Tomato Soup

This was a quad batch, and hmm - some has already disappeared.


Tomato Soup:
(Loosely based on recipe by Marion Cunningham, Lost Recipes, 2003.  The quantity of milk has been decreased and replaced with fat-free evaporated milk, the quantity of tomatoes has been increased, and olive oil has been substituted for butter.  Her recipe was more like a very runny version of tomato flavored milk soup.)


Ingredients:
4 cups tomatoes (volume after being peeled and pureed)
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
4 Tbs. non-virgin olive oil
1/2 of a large white onion, chopped
1/4 cup all purpose flour
1 (12 oz.) can of fat free evaporated milk
   (Use one of the old fashioned can openers and open the entire
   top of the can, because the milk solids really settle.
   It will be necessary to stir the can with a spoon,
   then rinse, stir, slosh, etc. to get it all out of the can.)
1 Tbs. honey
1 or 1 1/2 teaspoons salt (your preference)
1/2 teaspoon dried basil, more if you like basil


Puree the tomatoes in a blender or food processor until smooth.  Pour into a container double the volume of the tomatoes.  Stir the baking soda into the tomatoes and set aside to fizz.


Heat the oil in a large soup pot at medium heat.  Add the onions and salt, and cook until the onions are softened but not browned.  Sprinkle the flour over the onions and stir until particles of flour are coated with oil.  Heat through, but not for too long.  (Oil is not as good as butter for making a roux, but it works alright for a non-brown one.)  Slowly add the milk honey, and basil.  Whisk until fully blended, and continue whisking until mixture thickens.  Stir in the tomato puree.  Continue heating the soup just until it reaches a simmer.  Remove from the heat and push through a strainer using the back of a large spoon.  Taste and adjust the seasoning if needed.  Reheat before serving.

Don't Look Up!

     Quite a few years back when hubby and I had a little extra cash, and I really needed exercise because my desk job left me feeling like premature rigor-mortis was setting in, we decided to take some Tae Kwon Do lessons.  We found a nice do-jang with a very skilled Korean teacher.  He had several black belts and also had some really serious training in sports medicine.  Monday stretching classes left us feeling like hot, cooked noodles; waking up sore on Tuesday morning was another story.  He could hop and kick a target three times before landing lightly on the mats.  His kicks, felt through the padding of a kicking target, were like the recoil of a 30-06 rifle.  He had a very commanding presence, even though he was maybe 5'3" tall and 125 pounds soaking wet.  Unfortunately, his sponsor who owned the chain of schools, did not pay him very well, so that he had to scrounge when it came to shopping for clothes.  Being a bachelor, with a very small waist, he simply wore whatever fit.  So we had to be really careful not to look up in the direction of his back-side on stretching class days, just in case his power-rangers underwear were showing through his uniform that day.  It is a really bad idea to laugh at someone who is capable of seriously maiming you, or leaving parts of your body temporarily out of order from the careful use of pressure points.  Thankfully, we held in the giggles, and learned that he also had a very good sense of humor after getting to know him.

Offensive Words?

Mom,

"I am sorely offended that you say I stink like a dirty dog.

Your words hurt deeply,

 especially when you say the four lettered one.

You know which one I mean.

B-A-T-H

Do you really have to use such horrible language in front of me?"

Sincerely,

Chloe

A Bountiful Harvest

I am so glad that church had a food drive today!

Between dad's garden, mom's garden, and my garden

this is what was harvested yesterday.

Beans are in the front left, tomatoes everywhere,

and cucumbers down in back.

Batter Up?

Someone gave my mom a "present".

Then she gave it to me to make something useful of it;
although my first thought was to use it as a bat in batting practice.

It amazes me how people can ignore their gardens long enough to let zucchini get this big.  The only guess is that they went on a trip and found lots of "surprises" like this one waiting for them on their return - so they shared.

Needless to say, much of yesterday was spent cooking.

Two buckets of tomatoes were turned into more marinara sauce.

The top half of the zucchini was peeled, cored, sliced, sauteed in olive oil, and then added to the afore mentioned marinara sauce.

It browned quite nicely, but seemed to take forever to cook through.

The bottom half was cored, cut into long strips and run through the fine grind screen of the meat grinder - yes, the meat grinder - see.

Grandma K. taught me that handy trick, and I'm sure she found the use of a grandchild powered hand-crank meat grinder a real labor saving device for her.  (Keep the child busy, and tire her out so that she will go to bed early.)

Having the zucchini ground rather than shredded optimizes surface area and squeezes out excess moisture.  The result is a really moist batter on breads and cakes; the liquid ends up in the batter rather than gradually seeping out later to make the cake soggy, rather than moist.  It can also be drained of liquid and used for ravioli stuffing in place of spinach.

There was enough zucchini to make both a plain zucchini cake and a chocolate-chocolate chip one.

Zucchini Cake:

3 eggs

2 C sugar

1 C vegetable oil (canola or non-virgin olive oil)

1 Tbs. vanilla

3 C flour (chocolate variation: 2 1/4 C flour, 3/4 C cocoa)

1 tsp. cinnamon

1/2 tsp. cardamom (not for chocolate variation)

1 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. salt

2 C ground zucchini squash

1 Tbs. grated lemon or orange rind

   (alternately a shot of juice works if not available)

Optional ingredients:

1/2 C raisins, 3/4 C chocolate chips, 3/4 C nuts

Beat 3 eggs.  Add sugar and beat until mostly dissolved & creamy.  Gradually add oil and mix fully.  Sift together dry ingredients and add to mixture alternately with zucchini and citrus rind.  Mix well.  Add nuts and raisins if desired.  Pour into pre-oiled 9x13 pan.  Sprinkle chocolate chips over the top if desired.  Bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit, 30-45 min, or until butter knife inserted in center of pan comes out clean.  (Chocolate variation may take slightly longer to bake.)  Allow to cool at least 10 minutes before removing from pan.  Freezes well.

After dinner, it was time to clean out the fridge.

Made some jelly with black raspberry juice that had been waiting a while - my bad.  Canned tomato juice that was being ignored.  We are a bit tomato'd out at the moment after all.

For some reason, I don't feel like doing any cooking today.

Tomorrow, church is having a food drive.  Today's picking of beans and a large share of tomatoes will go to new homes.  Someone who does not have a garden can enjoy them for a while, and I can get some work done on the remodel project - a win-win situation.

  

Found a Vegetable that Chloe Likes

"What 'Mom' doesn't know is that we dogs

consider sweet corn to be a carb. not a vegetable."

Dad invited me over for dinner of roasted sweet corn and whatever else might be on hand.  He had no other takers on his invitation, so we spent about  half an hour shucking the extra corn.  Then he cut a bunch off the cobs to put into the freezer.  At first, Chloe showed no real interest in the corn, but as Dad started slicing it off the cob, the aroma caught her attention.  So, we tossed a cob with a little corn left on the ends out in the yard, and told her to fetch it.  She ran out after it and started picking it up in her mouth like she does with her bumper - the stogie hold.  Then she tasted it and set it back down.  She must have decided it tasted good because she started picking at the ends where there were still kernels and eating them.  Any other dog would have been knawing on the cob with gusto; she is such a picky eater.  Dad tossed out another cob, this time a little under ripe, but she sniffed that one, left it, and went back to the cob with the ripe kernels.  She has quite the nose to be able to pick out ripe from green.  After a little while, she tired of the cobs and came back to where dad was working on the corn.  She started begging and managed to mooch two strips of corn from dad before finally giving up.  Don't think she'll have any trouble with constipation tomorrow.

DVD Review

Well, I promised a lady named Shannon that I would review a DVD on Deer Processing, because she was looking for some instructional DVDs on the subject of gutting and skinning game for her sons.  Her blog has been removed from blogger, so I cannot put the review in the comments on her blog.  So here goes.


The DVD in question is called Deer Masters Home Deer Processing, Copyrighted by ANKHoldings, Inc., www.homedeerprocessing.com, dewey decimal #641.691 Fie.


It is definitely a production by professional deer processors, not professional camera men.  The field dressing section is a bit bumpy in places as it is obvious that a steady-cam was not in the budget.  The information is quite helpful, and anyone just learning how to field dress a deer will definitely get the point that under no circumstances should the bladder be popped.  Hubby commented that they do remove the bladder a bit differently than he does and he was concerned that if you didn't have a really good grip, it might be possible to get some leakage.  In cold weather it can be a bit tricky when you can't feel your fingers very well.  He usually removes the urethra intact with the rest of the guts.


The skinning section was very thorough, and also very long.  They did three deer.  It goes faster in 2x or 4x speed.  As they were professionals who usually process lots of deer and need to be fast, they kept the thin section of skin meat attached to the hide.  This is fine if your leather tanner is close to home and very forgiving of you.  If not, it might be a better idea to carefully skin that section out while the hide is still attached to the deer, being very careful not to puncture the hide.  I have never tried removing it once the hide is no longer attached to the animal, but I think that it would be more difficult that way.  The tips for keeping hair off the meat are quite useful.


The butchering section first covered how a professional divides the carcass.  It was quite informative, but since I do not have a commercial cooler and a deer sized table with a cutting surface on the whole thing, it is not the best suggestion for home use.  It did provide a lot of helpful information on handling knives safely.  Unless you are really patient, you might want to watch this section at 2x or 4x speed.  They were basically showing off all their professional tools in this section.  It gave hubby a serious case of knife envy.


The last section, which is more useful to the average hunter, covers butchering a deer by removing sections from the carcass while it is fresh and hanging.  The tips for packaging the meat in plastic, then paper were good.  Also the tip of putting ground pepper in parts of the carcass that would attract flies to prevent maggots was useful (for those who have to process deer in warm climates).  The lighting was a bit dim in in this section of the DVD.


The people who produced the DVD are experts at handling knives, and process the deer with quick, efficient movements.  I do not know the price of the dvd, because it was from the local library.  You will have to judge for yourself if it is worth it.

When Summer Provides Lots of Tomatoes

It is time to make some Marinara Sauce.

(If I'm gonna make a mess, it might as well be a big one.)

Marinara Sauce:

Three 5-quart pails of tomatoes, peeled,

and squeezed of seeds and juice

     Use the strained juice for drinking or in other recipes.

     Do not return the juice to the tomatoes,

     or you will waste a lot of time and expensive energy

     (electricity or gas) reducing the sauce.

Two heads (not cloves) of Garlic, peeled and chopped.

4 or 5 handfuls of dried oregano crushed between hands

Salt - 1 tsp kosher salt for starters, more if needed

Pepper (freshly ground, optional)

Fresh Rosemary sprig, optional

Olive Oil (the fairly good stuff)

Heat a two gallon stock pot to medium heat, add olive oil to generously to cover the bottom of the pan, add garlic and salt.  Saute until garlic reduces and starts to brown a little.  Add approximately 1 quart tomatoes, turn up heat to medium-high.  When mixture is bubbling, add oregano and optional seasonings.  Gradually add more tomatoes, trying not to break the boil too badly.  When all the tomatoes have been added and mixture is bubbling nicely, turn the heat down to medium.  Leave cover off the pot and allow the sauce to reduce a bit from the original volume of 8 quarts uncooked tomatoes to 6-7 quarts of sauce.  This will seem a bit runny compared to commercial sauces, but if pasta is added to the sauce while still al-dente then the pasta will absorb a lot of the moisture and the flavor of the sauce.

The sauce is good on pasta or combined with meats like chicken, pork, or beef and served over rice pilaf.  It works well for keeping low fat meats from becoming too dry.

The sauce freezes reasonably well. although it is a bit runnier when thawed.  I have not tried canning it - not sure if it would be safe with just a boiling water bath canning process.  (With it having juice removed and garlic, spices, & olive oil added - what would be the acid level?)  I do not want to mess with a pressure cooker.

Update:
I did finally break down and start pressure canning the marinara sauce.  The canned sauce has a better texture than frozen, and more importantly, it save precious freezer space for other things like beans.  Not finding any pressure cooker guides for marinara sauce, I opted to use the same guidelines as recommended for canning tomatoes and okra which are 40 minutes at 10 lbs. pressure for quarts, or 25 minutes at 10 lbs pressure for pints.  So far we have not died of food poisoning, so the times and pressures must be sufficient to be safe.

Hurray!

Jury Duty is canceled for this week!

The lake beckoned.

Went Fishing!!!

The canoe still looks pretty good for being 32 years old.

Water & Sky

Sky & Water

Getting dark, time to go home.

The fish weren't biting all that well,

but who cares - the lake was beautiful!

Even a bad day of fishing is more fun than a day at work!

Fishing trip canceled on account of

ragweed appearing on the pollen count this week.  RATS!

This explains the froggy voice, very loud sneezing, itching, and feeling like something ran over me.  This time of year, when singing, I sound like a blues singer.  I would normally take lots of medicine and chance it anyhow, because I really love canoeing with hubby and fishing, even if it means spending the next day in bed.

Unfortunately, a summons arrived last week stating that I must appear for jury duty on Monday morning.  So it is my civic duty to remain fairly functional until such time that a defense attorney decides that my strong sense of justice and fairly logical thought processes will likely be very detrimental to the outcome of his case.

The Things you see...

when you don't have a camera.


Promised mom that I'd pick her garden today.
She had a colonoscopy yesterday, and since high acid tomatoes and crunchy veges are not on the post rotor-rooter mild food diet, I only left a share sufficient for my step-father to eat until the next harvest day.  To reduce how much I had to bring home, I made a couple stops along the way at Uncle Fred & Aunt Barb's place and then at Aunt Mouse and Uncle Gail's place.  Barb was home but all was quiet at Aunt Mouse's house.


Walking up to the house with a bag of veges, I spotted the rust-orange color of a white-tail deer in the fenced lot next to their house.  I walked quietly closer to see if it really was a deer.  Its head popped up and it stared at me.  I walked a little closer, it was a young 6 pointer still in velvet.  It just stood there and stared.  Then I spotted the sign on the fence, not ten feet from the deer "No Trespassing, No Hunting, No Fishing".  Gee, who taught the deer to read?  That would have made a great picture!


I saw another deer grazing in the back of that area, but decided to deliver the veges first.  Returning to the car, the first deer finally decided to run away when a family of four rode their bikes past on the other side of the street with the kids shouting "Mom, dad, look at the deer!"  The second deer was still munching merrily in the back of the lot, so I decided to get a closer look.  Quietly, I walked toward it.  It was another buck with approx. 8 fuzzy points.  I was within 20 feet of it, when it finally either spotted me or smelled me and ran away in a rather startled fashion.  I looked around into Aunt Mouse's back yard, and there was a rabbit munching below the bird feeder.  It is no wonder why they gave up trying to grow a garden.

Garden Updates

First the Garden Score:

Garden: 6  Rabbits: 2

Caught one in the front yard today.

The one or more in the back yard are still wreaking havoc on the bush beans.

The Birds' Buffet:

If anyone tells you that you eat like a bird,

be REALLY offended.

Those critters are cleaning out the sunflowers

faster than a football team at an all you can eat buffet.

Before the birds came to dinner

After they were done

Note how the little gold finches pulled out all the petals from the sunflower before tucking in for a feast.  Litterbugs.

How the garden is doing:

Between here and Mom's garden, we have a few tomatoes.

See.

The little yellow ones are a bit like candy - so sweet!

Time to make something yummy.

Fresh salsa anyone?

Since hubby is limited on how many chips he can eat,

this will go well with rice topped with a mix

of browned ground round and baked beans

seasoned with plenty of ground cumin - fast and easy!

Since that barely dented the supply of tomatoes,

tomorrow's menu will probably have some fresh tomato soup.

Any extras after that will be turned into marinara sauce and frozen,

or they will be canned for making chili in the winter.

And of course,

there is another strainer of beans to fix.

The supply of beans in the freezer is already up to 5 gallons,

in serving size bags of course.

Time to sharpen the knife - again.

Dejavu, beans again - didn't I do this 2 days ago?

It is

 great that garden produce is not taxable.

(Better not tell Obama, he might try.)

Good night all,

and God bless.

My How Time Flies!

Sorry for the lack of posts.  The weather cooled a bit this last week, and it stopped raining every other day.  I took advantage of the clear skies and cooler temperatures to do some work outside that has been waiting a while to be done.

I'm kinda tired today, wonder why?

Wednesday:

gardening at mom's and at home, edging around the driveway, miscellaneous chores, wash up, take aspirin, go to bed

Thursday:

power wash driveway,

patch major cracks in blacktop,

attempt to stand up straight and hobble into the house,

show hubby the parking place for the Element with the least amount of patches, park my car across the end of the driveway so that no nim-rods use my driveway to turn around at night,

take shower,

kitchen chores,

take two aspirin - OUCH-my everything hurts,

go to bed.

Friday:

Gee, a gravel driveway is sounding nicer by the minute.  Have to admit it, I am envious of the neighbor's gravel driveway, but it will be a lot easier to shovel blacktop in the winter.  Must remember that winter IS longer than summer!

Ok, stir and apply four, 5 gallon buckets of stinky, black stuff.  Wow, amazing - I did not get any on my face.  The neighbor across the street said it looks great.  Knowing where all the cracks are, I am of the opinion that, yes, it does look good - from a distance - the farther the better.  A satellite picture on low resolution should look really nice!

Clean up,

more aspirin,

kitchen chores,

and go to bed.

Saturday:

Big surprise - laundry, job 1, get the black stuff off the shorts I wore on Friday (gloves and mineral spirits did the job), pre-wash twice by hand before adding to other laundry.

Hang laundry outside as it still smells a bit funny; evaporation should work, and there will be no risk of the dryer blowing up.

Take wood from dismantled pellet pallets to neighbor who said he wanted it, but he hasn't actually bothered to come and get it all week.  I really need the trash cans for yard waste (pickup 6:30 am Monday).

Make bread.

Dead head, pruning, and weeding - two cans filled.

Clean up,

Kitchen chores,

Prep beef teriaki marinate for Sun. lunch,

Aspirin,

Go to bed.

Sunday:

Get up early enough for church.  Rats, hubby is too tired to go!

Put away clean dishes,

Make lunch,

Catch last week's sermon online,

Clean Chloe's ears,

Give Chloe a bath,

Water garden,

Shopping at Sam's Club

 (went through a lot of gloves on the driveway),

Yard work, one more can filled and a bundle of brush,

Mow part of the lawn - note: need new mower blade!

Put out yard waste,

Pick garden,

Listen/watch dvd while fixing beans,

Welcome home from work dear!

Fix hubby a snack,

Clean up,

Aspirin,

Bed.

Monday:

I ran out of energy.

All I did today was cook lunch,

get my allergy shots,

have an asthma flare up,

buy a new mower blade,

grocery shop,

and take a nap.

Ah, maybe there's still enough time to fire up the vacuum cleaner.

Good night all.

When I Can No Longer Stand Hubby's Heart Healthy Diet,

I break down and make a not quite as bad for you PIZZA!

Preheat oven to 370 deg. F.

Impatient Cook's Pizza Crust:

2 1/2 cups flour

1/2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt (more if you wish, but toppings are salty)

1 tsp dried basil, crushed

1 tsp dried oregano, crushed

slightly < 1 cup tomato juice

(drained from a can/jar or  drained from fresh tomatoes,

add water if not enough)

1/3 cup olive oil

liquid drained from approx. 3/4 cup lowfat cottage cheese

Mix dry ingredients.

Whisk liquid ingredients until emulsified slightly,

then add to dry ingredients.  Stir just until moist throughout.

Flour baking stone or pan.  Roll out dough until it hangs over edges slightly.  Then roll over edges and crimp like you would for pie crust.  Bake crust for 10-12 minutes, or until set enough that toppings will not cause it to become mushy.  Remove from oven and add toppings.

Suggested Toppings:

(place on crust in this order)

3/4 cup drained lowfat cottage cheese

1/2-3/4 cup cooked beet greens,

blanched and drained (salad spinner)

(spinach may be substituted for beet greens)

1 cup sliced or canned tomatoes, drained (salad spinner)

basil and oregano sprinkled to taste

A few crispy bits of precooked bacon for flavor

1/2-3/4 cup cows milk feta (style) cheese

(fake feta, the real stuff is made from goats' milk and costs $$)

approx. 1/4 pound lowfat, part-skim mozzarella cheese,

sliced very thin

green and calamata olives, sliced

Return pizza to oven and bake for 15-25 minutes until cheese is melted and starting to brown.

Remove pizza from oven, slice, and ENJOY!

Happy Birthday Mom!

Summer! When all the Beautiful Cars Come Out to Play!

Shiny!

No it is not mine!

I get to appreciate its beauty without having to pay

for the car, the insurance, and the maintenance.

Guess there are some advantages to living

on a busy street in a semi-commercial district.

A shop near our house specializes in restorations and

maintenance on beauties like this.

We frequently hear the purring thrum

of perfectly tuned car engines, sometimes even a V12.

Then we look out the window and see a mechanic

with a smile of satisfaction on his face as he

heads out of town to give the thing a test run

to make sure all is well before returning it to its owner.

The look on his face tells what he is thinking,

"They actually pay me to work on these!

I love my job!"

I almost could not believe my eyes

when I started Google searching for cars that looked like this one.

This car appears to be a 1960s Ferrari 250 GTO!

It is truly a very rare beauty!

Inflation and the Birds

This spring at the store I was rather shocked

by the increase in the price of bird seed.

With some planning, a handful of seeds have been stretched a bit.

So, at least for the summer,

the birds can find food for themselves.

They seem to be enjoying the fresh sunflower seeds.