Grape & Wine Festival

The past 2 weeks have been busy for me.  I addition to starting back up teaching labs for a couple of courses at the university I also manage to catch a cold (likely from being at the Uni!) that put me out of commission for a few days.  Luckily, I started feeling better in time to join in the Grape & Wine festivities!

I grew up looking forward to the Grape & Wine festival every year.  I have fond memories of heading downtown to watch the parade and running around Montebello Park with my bears (because they use to have a teddy bear picnic for the kids!).  As I grew older I grew to appreciate the wonderful local vendors, food demonstrations, and of course the wine!  And you can't forget the music - there are always bands playing in the park.  The have kids acts in the afternoons leading right into 80s band revivals or cover bands (the Caverners, a Beatles cover band, have secured the Friday night spot for as long as I can remember).  The always put on a good show and bring out the crowd.

The first weekend of the festival includes the "Pied Piper Parade" - where the kids dress up and parade through the streets.  I remember going with my cousins when I was younger, and after my niece was born I decided that it would be a good tradition to keep going.  I believe this is the 5th year Miss R and I have attended, and the 3rd we are actually participating in.  This years theme was Heroes - so of course she dressed up like a Fire Fighter just like her Opa.  It was a great costume to wear since mother nature decided to let the rain pour down all day.  We both had a great time despite the rain, and Miss R even won a prize for best costume in her age group in addition to getting her picture taken for the local paper!

This past weekend was the "big" event - the Parade.  It also meant a lot of the bars and restaurants in town had special events going on all weekend.  We had amazing weather - sunny and warm all weekend!  I managed to make it to the park all 3 days, if only for a bit, connecting with family and friends, and bumping into people we sometimes only see during Grape & Wine.  Definitely a successful G&W!  Cheers to living in the Wine Region!

Fun at the Fair

With the fall here in full force, and my garden finally under control, we decided to do a day trip last weekend to get out of the house.  I looked up the events within a reasonable driving distance and we decided to venture out to Binbrook for their annual Fall Fair.  Although I wouldn't necessarily call myself a "city girl", I am also not a country girl.  And while there are lots of farms that I drive by (and walk through) regularly, the vast majority are agricultural crops.

We enjoyed walking around and visiting the various exhibits, checking out the baking/canning competition, handmade knits and quilts, and viewing the veggies on display.  It was fun to compare what I had grow to the various prize-winning produce!  I would like to think that I could have won a blue-ribbon had I entered some of our produce.

There were lots of farm animals about - cows, pigs, sheep, goats and alpacas.  We saw cows being judged (although I have no idea what kind of criteria are used to judge a cow).  But our favorite had to be the chick coop.  Who knew there were so many kinds of chickens?!?  I especially liked the fancy ones with feathers on their feet!  There were also fancy pigeons and ducks being judged.

All in all it was a great way to see what is going on locally, learn a few new things and get us outside for the afternoon.  Its definitely something that we will do again!

Basil

purple basil

I have a serious problem with growing too much basil in my garden.  It was one of the first plants I started growing from seed, and I always think that I am going to make good use of the 10+ plants I start.  This never seems to happen though!  Part of the problem is that it is so easy to grow that I forget about it some times.

 I usually grow a regular old variety of green basil, a purple thai basil and this year I also grew a regular thai basil.  I love all three, but I get the most use out of the green basil.  Usually it ends up in a caprese salad once we are overrun with tomatoes, but we also throw it into any other dish that warrants it or use it as a garnish.

I know I should get my act together and make some pesto or something.  I actually did my first year in my house, freezing it into small portions to take out.  But for some reason or another it never got used up, so I gave up on it.

Thai basil gone to seed

I think my biggest problem is that once August hits and everything else is coming in full force I sort of forget about it, and it ends up going to seed.  Now this isn't such a bad thing, since now I have self-seeded basil popping up in my garden.  But that means I end up with even more plants than I had intended on!

This year I reminded myself that I should dry some in July.  It actually worked out really well, and I hope to dry more in the future.  Perhaps I can add it to my repertoire or edible homemade Christmas gifts.

Hopefully when I am starting seeds next year I remember this post and hold back on growing just one more basil plant!

Chocolate zucchini cake

We have had a lot of zucchini pass through our kitchen this summer.  Probably more than any other year - and all from a single plant!  I had no fewer than 6 zuchs in my fridge at any given time once it started to produce.  Most of it was grilled, but it has been added to pastas, curries, and salads (plus everything that went into the freezer).  But this is now my all-time favorite use for zucchini:  Chocolate zucchini cake!

I found the recipe at Plump Me Up

It was super easy to make and everyone that tried it thought it was amazing.  I am inclined to agree...and it makes me glad that I have 15 cups+ of frozen shredded zucchini in my freezer so I can make this all winter long!

Since its only the two of us, a 9x13" pan is quite a lot of cake.  It would be perfect for family functions, but I think the next time I make it for the two us I will likely cut the recipe in half, otherwise I am likely to end up eating the whole tray on my own!

Ingredients
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups white sugar
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
4 eggs
1 1/2 cups vegetable oil
3 cups grated zucchini
3/4 cup chopped walnuts (optional - but its so good with them!)

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour a 9x13 inch baking pan.
2. In a medium bowl, stir together the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder, salt and cinnamon. Add the eggs and oil, mix well. Fold in the nuts and zucchini until they are evenly distributed. Pour into the prepared pan. 
3. Bake for 50 to 60 minutes in the preheated oven, until a knife inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool cake completely before frosting with your favorite chocolate frosting!

Tomato Sauce

One of two giant bowls of Romas!

The weekends have been busy in my house in August!  I finally got around to canning my Romas a couple of weekends ago - something that I have been dreading due to the hot weather.  But it was time - far too many tomatoes around that I didn't want to go to waste.  And conveniently my local grocer had 25lb boxes of Romas on sale for $7 this week so I could supplement my own crop (which was about half the size previous years).

I have been looking into getting a food mill for a while.  I didn't know anyone that I could borrow one from to try out, and when I asked on facebook I only got a single reply!  It just happened that our plans changed Saturday and I ended up at a friends family farmhouse which they are currently trying to sell.  I mentioned that I if they found an old food mill that they were getting rid of that I would gladly take it off their hands.  Surprisingly, they said they likely had a few!

Making use of his muscles! 

After a little bit of searching, Ann found a really old hand strainer cone - and although they are neat I think it would have taken me forever to do it that way.  In the end they couldn't find the extra one they thought they had, but Ann did lend me her own Victorio model 200.  I definitely went home a happy girl, knowing that I wouldn't have to blanch and peel all those tomatoes by hand!

I have to say I was very impressed - the food mill looked very similar to my spritz cookie maker, but with a strainer on the end instead of a cookie shape.  It was good and solid too!  Graeme even got in on the action, grinding through more than half the tomatoes for me!  My only issue with this model is that my counters are a bit high for me to use it comfortably.  But that isn't a problem with Graeme around - he was happy to be included in the sauce making!

Now that I know I like this model I will have to keep an eye out for it.  They are available used, but Victorio also sells an updated version - model 250.   Model 250 has a few more plastic parts than its predecessor, but still looks pretty solid to me.  They also sell a motor attachment if I ever don't have the "muscle" around to help me, as well as a smaller berry strainer to remove seeds, and a larger pumpkin screen.  I personally wouldn't use either of those screens, but it is nice to know that the option is there should I ever need it.

In the end I put up 9 quarts of sauce (on top of 5 quarts of non-Romas that I threw directly into the freezer for a cool fall day).  I still have abort 10 lbs of Romas left, which I will likely be making into roasted tomato sauce now that the weather has cooled down.

I am happy that my freezer and pantry are both starting to look full.  It means the end of preserving and the start of enjoying all these canned goodies!

September

I find it funny how somehow mother nature knows exactly when to hit us with a blast of cool weather.  Tuesday is what I would call the first day that it felt like the fall here in Niagara -- it also coincided with all the kids going back to school.  It seems that without a doubt the day after Labour day always brings the cool weather to us.  The long humid summer nights are gone, bringing forth cool crisp morning with the world covered in frost.

I still feel the shift even though its been years since I was in school.  My short commute to work gets just a little longer having to wait for the school buses.  I've started wearing long pants and sweaters again.  And the first leaves have started to turn.

I do love the fall, but I will miss the hot summer weather.  Hope you are all enjoying the change in seasons!

Tomato & Basil Jam

Putting my Great Aunt's scale to use

I have been trying to come up with creative ways to use my tomatoes.  Usually we are able to add cherry tomatoes to whatever we are having that night - either cooked or raw.  But this year, the heirloom yellow cherry tomato plant I grew is producing more than I know what to do with!

In my quest to find something else to do with all these tomatoes I came across a recipe for yellow tomato jam.  Its a savory spread, like red peeper jelly.  We will likely be using it with cheese and crackers or something of the sort.

I found the recipe at Food in Jars (which btw is an awesome site for new canning recipes), but I have since seen a few others out there that I might try the next time I make it. 

I had absolutely no trouble picking 4 lbs of tomatoes straight off my plant to use, but you could also supplement with any other tomatoes you want.  Keep in mind, cherry tomatoes will result in a much sweeter spread than a variety like lemon boys.

The recipe was easy enough, my only issue was that it took forever to get to gel (220 degrees F).  I don't know if my tomatoes had more moisture in them or what, but it definitely took over an hour to get the     temperature up.  Even then, I gave up around 217 because it was so hot in my kitchen and I was fed up.  The result was definitely firm enough for my liking, but if you want a proper gel make sure that you have the time (and patience!) when trying this recipe.

Not sure if this recipe will get added to the regular rotation yet or not -- I guess we will find out once my family tastes the jam!

The result was 10 jars of delicious looking jam! 

Heirloom Tomatoes

Tasmanian Chocolate

This year I decided to branch out with the tomato varieties I grow.  My usual crop includes: cherry tomatoes, lemon boys, giant clusters, romas, and usually a brandywine heirloom that is available at my local nursery.

The timing worked out, and I was actually free the weekend Tree & Twig had their annual plant sale.  So my Aunt and I made the trek out to Port Colborne to try some new varieties!

Not yet ripe Green Zebras & Aunt Ruby's yellow cherries

I think we may have been a little unprepared for the sheer number of varieties that were available.  They were separated into groups by colour, which was helpful, but only had hand written tags with names.  No pictures or descriptions to tell us what the fruit would look like.  There wasn't really anyone around when we were there to ask what the different kinds were, just a couple of young girls manning the cash box - so we were on our own.  Next year I will go prepared with Hubby's smart phone so I can google what is what on the spot!

I had it in my head that I wanted a striped variety (a zebra) because of the tomato salads that are a staple for us during the summer months.  I also wanted a yellow grape tomato as well, and anything else that sounded interesting.  (Mind you, at this point I already had 4 varieties at home!)

I ended up choosing based on names (since I had nothing else to go on).  My first pick was Green Zebra, which has turned out to be a beautiful tomato, although its not my favorite taste wise.

Ripe Lemon Boys, green zebras, and a Tasmanian chocolate

Tasmanian Chocolate was my next pick, based solely on the fact that is had chocolate in the name.  It has turned out to be my new favorite tomato!  These don't look like anything special, but the taste is absolutely amazing and I cannot get enough of them!

My last pick was Aunt Ruby's Yellow Cherry's (since I had no idea which varieties were grape tomatoes).  They are okay- I have grown yellow cherry tomatoes in the past, and I think taste wise I preferred other varieties.  But this plant is probably the best producing cherry tomato plant I have ever grown!  It has actually taken over and is tangled in with my other tomatoes (I know I should try to steak them better, but it never seems to work out).  Still on the fence about this for next year, but we will see since I can save the seeds.

Next year I will definitely do a bit of research and try a couple of new varieties!  Do you have a favorite heirloom that you grow?  Let me know in the comments!

Jammin

I finally managed to get enough raspberries from my garden to make some jam for my husband.  Raspberries are his favorite - so I don't usually have enough to attempt jam.  But since I made myself blueberry jam already this summer (my favorite), I figured I should be nice and do some raspberry for him.

I managed to get 2.5 cups all in one picking form my plant and supplemented with store bought that my Mum had dropped off as a little anniversary treat (she also knows how much he loves raspberries!).

I just used a basic recipe - 4 cups of berries, 3 cups of sugar and 1/4 cup of lemon juice.  I tend to make long-boil jam since I don't plan very well for when I am going to can things, and always seem to forget to buy pectin.  Regardless, since I was doing just a small batch it didn't take very long at all.

I have made the mistake in the past of trying to make long-boil jam based on the plate test and spoon test...and ended up with jars of what almost seems like candy.  To the point where I had to heat it in the microwave to get it out of the jars!  Since them I have invested in a candy thermometer.  Although it can vary a little bit, typically jams reach "gel" at 220 degrees F.  Depending on what I am making I usually aim for 218 degrees, since we like to have our jam a bit softer so we can put it pancakes or ice cream.

End results - 3 jars of delicious raspberry jam...note that a jar is already missing in action!

Pasta Slop

It has hit peak season for zucchini and tomatoes at my house.  I have been trying to sneak them into every meal in some way or another just to use them up.

One of the quick dishes I love to make this time of year is pasta with whatever veggies are ready in my garden.  I am not s huge meat eater (much to my husbands annoyance), so when I cook I am fine to just load up on veggies.

My assistant this summer is Italian-Canadian, and on our trips on the road the conversation often turns to what is going on in our gardens & our kitchens.  The other day for lunch he had another version of what he calls "pasta slop".  Basically he throws together whatever is in the garden with whatever meat is on hand and tosses it with pasta.  So this is my version of pasta slop at the peak of zucchini & tomato season.  It is somewhat based off of this recipe from Canadian Living for seared cherry tomato pasta.

• spaghettini (or whatever other pasta you have on hand)
• 4 tbsp olive oil
• 2 cups cherry or grape tomatoes, halved
• 1 small zucchini, shredded 
• 3 big cloves garlic, sliced
• 1 pinch crushed hot pepper flakes (I usually add more since we like it spicy)
• grated Parmesan cheese
• chopped fresh basil
• salt & pepper to taste
• 1/2 cup pasta water

Cook the pasta to your taste (reserving about 1/2 cup of the pasta water).  Heat 1 tbsp of the oil over medium-high heat.  Sauté tomatoes until lightly seared, about 1 minute.  Add zucchini.  Cook until hot, and remove from pan.

Add remaining oil to pan; cook garlic and hot pepper flakes over medium heat until fragrant and softened ~ 2 minutes. Add tomato & zucchini mixture, pasta and reserved pasta water, stirring to combine. Toss with Parmesan cheese and basil.  

This serves 4, but we like leftovers so it works perfect for us - but you could increase/decrease based on how much you want. 

In true pasta slop style you could throw whatever else you have into the pan too (fresh beans come to mind earlier in the summer).  If you are planning on having leftovers you might want to add a bit more pasta water so it keeps better in the fridge, as the pasta will absorb the leftover liquid. It is actually great cold for lunches too!

Rhubarb

Rhubarb is one of those things that I grew up with.  When visiting a friend or relative with rhubarb I remember being given stalks for my brother and I to chew on.  To this day, I still love munching on the end of some wonderfully tart rhubarb.

my rhubarb in need of a trim again!

It may not be the most beautiful plant, but boy does it make me smile.  Those delicious red stalks and giant leaves.  Aunt S is always telling me I should make some stepping stones for my garden with the imprint of the giant leaves.  It is a wonderful idea, I just haven't got around to it yet!

When I bought my house I was quite happy to see that there was a little patch of rhubarb growing already.  Great!  It meant that it was one less thing to buy/find.  In my first summer, I actually split that plant into 2, and replanted.  Low and behold, the smaller portion that was moved to a new location went absolutely crazy!  It is in a great spot - right next to my rain barrels along the back of my house.  that means it gets lots of sun and lots of water.  Perhaps that is why its so happy there.

From the reading that I did, I was instructed to not harvest for the first year or two after planting.  Well that went totally out the window, when by the end of the first year I had a huge plant that needed to be cut back!

Now I should note that I have since split the new plant for another Aunt, and it definitely has not done as well at her house.  Not that it doesn't get enough sun or water - it just seems to love the spot in my yard.  Or maybe its the annual addition of alpaca poo that gives it a boost.

So every year I cut it back at regular intervals throughout the spring & summer to make desserts, pass along to relatives (who also love rhubarb), and freeze for the long winter.  Favorites with rhubarb include:

Fruit crisp - I love the mix of tart rhubarb with fresh berries (blueberries, raspberries, strawberries, whatever you have on hand!)
Oatmeal squares with rhubarb sauce - think granola bars with rhubarb filling!
Rhubarb pie
Rhubarb coffee cake

So here is to all you rhubarb lovers out there!

Weekend harvest

I have been busy the past few weeks.  We were up north weekend to celebrate our 1st anniversary,  worked out of town for a couple of days, and spent another couple of days away for a concert.  That meant my garden was a little neglected.  I still managed to get everything watered, but I just didn't have time (or energy) to go through and harvest things like I normally do.

That meant on Sunday I had to pick up the slack....and ended up with this

I gave up on picking cherry tomatoes after my first bowl was full, figuring I could lure my niece over to gobble up a good portion that are still on the plants.  And there were a couple more zuchs just about ready but I couldn't bring myself to cut them off since I already have 7 stashed in my fridge (along with 2 x 2L baskets of heirloom tomatoes).

Hubby says I am not to put Alpaca poo on my garden next year because we cannot possibly consume this much produce between the two of us.  Although that is true, I love seeing my fridge (and counter) full of homegrown produce!  Now if I could only figure out what else to do with all these tomatoes...

Easy Roasted Tomato Sauce

I love to put up my own sauce for he winter!  I have done so for the past 5 years, slowly learning the tips and tricks.

I now grow 8 Roma tomato plants exclusively for sauce -- that usually produces enough for me to make a few batches of home made sauce and put up enough to last my hubby and I through the winter.  The recipe I use is modified from an old family recipe that was passed on to me.  And although I love making that sauce, when the thermometer is reading anything more than 30 degrees C, it is just too hot to have a big old pot on the stove all day.

Last years heat wave gave me a record Roma crop -- but also meant that my Hubby put the kibosh on adding any more heat to my house than necessary.  With my regular sauce out of the question and tomatoes just waiting to be put up in one way or another I started looking for alternatives.  Eventually I stumbled on a suitable recipe somewhere in an old book.  I could easily roast these wonderful tomatoes making a delicious rich sauce without turning my house into a sauna!

I line a cookie sheet with parchment paper, cut the tomatoes in half (I use mostly romas, but I have thrown in other varieties if I want to get rid of them too -- see the cherry tomatoes mixed in below!).  Add a carrot cut into big chunks, and a few cloves of garlic (note - I am allergic to onions, so they are excluded from all my recipes, but you could easily add them in here!).  Sprinkle with salt, pepper, and any herb of choice (I used some dried basil this time), and drizzle with olive oil.  Throw it in an oven on low heat (I use around 250-300 degrees), and let it go.  I check on it about every 30 minutes to make sure nothing is burning and adjust the temperature accordingly.

Depending on how much moisture is in the tomatoes I usually bake for 60-90 minutes until they look nice and roasted, flipping when necessary so they don't burn.  When I pull them out of the oven, I dump everything into my blender to wizz up until its a consistency I like.  I let it cool, and throw it into an air-tight container and into the freezer it goes for a wonderful winter meal!

Since I am usually trying to limit the heat in my house, this is something I tend to do after 8pm once the sun is going down and its cooling off.  This sauce ends up being pretty thick, and also works well with eggplant parmesan or for anything else you want to pair with it!

This is also a great for those times when you have a smaller amount of tomatoes ready and don't want to put the effort in to making sauce the regular way.

Enjoy!

Raspberries!

Ahhh I caught some flack when I told people I was planting raspberries in my garden.  I was warned time after time that they would spread all over and just become a nuisance.  I didn't think it was too big of a deal - in fact I was hoping that they would spread!  Especially into the easement behind my property where there is lots of space!  What is better than a big raspberry patch?

It has take about 4 years, but I finally have a good raspberry crop.  The few stalks I originally planted have multiplied, but they have stayed in the same area they were planted.  I have yet to see them spread to the other side of my fence, but I still have hope.

And now, we are getting our second crop of berries for the year.  Is there anything better than eating berries fresh off the bush?  Maybe a raspberry jam to remind us of those delicious summer evenings picking berries.  But for that to happen, I would have to have to curb dear Hubby's appetite for the berries.

Maybe next year we will have enough for jam...

Zucchini Overload

Well it is that time of year.  I now have zucchini coming out of my ears.  Although the G and I love to eat all of the fresh things coming out of my garden, there comes a point when I have so many stashed in my fridge and on my counter that I dread having to eat another one.  Usually we just throw it on the grill, but on occasion we have it with pasta, in a salad, or if its not unbearably hot I will bake a few loaves of zucchini bread.

Luckily, we have a giant chest freezer in our basement just waiting to be filled!  In past years I have simply grated and bagged zucchini to freeze for zucchini bread.  But this year my single plant is doing so well (or maybe we just haven't been eating as much?), that I have started to blanch and freeze chunks of zucchini from my garden.  It will definitely make a nice addition to stirfrys and pasta in the winter months!

It is easy to do - just cut the ends off the zucs and chop into evenly sized pieces.  Get a big pot of boiling water going, and a big bowl of ice water close by, with a strainer or slotted spoon.  Toss the pieces into the boiling water for about a minute (you want it to be cooked a bit, but still pretty firm), and immediately transfer to the cold water bath to stop it from cooking.  I like to put the pieces onto a tray with a silpat to throw into the freezer for a couple of hours.  I find it freezes better this way, and prevents the chunks from freezing together.  Note - you could skip freezing the chunks on a tray and go directly to a freezer bag, but it means that you will likely have to use the whole bag at once since they chunks will freeze together.  Then I throw the frozen chunks into a freezer bag, seal it up and toss it in the chest freezer until needed.

What are you doing with your zucchini this year?

Wecome!

Alright, so this is my first official blog post.  I suppose I should introduce myself to those of you that don't know my.  My name is Candice -- I love the outdoors, I work with insects and frogs, and I have a passion for baking.  I am a bit old-school in terms of my hobbies - you can often find me knitting, quilting, gardening, cooking or canning when my nose isn't stuck in a book.

I thought this might be an interesting outlet for me to share what is going on in my life.  Recipes, gardening tips and tricks, and whatever else I have going on.

I look forward to sharing with you!