Got Tomatoes?

When Tom and the kids came home one by one last night, each one wanted to know how soon supper would be - the aroma of  roasted tomato sauce  roasting in the oven sent their hunger soaring. 

A little sauce goes a long way with this recipe, because the roasting concentrates the rich flavors of the tomatoes, onions, garlic and herbs.  It's the perfect way to use up tomatoes when you have limited freezer space like I do. 

Blessed with a harvest!

These tomatoes on my counter weren't grown by me - I wish they had been. Mine succumbed a nasty blight, and I ended up harvesting little more than a few cherry tomatoes.

My brother Karl, (bless his heart) came to my rescue and gave me a large grocery bag full of slightly unripe tomatoes from his garden, and they've been sitting on my counter getting ready for me to use. We've been making BLT's through out the week, and tonight I will be using many of them for my favorite roasted tomato sauce. Hopefully there will be some left for me to make fresh salsa this weekend.

By the way, if you are ever in the need of a rigorous intellectual challenge, my brother has written two books, Having Words with God, and The Heart of Biblical Narrative. I have yet to delve into them, but one of these days!

Aerogarden update 2

My 8 year old actually took this picture several weeks ago, so my current Aerogarden crop is even more lush than this. The small basil on the right has now caught up to the others.

As you can see, the basil in the center definitely needs a trim! In fact, every other day I need to perform a good trim. Even though I have 4 basil plants (along with mint, dill, and thyme) I usually only have enough basil leaves for a small batch of pesto, so I usually use my basil trimmings to make fresh bruschetta, which is heavenly on my homemade 10 grain sour dough bread. Never made it before? This bruschetta recipe is a good starting point, but I also add some finely chopped onion if I have it on hand.

Special Snowball Cookies

No new ""You frame it Friday" picture today, I'll be posting my unframed pressed flower art again sometime after Christmas. For now I'm busy filling orders, which in this economy is such a blessing.

I think my customers seem to appreciate my offer of free gift wrapping, along with a free pressed fern Christmas gift tag. If you are still thinking of ordering, please do so soon. Next Friday (the 18th) will be the last day I fill orders until after Christmas.

If you received my latest newsletter you've already seen this, but I've decided to share my favorite Christmas cookie recipe this year for Snowball Cookies. These aren't the really buttery snowball cookies typically covered in powdered sugar. Instead, these cookies are soft and tender, with a delicious flavor. I'd love to make some this weekend, but I don't dare make them until right before Christmas...because they disappear almost instantly in my house.

Special Snowball Cookies

1 C soft margarine
2 C granulated sugar
2 eggs
1 t vanilla
5 C sifted flour
1 t baking soda
2 t baking powder
1/2 t salt
3/4 C sour cream
1 C flaked coconut
colored sugar

Cream margarine and sugar until light. Add eggs and vanilla and beat well. Add sifted dry ingredients, sour cream, and coconut, mix well. Chill several hours.

Shape into 1 inch balls and sprinkle top with colored sugar (or those little colored balls). Bake at 375 degrees, 8-10 minutes. Makes about 6 dozen only if you don't sample large amounts of dough.

Enjoy!

roasted tomato sauce, part 2

Mj has made my roasted tomato sauce and and has posted great step by step pictures and mention of her variations.
Glad you enjoyed it mj!

Brimming with a colorful harvest...

I have been blessed with copious amounts of colorful heirloom tomatoes. It is (deeply) ingrained in me not to waste food, so I am feverishly giving away and finding uses for as many tomatoes as I can. The delicious recipe below has been a lifesaver - it uses up a large amount tomatoes, and freezes well.

(By the way, in case you're wondering, "You frame it Friday" will return next week)

roasted tomato sauce

15 cloves of peeled garlic
8 # of ripe tomatoes (any kind), cut in half
5 medium onions, quartered
1 cup of fresh herbs, chopped (I use a mixture of oregano, Italian flat leaf parsley, basil, thyme, and rosemary)
1/4 cup of olive oil
1/2 teaspoon of salt
freshly ground black pepper (I like a lot)
2-4 tablespoons of honey, optional

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Chop 5 of the cloves of garlic. Leave the remaining cloves whole. In a large roasting pan, carefully toss together the tomatoes, garlic, onions, herbs, oil, salt, and pepper.
2. Roast for 25 minutes. Gently stir. Roast for another 25 minutes, stir again. Roast another 45 minutes, or until tomatoes are softened and broken down into a sauce with a golden brown crust on top.
3. Remove from oven and taste for seasoning. Mash tomatoes slightly, (some chunks are nice) or blend until smooth if you wish. This sauce freezes well, or is great for canning. Use it with pasta, fish, or as a wonderful dipping sauce for really good french bread.

Enjoy!


"The LORD will indeed give what is good, and our land will yield its harvest."
Psalm 85:12

pressing work

I'm back to work, or, as friends and family tend to say, "She's playing with her flowers again."

I’m feeling the need to re-organize my life and get back to a routine. I suppose summer does that to everyone. But, before I get started with that, I'm going to focus on fully reaping the benefits of my herb and vegetable gardens. So many times the summer slips by and I feel guilty for not making the most of my herbs and vegetables, but with prices as they are, I'm going to stay on top of things this year. Today, in between pressing flowers and filling orders, I will make my first of hopefully many batches of pesto and herb butter.

As soon as my Roma tomatoes are ripe, I'll share an awesome Baked Tomato Spaghetti Sauce with you. My aunt in Albuquerque made it for us, and because the tomatoes are baked their flavor intensifies, and the result in incredible. And, the recipe freezes well, so I plan on making many batches. You'll love it.

Pesto time

The kids and I went to what we call "the mushroom store" yesterday - it's a cute little store down the road featuring Wisconsin grown produce, specialty cheeses, and their own delectable mushrooms, and pasta sauces.
We like going because the store is known for its generosity in providing free samples. Yum! One of the samples we had was pesto butter on a small chunk of french bread...out of this world! I made quite a few batches of pesto this year, but not any pesto butter. Why don't we do that this afternoon? If you have a few scraggly bushes of basil still hanging around in your garden, why don't you join me. Here's a recipe:
Basil Butter

• 4.5 cups loosely packed basil leaves
• 1/3 cup pine nuts
• 3/4 cup Parmesan cheese
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter

Directions:

In a food processor: use the steel blade to finely mince garlic. Add basil and process until finely chopped. Add pine nuts and Parmesan; process until coarsely chopped. Blend in butter. Store in the refrigerator for up to a week; freeze for longer storage. Serve at room temperature.

By the way, the mushroom store charged $4.25 for only 4 ounces of pesto butter. This recipe makes $8.50 worth of pesto butter!
Here's an interesting recipe that uses pesto butter.
Enjoy!

It's time to make herb butter!

If you haven’t done so already, now is the time to make herb butter. If you’ve never had herb butter before, I promise you – you are in for a treat!

Using herb butter really kicks a person’s cooking skills up a notch. I use herb butter on cooked vegetables - even corn on the cob, fish, pasta, grilled chicken or steak, and of course on really on really good bread. I also use a pat in the pan when cook omelets, or for sautéing different things such as shrimp.

Harvest your herbs in the morning after the dew has dried, gently wash them and allow them to dry. You can carefully blot them dry with a towel, or place them in a salad spinner to speed things along.

Here’s a very basic recipe for herb butter to get you started:

Herb Butter
makes about 1/2 cup (equivalent of 1 stick)

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature (you may use regular, salted butter if you wish, just eliminate the sea salt)
1/4 cup finely chopped mixed herbs (such as basil, thyme, sage, parsley, dill, chives, tarragon, oregano, marjoram or rosemary)
1 teaspoon coarse sea salt

In a small bowl, combine all ingredients. Mix well until herbs are distributed evenly. Place mixed butter on a piece of waxed paper or parchment, shape into a cylinder or disk, and seal ends by twisting. Chill in refrigerator until firm, at least an hour.

Herb butter keep in refrigerator for about 2 weeks and in the freezer for several months.

Here are some of my favorite herb butter combinations:

*Italian: oregano, basil, parsley and chives

*Chives and parsley: especially great for steak, or baked potatoes

* Pesto butter: just basil, with a bit of grated parmesan cheese - absolutely decadent on tortellini pasta!

* Dill and parsley: wonderful on green beans, and other veggies.

* all purpose: I use just about all my herbs – chives, basil, oregano, thyme, parsley, tarragon, rosemary, and a tiny bit of sage.

Here’s one more hint for you. For the ultimate herb butter, use fancy European butter. In my grocery store I can sometimes find Irish or Scandinavian butter. Herb butter made with these decadent butters is out of this world, and is worthy of your best home baked sourdough bread.

Do you have a favorite way to use herb butter?