Preserving the Garden

Each spring Keith plants a beautiful garden and each summer I feel so fortunate to be able to walk a few feet out into my yard and pick delicious produce for our dinner.I get so much satisfaction out of being able to cook with homegrown food, and enjoy creating new ways to get the most out of our produce.

So far this summer I've canned pickles made with our cucumbers, and tomato-basil sauce made from  heirloom tomatoes and herbs. I've made three batches of blackberry jam, and several batches of strawberry jam. We devoured countless salads, roasted vegetables, kabobs, fresh tomato sauce, and salsa.

Recently Keith picked the remaining carrots from the garden so I took the opportunity to make a few loaves of carrot bread.

And although the blueberries and blackberries are pretty much done for the season, the raspberries are in full swing. I've been able to pick at least a pint of raspberries each day which is pretty good considering many don't even make it into the house before being eaten.

Nothing is more refreshing in the summer than a berry tart! I made this tart with garden raspberries and pastry cream.

There are many good eats still to come as there is plenty of produce that has yet to be harvested, and I'm looking forward to getting a little more canning in before the summer's end.