Busy weekend

A full day of work, pumpkin picking, processing 3 dozen ears of corn, 2 batches of tomato sauce and a zucchini bread that was far more work than it was worth later, we have now reached Monday.

I spent the morning at the office. The afternoon will be spent making 2 more batches of tomato sauce and apple chips. I also want to make some bread (regular bread - not zucchini or pumpkin or banana or anything of the sort - just plain old wheat bread).

I can't believe I'm about to say this.

I'm almost ready for winter. At least the garden and all of the fall work that comes along with it will be done.

Pizza

Making pizza on the fire

Pizza is one of our favorite foods. What's not to love? Yummy veggies, crispy crust, warm sauce and ooey gooey melted cheese.

I grew up in a town where there is no such thing as take-out. Don't even think about delivery! So we made our own pizza. Back when we didn't know any better, my mom would use those Chef Boyardee kits. Then she moved on to Robin Hood dried dough packets. I think she still uses them. When I moved out on my own, I moved to the big city (Bangor). I've got take-out and delivery now! Yet I felt unsatisfied with my pizza.

So, I started making it on my own again. I started off with Mom's way, but one day I stumbled on prepackaged dough balls (Portland Pie Company wheat dough is my absolute favorite) in my grocery store deli case. This dough was so much easier to work with and I was able to even master tossing dough (albeit, sloppily). Soon later, we invested in a pizza stone (thanks again to Alton Brown - he really doesn't lead us in the wrong direction) and we've never turned back.

Friday night is pizza night in our house. There's nothing as satisfying as a hot slice of pizza and a cold beer at the end of the week. Now that we live out of town, delivery is once again not an option. That is fine by me. When we're pressed for time, we will order take-out from one of the 3 gas stations that make pizza near us, but I still make our pizza 99% of the time.

T came home one day with the idea that we need to grill pizza. It was an extremely hot summer day so I was more than willing to attempt grilling. If it meant not turning on the oven and heating up the kitchen from 100 degrees to 110 degrees, why wouldn't I try it? I have yet to brave putting my dough directly on the grates (though I read in the Playboy Advisor a few months ago that you can). I just can't get the thought of failure out of my head - because failure means I need to clean dough from the grill grates. That doesn't sound like fun to me. So we use Boboli pizza crusts. Top as you normally would and then put it on your preheated grill. Be sure the flame directly underneath your pizza is turned off. The other burner[s] should be on low/med-low. I usually rotate the pizza quarter turns every 15 minutes (yes, that means it's on the grill for an hour).

On our first wedding anniversary, we stayed at my in-law's camp on the lake (the start of our annual Labor Day weekend trip). It was a pretty hot weekend so I wanted to avoid using the oven and I didn't have what I needed (Boboli crust) to grill pizza. So we decided to make it on the fire. Before the purchase of our pizza stone, I would use a cast iron frying pan to bake my pizza in (great for those of you that love deep dish pizza). My father-in-law has a huge one he uses to cook on the fire, so we pulled it out and gave it a whirl. Make sure your fire is burned down to coals (T gets to play in the fire all day to get a good batch of coals). We burned our crust that first year, but we have now perfected the art. It requires constant attention but it is well worth the trouble.

Now that I'm only working part-time, I am supposed to have more time in the kitchen (or so you would think). I'm no gourmet chef, that's for sure. But I really do try. I'm constantly on the look out for new recipes to try, healthier options for my family and ways to cut costs (I DO only work part-time, after all). So when T's cousin mentioned she makes her crust from scratch, we asked her for the recipe (I haven't received a yay or nay to my request to share the recipe yet, so I'm going to withhold it for the time being - not everyone checks e-mail hourly like fanatical Jodi).

I tried this recipe for the first time last night. It was a little too salty for our taste, but that is a super easy fix (cut back a bit on the salt next time - duh). Otherwise, we loved the flavor. I did find it really difficult to work with, though. I've long since left the days of spreading dough behind me but tossing was really not an option. It was too wet and doughy (less water and more flour?). I'm fairly certain I can adjust it for my needs (I'm needy and I know it).

And now that we're all craving pizza, I'm going to snag the last piece out of the fridge.

Tomatoes

We have 27 tomato plants in our little garden.

No joke.

There are 6 different tomato varieties (I thought we had 9 but can't remember the other 3 for the life of me.. will verify with T later). We have your regular beef steak and cherry tomatoes. T wanted to try amish paste because he's heard they are good (they are). And then he went a little crazy.

Again, no joke.

I seriously thought I was going to have to commit him this spring. I have never seen another person get so horny (for lack of a better term) over tomatoes! I honestly didn't know what to make of it.

So we ended up with a red zebra, golden girl and yellow pear as well. He was searching and searching for other seedlings at the nursery (Everlasting Farm) just because the names sounded cool, but we were there just too late in the planting season and they were all gone by then.

Speaking of Everlasting Farm, they were a new find for us this year. We both absolutely loved it. They have a fantastic selection of plants (ornamental and edible). I drooled over the landscaping.

But I digress. I'm talking about tomatoes today!

Today, I finally had the opportunity to make my first batch of tomato sauce for the year. We use a recipe we found in Martha Stewart Magazine last year. We just happened upon it about the time we needed to start preserving our tomatoes. Martha's Simple Tomato Sauce recipe is simply wonderful. It's very easy to make and is extremely delicious. It's suggested in the recipe to add your choice of meats, vegetables or herbs after taking it out of the freezer for use. We decided to add the herbs during the cooking process, while they're fresh. I was very generous with the basil and parsley. I also added a bit of oregano. It is also suggested to run it through a food mill for a smoother sauce. We just use our immersion blender a bit in the finished product and that works just fine for us.

Getting the sauce started

My favorite way to use this sauce is in a veggie lasagna. I saute chopped mushrooms and green peppers before mixing into my sauce and layering my lasagna. We tried it tonight on pizza, too. No more jarred pizza sauce for us (I have no excuse for using jarred, anyways)!

All done! Yummy!!

My next project with the tomatoes is to dehydrate some of them. I'm thinking of dehydrating the golden girls because we weren't overly crazy about the texture of them. I'm also going to dehydrate some of the cherry and yellow pear tomatoes. I've never dehydrated tomatoes, so this will be yet another experiment in our household.

Wish me luck!

Change in plans

I will try to get back to my regular posting later today. I just have time for snippets right now.

We weren't able to go pick pumpkins on Tuesday like we were planning. We'll be going on Saturday instead.

We did go pick some apples last night, but they aren't 100% peaked yet.

Monkey and I are picking tomatoes this morning. I'll be attempting a tomato sauce with her (she's not quite ready to help over a hot stove - and she doesn't enjoy when I'm working in the kitchen instead of playing with her).

My father in law is in surgery this morning to repair 2 herniated disks. Good thoughts for him are appreciated as we can tell he's not looking forward to the recovery (he had this happen about 9 years ago as well, so he knows what he's in for this time).

Labor Day Weekend Recap:

Just a few highlights from our weekend at camp.

Friday, T & I left Monkey with his mom (I owed her a nice visit because she didn't see her at all when we were up 2 weeks ago). The 2 of us drove to Edmunston, New Brunswick to visit the beer and wine store, Boutique J'Embouteille. The owner is a lovely woman and you can tell she truly loves what she does. She's extremely helpful and answers any questions you may have. It was our second time there but not nearly our last. Their website isn't that great but I really do like the store.

The weather Saturday was so-so. It was overcast, but the temperature wasn't too bad. Monkey still isn't up for long jaunts in the canoe, so our options were limited. We ended up going to climb Hedgehog Mountain. We were stupid and forgot to bring the backpack carrier with us so T carried Monkey to the top. The entire round trip from the parking lot and back took about an hour. A couple on their way down told us it was foggy and you couldn't see much from the top. We were able to see more than expected. If it had been a clear day, we would have been able to see Mount Katahdin.

Hedgehog Mountain used to have a fire tower on it. You can still see the supports in the rock where it once stood. Down when you first get on the trail stand the 2 ranger camps (pictured below). The road has since grown in and the camps are falling to ruin.

We spent Sunday walking loops in the neighborhood. It was chilly and we had showers so we couldn't meander too far on foot. The evening ended up being pretty nice so we took a ride in canoe before dark. Someone set off fireworks but Monkey and I were both asleep by then. T said they were the nicest he's seen this summer (though that isn't say much as we've only seen fireworks twice all summer).

The entire time we were at camp, a family of loons came around. They must live in our cove. We even saw the juvenile being fed. I think they had radar for when we were eating because we ate most of our meals out on the porch overlooking the lake. We'd sit down and here they'd come. Monkey loved watching them!

We drove home on Monday. We got home around 2 giving us time to harvest tomatoes, touch up paint on the decks, T to transfer his wine to a carboy and the regular household chores that come with being gone for a few days (tons of laundry, anyone?).

That is how we spent our anniversary weekend. Today is our 3rd anniversary. Time sure does fly when you're having fun!

After I get home from work tonight, we're going pumpkin picking!