living simply and embracing imperfection
So, after three years of posting almost every Monday about our weekly menu and whatever fun things I wanted to share with you all, it was a little bit of a withdrawal to take the whole month of October off so that I could post every day about thrift store transformations. Yes, I whined a [...]
We use a lot of tomato products at our house – soups, stews, salsas, casseroles…well, the list could go on for awhile. For years I’ve preserved our homegrown tomatoes in frozen tomato sauce, canned salsa and pizza sauce, and of course, Addictive Tomato Chutney. But the search for a good, safe, canned tomato-and-chilies product (also [...]
You’ll have to forgive the ugly five-gallon buckets in the photo above – it took two hours to pick all this after we’d been gone for the weekend and I didn’t have any time to make the haul look pretty. Though I’m not sure what I would’ve done, anyway, as each of those buckets holds [...]
Of all the fruits I preserve in some way – freezing, canning, or drying – dried plums are probably my family’s favorite. They are simply a wonderful chewy-tart snack that we eat almost as fast as I can dry them. And they are NOT prunes – they don’t have that off-putting texture or smell, nor [...]
Drying tomatoes and storing them in olive oil remains one of my favorite preservation techniques. They are so full of flavor and are ready to be added to salads, appetizers (like this Goat Cheese Appetizer) or any recipe without rehydrating first. Plus, when the tomatoes are gone, the oil makes a super tomato-flavored base to [...]
I’m so excited to be able to share this update to one of my favorite recipes here at AOC – Addictive Tomato Chutney. It’s an old recipe that I’ve used for years and old canning recipes seem to have a lot of sugar. When I adapted the original recipe all those years ago, I actually [...]
Want to spend less time freezing the season’s green beans and have a better texture after freezing? Then follow my steps to freeze green beans – without blanching first. Yes, I know everything you read says the “proper” way to freeze beans is to blanch first (immerse in boiling water for about 30 seconds, then [...]
I made this black current juice concentrate for the first time three years ago as a way to use up the ton of black currants my two bushes were suddenly providing. We LOVED it mixed with sparkling water as Italian sodas – far more than the jam and syrup I also made. I’d never grown [...]
I honestly can’t believe I haven’t posted this goat cheese appetizer recipe before now. It’s so simple and delicious – plus it uses garden produce that I’ve preserved: dried tomatoes in olive oil and roasted red peppers in wine, which makes it that much more awesome! This seriously is my go-to appetizer. Sometimes, though, I’ll [...]
Here is a list of my past preserving counts and links, which I’ll update yearly for easy reference. 2011 Preserving count 6 qt. bags frozen strawberries 4 and 1/2 pints strawberry freezer jam 4 1/2-pints canned strawberry jam 7 1/2-pints Rhubarb BBQ Sauce 8 1/2-pints Marionberry freezer jam 6 1/2-pints Golden raspberry freezer jam 8 [...]
When I wrote about rhubarb during a Tuesday Garden Party a few weeks ago, I mentioned wanting to make this Spicy Rhubarb Chutney. It was one of the first chutneys I ever made – or tasted – when I grew rhubarb for the first time. Over the years I’ve adapted it to be spicier and [...]
(Note: This is a lower-sugar version of my standby plum sauce that I shared last year. I like it better and honestly can’t tell there’s less sugar) In addition to Addictive Tomato Chutney, this Spicy Plum Sauce is one of my favorite condiments to have on hand throughout the year. We use it on stir [...]
I’ve been canning salsa with all our garden tomatoes, peppers, and onions using My favorite Salsa For Canning. It has remained my favorite even after trying three different recipes last year. I like that I don’t have to deal with store-bought-preservative-filled lemon juice, which every site I visited recommended as the only lemon juice with [...]
This syrup/dessert topping is made with fruit, apple juice, honey, and a bit of sugar. You can also make it with just the juice and honey, if you don’t mind a stronger honey flavor. It is nicely sweet, though – there’s no mistaking that this is a syrup. Because the recipe is made with the [...]
This is what I canned one day last week: Apple Butter, Marmalade, and Chutney. If you live in the Pacific Northwest, you are probably wondering where I got apples from this early- our first apples to ripen, Gravensteins, won’t be ripe for a couple of weeks yet. This is a five gallon bucket full of Gravenstein [...]
I’m always looking for a way to use rhubarb when it’s in season- other than desserts, that is – and I’ve been meaning to try this recipe ever since I found it on CanadianLiving.com years ago. I can’t believe it took me so long to try it- it’s really easy and makes a great barbecue sauce [...]
This is the recipe I alluded to in the Tuesday Garden Party from a few weeks ago as a way I was using up the last of the zucchini that had been sitting in the fridge for a few weeks (zucchini keeps for a surprisingly long time in the fridge, but boy when it goes…). [...]
*Updated 9/3/11 to contain even more safely information I’ve found (which confirms for me that this is still the best way to keep dried tomatoes!)* This is how I’ve stored my dried tomatoes for years: in a vintage canning jar covered in olive oil and sitting in a kitchen cabinet. I’ve found them much easier [...]
A few years ago I started looking for a recipe to safely can roasted sweet peppers that would allow me to preserve my homegrown peppers. I mostly can with a water-bath canner and the recipes that are safe to can this way are pickled, which I usually found a bit strong, vinegar-wise. I eventually found [...]
Okay, I know what you’re thinking: “Frugal pesto – huh?” Let me explain. This is the pesto I make every year with our garden basil – enough to last us all winter by storing it in the freezer. We use it on artisan bread instead of butter (if you haven’t tried this, you really should- but [...]
For some reason beets seem to be a pretty divisive vegetable- you either like them or you think they taste like “dirt.” Personally, I don’t get it. I mean, we can buy beet sugar for pete’s sake. But I’m the lone beet-liker (beet-liker? Do you think this phrase will catch on?) in my family. The kids [...]
I got some great feedback on the The Back to Basics series that ran a few weeks ago. We looked at simple, easy, and cost-saving homemaking skills like making bread, jams, and pantry items, starting a garden, and creating simple cards and pillows. Since there’s a lot more basics we can cover, I’ve decided to [...]
Last year I wrote about the different ways that I preserve strawberries and did a comparison of two of my favorite commercial pectins I use to make freezer jam, complete with a cost breakdown. Due to some feedback I thought I’d ofter more specific details on making freezer jam and why I choose it over [...]
The strawberries are kinda petering out in my garden about now. I’m still getting some, but they are smaller and fewer. But since they are organic and I grew them, I don’t want to throw even one small one out. But what to do with the misshapen and small berries, even slightly overripe ones? Freeze them! [...]
This is our freezer. What started out as a circa 1992 white freezer with rusted edges and a nifty (?) black and gray “racing stripe” down the left side has turned into one of my favorite things in our laundry room (that we created during our garage remodel). And it was as easy as painting [...]
Whew. That’s a long name. Basically, making lemon-garlic roasted vegetables is a way to preserve vegetables from the end of the harvest in the freezer now to make a wonderful soup in the winter. And since the soup is mostly vegetables, it’s a great way to get a variety of veggies in those dark winter [...]
These are the doors to my canning pantry. This is in the section of our house that used to be the garage, but we remodeled into living space (see the outside transformation here). I plan to get the next installment of the Remodeling Series about this garage remodel soon. Really. Honestly. OK, don’t hold your [...]
The other night the temperature got down to 34 degrees – there was frost on the pumpkins for sure. This is at least a week or two earlier than usual around here, which has put a big halt on the garden. Knowing it was going to get cold, I harvested the last of the hot peppers, [...]
I’ve always been wary of lots of kitchen gadgets. First, they cost money and second, I never seem to have enough room for everything I’ve already got, let alone add another thing. I know I’m alone on this in many areas and some people would never do without their ________ (insert favorite gadget here: rice [...]
Though fall didn’t officially start until today, this past Saturday sure felt like fall here. It rained all day. Well, “rain” is maybe not the appropriate word, more like “mist” or “drizzle” or even “spit.” Whatever. The point is, it was WET. ALL day. But you kinda get used to that in the Northwest, and [...]
When I found this canned tomato bruschetta recipe in a book from the library a few years ago (wish I would’ve known to write down the name), I was skeptical. I thought the canned tomatoes would be mushy and it would be like putting a chunky sauce on your bread (bruschetta is toasted bread- usually [...]
Our family LOVES salsa – if we don’t eat it everyday, at least I think it’s safe to say we eat it every other day. We have been spoiled with the flavor of salsa made with a variety of home-grown tomatoes, peppers, and onions. So every August and September I make enough batches to see [...]
*Updated to use less sugar: a new combination of honey and brown sugar/sucanat. Go here to view updated recipe* Most people I talk to don’t have much experience with chutney and are not sure if it’s something they would eat or what they would use it for. If this is you, I encourage you to [...]
I’m going to be putting up a number of recipes that can be preserved by boiling water canning in order to be stored on the pantry shelf, so I thought it would be best to have a step-by-step tutorial I can link to for those of you who have not done any canning. I’m using [...]
When I’ve got tomatoes coming out of my ears and they are in buckets and bowls all over my kitchen, people will invariably ask when they see them, “what are you going to do with all those tomatoes?” Um, let’s see: Addictive Tomato Chutney, Dried Tomatoes, Salsa, pizza/seasoned sauce, Tomato & Feta Salad, Zucchini, Corn & [...]
Before I start this tutorial on how to peel tomatoes, I should clarify that this is how I peel tomatoes – and it’s a lot easier than the typical method. When I’m facing mounds of tomatoes from the garden that all need to be processed into salsa, sauce or canned, I cannot be bothered with [...]
Those who’ve been reading me for awhile might feel a sense of deja vu from the above picture and thinking, “surely she’s done these before?” The picture is very similar to the pickled asparagus recipe I posted here. But if you look closely, you should be able to see (hopefully, though I’m not a photographer by [...]
I’ve made two kinds of pickled cucumbers: canned in a water-bath canner and pickles to store in the refrigerator. Here are a few reasons why I prefer the refrigerator pickle: They stay crisp. They stay crisp. They stay crisp. Well, you get my point, and it’s the main reason why I don’t water-bath can them [...]
A friend (thank you, Julie!) offered her dad’s cherries to me the other day. The tree was loaded (actually overloaded – never seen anything like it!) with ripe, tasty cherries. My friend’s daughter helped me pick them. We basically grabbed handfuls at a time, there were so many. We filled three buckets in about 45 [...]
I have been harvesting asparagus now for a little over a month. I have another week and then will need to let the plants grow to provide food for next year’s harvest. My favorite way to eat asparagus is to roast it with olive oil and garlic (just 10-15 minutes in a 400 degree oven), [...]
I believe a cottage can be anywhere or anything (condo, ranch, farmhouse) as long as you have a "cottage mentality" which puts people above things, celebrates imperfections, embraces simplicity, and finds joy in everyday life. Thanks for joining me!
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