Put Me In Coach II

You’re on deck, so dust off and get ready to be “put in” -

Put Me In Coach

No vampires in this old barn, just bundles and bundles of tomato stakes -

Gemista (yeh-MEES-tah)

I made Greek stuffed peppers yesterday afternoon and it was SO delicious!

My own peppers, that I picked a couple hours earlier, super fresh -

I used ground lamb and my fresh tomatoes, like the peppers that I picked a couple hours earlier -

I ate two, BURP, and have leftovers for a couple days.

#Blessed

Oh The Perks Of Digging In The Dirt

Just so y'all know, I am addicted to these salads!

I've been making these salads every couple three days or so, they're SO delicious!

Although, I pulled and composted by cucumber plants several weeks ago, I still have about a dozen cucs in the fridge!  Home grown cucs, with my fresh homegrown tomatoes too, red onion, black olives, feta cheese, oil and vinegar, all makes this dish that much more scrumptious!

Of course I share the cucs with Trixie and she gives it two paws up!

#Blessed

Vine Ripen Love Apples!

OH, this is happen'n!

My tomatoes are finally starting to ripen and pop!

I can see oodles of tomato salads and BLTs in my very near future!

As a matter of fact, I made a tomato salad last night!  It's chill'n in the fridge and I'm already, at 6:55AM, looking forward to digging into this salad when I get home from work this evening!

#Blessed

My First Red Ripe Tomater!

I picked my first ripe tomato this afternoon after work -

Immediately diced it up -

Added diced red onion, sliced black olives, feta cheese, olive oil, vinegar, salt and pepper -

Placed in the refrigerator for an hour or so (truth be told I couldn't wait any longer) to chill.  Then ate about half with my pasta dinner.

OMG, SO amazingly delicious!

I'm salivating knowing that fresh tomato BLTs are literally right around the corner!

Plant Tomatoes - Check!

Today turned out to be a beautiful sunny day!

It was also my day off of work!

So, after running my errands this morning and finally being able to enjoy a nice sit down lunch, I headed out into the yard and garden - my Zen!

I got my tomatoes, basil and several marigolds planted!

From front to back and left to right, I planted (3) Brandywine. In the middle (3) Better Boy and on the outside (3) Early Girl.  All planted in fresh compost, then using the grass clippings from mowing the lawn last night, I mulched around each planting.  This to help hold the moisture in and keep the weeds away from the base of each plants.

Once they settle and start growing, I'll set the stakes but for now I will sit back and enjoy my handywork!

#Blessed

More Planting In Queue

With all the rain we've been having and what's anticipated for the rest of the week, I chose to take advantage of yesterday being dry and mowed my entire lawn after work.  SO satisfying once done! It always looks SO nice and SO green with all the rain we've been having.

I was planning on planting my tomatoes - (3) different kinds; Early Girl, Brandywine and Better Boy, herbs and marigolds, after mowing but ran out of both time and steam.

Perhaps, this afternoon, if there's a lull in the scattered rain we're supposed to get today.

One Last Tomato Hurrah!

These are the last of my home grown tomatoes, alas.

They were the remaining green tomatoes on the plants, when I pulled the plants out for composting.

They've been sitting here on my counter slowly ripening!

Looks like tonight's homemade pizza will be the end of these, as they're starting to go bad.  However, I'll use what I can and savior each bite.  Can't wait!

#Blessed

Preserved To Enjoy Later

I will call this "Poor Mans Canning".

I have oodles and oodles of tomatoes coming out of my ears!  Seems like they ripened all of a sudden too.

I've been eating them as best I can - BLTs, Greek tomato salads, toping my pizzas with them, adding them to my cooking and yet I still don't seem to be making a dent.

SO, yesterday I spent several hours preparing and freezing well over 30 of this delicious dudes!

A quick, less than 4 minutes, dip in boiling water, which loosens the skin to where it easily falls right off - 

My work area -

Once skinned, I cut up into cubes, removing the seeds (as best that would just fall off) and removed the harder innards -

Tossed the pieces and parts, along with salt, into some containers and into the freezer they went -

When the days are short and it's cold outside, I can pull one of this bad boys out, thaw and enjoy in a sauce or some dish, MMM MMM GOOD!

#Blessed

It's THAT Time Of The Year!

I made my way out to the garden yesterday afternoon to pick some of my veggies and I was NOT disappointed.

Just like last year, I am being overrun with bell peppers.  There are oodles of them!  These six below are about the size of a softball!  So BIG and beautiful!  I'll be heading to the market today to pick up the fix'ns to make stuff peppers -

My first ears of corn, three Yukon Gold potatoes and some tomatoes!

The potatoes grew from a single plant that sprouted from a potato I missed from last years growing season.  It remained dormant all winter long, then took off when things warmed up.  I doted this plant it and it rewarded me with three small taters, which I will make into fries and enjoy -

One of my all time favorites is Silver Queen corn, to die for!  There are oodles more out there too and I can't wait to sink my teeth into each and every one -

YUP, I ate ALL five pieces last night - 

My diner last night, a scrumptious BLT, corn on the cob and a frosty beer! You just cannot beat home grown veggies, SO tender and juicy -

#Blessed

BLT #1 of 2024

Made, ate and enjoyed my first BLT of the season yesterday!

So bloody delicious too!

I'd make and eat more if my tomatoes would ripen faster...

To Die For! SO SO Yummy!

I went with the Greek tomato salad, like my mother used to make!

I like to peel the skin off of the tomatoes before cutting them up and tossing them in a bowl with feta cheese, red onion and Kalamata olives.  Add some salt, pepper, olive oil and balsamic vinegar, stir and let chill in the fridge.

OMG!  It was SO delicious and I ate the whole thing in one sitting!  And yes, of course I used some fresh bread to "buta buta" and soak up the scrumptious juices!

I'm heading out shortly to see if there are more ripe tomatoes out there in my garden so I can make another salad.

First Of The Season!

Seems like I planted my tomato plants several weeks ago but in reality it's been several months!

My hard work, hand watering and dotting is starting to pay off with signs of the fruits (pun intended) of my labors.

Here are the first tomatoes of the season, picked yesterday evening!

Can't wait to dig in and enjoy these bad boys but undecided on how, BLTs or a play on the Greek tomato salad (feta and red onion) that my mom used to make...

Tomato Canning, Of Sorts...

It was a wet summer here in New England, the complete opposite of the summer of 2022. The lawn and plants loved it, with everything looking nice and green.

My veggies did well too, for the most part. Even though I ate scads of BLTs and tomato salads, and adorned my Friday night pizzas with fresh cut tomatoes, I lost so many more, which I attribute to the weather.  Some days and weeks too much rain, others very little and I think the inconsistency contributed to the loss.  That and the deer seemed to take more of a fancy to my tomatoes this season than in the past.

Anyway, in an effort to try and salvage the remaining tomatoes, I picked what I could; the good and the bad, cut them up, cored them, gave them a quick boil, then peeled them and cut them up for freezing.  Yes, this is not canning but hoping I can use these in the crock pot this coming winter. 

Here are a couple of the batches I saved and froze -

I will be gearing up for next season and plan on taking a stab at actual "canning" of my tomatoes.  I have everything I need, will just need to do some homework on my options and the methods but rest assured, I'll be ready!

"Butta-Butta"

It's that time of the season!

My garden is turning out the rewards of all my hard work and everything is SO DELICIOUS!

This is my attempt at recreating one of my mother's dishes, a tomato, red onion and feta cheese salad.  Although, not the same as my moms, close, it certainly does bring back some wonderful memories and still very tasty!

Back in the day I wasn't interested in the tomato or the onion, yuck!  It was all about the juices, "butta-butta" as we'd call it - fresh tomato juices with some oil and vinegar, salt and pepper.  A fresh piece of Italian Scali bread to sop up the juices with was all that I needed!

It's always nice to revisit parts of the past, especially with such fond memories.

#blessed

See My Garden Grow!

Father's Day weekend garden update -

I planted my third and final batch of Silver Queen corn!  I sow (50) seeds in each sunken clump and planted them each 2-weeks apart with the closest clump planted yesterday.  This will give me plenty of corn to enjoy for weeks!  Also, come the fall, I'll have plenty of corn stalks for decoration.

I planted a row of MAMMOTH sunflower's along the fence, which are doing great.  I planted the entire package and will be sorry when it comes time for fall clean up.  As the name indicates, Mammoth sunflowers get BIG and tall, which makes pulling them when the season is done a lot of work.

I also have (9) Beef Stake tomatoes in with stakes already in place.  They're doing great and with all the rain we've been getting, they're getting big.  I'm trying something different this year and instead of just letting them be, I'm doing a controlled pruning.  Removing all the lower stems and all the suckers that are so typical with tomatoes.  I may not get as many tomatoes with this approach but hoping the plants will be more manageable and the fruits BIGGER! 

I also planted basil, along with my usual marigolds.  Basil is a soulmate of tomatoes and when planted together, the basil helps repel insects and the dreaded hornworm caterpillars.  "They" say basil also helps improve yield, hmmm.  Marigolds are also known to help in keeping unwanted insect pests away too.

"Buta Buta"

Here is my first attempt at making a tomato salad, and to be completely honest, I came out delicious!  Fresh picked tomatoes from my garden, which I peeled, Feta cheese, Kalamata olives, olive oil, salt & pepper, OH SO good!  The only thing missing from this first attempt was red onion but I've addressed that in the subsequent salads I've made.

Growing up my mother would make a tomato salad.  Of course back then I wouldn't eat tomatoes or any vegetable for that matter except corn.  Back then the fight was for the tomato salad juices or what we would call "buta buta", which I believe is a Greek thing.  Taking fresh bread and dipping it in the juices was so so good!

It's not my mothers tomato salad but regardless, it brought back some wonderful memories.  I sure do miss those times, my mom's cooking and of course my mom :-(

Out Of This World Good!

We're having another good year for our California Wonder Peppers.

I planted just (4) plants but they have oodles and oodles of peppers on them!  We had some super BIG peppers out there, both red and green, that I picked yesterday afternoon.  Although, our tomatoes aren't the biggest, we did have several, so I picked them too.  JoAnne made the Greek rice stuffing my mom used to make and stuffed all eleven peppers and tomatoes AND THEY WERE DELICIOUS!

Already, looking forward to leftovers for tonight's dinner!

From Farm to Plate!

This plump, juice Big Boy tomato, picked fresh...

Became a part of this delicious BLT -

OUTSTANDING!