarters, thistle, dandelions, and bind weed. On the east side of our home, shaded by a tall fence and our neighbors glorious fruit trees, we have two small patches for a vegetable garden and compost - also left by the previous owners. When we moved in, we began to tend to everything the previous owners had left -- except that our weeding habits still aren't what theirs were.

In the three years we have lived here, our flower gardens have bloomed beautiful, while our vegetable gardens have been pathetic to say the least. Some of this is our own neglect. But with a wife's hard work and a toddler who likes to "do his work" in the garden, this year's garden has been the best yet. And still, it's a little pathetic. Now I'm not talking about the numerous millions of weeds that are the result of Avi "feeding chicken scratch" (a mixture of organic wheat, barely, and lentils) to our garden. We pull these weeds (or not) with smiles on our faces. Our problem is our garden is in the shadiest spot on our property. It doesn't get near enough sunlight. We are growing flowers that aren't edible in the brightest sunniest spots on our property while our veggies beg for sunshine in the shade. UGH.

Chard and friends.

Our Early Girls haven't ripened yet.

Beautiful squash blossom, no squashes.

Our weed covered herb garden.  See the chicken scratch growing in there?

Purple Beans

So why is this blog post titled, "big girl house"? Well, I have created the big-girl-house-dilemma because I have had the mindset that we should keep things as they are because they are "nice". In the past, I have always lived in places that were easy to "upgrade". In rentals I lived in, have put new tile in a kitchen, turned drab off white walls into colorful masterpieces, ripped up disgusting carpet to expose beautiful hard wood, dug up a yard of weeds to put in a veggie patch. All of those places needed some a lot of TLC. Our home, our big girl home, was already bursting with TLC when we moved in.... but it was the love given with someone else's taste in mind... not ours.  Sure we took down hideous sconces and lighting fixtures after we moved in. That was easy, those really weren't our taste. But the back yard has been another thing altogether. The flower gardens really are beautiful. I like them. I love that Avi is learning to identify flowers and I have had a good many conversations with my neighbors about the flowers I can't identify. I can't imagine digging them up. But if we want to have the boon that I see in inspiring blog posts like Kim's and Lisa's and so many more... well, we have to do things differently.

But I should take this moment to have a little bit of compassion and remind myself that we have started to do things differently. Putting in our chicken coop was a big step. When my mom saw it she said something to the tune of, "I would have thought you would have put that on the side of your home (where the veggie garden is now). Your yard was so nice". (For the record, it still is nice. We have one of the most beautiful chicken runs I have ever seen. Blooming poppies, jupiter's beard, echinacea, black eyed susan, flowers I don't the name of, apple trees drooping with fruit - just sayin'! -- oh and I should say that my Dad was right when he said that the chicken's won't destroy already established plants).  I'm sure she's not the only one to feel this way. But I decided that since we Jenn and Avi have put so much time, attention, and love into the veggie garden, next year we have to dig up some of our flower beds (share them with neighbors and friends) and get our veggie garden into the sunshine!!!

You can see the morning sunshine is shading our garden and all of Avi's (and Mama's) hard work.

"Doing work, Ema", he says... still in his PJs. (He loves this wheelbarrow from G'ma & G'pa).

Pegasus and kitty cat had spent the night in the compost pile - on purpose. Avi said they were sleeping there.

Now, I just have to figure out the best place. The place that won't be shaded in three years because our silver maple has grown. 

then.and.now

number.eight

 But what minutes!  Count them by sensation, and not by calendars, and each moment is a day.     ~Benjamin Disraeli    

Inviting you to join me in my Monday ritual with your own now and then

Iphone fun

Having fun with my new iphone and the picframe app. 

Which apps do you use for playing with your photos?

Watch them grow

Our seeds have sprouted. 

Day 1: January 26th, 2012

 A few seeds and a wish & a prayer.

No fancy warming mats - just sunshine and a humidity dome.

 Day 3: January 29th, 2012 

 Poking their heads.

 Checking out the new growth.

Day 6: February 1st, 2012 

Our cotyledons growing taller!

 One drink for the sprouts...

...one drink for Avi.

Day 11: February 6th, 2012

Watch Them Grow. or Keeping it Real: (for David)

I farmed one full growing season on Hedgerow Farm (now Cure Organic Farm) back in 2004. Because of this, one, might think that I have quite a bit of experience -- enough, at least, to grow a successful backyard garden. While I did learn a great deal on the farm that season, most of the 'real' decisions were made by Anne Cure, the farm manager. What to plant and when. Where to plant. How much to water and when. When to harden off the plants in the greenhouse. You get the idea. Since that season, my own backyard gardens have been meager at best. Every year I begin with high hopes of making this year, the year of the garden!  Goals of developing a planting calendar, calculating for frost, committing to starting seeds indoors, succession planting, harvesting, canning and preserving. Yet, for the past few years, I have fallen short. Last year we planted a few crops and even a neglected plot (e.g. during our hottest summer days, the garden only got water every third day) was enough 'boon' for a blog post). 

Laziness is the only logical explanation for my failed attempts, right? Well... not really. The real explanation is that sometimes I wait for someone else to take the lead. I think that I need to have Jenn committed 200% to making our garden a success. If she cares about this project more than I then surely she will give me the inspiration that I so desperately desire. The lyrics in Ingrid Michaelson's song Turn to Stone repeat in my head: And if you wait for someone else's hand, Then you will surely fall down. The reality is that I have fallen down not only in my attempts at a garden, but in other arenas in my life as well.  Someone once told me that "dreaming big is sexy, but making your dreams come true is sexier". I want to be sexier.  

This year, in an effort to be sexier, I decided I would commit to experiment with at least two indoor starts. Maybe that will help me commit to my dream of a successful growing season take full advantage of the growing season. So after a few weeks of having all of the supplies... and even trying to pass it off on the nanny saying, "If you and Avi want to do this project together, go for it." -- I finally got to taking my own lead and to planting some seeds. Avi helped and together, we planted four starts: two varieties of tomatoes, peppers, and arugula. ..............................................................Am I looking sexier yet? 

 Even though I have beautiful compost in our bin, I thought I "needed" this seedling mix. Why?

 Even Red (the hen) wanted to help... or snatch a seed or two.

 Tomatoes.

 Arugula.

What in your life is sexy, but could be sexier?

popping corn

When my father was here this past fall helping us get set up with our chickens, he also brought several stalks of decorative corn.  The stalks leaned against the front of our home for months, until the snow was here to stay and I finally got to replacing the stalks with a old fashioned winter sled, also compliments of my dad.  In a hurry, I threw the corn stalks over the fence next to the compost pile where they lay, frequented only by the three squirrels who have tired of the hawthorn berries.  Until today.  

Today we had an unseasonably warm day with highs in the 60s.  So Avi and I ventured into the garden to see if there were any greens that we could feed the chickens.  Some little stalks of kale and chard were pushing through older wet leaves that were covered in snow just days earlier.  We picked some greens and then looking up, I noticed the scattered piles of corn stalks that I had thrown with such haste.  As we began to break them down into the compost, we found several ears not yet discovered by the squirrels.  "Let's gather these", I told Avi.  "Theeeeese", he would mimic.  "Yes, these".  

We threw a few ears to the chickens along with some greens that they enjoyed and then Avi and I set to shelling the corn from the cob... because we were going to try our hand at popping corn.  I wasn't sure if it would pop or not, but it was dried out and well, it was worth a try.  

Avi liked taking the kernels out of the bowl more than he liked putting them in, 

but we still got enough for a trial run.  

A little olive oil in the pan along with the kernels and here we go! I did have my doubts, I wondered if I remembered seeing different varieties of corn in the seed catalogue or if I was just making that up in my head. After a few minutes, we heard some pops and I thought to myself, why did you doubt that it would pop?  It's corn, after all! 

"Avi, it's popping". An aside: Avi and I have recently started making popcorn together and it's a sight to watch him as he sees the kernels go into the pan, hears them pop, and then giggles with delight as we take the lid from the pan to reveal the white fluffy popcorn. "It's popping", I say smiling. 

******

But then it stopped popping and when I removed the lid I found this: 

 This look on Avi's face speaks for both of us.  This was it?  

But we tasted it anyway and wanted popcorn, so we went to the cupboard to get: 

our favorite: Boulder Popcorn's Mayor's Mix that we get from our local farmer's market. 

 a little oil and some kernels.

Voila!

Now that's better!

Back outside to catch the last of the sunshine before it sinks below the mountains...

 ...and eat our popcorn. 

 Avi shares some with his pig.

"More", he says, grabbing this ear.  And I wonder if maybe we shouldn't try again. After all, a few did pop... which means that there might be more popping corn in the bunch? 

But we'll save that for another day... or at least shell the ears to feed to our chickens.  And I think I will take a look in the seed catalogue...  and order some popping corn to plant this spring!