Weekly Local Booty 11/16-11/22/08

Happy Saturday everyone. I am happy to say it is a lot warmer today than it was yesterday - yesterday was cold! We got ourselves some good local grub to work with this week. You might notice it is not quite as much as usual, and that is because of Thanksgiving. I will be going back after work on Tuesday to get the stuff I need for our vegetarian contribution to my families Thanksgiving meal. I am taking the day off Wednesday, and we are going to be spending Thanksgiving with my mom and grandparents in the Lake of the Ozarks. For our contribution, we will be bringing a traditional butternut squash soup (vegan of course), local Uprise Bakery ciabatta (to go with the soup), black bean and brown rice stuffed mushrooms, garlic mashed potatoes and mushroom gravy, and pumpkin walnut bread. I will do a post about it when we get back, with recipes too, of course. I will try to get good pictures; I've never tried to take a picture of food at my mom or Nanny's house.

Anywho, we got some garden booty this week - though not for the best reason. Our second year serrano is dead, and it still has aphids too, so I pulled the peppers and we're getting rid of it. I hate to do it, but I don't think it is coming back, and I don't want our other plants to get aphids.















There are a few serranos and a ripe hot Hungarian Wax pepper.

Here is this week's booty from The Root Cellar, I remembered to pay attention to the total, it was $38. Doesn't seem bad for all we got, eh?















Starting from the bottom right: cilantro, a locally produced Patric 67% cacao dark chocolate bar (I'm going to bake with this bad boy!), local chopped walnuts, habaneros (I reserved one for use and froze the other four), 2 purple bell peppers, a green bell pepper, 2 red onions, 3 yellow onions, spinach (!!!!!), 4 tomatoes (!!!!!), 4 bulbs of garlic, a Fitz's Root Beer (brewed in St. Louis, Missouri 125 miles east of us, it fits our 200 mile local foodshed), and oyster mushrooms.

A little aside about the garlic: the weather was such this summer that we had a really hard time getting local garlic. There was a time during the summer when we had to buy store bought garlic, which was really not cool. Anyways, I went to The Root Cellar a few weeks ago and noticed they had local garlic; I got really excited so I bought quite a few bulbs. Well, each week I've gone back, I've picked up a few bulbs, out of habit, and now we have quite the stash.















This whole bowl is full of just garlic. We have been unintentionally hoarding local garlic. :-)

Here is our "usual" from Uprise Bakery - I didn't pay attention here to how much it cost (in my defense, I was there at 7:30 a.m.). Not pictured here is a spinach and goat cheese croissant I bought for my co-worker Kathy. She so kindly gave us an extra Hepa filter she had for our apartment, so I got her a little local treat to say thanks (I think they might even use the local Goastbeard Farm goat cheese too - I should have asked).















Our beloved ciabatta (you can probably assume it is a given that we will get one of these most weeks) and a half pound of fair trade organic "Love Buzz" coffee. I'm actually not sure Brett was even out of coffee, but it doesn't hurt to pick it up, we buy it in small amounts.

In fantasy football news, we won last weeks game, are now 5-4, and again lead our division. I am having a hard time gauging this week's match up. If the guy doesn't make any moves, we could eek out a win, if he does, I'm not sure. Willie Parker played on Thursday Night Football, didn't have very many yards, and also got hurt again, so that isn't very promising. The rest of our games are against teams in our division.

In football pick news, if you remember (those of you who have the slightest interest in this) I was 7 games ahead of Brett and we split on quite a few games. Well he picked up some and I now only lead by 5, I believe. We didn't split on as many games this week, but we'll see, the ones we did split on really could go either way. Ah, football, joy.

Well, I have a lot to do today, house chores, errands, baking adventures. Brett just got a Play Station 3 (aka Crack for Men) so he should be pretty well occupied. I have to admit, the thing is pretty cool, the machine itself actually looks a little "retro", but the graphics are really neat. I've never really been too into video games - I love classic Nintendo games, Sim City, and things like that. (Brett's never really been too into reading either, and I can sit down and read for hours, just like he can play video games, so we understand each other that way. I get to read while he plays too. Wahoo for reading!) Most of the new games are violent, and I don't like that. I am campaigning for Brett to get the Hot Shots Golf for the new system, as I love that game, and we can even play it together. I'm also looking forward to the new Gran Turismo coming out, that game is fun to watch. I tried to play it a few times and damn, it is hard, I was awful.

Have a great weekend!

Update: In a previous post, I mentioned something about the garden update being posted this week. I obviously wasn't paying attention to the calendar, because the last day of November isn't until next weekend. So I won't actually be posting the update this weekend, it will be sometime after next weekend. Sorry about the confusion.

'Til next time!

Garden Update #30 - The Last Weekly One, The First Freeze

Welcome to the last weekly garden update! Starting next month there will be only a monthly update as things are slowing down considerably in the gardens and there isn't much to tell on a weekly basis. I will still continue to take weekly pictures though - that way you can really get an idea of how much things have grown during the month. Either Brett or I will do a brief post if something really interesting or exciting happens, of course, but this may be the new template, even through summer next year. We are trying to figure out a way to make this both more useful to us as a photo gardening journal, as well as to our readers. We also think having monthly posts might give both ourselves and our readers a better grasp of how much the plants have grown each month and the general level of activity required in the garden throughout different parts of the year.

This garden update also marks the first hard freeze in the Mid-Missouri area. It got below freezing Sunday night, last night, and is supposed to again tonight. We went down to the community garden and picked a TON of partially ripe or green tomatoes, as well as some hot banana peppers. Sunday marked the last "official" day of our 2008 community gardening season. It was a wonderful year and I cannot wait to get my hands in the dirt again in 2009.

What the freeze also meant was that it was time to make a realistic assessment of which container garden plants were worth bringing in during the freeze and which were worth trying to keep over the winter. This was really hard for me as I didn't (and don't) want to kill any of them, but it is unrealistic to bring in plants that either haven't produced much if anything at all (the chocolate bell pepper, the poblano, and super chile) or that had already been struggling with the temperature fluxuations (the jalapeno [really sad about that one], the petite bell pepper, the regular bell pepper, the New Mexican and Serexican Chiles, one of our banana peppers). This meant that in the end, all we brought in were the Hot Hungarian Wax pepper plant, the cayenne plant, and our second year serrano (soon to be third year). We were really hoping to bring the jalapeno in too, but it really took a beating with all the wind and wild temperatures we've had lately. The leaves have wilted, many have yellowed, and it was a tough decision that had to be made. I think if I truly want to be a successful gardener, I am going to have to stop getting attached to the plants. Otherwise our home is going to be filled with a bunch of pepper plants that no longer produce, that I am keeping alive as houseplants. Let's just say I don't really like this time of year as I love my gardens and am sad to see them go.

But it's not all depressing. We've got some exciting tomatillo news and I managed to get some kale, chard, and cilantro seeds started this weekend. We decided against trying mini bell pepper seeds again as we aren't sure if our pots are even big enough, we both have our doubts that they will fruit inside (without some major assistance), and we already have sweet peppers going (the cherry bombs), so we will save those seeds for next year.

Well, without further yapping, check out the last installment of the 2008 container garden update (::sniff::):















The cayenne pepper plant. We brought it inside before the frost that evening.















The ripe New Mexican Chile. We pulled it off the plant and left the plant outside. We will pull this and all the other dead plants out of the pots later this week when it is supposed to warm back up for a few days.















The Hot Hungarian Wax peppers. This lovely plant is now part of the beginnings of the "One Ball Squash Microclimate in J&B's Living Room".



















Some pictures of the petite bell peppers. As you can see from the last picture, the plant has been struggling with the conditions already and probably wouldn't fare well in our apartment. I'm honestly not sure if could handle the shock of the transition with how tentative it looked. We picked all the petite bells off the plant and I washed and froze them for use this winter.















A couple of the serranos on the second-year serrano plant. I think it likes it inside. We brought it in before the first expected freeze and one of the peppers started to ripen really quickly. I think it is because our apartment is a lot warmer than it is outside (and so far we have not had to run the heater at all - thank you layers and blankets!).















The lone poblano pepper. There had been another decent sized poblano on here, but the wind blew it off, there were a couple more that had started but they just "petered" out and never really did anything. We picked this pepper and will be using it in a meal this week. I wish our poblano had been more productive than it was, but we'll try again with a bigger container next year.

And now on to the indoor winter garden!

As I noted earlier, I started a container of chard, kale, and cilantro this weekend. I will be "thinning out the cherry bomb plants numbers" this week so that they can grow larger and get to a transplantable size. Not this weekend, but next, I will be starting a second container of chard, kale, basil, and also our first round of salad greens.















Here is this week's picture of the pepper colony.

















A couple of pictures of Gabby making it difficult for me to take pictures of one of the cayenne plants. :-) I think she was upset that I was paying attention to the plant and not her - silly kitties.

















Photos of both cayenne plants. The second one is really starting to take off!

















The two jalapeno plants. The droopy one amazes me, I thought it was a "goner" but it has continued to grow and sprout new leaves - it just stays droopy. Huh.















The cherry bomb starts. We had taken them outside to rid them of a few aphids they had (thanks to having to bring our outdoor plants in awhile back when they were spraying and power washing our decks - all the peppers have a few aphids, but nothing like the outdoor plants had at points in the season, thus far the aphid population has been easy to handle on the indoor plants).















The catnip - it looks a little gnarly, but it is still growing and most of the seedlings have multiple leaves on them now. I'd say that is a good sign.















The basil, still looking good. We think it may get a little hot in the hothouses for the basil when we have them sitting in the sun, so we've removed this basil-containing hothouse into the shade to see if that helps. If not, the basil will be coming out of the hothouse.















And now the most exciting part of this week's garden update - the tomatillo plant. Not only has it gotten a lot taller since last week, it has bloomed!



















Tomatillos have gorgeous, yet odd looking flowers on them. They almost look like they are inside out, it is pretty neat. I've been trying to hand pollinate them with my finger, but I think I am going to dig out a paintbrush to make sure they actually get pollinated. (I could have just been spreading a lot of pollen throughout my apartment.)















This little bloom opened up yesterday! And as you can see from some of the pictures, there are more blooms on the way. This is so exciting! We got the seeds for the tomatillo from a tomatillo we got at the store. They have never been outside and not only did they grow, they are now blooming! Wahoo!















The One Ball Squash. I am a little worried about the One Ball's to be perfectly honest. We've already lost two and as you can see, one of them isn't looking so hot. But I also know that all of our squash plants went through a "struggling" period, so hopefully they will make it. They are still growing!















The start of our living room microclimate. We will be positioning greens, herbs, and catnip around the spaces between pepper plants.

Well I have quite a few food posts I'd like to work on, but alas, now isn't the time. Let's just say I have a really tasty soup, burrito, and a couple of baked goods recipes "in queue" that I need to post about. You should see them sometime soon. Hopefully I can get some of them posted this week!

I hope everyone is enjoying their week - freezing temperatures and all!

'Til next time.

Weekly Local Booty 9/21-9/27/08 and An Award!!

It has been a beautiful week here in Mid-Missouri. I would likely enjoy it more without a cold, but I am doing what I can to reduce the duration and intensity of the dang thing. Thanks for the well wishes and the advice - I eschewed citrus instead choosing local orange veggies which are packed with Vitamin C, and red bell peppers (thanks Courtney!) which are too. Sweet potatoes here we come! After going to the market and doing a few chores around here though, I am feeling pretty crummy, so aside from a little cooking, I'm taking it easy. I'm going to play in a Pot Limit poker tournament online, read, and snuggle with the kitties (and Brett too if he's lucky). Oh, and I think Brett might be coming down with my cold too (probably from continuing to snuggle with me). Hopefully I'll be good to go for work on Monday. Blech.

Enough of my whining. The weather has been consistently warmer and sunny for the past week or so, and the peppers really seem to like it. We got some peppers from the container garden this week - with more on the way!

Here is what we got from our container and community gardens this week:















A Roma and our first Better Boy! I can't wait to eat it!















Starting from the left: jalapenos (!!), petite bell peppers (they are really small), and 2 "serexican" chile peppers.

Here is this week's CSA. It is hard to believe that there are only a few weeks of the CSA left. We're going to miss Dan, and his fine, fine produce. Dan is an awesome guy, he grows incredibly high quality fruits and veggies, and I would dare to say he is one of the more enlightened people I interact with. This was our first year subscribing to a CSA, and we just wish we could have done it sooner. It has been a wonderful experience and we recommend it to anyone who has the means to do so.















Starting from the left: Gala apples (I finally remembered to ask! I've had "grocery store" Gala apples before and they don't hold a candle to these, they taste [oddly] a little like banana), some Roma tomatoes (!!!), a zucchini, a cucumber, and a sweet potato (!!!!!!!!!!).

Here is this week's farmer's market booty. This load ran us $45, we picked up 7 squash to put up for winter and found some great variety. Oh, and we stocked up on some more organic potatoes too.















Starting from the bottom left: a white eggplant (!!), a Poona Kheera cucumber (!!), local hot salsa (with habaneros - !!!!!!!!!!), local pickles (wahoo!), rainbow chard, a 5 lb. bag of organic red potatoes, sweet potatoes (!!!!!!!!!!), a mini Hubbard squash (!!), 2 acorn squash, 4 delicata squash (!!), some organic grass fed beef for Brett, and a "regular" eggplant.

I got close-up pictures of the things I was really excited about. I love how produce can be both beautiful and so darn yummy!















A couple of acorn squash. We will probably get a few more of these as we really like acorn squash. I've never had this variety before. The only kind we've had are the dark green ones (we would like to pick up some of those next weekend, our bags were really full). The farmer said they didn't really taste any different, they just looked different. I think they look really cool.















A mini Hubbard squash!! This was a really exciting find. I didn't think we would ever get to try Hubbard squash - which is one of the older varieties of squash, acclaimed for its flavor. Why did I think we would never get to try one? Because the "non-mini" variety are usually 15-30 lb squash. They are flippin' huge. People use saws to get them open! The mini variety is about the size of a small pumpkin. Hubbards keep really well, if stored in a cool, dry place, they can last for 6 months or more.















A Poona Kheera cucumber. This is an heirloom Indian cucumber. The purveyor said it was very crisp, like an apple. They contain more mature seeds, so they need to be seeded before slicing. I wish I was more inspired, since this is such a rare treat, but all I can think to do with it is put in on a bagel sandwich and that just doesn't seem right. I am going to hold on to it until tomorrow in case someone can give me some ideas as to what I could use this beauty in. I've never seen anything like this! The purveyor also had some rare varieties of radishes too, they were gorgeous. Just white and plain looking on the outside, but with a burst of vibrant purple when you cut in to them. We don't like radishes, so obviously we didn't pick them up, but we will definitely be on the look out for his stand from now on. We love the opportunity to try some of the prized veggies!















A white eggplant. Brett thinks that the white ones are where they get their name from - 'cause, well they do look a little like really large eggs.

This week's "installment" of Leng's Fried Rice (I told you we ate this all the time) will include the white eggplant, carrots, zucchini, mushrooms, onions, peppers, and edamame (and lots of sriracha on mine). We're going to have B's Eggplant Steaks and Lentil and Potato Tacos again too. Those tacos are one of our favorite meals. I've got some ideas for those potatoes and sweet potatoes though.

I am moving a little slow because of the cold, so please don't be upset if the updates and monthly introduction for the Unplug Yourself initiative are just a little late. I should be able to get the permaculture post done soon, and can work on the alternative news one early next week. Brett has finals next week, so he will be pretty busy, but I think he'll have the introduction out before Friday - his update might be more like a week or two. Basically, by Friday, my updates and the introduction will be up. Sorry about the delay.

I was also planning on making tortillas this weekend! Excuses, excuses...

Update: The lovely and green-thumbed Daphe, from over at Daphne's Dandelions passed on the "I Love Your Blog" award to me. This is a high honor coming from her - her blog is excellent and her garden makes me dream of bigger and better things. So thank you so much Daphne, you've made my day - and with this cold it really helps!













Now, per the award, I get to pass this on to seven of my very favorite blogs. Wahoo! I like the opportunity to thank folks who brighten my life and inform me as much as these people have. You all rock. And if you desire, you can pass the award along as well.

Here it goes:

Jessy from Happy Vegan Face - Hers is one of my very favorite blogs. Not only is her food drool worthy, I know I'm always certain to get a smile on my superhappyawesomeexcitedface. ;-) But she is about more than just food - she and her husband try, in their daily lives, to live how they think they should, always striving to live better, to live more sustainable and just lives.

Selina from Vegans Rock!! - Her blog rocks!! She shares her food adventures, her cute pup Piper (and her kitties too), and her trials and tribulations in her garden. I also appreciate her tackling challenges head-on, when she decides she wants to do something, she does it with a passion. We have a lot to learn from people like her.

T from Vegan Soul Power! - I still love the name of this blog! That is, in no way, the only reason I like it. This girl has spunk, class, brains, and knows her way around the kitchen. She's had a rough year but has managed to transition to what sounds like a wonderful new neighborhood and she ditched her car - all while trying to make her way through law school. T you rock!

Ilex from Homesteading in a Condo - She tries to live sustainably in Detroit and documents it with eloquence. I almost don't even need to say anymore about why I love her blog!

M from My Face Is on Fire - M is never afraid to tackle uncomfortable topics, expose hypocrisy, teach us a thing or two, or inform us about things that we might not otherwise know. She speaks with authority and acts as our media really should - with a critical eye and quick wit.

Theresa from Pondering the Myriad of Things - Her blog provides intellectual and even spiritual stimulation. I've gotten angry with her as she tried to do what she could to make sure a wetland was not illegally sucked dry; I've sympathized with similar repressive and draconian governments though we live in different places; I've felt despair with her as if no matter what "they" always win; and she has reminded me of the small things in life, those little things that help us go on. Thank you Theresa!

And last, but definitely not least is DP from Square Foot Gardening in Nashville - I love this blog! I have really enjoyed reading about her adventures in the garden. But my favorite part about her blog is that she names her fruits and veggies. It's like watching a child grow when the cantaloupe isn't just a cantaloupe, it's Betty. ;-)

'Til next time.

Weekly Local Booty 8/24-8/30-2008

We ended up getting quite a load of peppers from our container garden this week, and the Roma tomato plant produced like crazy. We think it's probably getting really close to the end of our "community garden season", the Roma doesn't appear to be starting any more tomatoes and the squash, well, they don't look that great and they just aren't producing much of anything. The Better Boy might surprise us with a few more tomatoes, but we aren't expecting many more large loads in our back packs from there this year.

The farmer's market is overflowing with goodies it being "bounty season" around here - granted, the weather this summer has done a lot for the variety and abundance of some of the crops, but there are still tons of yummy delights waiting to be found.

Here is what we got from our container and community gardens this week:















A couple of small bell peppers.















A petite bell pepper and a jalapeno.















Another small bell pepper. I apologize for the errant pictures of just one and two peppers, but the plants don't produce all at once (thankfully!).















Sorry for the poor quality picture here, the camera was being funky. We've got lots of Roma tomatoes that are continuing to ripen in our windowsill, some banana peppers from the community garden, and a small yellow straightneck squash. Brett went ahead and picked this little guy since he was "technically" large enough to be worth taking, but with the squash bugs being so prevalent, we didn't want to take the chance that they would get it while we waited for it to get larger.















Lots of ripe cayennes (!!!!) and a petite bell pepper.















Hot Hungarian Wax peppers.

Here is the CSA for this week (can you believe we have been getting our CSA for 16 weeks?!):















We've got: 2 long yellow hot peppers of some sort (I didn't know there were peppers in the bag until I got home or else I would have asked them what kind they were, if I can remember, I'll ask him next Saturday), 2 cucumbers, 2 zucchini, one (odd, eh?) green onion, some basil, and lots of Roma tomatoes.

This week's farmers market booty - this haul cost $27:















Starting from the right we have: 2 Herbal Oats granola bars (we got the "energy" kind this week), 2 red onions, a ripe Black Hungarian Pepper (for it's seeds, the purveyor gave it to us for free since we only wanted one and planned on saving the seeds!), 6 small tomatoes, lots of jalapenos, lots of poblano peppers, an eggplant, eggs, basil, a cantaloupe, and a small bag of "ciabattini" (mini loaves of ciabatta) from the local bakery Uprise, and 4 bulbs of garlic.

This week's food preservation activities included:

• My first attempt at canning salsa.
• Freezing hot Hungarian and hot banana peppers.
• Freezing jalapenos.
• Re-making the ristra.

For my first attempt at canning salsa I decided to make a half batch (supposedly 3 pints) of the Spicy Tomato Salsa recipe from the Ball Blue Book of Preserving. This was the first time that I peeled and de-seeded tomatoes, and let me tell you, there has to be an easier way of doing it than I did. Not only was it a pain in the ass, it took forever! But once I got done with that, the rest of the task was a breeze. I halved this recipe, which originally yielded 6 pints, so a half batch should yield 3 right? That's what I thought. I used a food scale, I measure all my ingredients, and I ended up with 2 1/2 pints. That's right, 2 1/2. What the hell?!?! Is it possible that my tomatoes were "seedier" than the ones the Ball Book was accounting for?

At any rate, we processed the two full pints and stuck that half pint in the fridge to eat.

Check out my first canned salsa!















I was really excited when, after a few minutes of being finished "processing", the lids popped! Wahoo!

We tried the salsa out a couple hours after I made it, and it was really good. Really good, Brett said it was the closest thing to a "restaurant style" salsa he had ever had, well, outside of a restaurant.

I don't think I would agree with their terminology of "spicy", this is an incredibly mild salsa, but it's really good. Next time though, I am going to substitute a hotter pepper for the jalapenos. If you are gonna call something spicy, it should be spicy.

Freezing the peppers, was, as always, really easy. I just washed 'em, cut the stems off, packed 'em in freezer bags, and had Brett use a straw to suck all the air out of 'em. He has "iron lungs".

Since we got all those ripe cayennes off the plant, I decided to remake our "ristra", which was more like small clumps of peppers drying in various places around our apartment because I never got around to tying them all together. So I just made a new one today, and here is a picture of it hanging from a hook on our ceiling. The picture isn't all that great (all my excuses for always taking bad pictures!), but it was blowing around and hard to photograph.















Pretty neat.

Needless to say, I'm a bit worn out now. This doesn't look like much, but after lugging home a huge load of food from the market and grocery store (we always run across the street to the grocery store after we go to the market to pick up anything we couldn't find at market), preparing all this food (and I'm slow with these things), and doing the dishes, my day was filled.

Well, I'm off to make a simple (and hopefully good) new meal Brett came up with and to find out how Mizzou did in their first football game against Illinois. Let the border wars begin! I missed football...

'Til next time.

Weekly Local Booty 8/10-8/17/08

This is probably going to be the biggest booty post of the season. For a number of reasons, for one, well, it is that time of year, for two our community garden is experiencing some major problems, which I will document in the Garden Update that I'll be posting when I'm done with this one.

I also preserved quite a bit of food this weekend, well, only two things, but a lot of one of them. It will be really nice to enjoy our favorite sauces, made from local ingredients, during the middle of winter. I just wish we had a larger freezer and am jealous of those fortunate enough to have, or have space for, a deep freeze. But I am thankful for what we do have, and really, we manage to do quite a bit living in a small, barely functional apartment.

Without further ado, here is this week's garden booty:














Here we've got: a petite bell pepper, a banana pepper, a zucchini with a lovely flower still attached, 6 roma tomatoes (which will finish ripening in the window), and 3 butternut squash.















This is the "motherload" picture, starting from the right we've got: 2 poblano peppers, 2 ripe serranos, tons of banana peppers, a petite bell pepper, lots of jalapenos, TONS of tomatoes (which will, again, be ripening the rest of the way in our window sill), 2 zucchini, 2 cucumbers (nabbed from another abandoned plot), and 2 butternut squash.















6 roma tomatoes, and yes, these too will be ripening more fully in the window.















And finally: 2 yellow straightneck squash, a zucchini, and 2 more butternut squash.

This is just what we got from the gardens!

This week's CSA:















Another gorgeous CSA quarter share, starting from the right we've got: I believe thyme, potatoes, New Mexican Chiles (!!!!), green onions, a small head of cabbage, 3 cucumbers, and 3 big tomatoes.

(Can you tell we'll be having lots of B's Famous Summer Pickles? Those are seriously one of the best snacks I've ever had!)

And this week's Farmer's Market Booty:















Starting from the right we have: 2 red onions, a yellow onion, 2 Herbal Oats granola bars (this week we got the peach "focus" flavor with Ginko Biloba in it, this is our favorite variety so far.), lot of little bulbs of garlic (not sure what kind), serranos (we needed more than were on our plant), 2 red bell peppers, some gorgeous chard, some PESTICIDE FREE peaches (we were starting to get frustrated at the market, walking from stand to stand asking if the peaches had been sprayed, we got some from the only stand that didn't spray, yay, but ARGH, damn pesticides), and 6 big tomatoes (can you tell how much we like tomatoes yet?).

This week's food preservation activities included:

• Pickling a pint of pickled peppers. ;-)
• Making and freezing a double batch of Green Chile Taco Sauce.

Now, it might seem like a lot to go through the whole canning process for one pint of pickled peppers, but I have never canned before and I want to learn. We picked all the "ready" peppers, and had to halve, and then halve again the pickled pepper recipe in the Ball Blue Book of Preserving. The recipe called for prepared horseradish, which I thought was kind of odd, but I got some to use, since, well, I don't want to die because I didn't follow the recipe, so the jar looks a little cloudy due to the bits of horseradish and pepper seeds floating around.















Here are the pepper slices soaking on a salt water solution. We did this on Friday night, so they could soak for the called for 12-18 hours.















And here is the finished product, our very first home canned jar of pickled peppers. We were both really proud of this. And I bet you can imagine our delight this morning when we went to check the seal to find out it had properly sealed itself! Wahoo! Too bad we are going to be getting our favorite pizzas REAL soon so we can load 'em down with these peppers, we just can't wait to try them!

My second preservation activity this week was to make a double batch of our favorite sauce recipe I've created to this point: Green Chile Taco Sauce.

This took awhile, but it was well worth it. We ended up with 11 cups of Green Chile Taco Sauce (I'm not sure why it ended up being an odd number, I think it's because the size of the peppers and tomatoes varies). We kept one cup out to use for a special Mexi-meal I am making this week (that involve those peaches you saw from the market - we are really excited about this one), and the rest went in the freezer for later use.















This is the mound of veggies used in the sauce.

And this is what we ended up with! Yum, yum, yum!

Well, I'm going to start working on the Garden Update, I want to get it posted today.

'Til next time (which should be pretty soon)! ;-)