Can't get enough of the fruit...

What is it in me that just can't resist a bargain? Yesterday we stopped at the packing house to get some new crop apples and possibly some more blueberries. We ended up getting a box of cherries, and two boxes of peaches as well. The peaches were at the back of the store and marked 29 cents a pound. I figured they were bruised, very ripe or damaged somehow and would make great peach butter so, for that price, I brought two boxes home with me. I have this weird thing where I don't like leaving "damaged" fruit or veg at the store - it's like I feel sorry for it. You'd think it was an abandoned puppy or something.This morning I opened up the boxes and had a look and found them barely marked. I've just talked to my husband to see if he can pick up some more. I keep looking out the kitchen window at my tree loaded with peaches and wondering why I feel I need more but I just can't resist.

I also can't help wondering why this fruit is priced so low. The orchardists must be losing money on these and there is really nothing wrong with them other than some small discolouration (hail damage??) on the skin that doesn't even go through to the flesh. I find it hard to believe that people would turn their noses up at these or even think that they shouldn't be paying full price for them. I wonder why our standard here for "perfect" fruit is the way it is. So, even though I am quite pleased to come by this fruit for such a good price I still find it very sad that it is this price.

Abundance

I love this time of year so much. Our yard is just full of abundance...and my stomach is also very full of abundance. I feel as though we just feast all day. This is our Santa Rosa plum tree. We love these for fresh eating but I freeze some too as we usually can't eat them fast enough before they start falling off the tree. They make a great addition to winter smoothies.

I love the colours of them and think they're gorgeous, they are a little tart if you pick them early (which I do) but also incredible sweet and juicy.

And just when we are done feasting on those...these will be ripe. Peaches, peach crisp, peach pie, peaches on ice cream, peach smoothies, peach waffles...

Tomatoes

I am just loving the variety of tomatoes I have this year, so many different heirloom types. This is a Franchi red pear tomato, I grew it from seeds that I bought at Sunshine Farms. I thought it would be more paste-type looking. It is very thick and not seedy so it seems like a paste-type, just not quite how I thought it would look.This is Andrea's long pointed tomato - no, I don't think you would find that name if you googled it. I was given the seeds by Andrea and Mary-Sue and now I understand why Andrea said that they grow so big you only need 2 or 3 to fill a quart jar. These are huge for a paste tomato. Delicious, too.Of course, I had to measure it...to satisfy my own disbelief and (a little bit) because I like to tease Samantha about measurements of...well, anything really. So, here it is...all 6 plus inches of it. ;-)Of course I wanted to save the seeds of such a tomato but when I cut it open and looked for seeds this is all that I found.

What a fantastic tomato for canning and sauce making. I'd love to know the actual name if you ever remember, Andrea.

Favourite green bean recipe

Yesterday I picked a huge basket full of green beans. I'm so bad at keeping up with beans, I always end up letting some get too mature. Last night I made my favourite quick and easy recipe for green beans. Just steam or boil beans 'til tender crisp. While they are cooking I put a bit of butter and olive oil into a pan and toast some chopped almonds or walnuts for a few minutes. Add the drained beans and toss for a few minutes, then add a splash of lemon juice and some Parmesan or Romano cheese. Remove from heat and serve. So good!

Yum!!

Yesterday when we got home from the beach I starting grating up zucchini to freeze and to make Krista's recipe for zucchini brownies that I posted about. Oh my, are they ever good.
The only thing I did differently (besides using whole wheat flour) was the icing, mine is made from melting Rancho Vignola dark chocolate and mixing a little milk in to make an icing consistency.

Zucchini, zucchini and more zucchini

Last week at a BBQ a friend was telling me about her recipe for a zucchini polenta lasagna type dish; it sounded delicious and set my mouth to watering. The other day (after two days of this zucchini casserole) I decided to make something similar to her polenta recipe. I made polenta and let it set on a cookie sheet in the fridge. In the evening I covered it with some of last year's frozen pesto then, on top of that, I put some sliced zucchini that had been sauteed with onion and garlic.I added a few sun dried tomato strips, topped with mozzarella and baked it. It went down quite well around here, W proclaimed it "good stuff" and helped himself to a second slab. We have been eating zucchini in everything and now it is time to start putting some away for the winter.

This morning I came across a recipe for zucchini brownies on this blog. You know that I have to try it. We were just talking about zucchini recipes at our homelearner beach day yesterday and had talked about cookies and chocolate cake but I'd never thought of brownies with zucchini. Can't wait to taste them.

We also had our first taste of corn from a friend's garden. This is the stuff that we filled our freezer with last year and I think I can say it is the most delicious corn I have ever had. I am a serious corn on the cob lover. This cob is my "test cob", I am a firm believer that it is very important for the cook - that's me - to test the corn before serving it to others. I do this at each meal just to make sure that it is tasty enough for others. It is quite a sacrifice on my part but I am willing to do it for my family.

Of course I still have a cob with my meal as well. :-

Onion braids

Yesterday I harvested our onions and let them dry in the sun for a bit while I went to a movie. I braided them in the evening, all the while singing tunes from Mamma Mia and, I'm sure, driving W crazy as he passed me onions. My boys don't share exactly the same taste as I do in music. My ABBA and Bee Gees CDs seem to disappear every once in a while and my favourite Queen CD has been missing from my car for months. I'm a little suspicious. Once, when we were in the car and I was listening to the BeeGees W asked me what BG stood for and I told him it was the brothers Gibb. Without missing a beat W said it sounded more like it should be sisters Gibb. I guess he doesn't appreciate how talented one must be to have such a range in voice. Hummph.

Back to the onions - my neighbour showed how to braid them years ago and I quite like having them hanging on the wall ready to be used. I take almost as much pleasure from it as I do from seeing the shelves full of preserves in my coldroom. My garlic stems were too dry to properly braid by the time I harvested them so I will have to satisfy myself with just onion braids this year.