Tomatoes, The Perfect Food

Tomatoes have to be one of nature's most perfect foods.  They are so versatile, raw and cooked.  If you are planning a garden, tomatoes are a MUST. 

Tomatoes are loaded with vitamin C which keeps your immune system healthy.  They also contain Lycopene which  have anti-cancer properties.  The amino acids can speed up fat burning ability and and aid in a healthy heart.  They are delicious and so versatile! They can be enjoyed in pasta, salads, soups, stews, wraps, curries, and many of your favorite dishes.

Below is a simple canning method for your excess garden tomatoes:

Sterilize jars and lids. Scald tomatoes and remove skins.  Dip in boiling water, then cold water for easier skin removal.  Pack in hot jars with 1 tsp. salt and 1 tsp. sugar.  Put lids on and bands, place in 250 F degree oven for 70 minutes.  Turn off and leave jars in oven overnight.  Check lids to make sure they sealed.  Will store this way for up to 1 year.

Baked Tomato Salad

from The Summer Book by Susan Branch

Olive oil

Large ripe summer tomatoes

salt and pepper

minced fresh parsley

minced fresh basil or cilantro

1 jar of roasted red peppers, chopped (or make them fresh)

dry bread crumbs

capers

Method:

Choose a heavy baking dish.  Preheat oven to 475F. Put a good film of oil in bottom of dish.  Cut tomatoes in 1/4" slices & put a single layer into baking dish.  Salt & pepper, lightly sprinkle some of the spices over the tomatoes, then a layer of roasted red peppers.  Repeat the process until dish is full.  Last layer of tomatoes drizzle over a little olive oil, cover lightly with bread crumbs and sprinkle with capers (you can omit these if you don't like them).  Bake 20".  Serve warm or cold.

Quick Italian Gravy

2 Tbsp olive oil

2 tbsp dry basil

1/2 cup chopped onion

3 cloves garlic

1/2 cup chopped parsley

3/4 cup chopped mushrooms

2  29oz cans tomato puree (or make your own)

3/4 cup red wine

2 tbsp oregano

1 1/2 cups water

2 tsp salt

1 tbsp sugar

Saute garlic, onion, parsley, mushrooms in olive oil until limp.  Add remaining ing. Cover and simmer for 30 min.

My Favorite Tomato Gravy/Pasta Sauce

2 tbsp olive oil

1 medium onion, chopped

1 green pepper, cut into small bite size pieces

1/3 cup Parsley,

2 tbsp Oregano,

1 bay leaf, 

1 tsp basil

2 cans chopped or diced tomatoes w/ juices

 1/4 c  red balsamic vinegar

3/4 cup   red wine

pinch of sugar

salt and pepper to taste

 cooked mushrooms if desired

 cooked meat of your choice

You can get creative and add zucchini or carrots

Method:

Saute the onion in olive oil, then add the green peppers and stir for a few minutes

All other ingredients adding cooked meat last.  Simmer covered for an hour.  You can use Italian sausages, chicken, mince meat, ground lamb, whatever you prefer. 

Serve over your choice of pasta

Eat More Tomatoes...Eat More Tomatoes...Eat More Tomatoes...Eat More Tomatoes...



Chicken Hearted

To have fresh organic eggs every day is a wonderful treat!  Raising chickens is not difficult but there are a few things to learn.  I live on 1.4 acres of land and we have nightly visitations of Bobcat, bear, Opossums, Coyotes, and a variety of smaller critters as well.  Our chickens need to be locked up at night in order to avoid predators. 

There are a lot of web sites online that will teach you how to care for your chickens.   They do get sick very easily and you need to stay on top of each illness so that it doesn't spread to the others of the flock.  Keep your chickens wormed regularly, and keep antibiotics on hand.  Even with that, the loss of chickens seems to be inevitable so don't get too attached.  Having said that, one of the most enjoyable things to do is to sit on the porch and watch these animals roam the back yard and interact with one another.  They can be more entertaining than some of the mind numbing shows on tv! They each have their own personalities.  We have one Americana that refused to associate with the other chickens...we call her Princess.  We had a gold silky rooster that was a wonderful watch dog!  He would attack from behind when you weren't looking.  If you turned around to look at him, he would pretend he was just eating bugs...but as soon as you turned your back to him again he would rush you,throwing his entire body into your legs!  We called him Doofus...because if he walked into a corner of the chicken coop, he couldn't find his way out again.

In watching the chickens, I have come to realize this must have been a great past time over the ages for  people everywhere because there are so many words of wisdom that have derived from  the coop and it's members.  Here are a few:

Chickens have come home to roost: they do come back to the coop every evening

Rule The Roost: This is the rooster's job

Pecking Order: The hens DO let the newbies know who was there first

No Spring Chicken

Old Biddy

Flew The Coop

Up With The Chickens

Walking On Eggshells

Strutting Your Stuff

Bird Brain

Ruffle Your Feathers

Chicken Out

Hatch An Idea

Egg on Your Face

Play Chicken

Something To Crow About

Brood Over It

Chicken Scratch

Stuck In Your Craw

Cock and Bull story

Nesting

Empty Nester

Made From Scratch

Cooped Up

Cocky

Running around Like A Chicken With His Head Cut Off

Fox Guarding The Hen House

Ain't Nobody Here But Us Chickens

Nest Egg

Scratching Out A Living

Don't Put All Your Eggs In One Basket

Chicken Feed

Feather Your Nest

Don't Count Your Chickens Before The Hatch

Mother Hen

Scarce As Hen's Teeth

Chick

Hen-Pecked

Cock Of The Walk

Too Many Roosters In The Hen House

Laid An Egg

Bad Egg

Have To Break An Egg To Make An Omelet

Not Everything It's Cracked Up To Be

Good Egg

Egghead

Don't Lay An Egg

Here is a fantastic Australian recipe that has been around for Yonks (ages).  It is a traditional Friday night dinner on the farm....

Apricot Chicken

1 whole cut up chicken (traditional, I prefer boneless, skinless breasts or thighs)

1 medium onion, chopped

2 oz butter

2 cans apricots with juice

1 pkg. onion soup mix

salt and pepper

Method:

Using butter, Brown the chicken in a fry pan, then remove and set asside

In same pan, add a bit more butter and cook onion until tender.

Blend soup mix and apricot juice and bring to a boil. This is when you scrape off all the wonderful bits that stuck to the bottom of the pan while frying the chicken.  Keep stirring, it will lift off and join with the gravy adding flavor.

Season with salt and pepper. 

Put chicken back into pan and add apricots. 

Cover and simmer for about 30 min or so.

Serve over rice.



This is Doofus

This is Princess

The Coop.  We found the old Goat house on Craig's List and my husband added the layer boxes on each side, and the hinged door so we can lock them up at night to protect them from predators.  During the day they roam the entire yard.  I leave the coop yard door open for them to come and go at will.  Water and food outside the fence.



The Time To Learn and Prepare  Is Not When You Are Faced With an Emergency, but Now Before An Emergency Arises.

Can you prepare a garden bed and plant vegetables and herbs?  If you did, do you know how to use fresh herbs now and how to dry them for future use?  Do you know how to Can your excess produce?

Do you have the materials to do so?

Do you cook from scratch or do you use prepared meals and meals in boxes where all you need do is add water and boil?  Have you ever made a loaf of bread from scratch? (bread machines don't count).

It is too easy to purchase fast food or prepared foods.  If the time comes when we need to cook from scratch, will you know how? Now is the time to practice and learn.



This is my raised bed garden.  We are at the end of the growing season for now so you won't see a lot of crops.  The benifit of a raised bed garden is you can control the soil texture and ingredients you use instead of relying on the existing soil.   

Raised bed gardens drain better.  The soil in raised beds doesn't get compacted.  It's easy to formulate the soil for your raised bed to the plants you plan to grow there.  After building the raised bed, they  require less maintenance than conventional garden beds.

My garden is constructed with pressure treated landscaping boards, 3 high.  They are held together with rebar through each corner and through all the layers of boards.

To prepare the site, first till the area you will build on so the ground is soft for the roots of your plants.  Remove sod and weeds.

When laying the landscaping boards, make sure they are level on all sides to insure proper drainage.

When in place, fill the area with good quality top soil and manure, and mix in well and rake the soil level. To keep the weed population down, next you want to lay a good quality weed mat.  Now you are ready to plant.  Remember to follow the directions for placement on your plants.

Don't be afraid to use compost to encourage lots of good bugs, and mulch the top with a good wood mulch to help keep moisture in the soil. Water daily in the early am or at dusk, never during full sun as the heat can will cook your plants.

This is one way to plant your herbs...a lot in a small area...