Dinner!

Tonight I made soup with the last of the tomatoes for the year, some basil, chard and beans.  I received some Tokyo Bekana and Lettuce in my CSA share today and made a salad with them and added beets that I pickled.

This summer I was dedicated to eating as locally as possible and it has been very rewarding.  I waited all summer for tomatoes and peppers and when August finally rolled around I was happier than ever before to eat a pepper and a tomato!  Spinach comes around in the spring and again in the fall (tasting extra sweet from the frost!).  I am excited to have spinach again.  Sometimes it is nice not having everything I want when I want it.

By next summer I hope to be a master canner and receive a full CSA share instead of the 1/2 CSA share I had this year.  I would receive twice as much veggies and I would can and freeze the other half so that all winter I would have my summer veggies.  This has been a great summer of learning about eating locally and farming!

Cherry Jam, Pickled Garlic Scapes and Pickled Beets!

Michigan cherries from Hardin Family Farms, Illinois honey from Dennanne Farms, star anise, lemon and low-sugar pectin all to make Cherry Jam!

For this cherry jam I followed this recipe...sorta.  I used a cup of honey instead of granulated sugar and added a star anise to simmer with the cherries.  I would have added one more star anise and 2/3 cup of honey instead of a cup.  The jam is as sweet as the stuff you buy at the grocery store...and that was not what I was going for but it is still yummy.  I am hoping I didn't leave too much headspace for this jar...

I pickled two more jars of garlic scapes with basil.  The recipe is here.  Tonight for dinner I made garlic scape pesto pizza.  Garlic Scape Pesto recipe.  I made some great vegan cheese with cashews, nutritional yeast and canned red peppers for the pizza.  Here is the recipe for 7 Secrets Simple Cheese Sauce.  I have 4 more scapes left...what should I do with them?!

I received some beets in my CSA so I pickled them with apple cider vinegar, ginger and cinnamon!  They are going to be awesome.  Here is the recipe.

I have been pickling, canning and cooking like a crazy person...time to get back to the artwork...and stop heating our apartment up!