In any event, via my neighbor, he who has a garden half the size of a football field but only eats enough for a half a person, I ended up with a pile 'o tomatoes, a giant red cabbage (yes, more), a dozen ears of corn, and a half bushel of squash. This, on top of my multitude of cukes, my own tomatoes, kale, chard, and beets. Woof.
Thanks to Tooele Twins' comment on my cabbage post, I whipped up a batch of curtido - it's a sort of Salvadoran Kimchi. I used a half of a giant cabbage (so far, I've managed to fob off the other half and a whole giant one), two carrots, a chopped hot pepper of some type, the name of which escapes me, Mexican oregano (I only had my own), red pepper flakes, and a thinly sliced onion. Mix in approximately 3 tablespoons of salt for every five pounds of vege, mix thoroughly and squeeze with your hands, then pound it all until it releases lots of juice. Once it's mixed well, smoosh it into your crock or jar - mine made about 3/4 of a gallon - weight it and let it ferment. The recipe said anywhere from three days (crispier) to three weeks (more probiotics). I am aiming for somewhere in the middle.
I also made a broccoli salad with the rest of my broccoli; a kale salad; a french lentil, cucumber, olive and feta cheese salad; canned 12 pints of roasted tomato sauce; made a new batch of kombucha; baked a loaf of multigrain GF bread for my morning tomato sandwiches; and made a roasted cherry tomato tart on a polenta crust. Yes, indeed. It was overkill.
 |
| One of the red cabbages that was 'over the hill'. The chickens found it quite tasty. |
6 comments:
I love your posts! You just understand the urge we have to stock up for winter! In this day when so many people live the life of summer playtime and party time..you do both...taking time for family and then preserving for your sojourn through winter! I am going to try this recipe you tempted us with.
This winter will see Ralph and I enjoying the bounty from our garden even if I am sweaty and sticky most of the time as I can and dehydrate our produce from the "Experimental" farm out back! Ralph's weekend project is shelving for the canning! There are Pints and quarts of stuff EVERYWHERE! You go girl, your an inspiration to all!
I have been busy stocking up too! Lots of work, but it feels so good to open a home canned jar of my spaghetti sauce in the middle of winter. Happy canning!
Holy cow! I feel lazy in comparison, but have been sleeping like crap lately. Another story... And thanks for the goat books, it came today :) They are so dang cute. I am moving into another reality- ah I'm snuggling a baby goat, or 2 or 3....
Yep, you are truly an inspiration for the rest of us who are lucky enough to not be working an outside job five days a week. I was thinking of you tonight after dinner (and how pooped I felt) and imagining that you were just getting going on the animal tending, garden harvesting, food processing you do AFTER WORK EVERY DAY! (Just what kind of vitamins do you take?)
I noticed today that I have three giganto cabbages that seem to have split right down the middle overnight. Yes, our chickens will be happy, too.
Okay, I know how you do one of those at the time, but HOW do you do it all at one time???
I've been craving salsa from roasted tomatoes and peppers and homemade tortillas. Never made either one myself. Yet. Then, of course, there's have to be the pitcher of margaritas to go with them. :)
I understand that drive to preserve completely! What I don't understand is how you do all that you do--PLUS a full time job. Lady, you are amazing! And I am certain that you (and the invisible family of 12) will be enjoying many a fine meal with great satisfaction and contentment because it is courtesy of all your hard work.
I now have 3 freezers completely stuffed. There is NO more room. And it is the most wonderful feeling on earth, knowing that all winter we will be eating GOOD food .... a true taste of summer.
Post a Comment