Dinner Is Now Being Served in the Main Dining Room

Now that the tomatoes are coming in, we make them the star of our meals...They are here for only a short time so we must make the most of them. Yesterday I made stacks of different tomato slices, layered with fresh mozzarella cheese and basil from the garden. I sprinkled layers with kosher salt, olive oil and sweet balsamic vinegar. Topped the whole thing with a sprinkling of Maldon Sea Salt for extra salty flavor and eye appeal as well as a generous portion of chiffonades of basil for one last punch of flavor. Makes my mouth water while writing this! We shared a large roll to sop up the vinegar, oil and tomato that settled in the plate after devouring this multi colored Caprese Salad...

This is a summer salad I could eat three times a day, seven days a week!!!!!

Elizabeth

FINALLY....They Are In....Phew!!!!!

A basket filled with jewels from the garden....it has been a struggle this year to get the garden to produce....but now she is delivering!!!!! Mother nature and a somewhat green thumb have really met head to head this growing season...both now seem to be in tandem and look what we now have...tomatoes in all shapes and sizes...WOW!!!!!

A garden trug filled to the brim with sweet, gorgeous, ripe tomatoes....

The day's harvest washed and sorted by variety...........

A nice example of San Marzano and Lemon Boy....

The little tomatoes....Black Cherry, Large red Cherry, Sweet 100's, Yellow Pear and Super Snow White


More Lemon Boy, San Marzano and Black from Tula....

I tried many different heirloom varieties this year...aren't they beautiful, I could just look at them for hours...

Elizabeth

Divine Treats from the Garden

Finally we are picking tomatoes...not many but those we get are sweet, sweet, sweet...Also picking cucumbers...the cukes are odd shaped and not long but do taste soooooo good...

Lots of cherry tomatoes in different colors and few San Marzano...

Made a delicious panzanella salad...yellow, orange, and red peppers, red onion, tomatoes, chunks of crusty ciabatta bread, feta and a lovely vinaigrette with homegrown garlic...served it on a bed chopped lettuce for an added crunch...sometimes I add kalamata olives also....this is a great summer salad...love the olive oil and vinegar soaking into the bread...

Also made a huge jug of cucumbers soaked in vinegar, salt and pepper. My sister Whitney adores these cukes...use about 1/3rd apple cider vinegar to 2/3 water mixture with lots of salt and a bit of fresh ground pepper...just thinking about these makes my mouth water...


One big jug of flavor.....

Gotta go...I need to raid the cucumber jar...YUM

Elizabeth

Garden Gifts

Our garden is giving us colorful and healthy gifts on a daily basis. Finally the tomatoes are getting ripe. With all the rain we thought we would never get our usual daily basket full...this yield doesn't last long so we must take full advantage of it when it starts. The cucumbers are almost done which accounts for the unusual shapes and stunted lengths...they are still delicious and worth the extra time peeling around all the curves! Below is a photo of some of the days pick...the garlic was picked last month and we are enjoying it almost everyday. The roma tomatoes (plum shaped) are prolific right now and I made a delicious spaghetti sauce last week...romas make a delightfully thick sauce which I enriched with our herbs and garlic for heightened flavor.Today I sliced up different varieties so we could do a taste test...it really is hard to rule any of these tomatoes out. Starting at the top to bottom are red brandywine, jet star, yellow brandywine, lemon boy, and finally green zebra...

The other day I dressed this tomato dish with fresh mozzarella, extra virgin olive oil, balsamic vinegar, salt, pepper and fresh basil...DELICIOUS!!!!!Hope your garden is doing well...if you don't garden try to get to a local farmers market...these vendors have some wonderful produce and really need our support.

Elizabeth