Showing posts with label herbs. Show all posts
Showing posts with label herbs. Show all posts

The Garden!

Posted by jablocker , Labels: , , , , , , , , , , , , Tuesday, October 4, 2011 12:31 PM

     The garden we had this year was very small, and only had the basics for my kitchen in it.  The military transferred us right in the middle of prime planting season.  Between two kids, a husband, and household stuff there was no way i could plant a big garden. The good news is this year I will have plenty of time to prepare.


     I love having the ability to run out to the garden, and grab something for dinner.  It really is fun for me, and my two year old loves to go out with me.  As the end of garden season for area is coming to an end I am making up all kinds of things to freeze, can, or dry for the winter.  In a previous blog I made Pesto to store in the freezer.  My family loves pesto sauces, and really do not think that the batch I made will last us very long.  I will however hold off on using it until I just can not stand it any more.

     I have been daydreaming of the things I can plant next year.  There are so many things I want to plant. However there is only so much room.  I am trying to convince my hubby to make me a raised bed for more space.

Things I know I will plant.
  • tomatoes
  • bell peppers
  • jalapenos
  • spicy basil
  • oregano
  • thyme
  • rosemary
  • black eyed peas
Things I want to plant
  • garlic
  • onions
  • eggplant
  • squash 
  • okra
  • maybe some mint for a few mojitos
     Do you ever think of planting a garden?  What would you plant?  What are your favorite vegetables and herbs? Not sure you have the time. Just plant some herbs in pots, and place them near the door you typically leave the house from.  On your way out take a pitcher of water for the plants, and leave the pitcher on the porch.  Then just take the pitcher back inside with you on your way in.

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Pesto

Posted by jablocker , Labels: , , , , , , , , , , , Sunday, September 25, 2011 8:11 PM

Garden pickings
     Well here is a picture of all the things that the garden had to offer last night. We had basil, rosemary, savory, tomatoes, jalapenos, and birds eye peppers.  Basil is overly abundant right now but I know it will not be in the coming months.  So I made a batch of pesto to put in the refrigerator for later. First I pulled all the leaves off of the stems.  I let them soak in a sink of cool salt water for about 30 minutes.  This gets all the bugs and dirt off of the leaves.

Freshly washed basil
     After it is done soaking I placed it in a colander, and let it drip dry.  While it was drying I peeled four entire cloves of garlic.  The garlic peeling probably took about 45 minutes. That meant that there was plenty of time for the basil to dry off a bit.

     Now I went about putting all of the garlic in my food processor. I also put in a dash of white wine. Next, I piled basil leaves in to the top, and put the lid on only to add more basil until the shoot was full too.  I turned the food processor on and let it begin breaking everything down.  Once most of the leaves were down into the bowl I commenced adding in the olive oil.  I opened it to scrape the sides down one time, and then blended it for a few more seconds. 
pesto in the ice tray

Now I wanted to save the pesto for a later date so I decided on freezing it.  I did not want to freezer the entire batch together so I divded it in to and ice cube tray.  Most trays will hold about two tablespoonfuls in each section.  This way it will know how much pesto I am grabbing out of the freezer at a time. 

After it was completely frozen I popped the cubes into a ziploc bag, and squeezed the air out. As a note pesto typically has pine nuts in it, bution was out and they are expensive.  I also have a difficult time finding them at the local stores. 

Now if only my tomatoes produced as well as my jalapenos I would be set.  As for right now I have way more peppers than tomatoes.  I will make as much salsa as I can with the tomatoes that I have.  I guess I will have to try making pepper jelly for the first time with all these extra peppers.







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