Harvest Time: Tomato Edition

From my great-aunts amazing vegetable garden, she sent me home with quite a bounty of vine-ripened tomatoes and fresh basil. My solution (and one of my favorite summer time/anytime meals) was my pesto green been salad.

Pesto:

Toast Pine Nuts and Garlic, put through food processor

Add Parmesan, pulse again

Add Basil, pulse one more time

Done.

Par boil and drain beans. Halve the cherry tomatoes. Mix all together with pesto that is conveniently warm from the pine nuts and garlic, and makes it easier to mix. Voila! Tasty garden salad.

Harvest Time: Apples Edition

Handpicked from my stepmother's orchard, these apples were so good right off the tree. At home they were put into a pie and the remainder went to brandied applesauce (canned myself!).  The pie was good but the applesauce was better. I am waiting for that self-indulgent evening to have it warmed over vanilla ice cream.

The applesauce was pretty easy to make. I rinsed, cored and cubed the fruit. I put the apples into a pan over medium high heat. I added equal parts water and brandy (no judging, it was about a cup or more of each) and let it simmer for about 45 minutes, until the apple had broken down. After, I put it through a food mill to get rid of the skins and it was ready to eat. This is definitely not meant to be your morning's applesauce (unless say it is a weekend brunch) but is good as a dessert.

Poppy Weekend

Just a sweet picture of Eschscholzia californica (California Poppy) to send you off for a beautiful weekend.