Rockin CSA haul

We've been enjoying the fruits of fall lately. Our CSA has been chock full of great veggies and fruits, so that has been inspiring. Brian put together this great "salad starter" with a bunch of tomatoes, peppers, olives, cucumbers and red onions, that we can just ladle over our lettuce. Yum... and easy! I also used these beautiful purple, yellow and green tomatillos in my Mom's green enchilada recipe. It's one of my favorites, and it made a TON. We'll be in enchiladas for a few days and still have two small batches frozen for later. Earlier this week we picked up a big handful (about 20) chestnuts that had fallen from the tree down the street. Who knew, but chestnut pickers can be spotted by their characteristic shuffle preformed to open the super spiky hulls... Anyhow, two tries, and I'm still no good at peeling them, but I think I have it figured out for NEXT time.... slit 'em, boil for five minutes and take off the tough outer hull, DON"T WORRY about the super stuck on inner hull yet. Boil again, 20 minutes to an hour.... then try to remove the soft inner hull. Anyhow, after they were all soft I pushed them through a sieve, added an equal amount of sugar and a bit of water... okay I probably added too much water. In the end (no picture of greyish mush) I ended up with chestnut preserve, it's great with a rich yogurt, on bread and I am sure with whipped cream. Brian's not as much of a fan, but I love this stuff.

jars and jars and jars

This is the first year I have really embraced putting up food... I think I like it. It's very rewarding and I love seeing everything on the shelves. It's a fun thing for Brian and I to do together after Owen goes to sleep... even if it tends to keep us up way too late. They are almost too precious to crack open... almost. I promised Brian that as soon as the season for fresh .... whatever we are canning ... is over we can pop them open. However nothing so far, we've been working our way through some jam from Mom and half jars of stuff. Let's see what do we have (in reverse and slightly overlapping order) applesauce, tomatoes, pasta sauce, pizza sauce, italian plum jam, blackberry jam, Dill pickles, peach jam, cherries, beets, raspberry jam, and some strawberry freezer jam (started jammin' these guys before I got up the gumption to try canning... next year!). We also have a handful of apple pies, strawberry shortcakes, and bean servings in the freezer.... mmm
I can't really explain why this makes me so happy. Maybe because last winter went on soo long (at least it seemed that way, hard to say, it was my first Portland winter), that bringing a bit of summer along with me is reassuring.