Tart Cherries: Picking, Pitting, and Processing!

Our final foray up to northern Michigan for the summer included a mamma-mandated trip back to Rennie Orchards to pick tart cherries! Homemade cherry jam is one of my favorite things to eat all winter long, and there is just something about the fact that I hand-picked and pitted these cherries that makes the jam even sweeter for me. I love preserving the season for later!







Jackpot! Low-hanging fruit!

We ended up with about 18 pounds of fresh tart cherries to take home to Chicago with us, and the next day we got right down to business. (Tart cherries don't like to wait around.)

With this new cherry pitter in hand, we pitted and pitted and pitted! Anne helped, of course. Never underestimate the enthusiasm of a toddler for an excruciatingly tedious task.



Once pitted, the cherries were processed in one of three ways:

1. Maraschino Cherries, a half batch of this ginormous recipe, using about 5 pounds, and yielding 2 pints and 8 half-pints: http://leapphotography.com/blog/2015/06/maraschino-cherries-home-canning-recipe-boise-photographers/

Assemble booze, etc:



Bring to a boil:



Pack the pitted cherries:



Pour over hot, sweet, boozy goodness:



Voila!

2. Tart Cherry Jam, doubling this trusty recipe that I've used for the last 2 years, using about 8 pounds, and yielding 3 pints and 8 half-pints: http://foodinjars.com/2009/07/sour-cherry-jam-recipe/





3. Frozen pitted tart cherries for pies, etc. Two pies' worth, about 2 pounds per pie.

The final product:



Not pictured: one exhausted, cherry-stained, and happy pregnant mamma.

Angel Food Cake with Fresh Raspberry Cream {St. Anne Day!}

We are up at the lake in Michigan for the last time this summer, our last bout of (planned) family travel before little sister makes her big entrance. Today we celebrated the feast of St. Anne, mother of Mary and grandmother of Jesus, and my oldest girl's namesake! It was an absolutely perfect day, warm and sunny and filled with laughter and family. This was the first time I've remembered Anne's name day was coming up soon enough to plan ahead and make something special for dessert!



Since I'm not at home, I wanted to keep it simple. What is simpler than a cake mix that only requires you to add water? Enter Betty Crocker angel food cake. So delicious, and not perceptibly different from making it from scratch, which requires beating and beating and beating a dozen (a dozen!) egg whites forever.

And you guys, did you know that you can whip cream with a blender? It's not as fluffy as if you whip it in a mixer with a whisk, but it takes approximately 20 seconds, so it works in a pinch! I folded a pint of smashed raspberries and a little bit of sugar into 2 cups of cream, and served it alongside the cake as a topping.







Since I didn't have the proper equipment, and I made a lousy judgment call trying to revive it before serving, mine was a lot more like sauce, where I was originally going for fluffy pink clouds. The taste was still amazing. And it made a certain little girl very happy. :-)

Garden Update + Pesto Pasta Salad

I missed an update in between, so prepare yourselves, because the garden is getting out of control!

Here's a photo from July 11:



Not too crazy, right? Lettuce is coming in, tomatoes are filling out, radishes are a little bit nuts (and were mercilessly thinned).



Because that's not how you grow radishes. Oops. Turns out if you have extra seeds, you should save them, or give them away, or even throw them away, instead of just tossing them all in the dirt and giving yourself a bunch of extra work to do thinning, and also... no mature radishes.

OK, one mature radish.



Not a totally wasted effort, however, because as it turns out, radish greens are edible and tasty! After cleaning (so thoroughly! many slugs spotted.), they are great sautéed and tossed in with scrambled eggs, pasta sauces, wherever you might use spinach or kale (although they are kind of prickly, so I wouldn't use them in salad). And I made a big batch of pesto, which made a phenomenal pasta salad! (Scroll to the bottom for recipes.)





The carrots and lettuce are playing nicely:



And here's where I start to lose my grip on the situation (from July 21):



ACK! What is even going on?! OK, a couple of things are going on. The aforementioned radish was harvested, along with most of the rest of the radish greens. We might get another few radishes. Peppers and tomatoes are going like gangbusters, loving the recent heat wave.





Basil! Threatening to go to seed. Chopped off a bunch of the tops and used 'em for dinner last night. That'll teach them to be dramatic.



And then there was the time when I almost lost my entire crop of beets to some sneaky, devious, giant weeds that took over their spot in the bed. Being still firmly in the camp of "novice gardener," I was more than a little nervous to pull out of a bunch of uniform-looking, big, healthy, pink-rooted plants that were growing where I planted beets. Are these the beets? I asked myself. Then, after remembering what fully-grown beets look like, I took a deep breath, gave myself a little pep talk (out loud: "Trust yourself!" Oh yes I did.), and pulled them ALL! And lo and behold, what should remain but two neat little rows of the saddest, most sun-starved little baby beet plants you've ever seen.



Now that I've gotten rid of their competition and thinned them out a bit, I think they'll bounce back.

I was about to thin the vining plants on the right side, started to, and then totally lost my nerve. (The beet weed episode really took it out of me!) I'm going to make sure to get a lot of advice (from my friends on youtube, and some real gardeners at the local garden center) before going back to stake, prune, and thin those bad boys. More on my findings in the next post!

Pesto can be made with basically anything dark and leafy, so I went for radish greens, which I had in abundance. Try kale, chard, collards, or stick with the classic basil. They are all delicious.

Pesto Pasta Salad

1/3 cup radish pesto (recipe follows)
1/2 pound cavatappi, or other short, dried pasta, cooked al dente, and drained
8 ounces fresh mozzarella (I used the tiny balls that come in a water-packed container)
1 pint cherry tomatoes, halved
1 bell pepper, chopped
1 12-ounce jar marinated artichoke hearts, drained and chopped
olive oil
salt and pepper

Toss ingredients together in a large bowl and stir to combine, seasoning to taste with salt and pepper, and thinning the sauce as needed with olive oil. Store in the refrigerator for days of easy meals!

Radish Green Pesto

4 cups radish greens (or other greens, see head note)
1.5 cups grated Parmigiano Reggiano cheese
1 cup olive oil
1/2 cup walnuts
juice and zest of 1 lemon
4 cloves garlic, smashed and peeled
salt and pepper to taste

Place ingredients in a food processor, and pulse to combine, then puree until you reach your desired consistency. Enjoy!

Mint Mojito Iced Coffee

It's one hundred million degrees outside today, and of course I decided this was the day to pull the jungle of weeds and deadhead the rose bushes. I got totally soaked before I started, trying to fill up the kiddie pool with a hose that got fastened to the spigot weirdly, and I'm 7 months pregnant. I'm sure my sweat- and dirt-stained brow, diaper-clad toddler, and hunched posture made more than one passerby look askance. But the yard work is done! And now I'm in my blissfully air conditioned home, said toddler is napping, and it's time for a little pick-me-up/cool-me-down.

When we were in California a few weeks ago, we discovered Philz Coffee, a local coffee shop where each cup is individually hand-crafted. From their website: "We wouldn't even call this a cup of coffee; rather 'A Cup of Love.'" Of course, individually-brewed coffee means a high price tag and a long long wait, but when in Rome... you know. My sweet friend recommended this drink when we stopped by on our way back from the farmers market, and after one sip, I knew I was destined to re-make it at home.



A giant handful of smashed, bruised, fresh mint. Ice. Sugar. Milk. Coffee. I declare this to be a cup of love, indeed. Here's to lots more afternoons lounging by the kiddie pool. Cheers!



Mint Mojito Iced Coffee

Ice
10-20 fresh mint leaves (from 2-3 sprigs), plus an extra sprig to garnish
1 tablespoon maple syrup
8-12 ounces coffee (cool, ideally)
a couple of splashes of half and half (or milk, or cream)

Layer the mint and ice in a tall glass. Add the maple syrup, coffee, and cream, and use a straw to muddle the mint leaves a bit, releasing more of the minty flavor. Enjoy.

Black Raspberry Muffins

We just got back from a whirlwind two weeks of traveling. We spent a weekend in Indianapolis celebrating my goddaughter Maggie's half-birthday (necessary every year, with a birthday only days after Christmas). Then we flew to San Francisco for a magnificent 5 days of coastline drives, catching up with dear friends, stone fruit (a couple weeks early! such a treat!), and not enough sleep. We were home just long enough to unpack, do laundry, and re-pack, and then headed up to Traverse City for a week. We packed in all of the things a summer in Northern Michigan is made of: a hike in the Sleeping Bear Dunes to a spectacular Lake Michigan view, bonfires, fireworks, the Cherry Festival, ice cream, s'mores, swimming, paddleboarding, and cherry picking. On our last night, we sat on the dock, leaned back, and stared at the sky, velvety black and full of stars.



Our neighborhood farmers market happened during the two days when we were home in the middle, so I had to stop by. Thank goodness I did, because black raspberry season is incredibly short, and there they were, plump and perfect. I picked up two pints and dragged them home, and got to work making them into delicious goodies. My priorities are suspect, sometimes. I really needed to be cleaning and packing. But you know what? Black raspberries only happen once a year, and I needed to celebrate their magic while it lasted.



I have no regrets.



Black Raspberry Muffins

I made these with red raspberries a few weeks back, so feel free to substitute your favorite berry. The lime zest is the thing that sets these muffins apart. You could use lemon or orange, but the lime is really unusual and special. You could also sub in ricotta cheese or plain yogurt for the sour cream.

3/4 cup sour cream
2 large eggs
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
2/3 cup sugar
Zest of a lime
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups black raspberries

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees and butter a standard-size muffin tin. Whisk together the sour cream, eggs, and vanilla. Add the melted butter. In a small bowl, combine the sugar and lime zest and use your fingers or a fork to work the zest into the sugar, releasing the citrus oil (and flavor). In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and lime sugar. Add the wet ingredients, and fold together until barely combined. Don't over mix! Fold in the berries gently.

Scoop the batter into the muffin tins, and sprinkle with coarse sugar, if you like. Bake for 20-25 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Remove the muffins from the tins and cool on a rack. Serve warm.

Makes 1 dozen. (When completely cooled, these can be frozen. Your future self will thank you for the quick and easy muffins!)

Pasta Luglio

It feels like summer. Yesterday we spent the entire morning at the park and pool, and most of the afternoon in the front yard. Last night after Anne was in bed, I scooped a bowl of homemade strawberry ice cream and sat on the front stoop watching the fireflies come out. This morning, we spent a solid hour sidewalk chalking the front walkway (a beach scene!), blowing bubbles, and watching the planes fly overhead. This afternoon we walked to the park and the farmers' market. We stopped at the market for a while and listened to a woman play the accordion. Anne danced, and drank tiny sips of water out of the top of my Klean Kanteen bottle.

I tend to read mostly non-fiction: memoirs, parenting, self-help, religion. I've decided that July is the Month of the Novel, and I am doing what I can to get through as much fiction as possible this month. On the list: The Outlander by Diana Gabaldon, The Fault in Our Stars by John Green, and The Godwulf Manuscript, by Robert B. Parker. I've bitten off more than I can chew, but that's not terribly surprising. The bigger your stack of books, the more books you read in the end, even if you never finish the whole thing (How could you ever finish? Have you seen a library?). What are you reading this summer? Have you seen the selections for the Well-Read Mom for this year? I am excited for that.

I'm running a half marathon next week (!), and I've run something like 170 (!!) miles in training since March. I don't particularly love the running, especially the amount of time it takes each week. I'm looking forward to crossing the finish line and getting back to more reasonable, balanced workouts. What has been amazing about this process for me has been seeing myself uncompromisingly committed to reaching my goal. I signed up for the half marathon and paid the ridiculous entry fee, I downloaded a training plan, and I have done basically every single thing on the training plan, rain or shine, in spite of other plans, fatigue, soreness, or just plain whiny laziness. I have gotten out and run my miles 3-4 times a week without fail for 4 months. I feel shocked! I guess it just goes to show you that you never stop learning things about yourself. I, apparently, am very goal-oriented, and benefit greatly from a specific schedule that I can follow. I'm excited to test this knowledge in other areas of my life.

I let Anne run around and pick things at the market for dinner tonight (her contributions: yellow squash and mushrooms), and as usual, the simplest seasonal ingredients worked their magic to form the most amazing pasta dish I've eaten in a long time. Buon appetito!




Pasta Luglio
(serves 2 for dinner, 4 as a first course)

This is a weeknight dinner, and I have a busy toddler who likes to "help," so I go as quickly as I can. This means that I do not chop everything before I start cooking. Chop one thing, toss it in. Chop another, add. Chop more, add more, etc. Cooking times between additions would honestly be something like "as long as it takes to chop half and onion." It's a very forgiving recipe, just wing it.

1/2 pound penne or other short pasta
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 yellow summer squash, quartered and sliced 1/4-inch thick
1/2 pound cremini mushrooms, sliced
1/2 onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, chopped
splash of white wine
6 tablespoons tomato paste
1/2 cup grated Parmigiano Reggiano
5-6 large leaves fresh basil, shredded
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
salt and pepper to taste

Boil a pot of water for the pasta. Salt generously (it should taste like seawater), and cook the pasta about a minute shy of al dente (for penne, 9-10 minutes). Reserve about 2 cups of the starchy pasta water for the sauce (or splash it in the sauce as you're cooking the pasta, as I did - see below).

Place the olive oil in a wide, shallow saucepan over medium heat. Add the squash, season with salt and pepper, and let sit for a minute. Add the mushrooms, onions, and garlic, and cook, stirring occasionally, until vegetables are softening and pan starts to look dry. Splash with white wine and cook another minute. Add the tomato paste and stir together, splashing in enough pasta water to thin the paste into a sauce that coats the vegetables. Stir in the pasta and cook for a minute or two. Remove from heat and add grated cheese, basil, and butter. Stir until the butter and cheese are melted. Taste, adjust seasonings if needed, and serve.

Late Summer Minestrone

Hello?

...Anyone still here?

I accidentally took the summer off from blogging! I trust that you have been eating well, taking advantage of beautiful weather and farmers markets, and hopefully you've been online less this summer as well!

I'm back, because fall energizes me and makes me excited about what I'm cooking again! And I want to share! To kick off your weekend, a simple summer soup. Late summer means you can put whatever you want in it - seriously. Anything that looks good at the market, or that you have too much of in your garden. Yesterday I was reading a novel, in which a soup like this was described: a recipe that's never quite the same, served with whole grain bread and salted butter. Into the kitchen I flew!



(not pictured: pile mountain of unfolded clean laundry, several piles of clutter, unvacuumed floors all made possible by aforementioned novel-reading and soup-making.)

Late Summer Minestrone

3 tablespoons olive oil
1 leek, rinsed well and sliced
3 carrots, chopped
3 stalks celery, chopped
1 large clove garlic, minced
1 zucchini, chopped
1 cup shelled fresh cranberry beans (or cooked cannellini beans)
1 tablespoon tomato paste
1 large can whole tomatoes
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
Salt and pepper
Asiago cheese, for serving

In a soup pot, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add the leek, carrots, celery and garlic, and cook 3-4 minutes. Add the zucchini, beans, tomato paste, and tomatoes, crushing the tomatoes slightly with your hands as you add them. Fill the can again with water, and add that to the pot. Add the herbs, bring to a simmer, and reduce the heat to medium-low. Simmer 20-30 minutes, until the beans and vegetables are tender. Season to taste with salt and pepper, and serve with Asiago cheese grated on top.

Fresh and Frugal: Skirt Steak with Chimichurri

My parents were in town last week, and I wanted to treat them to some great food! During my regular market trip, I stopped by the Mint Creek Farm stall to check out their selection and prices. I had ribeye on the brain, but at $29/pound, it was outside my price range for four people on a regular weeknight. Sustainably-raised beef is pricey. So how can a steak-lover answer a craving without bombing their budget? Two ways: choose a cheaper cut, and shrink portion sizes. Scanning the list, I decided on just under a pound of skirt steak.

What's wrong with cheap meat? First of all, meat can be bought so cheaply at your local supermarket because of how it's raised: in concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs). Animals are packed very tightly into these facilities, with barely any room to move, and are fed a diet of mostly grain. These conditions lead the animals to a much higher-than-normal susceptibility to disease and infection, and so farmers routinely mix antibiotics into their feed. Aside from the fact that this is a sad life for animals, these practices are also detrimental both to the environment and to the nutritional quality of the meat. For a deeper look into these issues, I highly recommend In Defense of Food and The Omnivore's Dilemma, both by Michael Pollan, and Food Matters, by Mark Bittman.



Tips for successfully serving smaller portions:

Don't overcook. Always important, but especially so with grass-fed meats, which are leaner and slightly tougher than their conventionally raised counterparts.

Season well. With salt and pepper, of course, but also with herbs, spices, butter, or sauces. Depending on the cut and preparation, adding something extra can really highlight the unique deliciousness of the meat.

Serve great sides, and lots of 'em. Nothing would be worse than getting to the end of your meal and worrying that your guests are still hungry!



I used this recipe for chimichurri from the new Bon Appetit Grilling Book (which would be a GREAT Father's Day gift if you don't already have one!), and since we are without a grill, I arranged the steak on a rack set on a baking sheet, sprinkled it with salt and pepper, and broiled it on high for 2 minutes on each side. It was perfect.

Peach Cobbler

It seems that every region has their produce pride on during the summer - the best, most flavorful (fill in the blank) can only be found in MY hometown. The only (apples, cherries, peaches) worth eating are from MY state, MY region. I kind of love it! It feels old-timey and sweet that people so fiercely defend their perfect fruits and veggies. The South Carolina peach! The Washington apple! The Maine blueberry! The Traverse City cherry! It puts me in mind of state fairs and blue ribbon heirloom tomatoes, and I like that.



I have had the good fortune of tasting peaches from the Midwest, Southeast, and Southwest this summer, due to summer travel and generous, peach-toting friends. I must say that every peach is a poem in itself, and I usually just stuff my face full of as many as possible, not pausing to criticize. Juice dripping all over my hands and face, I am happy. And because they're so insanely delicious totally naked, I tend to do as little as possible when cooking with them. Such is the case with this cobbler: a touch of sugar and cornstarch, a simple drop biscuit on top, a bit of loosely whipped cream, and I am in peach heaven.



Peach Cobbler

about 4 pounds fresh peaches, pitted and sliced into 1/4- to 1/2-inch wedges
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup white sugar
1 tablespoon cornstarch

Topping:
2 cups all purpose flour
1 cup sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
12 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
1/2 cup boiling water

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Toss peaches, sugar, and cornstarch together in a 9x13 baking dish, and bake for 10 minutes. In the meantime, prepare the topping. Stir together flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl. Using your fingers, work the butter into the flour mixture until it resembles fresh bread crumbs. Pour the boiling water in, and working quickly with a wooden spoon, stir together until it forms a soft dough. Scatter pieces of dough over the hot peaches, sprinkle the top with more sugar, and bake until golden and bubbling, about 25 minutes. Serve warm.

Strawberry Hibiscus Granita

It has been so. HOT. Unrelenting! Go outside to water the plants and come in sweating hot. 80 degrees at 7 in the morning hot. The subway station feels like the bowels of hell kind of hot.

Ice for dessert! Perfect.

I know I'm a little late to the strawberry game, but even if you can't find local strawberries anymore, you should still be able to make a rather respectable granita out of berries from the supermarket. Or improvise! Blackberries, blueberries, and raspberries - even sweet cherries - would make a fantastic substitute.



Strawberry Hibiscus Granita

adapted from Bon Appetit

4 hibiscus tea bags (I used Tazo Passion)
1 pound strawberries, hulled and quartered
1/2 cup agave nectar
juice of one lime

Steep the tea bags in 1.5 cups boiling water for about 2 minutes. Remove tea bags and chill tea until cold, about an hour. Blend strawberries in a blender until pureed, add chilled tea, agave nectar, and lime juice, and whirl for another second in the blender until just combined. Pour strawberry mixture into a 9x13x2 pan and place carefully in the freezer. Freeze for 2 hours, until a hard top layer forms, and then scrape and smash with a fork to loosen the ice crystals. Freeze another 30 minutes and scrape again, repeating every 30 minutes for about 2 more hours, until fluffy and frozen through. Divide among bowls and serve.

Doing the can-can!

In August, I took my first nervous, hesitating step into the wide world of canning.  It's been a lot of fun playing with different recipes, learning about acidity and pectin, and listening to the Coppertop Guy's half-joking concerns about botulism.  The first thing I canned was several pints and half-pints of Traverse City tart cherry jam, which turned out beautifully.  It gelled.  It tastes amazing.  All the jars cooperatively sealed, with their satisfying little *pop* that could be heard from the other room.  Since then, I have canned several other batches of yummy things:

• Peach-lavender jam
• Peach halves in simple syrup
• Lord Grey's Peach Preserves
• Mixed heirloom tomatoes
• San Marzano tomatoes
• Un-labeled red tomatoes from the market

This weekend, I'm going to can what's left of the half-bushel of Roma tomatoes that I picked last weekend, raspberry jam, and peach butter.  Doing all this canning has made me feel like I'm taking full advantage of the almost embarrassing bounty of the market this time of year, and is a giant step toward year-round local eating.  It feels like a solution to the problem of mid-winter scarcity, rather than a sad compromise.  If I don't put up the food that's so irresistible and amazing right now, come January I'll have to decide between food that traveled half the globe to get to me (and tastes like it), or hold out until spring to eat myself silly on fresh food again.  Not this year!  This winter, I will remember the fresh tomato sauce that was so delicious that I actually licked my plate, and instead of sighing and waiting until August to taste it again, I will just pop open one of my big jars of tomatoes!

Have you canned things before?  Does canning intimidate you?  Do you think it's worth it?  I've found so many resources online that have outlined the proper way to process the jars, and helped me to feel sure that I'm being safe.  Marisa of Food in Jars has put my mind at ease many a time this summer, when I wanted to know exactly how to properly acidify and de-bubble a jar of tomatoes, or when I took a batch of canned tomatoes out of the canner and wondered why the eff they were floating in an inch or two of liquid.  As my stock of jars grows, I just feel so satisfied, like I've bottled up a little bit of summer to savor later.

Lord Grey's Peach Preserves
adapted from Bon Appetit, August 2011

A couple of notes about this recipe: the yield BA gives is 2 pints.  Maybe I just didn't boil my preserves long enough, but I boiled for the prescribed amount of time, and the recipe yielded 4 pints.  Good thing I had extra jars on hand.  They're a little runny, but I think I like that.  A little runny makes them better for stirring into yogurt, oatmeal, and batters, and spooning over ice cream for dessert.  Also, I've been having spotty results with blanching peaches.  Sometimes the skins loosen, and sometimes they just stay stubbornly attached to the peach.  If anyone knows the secret to this, please do share.  I think it just has to do with the fact that some peaches are a little riper than others.

5 pounds ripe peaches (A quart container is usually about 2 pounds)
4 cups sugar
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
5 Earl Grey tea bags, or 3 tablespoons loose Earl Grey tea

Bring a pot of water to a boil.  Cut a small x in the bottom of each peach, and drop them in the boiling water until the skins loosen, about 1 minute.  Plunge into an ice water bath, and then peel the skins off.  Halve each peach, and then slice into 1/4-inch pieces.  Combine with sugar and lemon juice in a large heavy pot, and set aside for 30 minutes.  Place 2 tablespoons of loose tea in a bouquet garni bag (or remove tags from individual tea bags) and add to the pot with the peaches.  Crumble the remaining tea slightly, and add it as well.  Bring mixture to a boil, and cook gently for 20-25 minutes. 

In the meantime, place lids in a small saucepan and heat over low heat until steaming, but not boiling.  Turn off heat and set aside for 10 minutes to allow the rubber seals to soften.  Bring a giant pot of water to a rolling boil, and boil your clean jars for 10 minutes. 

Ladle the hot preserves into the hot jars (use a funnel, it really helps with the mess), seal and process in boiling water for 10 minutes.  The processing time starts after the water is boiling, so if the water stops boiling when you add the jars, wait until it returns to a full boil before starting the timer.

Using tongs, remove jars to a cooling rack with a kitchen towel on top, and leave undisturbed until fully cool and sealed, up to 23 hours.  You may hear a little *pop* when the jars seal, but if not, just push the tops.  If they're solid, you're good to go.  If they give a little (you can press down on the lid), just put them in the refrigerator and use up within a week or two.



 

Hot Tomato Sunday Brunch Salad

At church on Sunday, we started the service with a hymn-sing.  People in the congregation request their favorites, and we sing a few verses!  It's pretty fun.  In the second service there was a little boy, maybe 3 or 4 years old, and he had his hand up to make a request even before anyone announced the hymn-sing.  He was the first to be called on, and he said in this loud, clear voice,

"SEVEN-ZEWO-THWEE!"

Which, in our hymnal, is Swing Low, Sweet Chariot.  Oh my gosh.  It was so cute.

When I got home I was starving, and I've been doing everything I can think of with tomatoes.  I will beseech you once again, please eat some tomatoes.  They're incredible.  Eat your fill of tomatoes now, and then IGNORE THEM IN THE WINTER!  They'll look at you, all fake-red and tasteless from the grocery aisle, and you'll be tempted, but if you remember what summer tomatoes taste like, you'll go sailing by!  So eat some tomatoes.

Here is another way to eat a tomato a day until they're gone.

Hot Tomato Sunday Brunch Salad

Chop one gigantic heirloom tomato into bite-size chunks.  Heat some oil in a skillet over medium-low heat, and then toss the tomatoes into the pan for a while with some salt and pepper.  Meanwhile, mix a few tablespoons of cream cheese with a few grates of lemon zest, a tablespoon of capers, and an assortment of fresh herbs: mint, parsley, basil, chives, whatever you've got.  Place the hot tomatoes into a bowl, and dot the top with the herbed cream cheese.  Slice some smoked salmon into thin slivers and lay them on top of the cheese.  Top with a fried egg and garnish with chopped chives.  Serve with a piece of buttered wheat toast.