Vege gluts
Thanks to the wonderful summer weather we have had a glut of veges lately. I have been busy preserving & freezing various things, it’s really satisfying. With some of the things it probably doesn’t save any money, but I enjoy doing it & it also means I know exactly what has gone into it!
So far I have made:
- Hugh F-W’s roast sieved tomatoes – perfect as the base for any tomato dish
- Annabel Langbein’s harvest tomato sauce – this is amazing! So easy to make, & it tastes wonderful. It is also nice & thick, Hugh’s is quite thin despite my efforts to reduce it down (prob because I didn’t want to add any tom paste to it)
- Pickled gherkins using a recipe food on the Food Lover’s website – the gherkins were from Todd & Traci, I did 3 jars worth. Fingers crossed they taste good, will have to wait until we’ve finished the jar in the fridge before I find out if they’re ok!
- Michael Smith’s basil pesto – frozen in ice cubes, to be used later on in pastas, on pizza etc
- NZ Gardener’s tomato chilli jam – recipe from the latest mag, I used chillis we grew but they are very mild & the jam is a bit sweet without the kick of the chilli to balance it out. Still good though, delicious on crackers with cheese.
- Chocolate courgette cake – was delicious, used a heap of other ingredients which I thought wasn’t very thrifty, but I never make cake so it was a nice treat.
It’s good to get some preserving done before I start at Massey University next week (classes start 28th) & get busy with studying full time. I’ve started planning for winter veges too, got some leek seedlings today & already have some brassica seedlings going from seed I sowed a while back. Bloody white butterflies are everywhere though, it’s a bit of a battle, but hopefully they disappear when the cooler weather arrives in autumn.
Also trying to figure out if we want to buy any bulbs to plant soon, I love daffodils but it would be nice to have something different. Hopefully Paul and I can compromise – I like chaotic flowers, with mixed varities, and he is keen on one variety in a few different colours lol
Exciting stuff too, when I finished my job at the accountant’s they gave me a $100 garden centre voucher which I am holding onto until winter so we can buy some more fruit trees 
The choc cake was so yummy & moist. I’m very proud of all you are doing. Important that it is satisfying and any cost saving done is a bonus. Also as you mention, you know exactly what is in the end product. We need to get a bit more back to grass roots eh? Good for us, our soul & lifestyles.
Wow, you are very industrious, and everything sounds so yummy!
Susan made choc courgette cake a couple of weeks ago because she had too many courgettes, and it was delicious
There are heaps of nice bulbs other than daffodils, and maybe if you plant them in drifts that’ll keep Paul happy :p I really like freesias, and they smell soooo good!