More Chutney on Thursday

More Tomato Chutney

I made another batch of tomato chutney, today, with 4 lbs. ripe tomatoes.  I made 13 half-pint (8 fl. oz.) jars and a single one pint (16 fl. oz.) jar.  I am planning to give the half pint jars as holiday gifts, this year; perhaps make up a basket with a jar of chutney, a jar of peach jam, and maybe some homemade cookies or something.

I also cut up and froze 2 lbs. of tomatoes to be used for cooking (I like to add tomatoes to my curries, etc.)  That used up all the ripe tomatoes I've picked.  There are still more tomatoes on the vines, but, they are still green.  I might leave them to ripen or pick them while green and make green tomato chutney.  I need to buy more ginger if I plan to make more chutney.

Other than making chutney, I've had a fairly relaxed day.  I watched news coverage of the former president's arraignment, tidied up the big dining table and put away the baking trays that I had taken out when I made the brownies (I store some of my frequently used baking trays in the oven for easy access, but, it means I have to take everything out when I bake something).  

Later in the evening, I video chatted with my daughter.

Today, I am grateful for:

- Tomatoes from the garden
- Access to news coverage on TV
- Exchanging emails with friends
- Video chatting with my daughter
- My blender

Today's joyful activity was making chutney.

Brunch had been leftover milkrice with chicken curry; dinner was gyoza/potstickers/dumplings.

Plans for tomorrow (Friday) include an appointment with the oncology nurse practitioner in the early afternoon and tending to the garden with M in the evening.

How was your Thursday?  What are your plans for Friday? 

Tomato Chutney and Salsa?

Tomato Chutney

I made a batch of tomato chutney, today, with 5 lbs. of tomatoes.  I made 7 1/2 pint jars of chutney.  I have more tomatoes, but, I need to buy more mustard seeds to make more chutney.  I might just cut up the remaining tomatoes and freeze them to make pasta sauce, later.  Or to use in cooking (I like to add tomatoes to my chicken curries, etc.)

And the salsa?  My neighbors put up their tents this morning!  Just two tents, this time around.  The music started at 5:30 p.m.  There are speakers and microphones and vocalists, but, no mariachi band.  Instead, we have salsa, with the addition of Spanish versions of Summer Time Blues, Achy Breaky Heart, and some Saturday Night Fever, complete with a disco ball.  I guess it was someone's birthday because they also sang Happy Birthday at one point.  I am writing this post at 11:00 p.m. and the music is still going on.   

At first, I closed my family room window to mute the sound, but, then, it became too hot inside the house.  My daughter suggested I put on my headphones; they are not sound blocking headphones, but, plugged into my computer with my choice of music playing in my ears, the neighbors' music fades into a faint noise in the background.  I'm glad neighbor T's realtor held the open house last evening instead of today!  LOL.

Brunch had been toast with peanut butter.  I think I need a new toaster - the bread was toasted on one side, only!  I also need more bread; maybe it's time to put in another grocery order.  Dinner was leftover pot roast with pan fried potato slices. 

Today, I am grateful for:

- The tomato harvest (I picked a few more today, too)
- Another batch of tomato chutney for the pantry cupboard (and gift giving)
- Working headphones
- Fans and electricity to run them
- Water for the garden

Today's joyful activity was video chatting with my daughter.  She said there was a thunder storm yesterday evening and later, I saw on the news a video of rain cascading down the steps in Fenway Park, due to the same rain storm.  

No special plans for tomorrow.  I'll probably do some laundry and do a bit of tidying.  How was your Saturday?  What are your plans for Sunday?

Chutney on Saturday

"No Waste" Peach Chutney

I made another batch of peach chutney, today, with 5 lbs. of the peaches we had picked earlier.  I had kept them in the bottom fridge drawer and they had frozen in there!  Oops!  I just cut up the frozen peaches, peels and all, and made chutney!  9 1/2 pints of "no waste" peach chutney!  That took up most of the afternoon and early part of the evening!  

In the morning, I did a load of laundry and washed some dishes that I had been too tired to do yesterday.  

Neighbor T called and we had a nice chat, although she called me thinking she was calling someone else!  Aunt C called, too, to check on Dancer.  Dancer has now started to run away from me when he sees me coming with the tube of eye ointment!  Poor kitty.  Later, I called and chatted with friend R.  I will take her some peaches, jam, and chutney, tomorrow.  

My neighbors are having another noisy party with live mariachi band and amplifiers.  They have been preparing since Thursday - taking out their RVs, power washing the driveway, setting up tents, etc.  The party started at 2:30 p.m. and it is now half past midnight, and the music has been non-stop.  I have my windows and doors closed to minimize the noise, but, the house is vibrating to their base!  I like music and it is very upbeat for the most part, but, non-stop from 2:30 p.m. is starting to get to be a bit too much!  There is no sign of it stopping any time soon, either.  Yes, there is a noise ordinance in place and they are violating it, but, no one is enforcing the noise ordinance because our law enforcement officers have more serious crimes to deal with.  Fortunately, I don't go to sleep until the early hours of the morning, anyway.  

It was a lovely sunny, warm day with a high of 78F.  Finally!  I was able to peel off my sweater!  

Brunch was toast with butter and peach jam.  Dinner was some of the lavash flat bread with the last of the mackerel curry and a bowl of turkey/vegetable soup.  

Today, I am grateful for:

- The sunny, warm day
- Peaches!
- Phone chats with family and friends
- Exchanging emails with friends
- More chutney

Today's joyful activity was making chutney.  It was tiring, too, but, it was joyful, too.  

Plans for tomorrow include preserving more peaches - I'll can them in some simple sugar syrup.  I think I have enough jam and chutney.  

How is your weekend coming along?

Peach Chutney on Tuesday

Fresh Peaches

These are the peaches I picked on Monday.  They weren't fully ripe, but, something (the weather, perhaps?) is causing them to mold while still on the tree and I am finding half moldy fruit on the ground on a daily basis.  They don't have the flavor or the sweetness of sun ripened peaches, but, I don't want the fruit to go to waste, either.  As it was, some of the picked peaches had started to mold, overnight!  

I decided to make chutney with 5 lbs. of the peaches.  I had to peel and stone about 7 lbs. of peaches in order to get 5 lbs. of cut peaches.  But, I spread kitchen towels on the newly cleared family room table (the new kitchen towels were a big help, as I dripped peach juice everywhere!) and watched TV while I cut up the fruit, peeled the garlic and the ginger and weighed out the dried chilies and mustard seeds.  My peach chutney recipe is here. 

I started cutting the peaches at 11:00 a.m., after I brought in the trash cans and checked on the garden, etc.  I finished making the chutney at 5:00 p.m.!  Cutting the peaches took a long time.  Then, cooking the mixture down to chutney consistency took more time.  One is supposed to stir the mixture constantly, according to my recipe, but, I took time off from stirring to clean up as I went.  My recipe doesn't call for canning, but, I processed the jars of chutney in a water bath for 15 minutes (I don't have a canner, as such; I just fill a large pot with water and  use that.)

And the end results:

Peach Chutney

Ten and a half American pint (16 fl. oz.) jars of spicy, sweet peach chutney!  I put the half filled jar in the fridge as I didn't can it.  The chutney is dark red in color due to the chili powder.  

I'll probably make one more batch of chutney, later this week.

Peaches on the Tree

There are still plenty of peaches on the tree.  You can see where the main top of the tree broke off, two years ago (lower right) and how the side branches sent up branches to give height to the tree!  We will have to prune some of that down, I think, because I don't want the tree to grow so tall that we won't be able to harvest the fruit!  As it is, M will have to climb up on a ladder to reach those peaches at the top!  

I ate a peach and leftover watermelon for brunch while the chutney was simmering and, after the chutney was made, I ate one cheese burek and the last Napoleon pastry, instead of having a cup of tea. Later, I had a little spaghetti and sauce for dinner.

I took it easy, the rest of the evening, as I was tired from making the chutney.  I did clean the litter box and chatted with friend R.  I want to take her some peaches, tomorrow or on Thursday.

Today, I am grateful for:
- An abundance of peaches from the garden
- Working appliances
- Having plenty of kitchen towels!
- Some sunshine this afternoon!
- Being able to preserve the bounty of peaches

Today's joyful (if tiring) activity was making peach chutney!  

Plans for tomorrow include tending to the garden with M, picking more peaches, taking some peaches to friend R, putting gas to the car.

How was your Tuesday?  What are your plans for Wednesday?  Do you make jams or chutney?  If so, will you be making some this summer?

 

 

Zucchini Spotting and Peach Chutney on Thursday

Hello, Zucchini!

Presenting...the first zucchini of the season!  Woo hoo!  Hopefully, it will be the first of many (although, maybe not quite as many as last year!  LOL!)    

It was a sunny and warm day, today, with an afternoon high of 89F.  I had a relaxed morning; slept in, said my morning prayers, walked around the garden, replied to blog comments, visited a few blogs, etc.  Daughter texted that she is feeling much better and headache free, which was good to know.

In the late afternoon/early evening, I made chutney with the last of the peaches.  My peach chutney recipe is here.  I weighed the fruit after I cut them and removed the stones and bruised bits, etc., and had 3 1/2 lbs. of cut up peaches.

I watched the afternoon news while I cut up the peaches, weighed out the ingredients, and peeled the garlic, etc.  Then, I sterilized the pint jars and made the chutney. 

I watched/listened to the House Select Committee's hearing on the January 6th Capitol riots while I made the chutney.

Peach Chutney

I was able to make 6 1/2 pint jars of peach chutney, today.  I had to rest for awhile afterwards, but, I am happy to say that my hands didn't cramp from all the stirring!  I kept one peach for me to eat fresh, this weekend, but, other than that, all the peaches from this year's crop have been processed.  I canned a few jars, made toppings, jam, and chutney!  The peach crop has been such a blessing!

Neighbor T's mail had been delivered to my mail box, today, so I went over and slipped the letters under her front door and called to let her know.  I wonder if I had any mail and, if so, who received it?!

Later in the evening, I called friend R and chatted with her for a bit.  

Today, I am grateful for:
- Daughter is feeling better
- A sunny and warm day
- The first zucchini!
- Peach chutney
- Keeping in touch with family and friends

Today's joyful activity was making peach chutney.

Plans for tomorrow include cleaning the kitchen and gardening with M.

How was your Thursday?  Do you make chutney?  If so, what types of chutney do you make?

Another Successful Zucchini Experiment!

Remember the Big Zucchini?

 
Remember the big zucchini that was picked last week, on Wednesday?  The huge one at the back?  I had been planning to make something with it, but, I had to wait until my daughter was free.  It was a bit of an experiment and my daughter was a bit dubious about what I planned to make, but, she was willing to give it a try.

Step one was to weigh it - it weighed in at 5 lbs.!  But, by the time she trimmed the ends and removed the seeds at my insistence (she didn't think the seeds needed to be removed), it weighed in at 4.5 lbs.  Then, it was processed in the blender (I don't have a food processor) with a cup of vinegar and turned into this:

Ground Zucchini

Isn't it a pretty color?

Then, daughter and I peeled some fresh ginger and garlic and she ground them up in the blender along with chili flakes, mustard seeds with another cup of vinegar, which was added to the ground zucchini, along with more vinegar, salt, and sugar and cooked down (while stirring all the while) until it turned into this:

Zucchini Chutney!

The color is due to all the red chili flakes and brown mustard seeds (4 oz. of each).  It made eight pint sized (16 oz.) jars of deliciously spicy zucchini chutney!  There was a tiny bit leftover which daughter and I had with our dinner, tonight.  My daughter, who had her doubts about zucchini chutney when I first mentioned it to her, now agrees that it makes a wonderful chutney!

I processed the jars of chutney in a water bath for 10 minutes, just to be on the safe side.  I used my tomato chutney recipe which is the one I used for making peach chutney, too.  It is my all-purpose chutney recipe!  No, the chutney doesn't taste like zucchini!  It tastes like chutney - spicy, sweet, and tangy from the vinegar.  

We still have more zucchini (daughter picked three more, today!) and more canning jars!  There might be another batch of chutney being made in another week or two!  

It has been another good day.  I took it fairly easy during the day, sewing and watching videos, but, I also brought in the trash cans, ran the dishwasher, helped with the chutney making (my daughter did most of the work), and walked around the front garden a couple of times.  Guess who was in the garden, today?  

Brown Bunny

I call him "Little Bunny Foo Foo" after the children's song by that title.  

Well camouflaged in my brown front garden!

Today, I am grateful for:

- Another pain-free day
- Zucchini chutney experiment worked well

- Daughter's help with the chutney making

- Another way to preserve the zucchini harvest
- Phone chats with family (half-sister) and friends (R, neighbor T)

Today's joyful activity was making chutney with my daughter.

Plans for tomorrow include M's visit to tend to the garden.  

How was your Tuesday?  What are your plans for tomorrow?

Peach Chutney and Other Happenings

Peach Chutney

Yesterday, after daughter picked the peaches, we decided to peel and cut up the really ripe and bruised fruits.  We both sat at the little table I had used earlier in the morning to make the zucchini waffles to cut up the fruit, so I could help.  We had 5 lbs. of cut up fruit!  Then, I read out my peach chutney recipe to my daughter and I rested on the bed while she made the chutney!  It was her first time making chutney from start to finish and she was able to make almost eight jars of chutney - each jar is one pint (16 fl. oz.)  I showed her how to process them in a water bath and all the jars sealed.  The one jar that was not filled right to the top was kept in the fridge (she took it out for this picture) and will be used up first.  

We were a little worried that I might have done too much, yesterday, but, I had a pain free night and woke up feeling fine.  

Today has been a good day, too.  I spent most of the morning resting in  bed, but, in the afternoon, I moved to the family room sofa and continued to repair the patchwork quilt.  I was wearing a short sleeved blouse, leggings, and socks; the quilt I was repairing was spread on my lap and it was backed with cotton flannel. The ceiling fan was on, but, the daytime high was 96F.  Eventually, I felt warm enough to remove my socks!  LOL.   

In the early evening, daughter drove to her friend P's house to drop off a bag of zucchini for P's parents.  Afterwards, she watered some of the fruit trees and the vegetable plants in the garden because they were wilting from the heat.  I put out some dry cat food and guess who showed up to eat the kibbles?

Bun Bun!  You are not a kitty!

Later in the evening, I cooked some salmon fillets in an electric skillet set up on the same table I used when I made the zucchini waffles.  It's been years since I last used it, and, in fact, every time I decluttered, I wondered if I should give it away since I wasn't using it (along with the electric wok which also hasn't been used in years).  But, there was that little voice whispering, "But, what if you need it, again?"  And, today, I was very, very glad that I hadn't decluttered it, because it meant I could cook something for dinner and give my daughter a break from having to cook a couple of meals!  She says she, too, is very glad that I kept the electric skillet.  

Today I am grateful for:

- Another good day
- Peach chutney
- Being able to cook dinner
- Having kept the electric skillet after all
- Daughter watering the garden

 Today's joyful activity was sweeping the bathroom!  

How was your Monday?  What are your plans for Tuesday?