Fall Planting

I planted my late summer/fall vegetables today: broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, radishes, & mache.  The fall seed selection around here is dismal.  I ordered from Bountiful Gardens.  They had a great selection of open-pollinated seeds at very reasonable prices. 

 

My zucchini plant is still going strong.  I'm planning one more batch of pickles, plus more grated for the freezer.  I made tomato chutney this week - look for a recipe in a few days.  I also finally harvested enough okra to bother cooking it.  I planted most of my okra too early, and it didn't come up, so I've only got 5 plants.  I'll plan better next year. 

I have tons of hot peppers.  We'll be having lots of stuffed poblanos in the next few weeks, and I'm going to dry a bunch as well.

The first canteloupe should be ready any day now.  Also a few cucmber stragglers - didn't get very many this year, but the cukes I got were very good - not a hint of bitterness, and a nice mild, sweet taste.

Zucchini Pickles

My mom made zucchini pickles when I was a kid, and they were always my favorite.  She also made bread & butter pickles, but I've never been a big fan of sweet cucumber pickles. 

I've never pickled before, so I decided to give it a try.  Although the spice bag broke, everything else went off without a hitch - all the jars sealed, and we're going to let them marinate for a few weeks before we taste.  While they were cooking they smelled just like I remember them tasting, so I am optimistic!

I made a half recipe, because that's all the zucchini I had. 

For canning instructions from Ball, click here. (pdf may take a while to load)



Zucchini Pickles

• 1 gal zucchini, peeled, sliced, & quartered


• 2 c lime (in the spice aisle at the grocery)


• 1 qt white vinegar


• 8 1/2 c sugar


• 1 tsp salt


• 3 T pickling spices


• 1 T celery seed

Mix lime with 2 gallons water in a non-aluminum container.  Add zucchini and refrigerate 24 hrs.  Drain and rinse several changes of water.  Let stand in clear water 3 hrs, drain again.  Soak overnight in vinegar, sugar, salt, and spices (tie spices in a bag or cheesecloth).  Bring to a boil and boil 30 minutes.  Pack and seal in jars.  Cold pack 10 minutes.  Makes 9 pints.

I 1 the zucchini...

I've been trying to stay ahead of the zucchini, but 2 escaped me last week, and got quite large.  I shredded them, put half in the freezer, and decided to make a zucchini cake with the rest.  I found a recipe that looked good, but decided to replace the oil with applesauce, and add in some freshly grated nutmeg. 

After dumping the oil and sugar in the mixer, I realized I had no all-purpose flour - only bread flour and whole-wheat.  I'm a big fan of whole wheat, and have been baking all of our bread for the last month or two, but I believe in white flour for cakes.  I knew bread flour would be a disaster, so whole-wheat it had to be. 

I'd seen another zucchini cake recipe that used oatmeal, so I used 1/2 c quick oats and 1 1/2 c flour.  I did not have high hopes at this point, so I figured I might as well go all-out with the experimentation, and make a jelly roll. 

I baked it, rolled it, chilled it, and filled it with cream cheese frosting, and everyone loved it.  And except for the sugar, it could practically be health food!

The walnuts I used came from Nutsonline.com.  I had to order pine nuts to make pesto because I couldn't find anything reasonably priced locally, but I was a little skeptical.  Not anymore - I have a walnut tree in my backyard and these nuts were just as fresh. 

Zucchini Roll with Cream Cheese Frosting

• 1 c unsweetened applesauce


• 2 c sugar


• 3 eggs


• 2 tsp vanilla


• 1 1/2 c whole-wheat flour


• 1/2 c quick cooking oats


• 1 tsp baking soda


• 1/2 tsp baking powder


• 1/2 tsp salt


• 2 tsp cinnamon


• 1/2 tsp nutmeg


• 2 c grated zucchini (skin on)


• 1 c chopped walnuts

Preheat oven to 375°.  Line a jelly roll pan with parchment paper or foil, grease and flour. 

Mix the applesauce and sugar.  Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.  Stir in vanilla.  In another bowl, mix dry ingredients.  Add dry ingredients to sugar mixture, alternating with zucchini.  Stir in walnuts. 

Pour into prepared pan and bake 15-20 minutes.  Immediately transfer cake to a towel sprinkled with powdered sugar.  Roll the cake up with the towel, and allow to cool. 

Unroll, spread icing over entire surface, and re-roll.  Sift powdered sugar over the top.  Chill, slice, and serve.

Icing:

• 1 8oz package cream cheese


• 1 stick butter


• 1 tsp vanilla


• 3 c powdered sugar

Cream together butter and cream cheese.  Add vanilla.  Beat in sugar until smooth.