Every day Life

September is time to start using up more food from the garden and storing some for winter. Soon it will be too cold for the garden crops to survive. One of the many ways we do that is making meals we can freeze. All we have left now is tomatoes and bell peppers. I did leave one red lettuce plant, so it will go to seed. I will save the seeds for next year.

We us tomatoes every day both in cold dishes, like taco salad and cut up and served with cottage cheese. We also use them in several hot dishes as you will see if you scroll down and check out some of our recipes. When it gets close to frost I will gather the green tomatoes that are left and we will make fried green tomatoes. I am going to experiment with our new air fryer this year. That will be posted at a later date to let you know how they turned out.

Stuffed peppers is one of my favorites. When there is snow on the ground and I am missing my fresh garden vegetables, I love to pull these out of the freezer and bake them. The oven warms the kitchen and it satisfies my veggie craving.

• Peppers halved- as many as you want to stuff
• 1 1/2 lbs. Ground Beef
• 1 lb. Ground Sausage
• 1 Onion chopped
• 1 Bell pepper chopped
• 1/2 cup Oatmeal
• 3 Eggs
• 2 tablespoons Worcestershire Sauce
• 1 teaspoon Lemon Juice
• 1 teaspoon Garlic powder
• 1 teaspoon Pepper

Mix the above ingredients, or use your own meatloaf recipe and stuff each of the pepper halves with the meatloaf mix. If you run out of pepper halves just make a meatloaf with the rest. Put the stuffed peppers in freezer bags. I usually put enough for one meal in each bag, so that depends on the size of your family. You can also put the meatloaf, if you made one, in the freezer for winter or cook it for dinner that night.

Bread and Butter Pickles

A great way to use food from the garden is to pickle it. This is my favorite pickle recipe and if you are not into canning, it is an easy way to still have home made pickles. I use onions and bell peppers in mine, but if you are not crazy about one of those items just add that many more cucumbers.

Pizza Pasta

Another adaptable recipe. Almost every ingredient in this recipe can be switched out and replaced with something you like better. The reason it’s called pizza pasta is because you use your favorite pizza toppings. I have shared this with friends who use ground sausage instead of pepperoni. Any of the other toppings can be left out or traded for something you like better. If you don’t like tomatoes but like spaghetti, use a jar of spaghetti sauce instead.

Serves 4

Ingredients:

• 4 cups of fresh tomatoes or 2 – 14.5 oz. cans
• 1 large or 2 small onions
• 1 large bell pepper
• 2 or 3 fresh mushrooms or 1 can
• pepperoni enough to cover the bottom of the skillet
• a dash or two of garlic
• 4 cups of egg noodles or any kind of pasta
• Grated/shredded cheese of your choice

First line skillet with pepperoni. Then slice onion and cut bell peppers in rings or strips and add in layers on top of the pepperoni and turn on medium low heat stirring frequently until vegetable soften. Add mushroom if desired. Start your water boiling for your pasta and as soon as you add the pasta to the water, add the tomatoes to the skillet of other ingredients. One the pasta is done, drain it. The tomatoes should be hot by then. Serve the pizza toppings on the pasta, top with cheese of choice and top with black olives if desired.

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As you can see by the worn and stained recipe card, this recipe has been used many times. As you can also see, I married a man who can cook. Baking deserts is his specialty and this is one of his favorites. My oldest son likes his dad’s pumpkin bread best. We might do that closer to Thanksgiving.

This recipe is for one loaf of banana bread. We always make enough for three. So double it for two and triple it for three. Make sure you use a very large mixing bowl if you triple the recipe, which I recommend, because it does not last long, especially if friends happen to stop by. We used olive oil to grease our bread pans. Also we used organic bananas, which are smaller than others so it takes a few more, at least one more per loaf. We will probably make three more loaves tomorrow, since this is something even our picky eater loves. Over the years we have made an extra loaf or two for family or friends. If you have any questions leave a comment and I will get back to you as soon as possible.

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Christine

Family Recipe Third Generation

Fresh from the Garden

There is nothing like picking fresh vegetables and herbs from the garden. It is very satisfying to know your food will be fresh and at the peak of its flavor. Whether you are preparing a meal or preserving something for future use, food from the garden always tastes best. If you garden organically, like me, you also know there is no unnecessary chemicals and preservatives in it. I will be sharing some of the ways my family uses different foods from the garden as they ripen.

Stir Fried Pepper Steak

See recipe on attached page

This recipe is very adaptable. The steak can be replaced with chicken or pork loins. Herbs and spices can also be changed to your preferences. If you are not crazy about onions, you can use fresh mushrooms. Sometimes I add all three. The main idea here is to be able to use what you have on hand and not have to run out and buy one or two ingredients.

Tomato juice

First day canning this season, August of 2020, tomato juice. I used Roma tomatoes since I had quite a few of them and I prefer them as juice rather than diced. I saved one jar from canning to make a pot of home made vegetable soup. Nothing like home made with fresh made tomato juice. My grandma (the farmer’s wife) had an acre vegetable garden. She either canned or froze everything she grew. I learned a lot from watching her. My mother-in-law also canned a great deal of the food they ate all winter. They are both gone now, but some of us carry on what they taught us. If you are a first time canner I would recommend a Ball Blue Book. Mine is missing at the moment, but I have done it often enough to remember.

Good Neighbors are a Blessing

My neighbor that lives across the street from us is one of two on our block that has been here longer than us. She has watched us bring our boys home as babies and watched them grow into young men. Always there for the boys, when relatives moved away and passed on to the next life. She has gone to grandparents days with them at school because my son told her they were the only kids in their classes that did not have a grandparent to go with them. One year she gave me a start of Columbine. I planted it on one side of my house, towards the back, as it was needing some thing added. A few years later I noticed it was spreading a little way down that flower bed. Pretty when it blooms, but the leaves give the flower bed a little bit of interesting texture when the blooms are gone. I began transplanting a few here and there in my empty spots. They did very well, so this year I decided to try them in some of my planters. This is a cast iron planter that was hidden behind a Lilac that has grown and covered everything near it. My husband had to rebuild our back porch as it had rotted through. The new porch was bigger and I was looking for some thing to put on each side that would be indestructible to a dog who is still teething and will chew an anything. This pot was perfect! I just needed to add a little something to it and this Columbine was perfect. Good neighbors that love nature as much as I do are a good thing to have around. I am grateful.

Papaw’s Roses

This is my favorite rose. My oldest son helped me plant this when he was 3 or 4 years old. He is 22 now, so a long time ago. It was bright orange when we planted it and his favorite color back then. Papaw came to visit and he had to show him the rose he helped plant. He picked one and gave to Papaw, who made a big fuss over it, and what a good helper he was and all that Grandpa, Grandson kind of stuff. Every time his Papaw came to visit after that, he would run back to this rose and pick one for Papaw. As Papaw grew old and frail the roses turned bright red. Papaw has been gone nine years this coming September, but we feel his presence every time those roses bloom. We have long since forgotten the original name of this rose as we all still call it Papaw’s rose. Here’s to you Dad, and thanks for being such a great Papaw to my little boy.