Grow it, Can it, EAT it!

Oh, what did we do before Pinterest? I suppose everyone went to the library to gather resources and reference materials, but that was mostly pre-internet. The internet has made it super easy to compile information on just about everything food and garden related. But Pinterest makes it so much more FUN too!

Now that I've quit my full time design job to run my shop and do freelance design and illustration,  I've been on Pinterest a lot. Hey, I'm doing market research & stuff, not just pinning dog memes. I've been compiling a Pinterest board with a bunch of good canning recipes to try, the best plant varieties, and different gardening tips and tricks. There's soooo much eye candy, take a look!

I have a pretty basic goal list for CanningCrafts this year:

• I'll be making a bigger effort to keep my blog updated with my garden plans & new recipes I try.
• I'm definitely getting a website. I've had the domain name for years, it's about time. I recently built a WordPress site for my art endeavors. And while it was far from fun, I managed to do it pretty much all by myself. So doing a new website should be pretty easy.
• I want to setup at craft shows and farmer's markets! Planning my setup has been fun, but I have a ways to go before I'll be ready. 
• I'm in the process of developing a bunch of new gifts-in-jars sets for my shop. These have been a big hit, especially during the holidays. I've had requests for scones, pancakes, breads & more! So far, I've added a brownie jar set to my shop! 

And of course I'll have plenty of time to design new canning jar labels. I've added about 60 new designs since the end of last year. It's amazing how much work you can get done when your "side" job becomes your full time job, and you don't have to cram everything in on the weekends.

Double Chocolate Brownies, ooh la la! They are super rich & fudgy!

Brownie mason jar gifts include a recipe card for how to pack the
jars, stickers, cloth toppers, ribbons, baking hang tags, and a shopping list to
make it easy to gather all the ingredients to make 12 jars.

These gingham cloth topper and hang tag sets decorate 6 jars!
They're available in red and blue. 

My pathetic garden and wonderful salsa

After 10 years of gardening, I had the worst garden ever this year. I heard similar complaints from other gardeners about the weather being too dry. I watered several times a week, but my husband says I should've watered every day. Maybe he had a point. I planted tomatoes promptly on May 15, yet most of my plants didn't yield a ripe tomato at all. Some had a handful of red tomatoes going into October, but all were small & many had blossom end rot. I've never had issues with tomatoes growing in the past, certainly not with them never ripening going into October! Unfortunately I only know 1 person who likes eating green tomatoes, so everything went to waste. It was so sad to see all the heirloom tomatoes I started from seed wither away.

I managed to can nearly 50 pints of salsa from the generosity of other gardeners who had an abundance of tomatoes though. Perhaps they watered every day? The first batch of salsa I made included 1 Roma tomato from my garden. It wasn't completely ripened, but I felt I needed to contribute something to the salsa!

Many of my Romas were tiny looking more like cherry tomatoes! In fact, I think some of my cherry tomatoes were larger than the Romas!

Most of my green peppers were small as well, although they produced an abundance of peppers compared to years past when I may have had 1 pepper per plant. a few peppers were miniscule in size... my husband lovingly referred to them as Pepper Poppers. I threw them loose into a batch of stuffed peppers, so they didn't go to waste.

The salsa recipe I make came from my husband's cousin. It's the best salsa recipe I've ever eaten. In fact, I never liked salsa until I tried hers!! I may have tried 4 salsa recipes in the past, but most were fresh style salsas. This recipe has tomato sauce & paste in it, so it's more like a store bought variety, but so much better. I always send the recipe card with my canning jar label purchases through my etsy shop & I've had many customers try the recipe & send rave reviews about it. If anyone wants the recipe, I would be happy to share! Just let me know in the comments section!

One thing I never have issues growing is carrots... although I had to replant a few rows this year due to poor germination. I tried a colored mix this year. While they all look very pretty, they aren't the tastiest of carrots. Not so sweet and kinda ear-waxy :D

My puny Roma tomato compared to a full size Roma tomato.
I swear this is an actual Roma & NOT a cherry tomato!!

My tiny pepper poppers compared to average sized peppers from my father-in-law 

tasty salsa made with tomatoes from every one else's gardens.
Why do I even bother gardening when I can get free produce from others?

Pretty carrots, but not very tasty

We like Swiss Chard

I'm happy to report that we like Swiss Chard, which is a good thing considering that I planted 2 rows of it in my garden without ever eating it before. It wasn't a huge leap of faith really because I assumed it would be similar enough to Spinach that we would like it. I planted Rhubarb Swiss Chard which is really pretty with the red stems. Next year I might try the Bright Lights variety with multicolored stems.

So far we've eaten it raw in salads, in soup with wild rice & turkey, & steamed. I searched for different recipes online & found plenty of similar ways to cook Swiss Chard. Last week I sauteed vidalia onions & garlic in bacon drippings, then added the stems before the leaves since they take a little longer to cook. Once it all cooked down, I topped it off with toasted pine nuts, lemon juice, & parmesan cheese. And this morning we had a swiss chard omelet with the glazed onions. Pretty tasty!

Just picked Rhubarb Swiss Chard

Cooked with garlic, onions, bacon drippings, & pine nuts