Garden Bounty

It was another day of canning yesterday. I'll be doing more today and tomorrow. As for yesterday, it was time to put those cherry tomatoes to work.

On yesterday's agenda was the Moroccan-Spiced Sweet and Hot Cherry Tomato Preserves. This took a lot longer than expected since it took nearly an hour and a half to cook it down to jam consistency. I was determined not to be impatient, however. One of my greatest cooking challenges is not to jump the gun and leave my salsas and jams undercooked. So, with that in mind, I stirred and waited, waited and stirred until finally, it was ready. My patience was rewarded.

It's so pretty. My yield was 3 pints and a little left over for the cook. This morning I put some of the left over on my eggs, and it was delicious. This is intended to be a condiment, like ketchup. Only, it's the best ketchup you'll ever eat. I can imagine putting it on sandwiches or using it as an accompaniment to any meat. It's really quite tasty. As the name would indicate, it's a little on the spicy side, but not so spicy that it will knock your head off. Nevertheless, if you're very sensitive to that, you might want to back off on the cayenne. It's flavored with lots of ginger, cayenne, cinnamon, cloves, and cumin as well as two sliced and chopped lemons...seeded, but the rind is left on.

I'd link to the recipe, but this is published in a new book...this one:

The book has a lot of good recipes in it, and the Kindle version is still available for $1.99 on Amazon. You can find it right here if you want a copy for your very own.

So what was I doing while I waited? Well, I took a bunch more pictures of Miss Sadie. Since I wasn't using flash, she decided to keep her eyes open for a few of them.

Also, I made some progress on the Heart & Home block.

When the jam was finished and processed, I had some time to work on the back for the Wine Country quilt. I'll be using up almost all of the fabric on the back, and I'm happy not to be adding more yardage to my burgeoning stash. Here's a peek at what I have so far. This will be at the bottom.

The wine fabric is directional, and so when I cut the side borders for the quilt top, I had to cut them the long way, and that left me with a center panel, 30 inches wide. Today I'll sew the cork fabric to either side and then sew that piece to what's pictured above. Three seams, and the back will be finished.

When I looked in on the greenhouse tomatoes yesterday, I found one had fallen off the plant. That can only mean that it's time to pick the ripest among them. While I was out this morning, I took a little walk around to see what's blooming. The echinacea plants are not large, but they're doing well this year. This is only the second year since I started them from seeds. I'm hoping we'll have a mild winter and they'll come back even more robust next year. This is the PowWow Wild Berry variety.

The more traditional pink are blooming now too. The bees and butterflies love them.

There is one more plant that has yet to bloom. I'm hoping this will be the Cheyenne Spirit variety, which is more yellow and orange, but I really have no idea until it opens.

The annuals are kind of in a bloomed-out stage right now. I really must get out and clip the dead blossoms off to keep them blooming. Nevertheless, the verbena I planted in the spring is doing really well right now. It's such a pretty bright red.

While I didn't plant any pansies this year, I have plenty of volunteers. This is the largest bed among them, growing among the strawberries. We have no rhyme or reason to our garden. If it grows, it stays. I'd add there "unless it's a weed," but that would be a lie.

So how about those tomatoes? I picked 3 1/2 pounds. It isn't enough for salsa, but there is enough to try another tomato jam recipe I've had my eye on. For these, I'll be trying Marisa McClellan's Smoky, Spicy, Skillet Tomato Jam. Marisa did hers by adding the sugar and letting them macerate in the refrigerator overnight. I'll probably do the same thing.

The tomatoes surprised me this year by ripening almost a full month earlier than usual. I've always planted the tomatoes from seeds. With our trip last year, we weren't home soon enough this spring, and so I used starts from a local nursery. The plants have been so much more robust than anything I've ever planted. I might just skip the seeds next year and go straight for the starts. Erik and Mae are sold on the "grafted" starts. When you look at the cherry tomato bounty in the first image above, it's hard to argue with them. And I haven't even shown you the pictures from their garden. Oh. My. Gosh. Those two have some tomato-eating ahead of them. Lucky me...they usually foist some of their bounty off in my direction.

Today I'll be turning the tomatillos into salsa verde, and I'll be finishing up the back for Wine Country. Also, I simply must do some housework. I've been putting it off for a week. But first, slow stitching. Heading there now.