Zucchini

Sometimes people tease me about the amount of zucchini that I plant but I find it such a versatile vegetable that it really is hard to have too much. (except when I come home from a holiday and find huge ones but even those I can just make into raw veggie mush for my dog)
Yesterday we managed to get some work done in the garden, lots of calendula were going to seed and I am trying to get better at deadheading this year. While we were in the garden we picked some beets, beans, zucchini, garlic and herbs.

I sauteed the zucchini, onion, garlic and herbs then added a jar of tomato sauce and steamed, chopped beet greens and used this for making lasagna.

The beans were just steamed and served with butter and, since the oven was on for the lasagna, I roasted some beets as well.

Good stuff from the garden

So many things growing and so little time to post about it.

Cherries have come

and goneand are tucked in the freezer. This is a cherry pitter that I found at a garage sale years ago and I love it. It makes short work of all the cherries. ( I do this outside because the cherry juice tends to splatter and stain) I freeze them on trays and then put them in salad boxes or bags and they will supply us with smoothies, crisps and pies throughout the year.Currants are being nibbled on each day and need to be picked and preserved. Saskatoons are done and blueberries are ripening more each day. (for certain none of our blueberries will make it to the freezer)

Zucchinis are in full swing. I'll need to get Simpy in Season from the library again soon to find more zucchini recipes.

I have some onions ready and some still plumping up. I sampled my first garlic yesterday.

Loads of pole beans - one of my favourite things from the garden.And so much more.

The trick to enjoying summer when you live in such a gorgeous spot is finding that balance between time in the garden and the work of putting things by and time spent at the beach, camping and enjoying all the fun stuff of summer in an area surrounded by lakes and natural beauty.

A chance to win

Want a chance to win a beautiful quilt? Just go to the Old Red Barn Co. for your chance. It's gorgeous.

Beets

Finally last week I picked, cooked and ate some of our beets. My hubby had the misfortune to be raised without a proper appreciation for beets and so...all the more for me.
Yum!

Growing garden

I love watching the garden just explode with abundance. This first picture was taken in early June.This picture was taken yesterday. What a difference a month can make.Right now it is at that time when it is still a bit contained but the squash plants have just started to spread and in no time they will start to take over the pathways. There is so much stuff ready to eat that now it becomes a challenge to keep up with it all. That is a good problem to have though. ;-)

Quick and easy, sugarless strawberry jam

I grew up with regular strawberry freezer jam, you know, the kind with loads of sugar in it. It was delicious, but when I tasted strawberry jam sweetened with dried pineapple I knew that I had come across a very good alternative for my kids.It is very simple to make, all you do is put dried pineapple bits into a bowl and then cover with fresh strawberries. I like to mash them slightly to get the juice flowing a bit so that the pineapple softens quickly. Then just let the bowl sit in the fridge overnight.The next day just run it through the food processor then pour into small containers to freeze. I like to use small containers since it only keeps in the fridge for about a week. The resulting jam is very flavourful, not as sweet as jam made with sugar but nice, I think, because you can actually taste the fruit. Thought I would include a picture of what E looks like when he comes home from picking - the front of his shorts is just as colourful.
If you want a proper recipe I know that they used to have it at Springfield Bulk store right by the dried pineapple bin. :-)

Strawberry season

Every year we pick a lot of strawberries, I've done this since I was very little. A happy memory for me is taking a little ferry across the river each year to go and pick strawberries and then waking up the next morning to the smell of strawberry freezer jam. Yum.

For the last few years the boys and I have gone on our own but this year I wanted S to come with us. We went two weekends ago and came away with 7 buckets but I have been sick for the last week and wasn't up to going again. The boys and S went and picked on their own and came home with this batch - some picked and some bought from the farm stand.The next day they went back and picked again and came home with these, all I had to do was wash and freeze them all.We've ended up with a little under 150 pounds, I think. Some have been eaten, some made into jam and lots tucked away for winter smoothies. Katherine turned me onto using these salad containers as freezer containers (she even gave me a bunch of them) and they work really well. Each container holds a little over 5 lbs and they stack well.Now, only another week 'til our cherries are ready to pick.