Pumpkin Madness

One afternoon after work this week, we headed to the local farm to pick out some pumpkins.  I don’t know about you, but I love pumpkins.  I mean, really love them.  They’re one of my favorite things about fall (along with gourds, crisp weather and colorful leaves), and I’ve been dreaming about becoming a pumpkin farmer since I first started gardening.  I love the way they look in my home and on my front porch, I love the way they taste in muffins, bread and cookies (recipe coming soon—you don’t want to miss it) and I just plain love the color orange.  What is there not to love about pumpkins?  (And don’t forget about roasting seeds.)  They’re even fun to chuck in the back yard when we’re done with them to see what seeds come up in the spring.

I had to laugh at myself when we pulled into the farm and saw all these pumpkins so gloriously lined up among mums, asters and bundles of dried corn stalks.

I actually exclaimed, “Whoa, lookit all those pumpkins!!!!”  lol.  Yeah.  I’m a pumpkin dork.

Nathan got to choose his own little pumpkin. 

Word.

But I left with the cutest little pumpkin of all.

 

Have a good and pumpkiny weekend!

Drying and Storing Herbs

If you haven’t been drying and storing herbs for use all winter long, you still have time!  Now’s the time to start, while herbs are still putting out new leaves (although barely) and it’s not cold enough out to damage them. (At this point, I’d hurry and cut some herbs to dry now.  As in, right now.  What are you waiting for?!)

I hang my fresh-cut herbs from the beam that divides my kitchen and family room.  I usually cut such large branches branches that I don’t need bundle them, but smaller branches can be loosely bound together with some jute twine for easy hanging.  The idea is to hang them in a dry place that has good ventilation, away from direct sunlight.  Note: It is not necessary to wash your herbs first, unless they are visibly dirty.

Once completely dry (it can take a few weeks), store the dried herbs in any kind of resalable container.  I like mason jars, but since I’m a spice-dropper (okay, I'm an everything-in-the-kitchen dropper), I use plastic containers, like Gladware or even Ziplock plastic bags.  This year I tried Ball freezer jars (for jam), which have screw-on plastic tops and are BPA free.  These seem like they’ll do a much better job of keeping my herbs fresh.  Or, fresh-er, since they’ll never be as fresh as they were the day I picked them from the garden.

I don’t know about you, but I love reaching into my spice cabinet during the winter months and pulling out herbs that I grew and dried myself.  I remember growing the plants and feel proud that I'm using what I've grown.  Drying my own herbs is resourceful and self-sufficient, easy to do and just tastes better.  There’s no good reason not to dry your own!

Tomatoes are In, My Bruschetta Recipe

Ripe slicing tomatoes are coming into the farmer’s market, and my cherry and plum tomatoes are finally starting to ripen in the garden.  We’re enjoying the slicers on turkey sandwiches on fresh Italian bread with kosher salt, extra mayo and oregano I dried earlier this summer.  And I’ve been making a ton of our family’s favorite—bruschetta on toasted slices of Italian bread.

Nothing is fresher than bruschetta in summer—and, to me, anyway, nothing tastes better in summer than tomatoes and basil.  Together.  With good olive oil and tangy, fruity balsamic vinegar.  Mmmmm.  I’m getting hungry all over again.

This time I served it with prosciutto, fresh mozzarella and fried eggplant.  I fried the eggplant using my recipe for the best fried zucchini ever, except I cut the eggplant into sticks instead of rounds and added a fair amount of freshly grated parmesan cheese to the breadcrumbs.

Please enjoy my bruschetta recipe and savor the tastes (and aromas!) of summer in your kitchen.  Adjust the ingredients up or down to get just the right amount—the good news is the measurements don’t have to be exact, and you can just go for it without any major consequences.

Kelly’s Bruschetta

Makes two to three servings

Three medium-sized ripe tomatoes, seeded and diced

Half a medium red onion, diced

One large clove of garlic (or more), minced (not the jarred stuff!)

7-8 fresh basil leaves, julienned or rough chopped

1 tbsp good olive oil

2-3 tbsp balsamic vinegar (or to taste)

salt & pepper to taste

Half a skinny loaf of Italian or French bread, sliced and toasted

Combine the diced tomatoes, onion, garlic and basil and stir gently.  Drizzle in olive oil and basil, stir gently, then add salt and pepper to taste.  Let it sit at room temperature while you get the rest of your meal together—the flavors meld and get better the longer it sits—but good luck with that.  : )  Best spooned onto slices of toasted bread.

The Basil Harvest and Pesto (and Giveaway Winner!)

Sunday was Basil Harvest Day.  That morning, Nathan and I headed out to the garden and I cut as much basil as was prudent from my three sweet basil plants.  That means I cut as much basil as I possibly could without killing the plants. 

After my early years of gardening and carefully picking just the leaves and leaving behind the stems to “keep growing”—they don’t—I finally realized that severely cutting down entire branches makes the plant grow bushier and more vigorously, ultimately leading to bigger, better harvests.

And because of that, I picked way more basil than I needed for two batches of pesto.  This is just a portion of the harvest.

I made the first batch of pesto while Nathan ate his lunch, and the second while he napped.  I used the recipe in Food Network Favorites: Recipes from Our All-Star Chefs—it's so easy!  In addition to fresh basil, it takes fresh lemon juice (not the bottled stuff), fresh garlic (not the jarred stuff), freshly grated parmesan cheese, olive oil, pine nuts or walnuts, salt and pepper.

The idea here is fresh, fresh, fresh, and it sure tastes it.  I know that when I'm making pesto it's the height of the summer and my garden is in full swing...and ripenening tomatoes are right around the corner.

I froze the pesto in my Beaba Multiportions babyfood portioner in two-ounce servings, since no one in this house eats purees anymore, even for strangely textured vegetables.  Really.  And then when that was full, I broke out a one-ounce babyfood portioner.  I’m really glad I did this, because I’m the only one who eats pesto around here, and freezing it in big portions is such a waste unless we're having friends or family over.

I hung the leftover basil from the rafter that divides my family room and kitchen to dry.

I did make a fatal error, though, in all this—I forgot to leave some unfrozen for fresh eating!  That afternoon I was jonzing for something to spread on a French baguette and I nearly smacked myself in the forehead like in a 90s sitcom.  PESTO!

I managed to get a small cube of half-frozen pesto out of the freezer and nuke it in the microwave for a few seconds to spread on my fresh bread.  And, MAN, was it good.  Summer couldn’t taste any greener.  Or fresher.  Highly recommended!

Oh, and I almost forgot to announce the winner of my awesome handmade notecards.  Random.org generated a lucky number 6 for W-S Wanderings.  Congrats, and I'll be in touch soon!!!  Thanks to all who entered.