I cannot tell you how excited I am for our garden this year. Especially for basil that will be filling up our herb trough, bright in color, so heavily scented that I could bath in it. LOL.

Don’t you love the smell of fresh basil?

More exciting than the scent, though, is the recipe I’m sharing today. It’s so easy! And we can all use new, refreshing, easy appetizer recipes – perfect for last-minute get togethers or when you’re invited to someone’s house.

Bring an appetizer and wine! I love those words, especially when I have something so simple in mind.

Last weekend I made this simple appetizer for a party that we attended. For me, simple, light appetizers always taste better than heavy ones, so I made Goat Cheese Pesto Tartines.

Tartine: A French word that means open-face sandwich.

Basil season can’t come soon enough, but in the meantime, I used store-bought pesto.

It’s convenient and perfect for “last-minute” and honestly, not everyone has time to whip up fresh basil.

Do you make your own pesto or do you sometimes splurge and buy store-bought?

Last year was so disappointing for our tomato crop, but what I found out was that almost everyone else in our area (southern Oregon) had the same experience. We had lots of rain in the spring, and my friend who supplies our tomato starts had warned us …

But what I really love is that she prays for her plants!

Because, really, all that hard work that you put into starting, growing, loving your plants, it’s really disappointing when they don’t produce.

“It’s been a horrid year for the greenhouse. I lost over 300 starts when it was so rainy in March. Just too cold and dark for them to grow – so they all died. I replanted in April – and the little guys are only about 4” high. I’m praying for lots of heat and light – and they should be good by the end of May.” – Terri, my green-thumb goddess*

We all know that fertility plays a role in tomato success or failure, but I really do believe that the rainy weather was the culprit. (My tomatoes last year, some were so tiny.)

Facts about tomatoes:

- If you can, buy starts (either later into spring, or grow in your own greenhouse)

- The soil needs to be warm and stay warm.

- Trench-style planting really does work. Plant deep and follow this method.

- Use mulch after you plant.

- Sunshine and warmth are both critical to sugar development / flavorful tomatoes.

- Too much water limits the tomato’s sweetness.

- Frequent shallow watering does not benefit the plant.

- Watering deeply once or twice a week helps in growth and flavor.

So the weather really does have a say in what happens with our beautiful tomato plants. Let’s hope that this year we don’t have such a crazy rainy season.

And when all else fails, pray for heat and light!

Did you plant tomatoes last year and how was your summer crop?

(*This post is dedicated to Terri, my friend who supplies us with beautiful greenhouse starter plants every year.)

Last year’s Roasting Tomatoes with Whole Wheat Pasta.

It’s wet out. Soggy, and not very fun working out in the garden. My husband likes it better than I do.

But one thing I do love is taking the food from the garden and preparing it for dinner – for either our family or guests. That’s my kind of gardening. You may have seen this post, but it was on all things green, which included many photos from our garden last year. Right now it’s not very pretty.

For a spring garden, here’s a list of what you could be harvesting in April or May:

-lettuce
-radishes
-asparagus
-green beans
-rhubarb

Gearing up and getting ready for the planting/growing season, I thought I’d walk you through our garden this week! And if you’re just starting out with raised beds, last spring I wrote about gardening and building raised beds in the city.

Cold crops:

Plant cold weather crops now by seed, even by start (depending where you live). Where we live, we’ve already planted celery, beets, parsnips, rutabagas and lettuce. Above picture is new Butter Crunch lettuce starts. Our asparagus is now in its second year, so we’re hoping it will come up, too.

Potatoes:

We’ve also planted potatoes. We made a mistake last year and threw away our starter potatoes, so we had to get more. You can get certified starter potatoes (disease-free, get at garden supply store) or you can take your chances and take potatoes from the grocery store. Or use sprouted potatoes left in your pantry. We had a bag of red new potatoes that were old and they were beginning to “eye out” which is excellent for gardening. We took those potatoes and cut in half (some eyes in one half, some eyes in the other half) and we put them in the ground.

We are not completely out of the woods yet, because we still have frost concerns, so what we do is:

1. Cover the bed with about 4-5 inches of loose straw
2. The shoots will come through the straw and you’ll start seeing the green little leaves.
3. You can always add more straw for insulation or you can cover with garden cloth.

We really recommend potatoes because there’s nothing like the flavor of a homegrown potato. New potatoes are a hit with everybody, and many times you never even need to peel them. They have a fresh taste and they BBQ really well. We start eating them well before they are fully grown (we eat them young) to extend the enjoyment of the growing season. (By the way, that’s our $5 compost bin behind the potatoes.)

Purchasing straw:

You can purchase straw at your local Grange or farm center. You can also use bed sheets or a drop cloth to keep away the frost, but these last 2 you’ll have to remove during the day.

Frost damage:

When it comes to your plants getting frost damage, unless it’s a very heavy, deep frost, you are not going to lose all of your plants. The worst around our area is a few leaves turn black and die, but the plant lives on! We’re not planting orchids, we’re planting potatoes. People freak out too much about the “frost.”

Soil preparation:

Amend the soil with standard soil amendments if the soil is really hard. Use peat moss, compost, either homemade or purchased. We’ve even used potting soil for amendment in our outdoor garden beds.

Strawberries:

Now’s the time to plant strawberries. Mound the beds, because they produce more berries that way. It’s also easier to pick a mound than a flat bed. It also looks better. If you want to mound and use the existing irrigation, lay the PVC on the ground and add the dirt on top. That way you don’t have to dig a ditch. Make sure the PVC is 4-6 inches deep. It could be deeper if you get hit with heavy frost in your area. You may have already read my post on planting Seascape strawberries. In fact, the pictures above is our new baby plants bursting through …

Raspberries:

It’s also time to plant Kane Raspberries. The flavor is really good and they are unbelievably easy to grow. We’ve neglected ours a little, and they still grow. We started with 5, but they put out so many runners. You can build a formal trellis for them, but the RE philosophy is to keep it simple.

Wherever they grow we add a tomato cage. Why tomato cages? They’re simple and easy. We picked up the cages when we went by a house that had about 12 cages in the front saying FREE. We recommend raspberries over blueberries. We’ve yet to get a decent growing season with our blueberries, probably because of inadequate soil preparation (we’re still figuring it out).

I love how Spring provides us with the exact amount of sun that our raised beds need, to bring some of the tastiest crops to their full potential.

My very top salad picture is actually lettuce that we grew from our AeroGarden, which is in our kitchen. It provides not only baby starts for lettuce, but we can actually snip and put into our salads to give them the absolute freshness that I love in a springtime salad. I plan to do a post on salad greens and the fast rewards of growing your own.

Also, here’s my new baby … a Sweet Bay plant growing in my kitchen. I’m tired of buying fresh bay leaves and throwing them out (not using up). This way I can snip as i go …

For now, this is our garden update.

I’d love to hear about yours? Or, what is one thing “new” that you plan to plant this year?

Strawberries … our family loves them. My husband just added to our garden 24 new plants to our existing beds, a few weeks ago.

Did you know that strawberries are one of the simplest fruit plants to grow in a “home” garden? I don’t think people realize how easy they are to grow!

For 7 years now, we’ve enjoyed our strawberry beds, reaping a phenonemal amount of fruit for such a small area. The everbearing variety that we planted this year is called Seascape, and it produces one big sweet crop of tasty fruit.

Which, by the way, for entertaining purposes, homegrown strawberries make the best desserts!

Seascape Strawberries:

-The Strawberry Seascape, a spring planted herbacious root, is an ever bearing strawberry that produces one crop in spring and another in fall.

-Seascape produces high quality, very sweet berries, that are round and evenly shaped.

-Seascape fruit is large, with an attractive glossy finish. They fruit well in spring and it is one of the most reliable producers in the fall.

-They grow and fruit well in hot dry climates.

Strawberries like a rich, loamy soil with good drainage. If the soil is too sandy, adding mulch to hold moisture during the dryer summer months really helps. The plants also do not like soggy soil, so avoid planting in clay soils. If you keep the plants well picked and do not allow old or moldy fruit to stay on the plant for any length of time, they will bear more fruit.

More strawberry facts:

-Strawberries are a perennial plant.

-Plant your bare root or seedlings between 8 – 12 inches apart.

-If you are an urban gardener, strawberry plants do well in large containers or three to five gallon pots.

-Full sun is critical to getting lots of berries, so make sure you have a good, sunny location before investing time and energy into container gardening.

Planting tips:

-If you’re tight on space, tuck plants into the sides of strawberry pots, where they’ll bear fruit for months.

-Apply complete fertilizer after new growth begins, then again after the first harvest.

-Spread organic mulch around plants to help keep the soil moist between waterings.

-Pinch off the first flush of flowers so plants can direct energy into establishing a strong root system. You’ll still get fruit the first year – just later.

We’ve learned to replace the plants every year or two, to keep a healthy crop going.

Oh, and one more secret. Teach your kids how to pick the berries and stay on top of the crop, usually picking every other day.

And they’ll be more willing to pitch in and help make strawberry jam, too!

What are your favorite berries and how do you like to use them?

Being married to an Irish man for 21 years, it’s a good thing I love green.

Green has always been my favorite color. My kitchen is green, I love to wear green, the color itself just makes me happy!

This was a fun little project that I put together for my blog for St. Patrick’s Day. I have over 20,000 photos in iPhoto on my computer (yes, it’s backed up regularly). I quickly ran my mouse over the months and pulled out my favorite green pictures to share today.

Ha! I realized how much I love spring and summer. Here’s a few things “green” that I love.

Happy St. Patrick’s Day on Saturday, friends!

Garden beds at dusk.

A luscious avocado.

Green napkins and plates.

Dessert served on a green heirloom plate.

My lemon tree.

Scent of chives.

Elegant green apple centerpiece.

Wearing my favorite Hip Hostess apron.

Our strawberry bed.

The swaying of bambu on the side patio.

My beautiful daughter.

A green lawn.

Lettuce from our garden.

A green tablecloth. (Accessories from Terra Firma Home.)

Daisies in the front yard.

A simple green vase.

The scent of basil.

Our pool at dusk.

Grass at the beach.

Apples ready for applesauce.

Friends who came for dinner.

Homegrown green beans.

Scrabble in the pool.

Can you tell I’m gearing up in my mind for spring and summer? It’s hard to find “pretty green” in the dreary winter months. Only a few days ago, this popped up in our front yard. I couldn’t believe it. Only ONE.

I looked around in our neighbors yards – nothing.

So I’ve been enjoying our one and only daffodil this week, and anxiously awaiting the other blooms.

We’re be on our way to Carnegie Hall, where my daughter and her violin group will be performing this next week at the Music Festival. It’s a very exciting week for us!

I’m sure NYC will be buzzing on St. Patty’s Day … don’t you think?

What are your St. Patrick’s Day plans this year?

One of the nicest things my husband has done for me over the years is, every Spring, he plants me a kitchen garden with raised beds, with one of the beds filled with strawberry plants.

Beautiful red strawberries. There’s nothing like home grown.

Berries that are sweet that make me very happy.

And our family happy.

And others happy.

It’s not just an ordinary strawberry bed, either.

Because our strawberry bed is also filled with love.

In early February, to the Grange my husband goes.

And then home to plant the roots.

This year he mounded the center of the bed. He’s always trying something new.

And into the ground went 24 new, fresh, baby roots.

Strong arms, a plan, and a desire to feed his family.

He does it with love.

For me.

And for them.

Happiness + joy + strawberries = LOVE.

Will you be planting strawberries this year?

(A couple years back I wrote about how I pulled the weeds and replaced them with a berry root. Last year we bought our berries from The Home Depot. This year in our new mounds we planted 24 new Seascape berry roots. In a post to come, stay tuned for more information on this everbearing plant, that may just work for your garden.)

This time of year you may be purchasing azalea, hydrangea, or cyclamen plants. Or maybe you’re receiving them as gifts. I recently bought a kalanchoe plant, which sits on my dining room table. (Sometimes I’ll move it over by the kitchen sink.)

It’s bright and cheery, and … well … for next week, it’s GREEN for St. Patty’s Day!

I love to buy plants at the Grocery Outlet and give them away. They are inexpensive, yet you can find some beautiful ones.

These plants are tender, and unless you live in a warmer climate (I do not), they are best preserved if you keep them inside.

Here’s a few ideas where you can place them in your house:

-Kitchen windowsill

-Table or counter

-Living room or entry way

-Even a lighted bathroom

-Dining room table.

For me, early plants in the house are inspiration to what’s ahead … the upcoming garden season. Which I cannot wait for.

Do you live in a warmer or cooler climate, and what is your favorite way to display a tender plant in your home?

(Here’s an informative site that shows how to care for a kalanchoe plant, if you happen to pick one up at the grocery store this week.)

I pulled our last jar of fruit from the pantry this week.

Homemade canned fruit, that is.

I’ve been trying to be disciplined lately and not run to the store for every little thing we run out of. And I’ve been trying to teach my teens the same thing.

No fresh apples or bananas? Head to the pantry, kids!

This week I grabbed our last jar of home canned cherries. It actually made me sad, because I’m not sure that I will can cherries this summer. I love them, but the rest of the family is not crazy about them. I’ve been able to cook with them on occasion, but this time I grabbed the last jar and made myself breakfast.

I love to make a “shake” in the morning with fresh fruit, or whatever fruit I can find.

I’ll be canning peaches, pears, applesauce, lots of jams and relishes this year (yes, I’m dreaming of summer.)

But probably not cherries.

If you are a canner, what is your family’s favorite fruit?

Thinking ahead to springtime, now is the time to plant bulbs of garden dreams to come.

Or, in my home, entertaining dreams.

One thing I love about spring is, if you plan your yard and garden beds right now, you can have fresh flowers from early spring until late fall – a perfect touch for a simple table.

When we moved into our house, we were blessed with some amazing plants, but there was plenty of space to add more beauty.

Planting Bulbs Now
- Starting in late summer, gather different varieties of bags of bulbs and store in a cool place
- On several Costco runs, I’d stock up by buying one bag here and there (an easy way to spread out the cost, they also have coupons often)
- Before the frost comes, draw your flower beds and design where you want more flowers
- Plant the bulbs, making sure you follow directions on the packaging for the right depth
- Make sure your current beds are cleaned and pruned, which allows you to see the open areas
- Use a shovel or a tool to help dig the holes; even a large kitchen spoon will work
- Make sure the growing tip is pointing up; cover with soil and water the area
- Spread mulch over the planted area to prevent freezing and thawing
- Keep the “design” and use it for future reference, so you know what you’ve planted
- For inspiration, tape the design on the inside of the kitchen cabinet

The last tip, I love. Every time I opened my kitchen cabinet in my “old kitchen” I saw and looked forward to what I had planted.

I was able to plant bulbs this last week (we still have beautiful, sunny weather in Oregon). My design is going “inside the cabinet” and I can’t wait to be inspired for spring, for snipping a few flowers here and there for my tables, and for even a small bouquet to take to a friend or a neighbor. I’ve added a small vase when taking a meal to a family.

It’s a warm way to give and brighten up a person’s life, just because you will know they appreciate the thought, but also a simple way to show love.

Warm connections come from the beauty of nature. All we have to do is think ahead … in our case, fall into spring. Plant your bulbs now.

What bulbs come up every year in your yard? And have you started the bulb-planting process this season?

Get caught up, Days 1-28 of 31 Days of Warm Connections, HERE. I also found a really cool website on planting bulbs … it’s called DigDropDone.com. Check it out.

Surely the apple is the noblest of fruits. – Henry David Thoreau

Everyone who has, at some point in life, received a knock on the door with a fresh pan of goodies or pie or cake delivered to their home, knows exactly how my neighbors felt last night when I myself did the knocking.

When our friends Roger and Faye delivered the boxes, coolers, bags full of apples, from their fruit trees, I couldn’t help but get a little giddy inside. My parents did not have fruit tress but my Aunt Lillian worked at Harry and David her entire life. So every year at fall we’d be blessed with a huge box of apples. You know, the good kind. Not the mushy or mealy kind. The crisp and almost perfect kind.

For years now Roger and Faye have made their favorite apple dessert, and now they’ve passed it on to me. It’s easy, it’s tart and tasty, and it’s good for neighbors.

Make a pan for yourself or your family, and one or two to take to neighbors HOT out of the oven.

Sharing Tips:
1. Look at your fruit bounty and see if you have enough to bless others with.
2. Do you have extra pans in your cupboard for baking?
3. Keep on hand “throw-away” pans that you don’t need back.
4. Mark your name on the bottom with a Sharpie or tape if you want your pan back.

If you follow my neighbor Ellie’s advice, never return a pan empty (of course this is just a suggestion).

Warm connections come when we practice simple gestures of kindness that really only take a little thought to plan out.

When’s the time you doubled up on your cooking or baking and shared it with others?

Get caught up, Days 1-27 of 31 Days of Warm Connections, HERE.

Today I’m participating in a blogging event with retailer Harry and David in my hometown of Medford, Oregon, and I’m also going to talk about peaches.

I grew up with Harry and David. Well, not really Harry or David, but with their produce, orchards, the very essence of all their goodness, it’s all been a part of my life for almost 50 years.

A few weeks ago my friend Kristin and I canned peaches together.

The peaches were Harry and David’s Suncrest brand, grown in our local orchards.

This post has more sentimental value to me than peaches, the canning process, Harry and David.

When Kristin told me we were going to go down the street from her home and use her mom’s kitchen, I had no idea the nostalgic feelings that would rise up in my heart and mind. It brought back memories of my Mom, wishing she could be here canning peaches alongside Kristin and me.

My Mom loved my friends. She would have been there in a heartbeat.

Her hands were always busy and her heart was so full of love for other people.

The day went long. We put the peaches into hot boiling water (we used a slow cooker, do you?), and then right into the cold, pulling off the skins, slicing and layering in the jars.

Stunningly beautiful.

There is nothing like a beautiful jar full of peach freshness.

I brought along all of my canning supplies and was thrilled to be using a Thermador range, a complete surprise (it was like driving a Mercedes!)

We were on our feet for hours (we canned 4 lugs of pears) but one thing I noticed was that, more than talking about other people, we talked about our families … our kids, parents, spouses, and our mothers.

We even went outside to look at her mother’s beautiful assortment of dahlias.

Kristin doesn’t know this, but this day was very special to me.

Canning peaches with a friend is a story of how fresh produce, straight from the orchards, and using our hands for the benefit of our families, can come together into an ordinary canning jar to create beauty and nourishment for our bodies.

Warmer connections come when we nurture the friendships that we have in our lives.

New friendships are essential, but sometimes taking the ones we’ve had for years and trying something new (like canning together)–you’ll create a memory that you’ll cherish for years to come.

When’s the last time you tried something new with an old friend?

(This post was not sponsored by H&D. We bought our own peaches for the canning process. Canning is just what we do here in the Rogue Valley.)

I love how my daughter whistles while she works …

Even in the midst of a messy kitchen, while canning homemade pear applesauce, Abby and I can have fun together.

When the apples arrive from our dear friends, Roger and Faye, we know what comes next: the canning process.

Thanks to Kitchen Aid and the nifty attachments that hook up to my stand mixer, all you have to do is wash the apples (pears), cut in quarters, boil down in a heavy pot, and then run it through the attachments.

I never add sugar. I jar and process for 25 minutes. Cool, wipe down the jars, and place in the pantry, jars ready for winter enjoyment.

The canning between a mother and daughter is very simple.

We talk about the love between our family friends of 30 years, their home being one of our favorite homes in southern Oregon, the forging and sharing of friendships and good foods, the importance of multiple generations, gratitude for elderly friends being a part of our children’s lives. Some retired friends have shared the responsibility in getting Abby to her violin lessons every week for 12 years when I was not able to drive her. The saying “it takes a village” does make it easier for a child to understand the role of multiple generations in a life.

Thinking back to this day, I watched Abby take over. She basically did the whole canning process by herself after I cooked down the apples. We’ve done it so many times, she knew exactly what to do. This kinda makes a mama proud–kids who know what to do in the kitchen.

It gives me a sense of “if something happens to me, I know everything is going to be alright.”

Warmer connections come when we can work in the kitchen alongside our kids.

It not only gives us face time with our child, but when you hear the whistling going on, you know there’s a little happiness somewhere in their heart, too.

Now I wanna get me some warm pear applesauce.

When’s the last time you worked alongside one of your kids in the kitchen, and how did it make you feel?

Here’s a past about applesauce and soul … I think you’ll enjoy.

If you missed Day 1 or 2 …
Day 1: Secret Ingredient to Warmer Connections
Day 2: Bringing the Beauty of Autumn to Your Table

Do you hear your friends talking about an area of their house that is hard to keep clean and uncluttered? (I’m really looking forward to Nester’s 31 Days of Housekeeping coming up in our October 31 Days series.)

Ambush their space for an hour and help them organize – they will love it!

When my friend Steph came down from Portland with her family, we were on a mission to make early Christmas gifts together, Sweet Onion and Pepper Relish.

When Steph opened my hall closet, and most everything fell out, she wanted to get in there and organize it for me. I said, no, no … you don’t want to do that. But she did want to.

And I reluctantly let her.

Now look how beautiful and organized it is? (Sorry, no before pictures, it all happened so fast)

It is much easier to help someone else than work on your own troubled areas. It is super fun, satisfying and it motivates you to organize your own house. Steph also walked away with a few new (to her) tablecloths of mine, which I was happy to pass down to her.

Another good thing: She made me get rid of stuff I never knew I had.

Now moving on to the canning process … spending a few hours together in the kitchen–chopping and chopping and more chopping–gave us hours to get to know one another, which was awesome time spent. Remember in this post how I told you we prepared a lot of jalapeno peppers?

Today I’m sharing my special homemade Christmas gift recipe I’ll be giving away this year (sh-h-h, don’t tell my friends!). In a future post I’ll show you how to package it for the holidays.

One of the things I love about building relationships with friends is the memories that last forever!

So very wonderful!

Have you thought ahead to homemade Christmas gifts to give this year? I’d love to hear what you will be giving? And what about doing it with a friend?

The winner to the DesignzDivine jewelry is Teresa from Whatever blog. Congrats, Teresa!

I have a recipe coming up on RE that includes jalapeños …

… a lot of jalapeños.

The jalapeño is a medium-sized chili pepper that has a warm, burning sensation when eaten. A mature jalapeño fruit is 2–3½ inches (5–9 cm) long and is commonly picked and consumed while still green, but occasionally it is allowed to over-ripen and turn crimson red.

When our friends came for Labor Day weekend, Steph and I were canning together in the kitchen and she suggested that polyethylene (kitchen) gloves were a must when cooking with jalapeños.

Brilliant. No more weepy eyes when your hand accidentally touches your face after chopping these little rascals.

Or feeling their effect the next day and the next …

Do you use gloves in the kitchen and if so, for what food items?

One of my favorite recipes in my book, The Reluctant Entertainer, is Zucchini Noodles.

Inspired by a lot of zucchinis in our yard every year (doesn’t everyone who gardens have a ton of zucchinis?) and simply a great way to teach kids how to eat zucchini, we make this recipe in the Coughlin home year round.

Do you know how to turn your vegetables into lovely noodles? It’s so easy and your kids can do it quickly with a good vegetable peeler!

It’s also a great technique for making ribbons with any summer squash, cucumbers, and melons. YUM!

By taking the beautiful zucchini from the garden, you peel the zucchini until you get to the center. (Then compost the center part or put into a soup! Or feed to your chickens!)

So easy for the kids to take part in, too.

And then there’s “yard beans” pickin’, too. We’re still harvesting ours.

Make your garlicky white sauce. Add the parmesan cheese and season to taste.

In olive oil, barely cook the zucchini to tender in a hot pan. Do NOT overcook.

Mix the two together and ENJOY!

We like to add chicken and whole wheat pasta.

Makes a nice presentation and is tasty beyond belief. Especially with garden tomatoes and fresh basil-ly yard beans. Mm-m-m ….

What do you do with extra zucchini from your garden? Or do you have a favorite atumn zucchini recipe?

A couple of weeks ago, my husband and I were heading out of town to Virginia Beach. Traveling together is always a joy, and I really look forward to our time away. Since our kids are older now, it’s easier to leave them behind. They’re busy with commitments, jobs, activities, and I always leave a list of chores to do, so that when we return, I’m not overwhelmed! I’m thankful for good kids who get in and help when we are away.

My motto is this:

If I leave my house clean, I will expect it to be in the same condition when I return.

I had a funny thought though, as I was packing and getting ready the day before we left. I thought ahead to dinner and how I wanted to make something special. I wanted our family to all be together. I wanted good conversation. I wanted connection. It takes effort to bring the family together and my mind was going here:

What if this is our last meal together as a family?

Do you ever get sentimental thoughts before you travel? I can’t be the only one!

So in wanting a special time, I also wanted a tasty, healthy experience.

I wanted Mama’s cooking to be a memory they’d never forget.

The night before, we had roasted 2 pans of fresh tomatoes, straight from the garden.

On this night I cooked whole wheat pasta, and we added ground lean turkey to the roasted tomatoes.

We placed the tomato mixture on the whole wheat pasta.

Dubliner Cheese was shaved on top, with chopped fresh basil, and slices of whole wheat bread on the side.

We sat together on our back patio and enjoyed our healthy meal and just being together.

I was satisfied with the outcome. Good food, the blessings of family, open discussions on life, … and deeper connections.

Okay, I’ll be honest and hopefully not too morbid here.

What would you cook, for one of your last meals with your family?

My guests didn’t know.

My kids didn’t know.

Only I knew the secret ingredient when I made dinner the other night.

Who says you can’t throw in something unusual, a secret-weapon ingredient, when cooking a traditional dish?

Last weekend my husband and I worked long, hard, hot hours in the yard and garden. We harvested beets, cooked them in the pressure cooker, and when it came time to cook dinner a couple days later, guess which ingredient I used when making enchiladas?

I combined beets and tomatoes for the topping, and layered beets on the inside of the enchiladas.

Beets. Precious beets.

And it was delicious.

It’s fun to make your guests swoon, trying to guess the secret ingredient, or to see their faces when they take that first bite.

When’s the last time you cooked with a secret ingredient and what was the reaction of our guests?

We’ve eaten so much corn this year, I think it’s coming out of our ears! (Hee-hee, that was pretty funny.)

Seriously, our family has really enjoyed sweet, savory corn on the cob this summer, served several ways.

Recently we had dinner in Portland with our friends and they grilled it … in the husks!
How easy is that?

Corn on the cob cooked this way has a mild flavor, but it’s tender and juicy.

How to Grill Corn in the Husk

-Soak the corn in the husks (easiest in the sink or a bucket) for a least a half an hour.

-Pull them out of the water and lay them on the grill, turning ever 5 minutes or so.

-Cook until they are heated through, 15 – 30 minutes, depending on how many cobs you have on the grill.

-The husks and silk come off very easily.

After giving thanks for our dinner, the little kids usually raise their hands.

This time … it was the big kid.

What has been your favorite way of serving corn this summer?

Want to mix and freeze herb butter? Check it out, here.

By 8 o’clock on Saturday night, my husband and I had finished the kitchen chores, put up the day’s harvest, and we were ready to crash!

Our sons were backpacking, our daughter was on a rafting trip. We had the entire weekend to ourselves to work around the house, in the yard, and harvest some of the garden. (If you want to read about our raised beds and how we got started, you can, here.)

I told Paul that these are my favorite days. A day when I get to putter, can, clean, and do things I would normally not do. We were having friends over for dinner, two of the friends being master gardeners, so you bet! we worked hard in the yard and garden. Not for perfection, but for satisfaction. And … it was time. Time to pull the potatoes, the beets, clean out some of the lettuce that had gone to seed, prepare the beds for fall crops.

Learning how to grow, cook, preserve, and work the soil is nothing short of a revolution in its tastiest form.

We appreciate it, our kids love it, and our guests are always enthralled by the farm to table approach, as a unique dish is placed in front of them at dinner, even on a city lot.

Tomatoes: Mostly green, a few are starting to ripen.

Rutabagas: We picked some big ones.

Potatoes: Harvested, but left some potatoes in the ground for next year’s crop.

Sweet Potatoes: I. Cannot. Wait.

Fig tree: An aborist told us we had our fig tree planted in the wrong place. We transplanted it this year and it’s thriving!

Peppers: Still pretty little.

Green beans: Slow growing this year due to a very mild, late summer.

Beets: Harvested and we’ll be enjoying over the next few weeks.

Lettuce: A few heads are popping up, but most has been already harvested. We are growing new starts in our AeroGarden and will plant for a fall crop. And we’re still eating the Italian lettuce.

Swiss Chard: Beautiful and a tasty treat (one our kids are still trying to form taste buds for).

Raspberries: Taking off. We’ve harvested most of them, but still a few stragglers.

Strawberries & Pumpkins & Squash: Season pretty much over. Pumpkins are starting to grow! Squash is taking off.

August is a crazy month for gardens and cooking and preserving. You really have to stay on top of it all and have a plan and rally the troops to get in and help.

It takes commitment and work.

But it’s so rewarding.

I’d love to hear what you are looking forward to harvesting, canning, or cooking with in August?

Last post, I shared our family’s favorite jam combination and recipe, using both strawberries and raspberries right from our garden.

This post I’m sharing how the method of “flipping your jars over” to seal them, works beautifully, effectively and quickly.

How to Flip and Seal the Jars
1. When you’ve completed the recipe and the jam is boiling for the last time, you’re now ready to fill the jars.
2. Using a funnel, ladle the jam into the jars.
3. Take a clean, hot towel and wipe the rim of the jar to remove any residue.
4. Place a sterile lid on the jar.
5. Place a ring around the lid/jar tightly.
6. Immediately flip the jar upside down.
7. Allow the jars to sit in this position for 30-40 minutes.
8. Flip the jar back over and put your finger in the middle. If it pops, the jar is not sealed. Flip the jar back over until it is sealed.
9. When the lid does not pop, or move up and down, then the jar is sealed.

Here’s a little disclaimer: canning websites and books don’t recommend this method; they recommend you use a full hot-water bath for canning jam. I prefer this method for jams and jellies only, exactly the way my Mother and Grandmother taught me.

Why is it okay to use this method?
These items are high in acid and high in sugar – both of which retard the growth of bacteria.

For anything else – vegetables, pickles, tomato sauces, fruit, etc. – process exactly according to current food safety recommendations is what I follow.

When canning, if the lid doesn’t seal, refrigerate and eat as soon as possible. There will be nothing wrong with the food, so don’t throw it out, but it must be refrigerated and used soon.

Here’s our jam on a yummy breakfast treat … Hootenanny (recipe in my book.)

Have you been inspired to make jam this summer?

Thank you for joining me this week in my 5-Part Canning Jam series. It’s been really fun reading your comments. So many of you have very similar stories of learning to make jam the way I did!

If you missed …
Canning Jam Part 1: How to find you passion and get started
Canning Jam Part 2: Supplies you will need for canning
Canning Jam Part 3: Getting your family involved in canning
Canning Jam Part 4: Strawberry Raspberry Jam Recipe
Canning Jam Part 5: Using the “Flip-Over” Method to Seal the Jar