Too Many Tomatoes...

This summer was long and hot...which is apparently the prefect weather for growing a garden. Our garden grow into a jungle this year and we have more tomatoes than we know what to do with—I've been picking a pound or two a day since the beginning of August. So, I had to come up with a couple of easy ways to use and preserve this amazing bounty (and waste as like as possible).

Fresh Sauce

I planted two varieties of cherry tomatoes this year and they produce more fruit than the other varieties I planted. We've had so many, I could have stocked the local grocery store—there is no way we could eat them all ourselves.

I came up with a very easy way to use them and store them for later...freezable pasta sauce.  This sauce has a wonderful fresh taste that really showcases the flavor of the sweet little tomatoes...and it's fat free! It could not be more simple to make. Here's how to do it:

1 to 2 pounds of cherry tomatoes
3 to 6 cloves of garlic, peeled
6 to 10 leafs of  fresh basil
1 tsp crush red pepper flakes (or to taste)
1 to 2 tsp white pepper
Salt and pepper to taste

Blend the tomatoes, basil, and garlic in a food processor and then pour them into a large sauce pan. Heat the tomato liquid over medium heat. Once the liquid is cooking add the other ingredients.  Cook it until the liquid thickens up—about an hour.

At this point, you can either serve it over pasta, or add chicken stock and cream to make a soup. What ever you don't use can be frozen and used throughout the winter. 

Freezing Instead of Canning

I planted two Roma tomato plants with the intention of canning them, but I discovered a much better way to preserve them...freezing!

Canning is labor intensive and you need a lot of ripe tomatoes on hand at one time. My Roma plants have produced lots of fruit, but I have not had a great enough quantity of ripe tomatoes at the same time to make canning worth while. Freezing has worked out for me much better because I can do small batches. Once or twice a week I freeze what's on hand.

The process is simple. Blanch them in boiling water for about 1 minute, peel them, pop them in a freezer bag, and done! Since I started preserving my Romas this way, I've discover this works for the large heirloom varieties I have too.

Now I'm looking forward to a winter filled with yummy sauces, soups, and stews made with summer fresh tomatoes from my own backyard!

Bye Bye Long Tresses

When Charley and I got engaged three years ago I started to grow my hair for the wedding. At the time my hair was short—about chin length. I'd worn it short for many many years, but I wanted to wear it up for our wedding, so I started to grow it.

After the wedding I'd grown attached to it and kept growing it. I'd heard about organizations like Locks of Love and considered donating it as some point—but then a one night last summer, while I was surfing  YouTube for videos of my favorite band (the Avett Brothers, of course) I came across this video and I was inspired:


This was the first time I'd heard of Wigs for Kids. I did a little research and what I learned made me sure Wigs for Kids was the charity I wanted to give my hair to. They work with salons around the country to give kids who suffer from hair loss (do to cancer treatment or conditions like alopecia) wigs, hairpieces, or hair prosthetics—whatever they need—completely free of charge. Amazing!

The only problem was Wigs for Kids requires more hair for donation than other charities—12 inches, which is 2 inches more than Locks of Love.  So I'd have to stick it out longer. Last summer, when I decided to donate to Wigs for Kids, I had about 6 inches in length. Thirteen month later, and almost all of the way through this wickedly hot summer, I finally had enough hair to make the donation. Hooray!

Here's a few pictures of the big day:

Before

During

During

After!

I have to say, it was much more emotional to part with my hair than I thought it would be. I'm more of a short hair kind of a gal, but I guess I'd become attached. It was part of me, I suppose. But it was also a relief to get rid of it—I felt like I was myself again. And it was exhilarating to know that I was doing something that would help some child somewhere rebuild their self esteem. What a crazy mix of emotions. But well worth it. In fact, I've just decided, I'm going to do it again. And I invite you to join me...in fact, I challenge you to join me. If you're game, let me know...maybe we can get a fundraiser event in the works.

Thanks to Wigs for Kids for the great work you're doing and thanks to the Avett Brothers and Crackerfarm for inspiring me. 

Introducing Alice!

Last month Charley and I welcomed a new member to the family. Her name is Alice, and she's the most adorable puppy you've ever seen. She's a Pug/Boston Terrier mix...sometimes referred to as a Pugston or Bug. We've had her for a month and she's already double in size. She's a handful, but she's also loads of fun.