I harvested several large basil plants, some forming woody stems, to make pesto before cooler frost hit last night. I got a mix of purple and green but after you blend it all together you can't really tell, it's just a little darker than normal.
The long part of making pesto is picking the leaves off of the plant. You don't want the woody stem in the pesto since it won't cook down quite right when you add it to a dish. i can't imagine eating pasta with chicken or possibly shrimp and finding a hard woody piece of basil in the mix.
The recipe I used calls for pine nuts, but I used walnuts instead, along with garlic and olive oil. As usual it took a while for the leaves to get chopped up enough to blend well but in the end it made 16 cubes of pesto. One cube is plenty to season a pasta dish for my wife and me and should last most of the year the way we use it. Last year we didn't get quite as much and had to get some pesto from the store.
I tossed the flower heads along with the stems back into the garden to finish reseeding for next year's crop. There were also some smaller basil plants up front that I left. The mild freeze seemed to have mostly gotten to them and weren't many good leaves to use.
Showing posts with label recipies. Show all posts
Showing posts with label recipies. Show all posts
Wednesday, December 7, 2011
Thursday, February 10, 2011
Lemonade Trials
My wife got into her head that I needed to make and sample different lemonades made from fresh lemons simply because she was making popcorn. I still don't get it but it was a bit of fun anyway.
I can't say it was very extensive or entirely lemons but here's what we found out.
First, you need to make sure you have enough lemon juice and enough sugar in any lemonade you want to make. Too little of either and you don't have much of a drink and the popcorn gets cold as people wait for their drinks.
Second, Meyer lemons are much more mellow and lack the bite that your average lemon has.
Third, a bergamot orange is not a good substitute for lemons... I should have known. It does however add a very floral note to the drink if added to lemonade in small amounts.
I can't say it was very extensive or entirely lemons but here's what we found out.
First, you need to make sure you have enough lemon juice and enough sugar in any lemonade you want to make. Too little of either and you don't have much of a drink and the popcorn gets cold as people wait for their drinks.
Second, Meyer lemons are much more mellow and lack the bite that your average lemon has.
Third, a bergamot orange is not a good substitute for lemons... I should have known. It does however add a very floral note to the drink if added to lemonade in small amounts.
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
Skullcap
We have a little skullcap plant in the front but I really had no idea what to do with it. At first I thought it looked a little scraggly but it turns out that it's supposed to look that way. No wonder most people don't like planting it. It's not a showy plant or even lush. If I didn't know better I would have pulled it up and tossed it into the weeds.
I may be making a tea out of it soon to see if it helps my wife sleep, I still need to do a little more research just to make sure there are no calamitous side effects. So far as I can tell an overdose may lead to confusion, giddiness, and possible liver damage over a long time, then again so do a LOT of things. I love those commercials that end in the disclosure, "Side effects vary and may include, nose bleeds, liver damage, eyes bleeding, skin peeling off and possibly death." Ok, so I exaggerate, but everything has a side effect that's usually why something is taken.
Skullcap is also listed in a tea for arthritis which includes rue, angelica, black cohosh, colombo, valerian root, and gentain root.
Rue is another thing I don't currently have much of an idea of what to do with but that will be another day and probably after I get another plant of it, the last one died, I think....
I may be making a tea out of it soon to see if it helps my wife sleep, I still need to do a little more research just to make sure there are no calamitous side effects. So far as I can tell an overdose may lead to confusion, giddiness, and possible liver damage over a long time, then again so do a LOT of things. I love those commercials that end in the disclosure, "Side effects vary and may include, nose bleeds, liver damage, eyes bleeding, skin peeling off and possibly death." Ok, so I exaggerate, but everything has a side effect that's usually why something is taken.
Skullcap is also listed in a tea for arthritis which includes rue, angelica, black cohosh, colombo, valerian root, and gentain root.
Rue is another thing I don't currently have much of an idea of what to do with but that will be another day and probably after I get another plant of it, the last one died, I think....
Friday, April 17, 2009
Spring figs
It seems like I might get some spring figs this year. Usually the wind and rain dash the newly forming figs off of the branches leaving them to rot in the wet grass, but it seems that they have weathered well this year and will make a good harvest if I can get to them before the birds do.
My grandmother always liked making a fig preserve which she told us tasted like strawberries, and did a little. I only hope mom or some other relative still has the recipe somewhere. I don't remember seeing it in the family cookbook they put out a couple years ago but that doesn't mean that someone doesn't know it.
One of my favorite recipes from when I was little was in there.
Kettle Tea
1 cup hot water
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp sugar
splash of milk
Which would go great with a little homemade bread and fig preserves.
My grandmother always liked making a fig preserve which she told us tasted like strawberries, and did a little. I only hope mom or some other relative still has the recipe somewhere. I don't remember seeing it in the family cookbook they put out a couple years ago but that doesn't mean that someone doesn't know it.
One of my favorite recipes from when I was little was in there.
Kettle Tea
1 cup hot water
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp sugar
splash of milk
Which would go great with a little homemade bread and fig preserves.
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
Kiefer lime tree size
I had to go back and edit this one since I forgot to mention the actual size these trees can get to.
Kiefer lime trees can get up to fifteen feet or more in height but can be kept in a pot indoors and trimmed. A plant will only grow as big as it's roots can grow for the type of plant.
Some other citrus plants such as the meyer lemon tree can get upwards of twenty-five feet.
To reach maturity and size takes more years than it takes to produce fruit so even after it's fruiting it still may have plenty of room to grow.
Most of you are probably wondering when I expect to be able to get limes off of the kiefer lime tree, or for that matter the lemon tree already seven years old.
If a citrus tree is well maintained, unlike mine which really need better lighting and feeding, a typical citrus of this type can produce in as little as five years or as much as ten years before producing fruit.
The first year is probably not going to give as good of a fruit as successive years will, but might be edible and useful for jam or lemonaide.
I just squeezed some meyer lemons for lemonaide (More Seeds for the planting), and cut up several to make marmalade.
For the marmalade all I had to do was half and then quarter the halves and remove the seeds. Place most if not all of the seeds in a cheese cloth and tie off. Then thinly slice the quarters and place in 4 cups of water with the bag of seeds for 24 hours. The next day boil the water down for 45 minutes, remove the seeds and add 4 cups of sugar. Cook on low until it gels on a cold plate, then can.
It tastes great! I made some drop biscuits to go with it.
You might think that it would be a little bitter. Notice that I did NOT say to peel the lemons. The rind is cooked with everything else and is soft and not too bitter after it's been cooked. Trust me I've eaten half a jar already.
Unfortunately the other seeds still haven't sprouted. I haven't given up hope yet though and I now have meyer lemon seeds to plant. Ahhhhh, I don't have any room! I'll figure something out.
Kiefer lime trees can get up to fifteen feet or more in height but can be kept in a pot indoors and trimmed. A plant will only grow as big as it's roots can grow for the type of plant.
Some other citrus plants such as the meyer lemon tree can get upwards of twenty-five feet.
To reach maturity and size takes more years than it takes to produce fruit so even after it's fruiting it still may have plenty of room to grow.
Most of you are probably wondering when I expect to be able to get limes off of the kiefer lime tree, or for that matter the lemon tree already seven years old.
If a citrus tree is well maintained, unlike mine which really need better lighting and feeding, a typical citrus of this type can produce in as little as five years or as much as ten years before producing fruit.
The first year is probably not going to give as good of a fruit as successive years will, but might be edible and useful for jam or lemonaide.
I just squeezed some meyer lemons for lemonaide (More Seeds for the planting), and cut up several to make marmalade.
For the marmalade all I had to do was half and then quarter the halves and remove the seeds. Place most if not all of the seeds in a cheese cloth and tie off. Then thinly slice the quarters and place in 4 cups of water with the bag of seeds for 24 hours. The next day boil the water down for 45 minutes, remove the seeds and add 4 cups of sugar. Cook on low until it gels on a cold plate, then can.
It tastes great! I made some drop biscuits to go with it.
You might think that it would be a little bitter. Notice that I did NOT say to peel the lemons. The rind is cooked with everything else and is soft and not too bitter after it's been cooked. Trust me I've eaten half a jar already.
Unfortunately the other seeds still haven't sprouted. I haven't given up hope yet though and I now have meyer lemon seeds to plant. Ahhhhh, I don't have any room! I'll figure something out.
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