Mincemeat

I have tomatoes coming out the ying-yang.  Even though I only planted 6 plants (4 regular and 2 cherry type) I have boxes of green tomatoes in the garage.  I picked and pulled out my tomatoes yesterday because they have been threatening frost for the last few days.  It went down to +3°C last night but since I am going visiting over the next few weeks, I decided it is time to put my yard and garden to bed.

So back to the tomatoes.  I have made spaghetti sauce and canned a number of red tomatoes but wanted to get rid of some of the green ones.

My sister-in-law, Barb sent me her recipe for mincemeat since I have an abundance of green tomatoes and apples.  I decided to give it a whirl since I love her mincemeat.  (I was lucky enough to have received a few jars from her last year.)

Ingredients

6 c chopped green tomatoes
6 c chopped apples (cored and peeled)
3 c raisins
1 c suet or butter
3/4 c vinegar
1 c mixed peel
4 c brown sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp cloves
3/4 tsp allspice
2 tsp salt

Core and chop tomatoes.  I used my food processor on pulse.

Place tomatoes in a large pot and cover with hot water.  Bring to a boil and the drain thoroughly.

Do that 3 times.

Add the rest of the ingredients.

Mix well and cook for an hour.

Fill sealers and process in hot water bath for  25 minutes.

I got 5 quarts of mincemeat.  Barb's was slightly browner in colour but I added a bit more tomatoes and apples since I had lots. 

 

Store until needed for pie, tarts or squares.  Last year I made some squares similar to matrimonial cake but used mincemeat instead of the date mixture.  They were very yummy.  ;)

 

I'm Back

This has been a very tough summer.  Losing Lulu took a lot out of me.  I have been very lonely and down in the dumps and often cried at the drop of a hat.  I was lucky that Barry was home several times throughout the summer and I went to see him when I needed to get away.

I had trouble weeding this summer because every time I went outside, I expected to see Lulu.  It was hard to dig weeds and see the beetles and worms that she would have loved to eat.  It seems like a chore now that she isn't there to egg me on. 

The wasps have been especially ferocious this year.  I have never been stung before but both Barry and I have been stung three times each. They are everywhere!  I got stung digging garlic and also while picking a plum.  Many outdoor chores are best done early in the morning before the sun rises over the mountain or in the evening when they seem to have settled for the night.

As a result of both missing Lulu and fighting off the wasps, my garden did not do too well.  By the time Barry was here to help out, the weeds had more or less taken over.  We did have some successes - cukes, cabbage and tomatoes did well.  In fact, the cukes went crazy after a very slow start.  I have been giving away at least two grocery bags of them a week!  We have eaten tons ourselves (I love Greek Salad!) and made some relish, etc.

I was disappointed with the corn this year.  I didn't plant my regular variety and found this year's corn too starchy.  Plus I had trouble enjoying corn on the cob this year because Lulu was always there to share it in the past.  It just seemed to stick in my throat. 

I have been making jam and juice as well as freezing fruit for later use but haven't taken any pictures so those recipes will not make it to my blog.  I have had trouble staying focused on blogging.

I am doing somewhat better now but still find I get teary-eyed now and then.  Last week at the grocery store, I had trouble when one of the clerks asked me about Lulu.  I hadn't seen her since Lulu died so she was unaware.  She would always ask me, "How's your baby?" and tell me that she told her kids and other relatives about Lulu.  It was hard to tell her about Lulu without breaking down in the checkout line.

I have quite a few photos of stops with Lulu on the trip in June for my parents' 60th anniversary.  I will be posting them since so many of your seemed to enjoy Lulu's adventures. 

I will be slowing down my blogging as I don't have much gardening happening and I haven't recorded very many recipes.  I don't plan to stop but may not be as regular as I have been.

I thank all of you who sent kind words or called to offer your sympathy.  My sweet little chicken is firmly entrenched in my heart.  I miss her so.

New Plants in the Garden

Several of the blueberries we planted last year are bearing fruit and some of the berries are ready to eat.  Last year we planted 8 blueberries and 4 of them have fruit this year.

We have 3 Saskatoon bushes that produced while we were gone so we missed out on those berries.  :(   I tried to give Lulu the dried berries to eat but she turned her beak up at them - she wanted fresh blueberries instead.  Fussy girl!

While we were away I purchased 2 more Saskatoon bushes  - a Thiessen and a Smokey.

I also bought 2 haskaps - a Tundra and a Polar Jewel.  Haskaps are also known as Honeyberries.  They are edible blue honeysuckles that are very cold hardy.  They are supposed to taste blueberry-ish with undertones of currents or raspberries.  I can't wait.

I also bought a Bailey Cranberry bush.  I already had a lingonberry was started from a shoot brought to Canada from Norway by Barry's grandmother in the late 1940's.  I plan on using these 2 bushes to make jelly to use with roast turkey, whenever I get enough berries.  The lingonberry had some berries last year but I transplanted it this year to its final resting place and it did not produce any this year.

Last year I also got some perennials from a friend cleaning out her perennial bed.  These hydrangeas bloomed last year but not as prolific as this year.

Not as large as this year either.  Look at the size of these blooms compared to my hand!  ;)

Carrot Seed Update

Here's an update on my carrot seeds.  This one is growing nicely.  Bushy and green and healthy.

 

The others?  They rotted in the ground and left behind a hole.

All four of them!  Four holes and one plant!  I hope they don't have to cross-pollinate to seed or I'm in trouble.  We'll see later this summer.

Fruit Trees Spring 2013

Well, it has been a weird spring as far as the weather.  We had frosty cold nights (down to -5°F) a few times and a week of +30°F weather.  The last week, we had lots of rain - enough to half-fill the small wheelbarrow.

I went out to check on how the fruit is coming and found both good and bad news.

Next to no peaches.  Last year we had so many that I had to thin them out.  The late frost happened when the trees were blooming so no peaches.  :(

 

The apricot tree in the back is loaded - even with Barry's severe pruning this year.  He cut the tree back quite a bit to shorten it so we don't have to climb so high on the ladder to pick the fruit.

 

We are going to have lots of plums.  They seem to be very hardy as we have had an abundance of plums each year.

 

Look at the poor cherries!  :(  They are so scarce, we didn't even bag the trees against the cherry fruit fly this year.  it was too much work for so few cherries.  The frost hit the cherry blossoms as well as the peaches this year.  :(

 

It looks like the apple crop will be good.  I will be soon thinning out the apples so the fruit gets bigger.  I'd rather have fewer but larger fruit than lots of small apples.

 

The pears are plentiful and will need thinning as well.

 

Here is the second apricot tree which is loaded like the other tree.  It'll be the year for apricot juice and jam.

 



Carrot Seeds

Did you know that carrots are biennial?  That means that in order to get seeds from them you need to wait until their second year.  Well, I decided to take the challenge and give it a try.

What you do is save some carrots from the previous harvest year.  I stored mine in a plastic grocery bag that I loosely tied shut so they would still get some air.  You don't want it completely sealed or they might rot.  You keep them in a cool place - I kept mine in the extra fridge downstairs.  This is what they looked like this spring.

 

I dug a trench at the end of a flower-saving garden in the back yard.

 

I stuck the carrots in the trench.

 

Then I covered them up to the top of the carrot.

 

The carrot blossoms are supposed to be a bee magnet.  We will see what happens as summer progresses and keep you informed.

 

 

A Spring Day

The weather this spring is a lot cooler than we've had the last few years.  It goes below freezing almost every night plus has been rainy and windy.  It has been snowing up on the mountains while we are getting rain down here.

The first year we were in Lillooet, we were already planting potatoes, etc. by this date.

It was a nice day so I decided to do some work in the flower beds, with supervision, of course.   ;)

 

I was working on the quack grass and Lulu was working on the worms and bugs.

 

I would often have to move Lulu as she would get in the way - standing right where I was digging.

 

Here she is giving me a look because I had just moved her a bit.

 

Lulu does get in the way, but I really don't mind too much.  She likes to stay close to me and I think at times she gets lonely.

 

Some of the daffodils are out.

 

They are such a vibrant yellow.  I love them!

 

The apricot tree in the front yard is blooming.  There were quite a few bees buzzing around the blossoms.

 

Looks like we're getting a good crop of apricots again.

 

Apricots burst into bloom so quickly.  One day you have a bare tree and the next day you go out and BAM! - the whole tree is in bloom.  Amazing!  :) 

 

 

 



Sourdough Sharing - Cake

This month for Sourdough Sharing, I have two sourdough cakes to offer. 

The first one is a Carrot Cake that I previously blogged here.  It is Barry's favorite carrot cake as he hates dry cakes and this one is very nice and moist.  It is very tasty with the nuts, raisins and pineapple added.

The other cake is a Sourdough Fiesta Cake that I found in my Sourdough Cookery cookbook by Rita Davenport.  I was pleased to be able to use my own dehydrated beans and raisins from my garden as well as our own apples in this cake.

Ingredients

1/4 c butter, softened

1 c sugar

1 egg

1/2 c milk

2 c mashed cooked pinto beans

1 tsp vanilla

1 c sourdough

1 c flour

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp cloves

1/2 tsp allspice

2 c diced apples

1/2 c chopped nuts

1 c raisins

To make the beans, I soaked 2 cups of pinto beans overnight.  I then drained them and cooked them in fresh water til they were tender.  I then redrained them and mashed 2 cups of beans.  I had 2 cups of beans left over that I will use when I make refried beans later this week.  I now know that you only have to soak half of what the recipe needs as the beans double in size.

 

Beat together butter, sugar and egg.  Add milk, vanilla and beans.  Mix in the sourdough.

Combine dry ingredients and add to mixture.  Stir in nuts, raisins and apples.

Pour into a greased bundt pan and bake at 375°F for 45 minutes.  

Cool in pan for 5 minutes.  

Remove from pan and glaze when cool.

Glaze Ingredients

1 c icing sugar

1 tsp vanilla

2 Tbsp milk

Blend all ingredients and drizzle onto cake.  

I found the cake to be nice and moist.  Usually when you bake with apples, the standard spices seem to be cinnamon and nutmeg.  Using cloves and allspice gives it a different and pleasing taste.  The pinto beans are not noticeable but add hidden protein to the cake.  Enjoy!

 

Try one of these or take a look at the blogs below for other sourdough cakes.





Spinach Time

Last year I let my spinach go to seed so I could save some to plant this year.  Since I was often away or busy, the spinach got away from me and much of it reseeded itself when I wasn't looking.  I was still able to save a fair amount of seed (enough to share at Seedy Saturday).

Here is my huge patch of spinach that is ready super-early.

 

 

We have been eating steamed spinach sprinkled with vinegar and also spinach salad with bacon, mushrooms and boiled eggs.  I plan on using some for soup as well.

 

Someone else likes fresh spinach as well.

 

 

Lulu stays close to the edge of the patch as she enjoys her feed of spinach.  We don't mind sharing with her since there is so much of it.

 

She also likes that some of the leaves from last fall are near the spinach.  She likes to scratch and look for bugs while feasting on the spinach.

 

"Oh boy," exclaimed Lulu.  "I sure like all this green stuff!  Yum, yum, yum."

 

So Lulu is enjoying our nice weather - eating, scratching, dustbathing and sunning herself most of the day.  ;)