Garden Update

One of the things I love about gardening, besides fresh food, is the wonderful ability to feel so connected to the Earth! I love digging in the dirt, seeing worms roam around, and watching the slow but steady progress of a plant beginning to form! The other day I saw the first of our little tiny tomatoes on one of the branches and I got so excited!

I am in no way an expert gardener.  I like to try new things and read blogs, books, and ask other gardeners questions.  There is always room to learn in gardening like what type of plants work with others and proper planting times. All of these things come with practice so I am learning as I go!

This year in the garden I planted lots of tomatoes (a family favorite) and they have been growing like crazy along with kale, spinach, basil, and a new to me plant- brussels sprouts! We have had a lot of rain in the past two weeks and it seemed like out of nowhere my little tiny sprouts got big and tall!  I also planted green bell peppers, but just like last year they are not doing too good (they are planted behind the kale in the photos).  Last year I did not get any peppers until late August and we only got about 4 or 5 of them.  If the same thing happens this year I am going to scrap peppers next year and try something new (like corn!!!).

Every morning I wake up, make my coffee, and go out into the garden to check on things.  For breakfast I have really been enjoying egg whites with spinach and kale!  I also mix in whatever else is in the fridge from the previous night like rice or potatoes!  Note to self- the best breakfasts are leftover potatoes and scrambled egg whites with sauteed peas and onions. Delicious!!

Hope you all are enjoying your summer mornings!

Endless Tomatoes = Endless Sauce

 The garden has been doing really well this season!   During the summer I wanted to try to grow a bit more of a variety other than the tomatoes we always grow.  So I jumped in and decided to try peppers, kale, romaine, spinach, and broccoli!  My spinach, romaine, and kale did awesome until a rabbit came and ate them all.  I did manage to same some of my kale which I have under crates now so the rabbits cant get to them and they are doing a lot better.  At the beginning of the season my pepper plants started out really weak and I figured they would not grow.  I decided to leave the plants in and see what happens.  I was so excited when in late September I had a nice big green pepper!  Something similar happened with my broccoli and now I have about 5 heads of broccoli growing!  Its so exciting to see my plants prevail!  I didn't think they would grow! 

We have two small gardens on either side of our house.  The peppers and kale were planted on one side and the broccoli on the other.  I had the Romaine and spinach in containers.  Our tomatoes were planted on both sides of the house.  We have about 12 tomato plants growing at once, mainly because my dad and brother devour them once they are ripe.  My mom and I have other plans for our tomatoes though.  

There is only one thing to do when you have endless amounts of homegrown tomatoes and that is to make tomato sauce!  This recipe is perfect for using up all of those homegrown tomatoes and perfect for putting on homemade pizza! If you are not a gardener do not worry!  You can also score cheap, ripe tomatoes at the grocery store.  They are normally marked down in price because they are too ripe to sell within the next few days.  Just remember once you buy them you will need to use them up fast!  This recipe is very simple and you can easily alter it to fit the amount of tomatoes you have on hand. 

Homemade Tomato Sauce

for Pastas, Pizzas, Rice, Soups, Stews, ect. 

(Best with very ripe homegrown tomatoes)

*Note:  This recipe has you keep the skins on the tomatoes while cooking.  If you do not like the skins in your sauce then see the note towards the bottom of the recipe.

Ingredients: 

2 Cloves of Garlic

1/4 C Olive Oil

1 tsp Crushed Red Pepper (can add more if you like)

8 Basil Leaves

2 Tbsp Tomato Paste

Approximately 2 Pounds of Ripe Tomatoes (can use less, or more)

Pinch of Salt

Pinch of Ground Pepper

Crush the garlic with a garlic press (If you do not have a garlic press you can finely chop garlic).  Put in bowl until later. 

Wash and rinse tomatoes,  On a cutting board cut up the tomatoes into small pieces.  They do not have to be perfect cuts since they will be cooking down.  Put all tomatoes including the juice and seeds into a bowl.  (If you do not like seeds in your sauce then you can strain after cooking.)

In a sauce pan add olive oil and garlic and cook on medium heat until you can smell the garlic (about 1-2 minutes)

Add in the tomatoes, crushed red pepper, salt, and ground pepper. Bring the pot to a simmer and let the tomatoes cook down.  This could last anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour depending on the amount of tomatoes you have.  Remember to stir often.  

Once tomatoes are cooked down rip up the basil into small pieces and stir into the pot.  Continue to cook for 3 minutes.  

Once done you can either strain the sauce to get rid of the seeds, or you can keep the seeds in.  ( I personally do not mind the seeds in my sauce but sometimes there might be a bit too much so you can strain either half the batch or the whole batch of sauce)

This sauce stores very well in the fridge or in the freezer.  You can make large quantities and store for later.  It is perfect for pasta and pizza.  I even use it in soups and chilies sometimes.  

*Note: If you do not like skins in your sauce you will need to blanch the tomatoes and peel off the skin.  First boil a pot of water.  Put each tomato in the water for a few seconds.  Take out the tomatoes and place them in an ice water bath until cool.  Once cool you can slice a part of the skin and easily peel the skin off.  Then cut up the tomatoes into small pieces and continue with the recipe. 

*If sharing this recipe please link to this page. Thank you!