Using the Harvest

It's no use growing vegetables if you dont actually use them. Think about it, how many times do you buy produce only to throw it out because it's gotten manky & slimy?  The same goes with what you grow. I have been guilty of this from time to time, though in myy defense it doesnt go to landfill but to the compost or chickens.

I want to cut down on the manky, slimy produce and make an effort to use everything from the garden. Things like squash & zucchini I have been grating and freezing for later use. In winter I'll be able to use pesto, pureed tomatoes, dehydrated tomatoes as well as the forementioned squash & zucchini. This is one way to use up the harvest.

Another is menu planning. Tonight we are having cauliflower, broccoli & carrots in cheese sauce. All picked from the garden, all needing to be cooked. Yesterday I made zucchini slice which will take care of lunches for mum & I this week.The lone rockmelon has been sliced & is sitting in the fridge waiting for Stella to come home from school. A suprise pumpkin has got a date with the processor so we can have muffins.A beetroot delivery has been made to next door so that the wonderful Heather can make Borscht (hers is THE best). Coleslaw will be made from the cabbage in the fridge as it is perfect to have with schnitzel. Thats at least 4 dinners there (counting leftovers), lunches & snacks.

I see a lot of pumpkin based dishes in the future as the suprise pumpkin has been giving us lots of pumpkins (no one planted it, hence it's name), as well as cabbage based dishes to use up the 4 left in the garden...Thank God for cookbooks!

What's your favourite way to use up produce? Or how much produce do you throw each week?

Scents of Summer

The last couple of days have been great, overcast, not too hot and we even got some rain last night! After the ridiculous tempretures we've been having (46.5 degrees C anyone?!?), it's a godsend. Summer always has its own particular smells. The big one for most of Australia is the smell of smoke, we've got huge bush fires all over the country. The last couple of summers we had a lot of rain & flooding. Now we're back to heat & fire. I'm lucky that even though we live near bush land that we are not affected by the fires. It's heartbreaking to see/hear of people who have lost everything (big shout out to our fireies who do a fantastic job)

So smoke is a big indicator that it's summer...our smoke smell comes from the impromptu BBQs we've been having with our next door neighbour. Steak, chicken, onion, potato, corn....whatever is lying around gets thrown on & it's always delicious.

I also relate the smells of tomatoes & basil with summer. Tomatoes ripening on the bench, tomatoes being cooked into relish, the whole house smelling of basil as I make pesto to freeze. You only get these smells when it's summer. The thing is you need to be in the kitchen, in the heat to do these things....but it is worth it to have pesto on pasta in the middle of winter.

The other smell of summer is harder to explain. It's the smell you get after having hot day after hot day and then in the late afternoon it storms. The smell of the soil as it cools with the rain is unbelievable.

What smells do you associate with summer?