Summer Bounty

A lot of my focus of late has been on food and drink. What with harvesting, preserving and preparing food, and a little bit of weeding and watering thrown in (J has been doing most of that), it's taken a good portion of my time. Oh, but let me tell you about the rewards! While J was in PA last week for his job, I spied these. Every year for his birthday, he requests a German Chocolate cake, so I decided to make these to greet him when he got home. Thumbs up there.

We were having a family gathering on Sunday, with a forecast of 98. I've got lots of Kentucky Colonel mint, & decided this mint ice cream would be just the thing. We got requests to take the leftovers home. I did not add any of the optional chocolate, but did add a splash of peppermint extract, about 1 tsp in a 3 gal. batch. With this same mint, I've been making cold mint tea. I put a large bunch of mint in just-boiled water & let it steep for 10-15 mins, then throw in several sprigs of stevia for sweetening, for 5 or so more minutes. Easy-peasy, no-cal and free!

Last night, we had Backer's asparagus recipe here. I won't say it's my favorite asparagus recipe ever, but a good last of the harvest recipe when you've got both asparagus & basil in at the same time. Last week, I started a batch of apple cider vinegar, made by chopping up all the apples that have fallen, discarding any of the blemished bits, juicing them, adding some mother from last year's batch, and covering the crock with a kitchen towel, allowing it to breathe. As many of the apples were green, last year I added a little sugar and a handful of golden raisins to up the sugar content. I'm waiting to see, but will likely need to do the same this year. Yesterday, I began my first batch of pineapple vinegar. Who knew? I've been waiting for this pineapple to ripen, so I could try what I think of as Jill's juice. It was worth the wait! I've juiced quite a bit over the years, and this is my favorite so far. And so good for you. Well, that's probably enough to throw at you in one post. The thunder is rumbling. I think it's time to head outside and do a rain dance.