Everything outside is either dead or sleeping (well, except the chickens of course), but we are nowhere near empty here on our little urban homestead. The last year of canning, drying, freezing and cold storage has left us with tons of options still for eating local, organic produce. I wanted to share just a couple of the super-simple things we’ve been eating this week. First
Last Canning
Our poor, decrepit car finally went to the big junkyard in the sky, but that didn’t stop me from picking more tomatoes at a local farm this weekend. I was quite determined to make one huge batch of tomato sauce before the end of the canning season. I hopped on my scooter and made it happen. With Halloween just around the corner, the local farms
Canning Tomatoes
It’s been quite chilly at night here, but for the last couple weeks our windows are fogged up late at night with the smell of simmering tomatoes and herbs wafting through the house. Not an uninviting home, but I could due with an earlier bedtime during these shorter days. The winter hiberation cannot begin quite yet though for there are tomatoes to be canned. We
Pear Chutney = Sweet Piece of Heaven
The only chutney I have ever really used has been store bought. I thought it was okay, but nothing to write home about. Well, my friends, that is true no more for I have discovered the sweet piece of heaven that is homemade chutney. This basic pear chutney recipe came from the Ball cookbook, but I made some variations along the way. It probably took
Asian Pear Butter Success
There has been successful canning at my house! About a week ago I mentioned the pear butter I had attempted to make with the asian pears from my mom’s house. Sadly, I had made pear sauce (like apple sauce) because the cookbook I was using didn’t specify times. And who knew you need to simmer the pear sauce for multiple hours to get pear butter?
Motivation Canned
My childhood home was a 1930’s farmhouse situation on 3/4 of an acre in SE Portland, which as a child seemed like an endless plot of land. For someone living out in the country, that probably doesn’t seem like much. Being within the city limits though, I had the biggest yard of anyone I knew growing up. Much of the property was devoted to an