My mind was so busy this morning. I’m revved for doing tomatoes tonight and tomorrow and I’m trying to decide what to can and what not. I’ve got it down, I think, to tomato salsa, tomato sauce and whole tomatoes. The tomato salsa is a new recipe I found and if it’s halfway decent I’ll get it on the Recipes Page. If any of you have a really good one, let me know. So far, I’ve not found one that really "does it" for me.
I’ve also been thinking about all the cucumbers I have stacking up in my refrigerator. I HATE to throw food away but it’s starting to get a little out of control. Last year I grew what is called a Peach Vine. The magazine said it was like growing peaches on a vine. NOT!!! They tasted like mild cucumbers and while they are indeed indigenous to this area and an heirloom seed they are a far cry from peaches. I must admit though that it is an absolutely beautiful plant but definitely does not taste like peaches. I could not let those waste either and I looked all over the web trying to find some recipes. I finally settled on making my own recipe up and made Peach Vine Chutney and while I don’t care much for patting myself on the back - it was scrumptious. All that being said, I think I’m going to make chutney with my cucumbers. After work I went out and got some raisins because I like those in chutneys. I am also going to use some spiced pears I made up a few years ago, and definitely some jalapenos! With chutney you can add a little here and a little there. You can make it sweet or savory. I’m sort of getting excited now. I make a coeur a la creme that uses chutney and it just simply isn’t a dish until you pour that wonderful chutney over the top and in this particular case, you can make it a sweet or a savory dish. The coeur a la creme is already on my Recipes Page. Try some chutney this year. I think you’ll really enjoy it.
Last night we had great Swiss Steak and I took the leftovers threw them in a pot, added the leftover green beans, sliced tomatoes, and fresh onions. I went into the frig and pulled out 4 carrots, chopped them up and threw them in along with a quarter head of chopped up cabbage. I rummaged through my cabinets and found a can of creamed corn, tossed that in for good measure and put about a 1/2 cup of frozen green peas in. I had some fresh salsa in the frig that had been in there for a day or 2 and you know how fresh salsa gets watery after it sits overnight, I'm sure. I drained the juice into the pot as well. (ate the salsa while watching a little T.V. later). I added some thyme, savory, and dill weed and cooked that baby up. For my lunch at the office today I had some of the best vegetable soup I've made in a long time!! Of course, it didn't have any potatoes in it but it was really good!!