Adventures in Canning

K got me a canning pot, jars, and all the necessary accoutrements for my birthday. It's probably the best present that I ever received. Nothing exudes eating local more than the act of canning your own organically-grown produce for the winter. In this case, of course, we used an absolute dearth of CSA tomatoes and tomatillos and canned crushed tomatoes, whole tomatoes, and tomato sauce, plus a roasted tomatillo salsa. The full day production was laborious and time consuming, but well worth it. In addition to the satisfaction of eating local, the process also makes anyone with half a historical consciousness feel closer to the past. This is how our grandparents and great grandparents ate. Seems appropriate that we would do the same.

Orecchiette with Red Lentil Sauce; Insalata Caprese

For some reason, the people who owned our little house before us decided that they didn't want an outdoor space. So the door leading from our kitchen doesn't take us to a large deck with beautiful views of our pretty, double lot with mature trees and a plethora of fauna ranging from blue jays to screech owls to racoon families to deer herds. Instead, it leads directly to a set of stairs.

If you want to admire the view, you have to sit on a step.

So for the time being, our outdoor dining takes place on a concrete pad at the base of said stairs.

Though a deck would be nice, the pad provided a perfect place to enjoy the first tomatoes of the season using the very best preparation for good tomatoes -- a caprese salad.

Risotto-Stuffed Cubanelle Peppers with Quick Tomato Sauce

I don't like to eat left-overs for dinner. Heating up last night's meal for dinner is just too easy.  The caveat, of course, is if you can take last night's food and turn it into something new. I did just that with some leftover Risotto Milanese. I used it as a filler for some cubanelle peppers that came in from the CSA, baked them in a 375 degree oven for 30 minutes, and served them on a simple tomato sauce.