Beans, Beans and More Beans

This year has been an amazing year for gardening. We have had a bumper crop of vegetables. The vegetables that have given us the greatest yield so far have been the green beans. We froze them, and froze them, canned them in pints, canned them in quarts, cooked them for dinner, and even gave some to co-workers. All that out of just 2 short rows of green beans!

My husband finally pulled the plants after the fourth picking. We’ve never had more the two pickings. The second picking is usually inferior to the first. Not this year! Here is a picture of one of the plants at the fourth picking.

Beautiful clean, straight beans. Amazing!

These beauties kept me up till midnight one night. After work I picked up fast-food for dinner so that I could get started on canning as soon as I got home. My canner only holds 7 quart. So I had to process them in two batches. That’s what kept me up till midnight. I had to wait for the last batch to cool so I could take them out of the canner.

This winter when the snow starts to fly and I open a can of these green beans for dinner it will all be worth it!

Strawberry Sorbet

My strawberry patch is still going strong. I’ve already made freezer jam, so what to make now…Strawberry Sorbet. I found this recipe on Food Network’s website. It’s Paula Deen’s recipe for Strawberry Sorbet and it is really good!

It has just 5 ingredients…I didn’t include the water in the picture. I thought that would be silly.

The first thing you do is make the simple syrup. Bring the sugar and water to a boil on medium-high heat. Do not stir! After it comes to a boil reduce the heat to a simmer and let cook for 3 minutes until sugar is dissolved. Remove pan from heat and allow to cool.

Put the cleaned and halved strawberries in a food processor with the lime juice and puree. I used my Ninja…I really like this thing. 

Pour the strawberry mixture into a fine mesh strainer to remove seeds.

I pressed the mixture with a spatula. A few seeds did get through, but that’s okay.

When the simple syrup has cooled, pour it into the strawberry puree…

pour in the corn syrup also and stir.

Put the strawberry mixture in the refrigerator to chill. Then using your ice cream maker’s instructions make the sorbet. I used my Kitchen Aid.

 

After making the sorbet I froze it in freezer containers.

This sorbet recipe is so easy to make and it is delicious.

For the recipe click here, which will take you to Food Network’s website.

Strawberry Season

It’s strawberry season in southeastern Ohio. This is turning out to be a great year for strawberries.

This is one beautiful strawberry!

It makes my hand look so small. No, that is not a child’s hand, it’s my hand and it’s a really big strawberry.

One of my favorite ways to enjoy strawberries is Strawberry Freezer Jam.

Freezer jam is so easy to make. All you need is pectin, I use Sure Jell, and sugar…and strawberries, of course. I use the recipe that comes in the Sure Jell box. And I freeze the jam in jelly jars.

Look at that yummy, sticky, strawberry goodness! I wish I could give you-all a spoonful!

Now they are ready for the freezer.

Yes, there are several different types of rings, jars and lids. It’s eclectic, right? No, actually it is economics. Some of those lids were given to me. I’m not sure if they will seal so I’m not going to use them for canning, but for freezing they work great.