Fall is good times

Sure, we get all tomato-sad at the end of the summer when the weather starts to cool off and our big beefy summer crops start heading toward the compost bin, but there's still good stuff to come out of this time of year.

In fact, there's tons.

Nasturtium are suddenly, GAME ON.

We've been psychos about pinching back the basil and, FOR ONCE, it's paying off in a good fall crop.

The Solly Beiler cucumbers are all about the cooler mornings and hot afternoons.

This year, we're having what's amounting to an Indian Summer. In the sense that it's unseasonably warm and predicted to stay that way for the month of October.

This means a few things:

1. Some of your summer crops will pick up where they started to leave off a few weeks ago when the temperatures took their normal fall drop in production when the weather *started* to cool off. They'll get all, "YAY! Heat!" and probably try to pump out a new round of blossoms or even crops.
2. You can get in a late crop of fall vegetables before our first frost shows up sometime around November 1. 

In the case of the test garden, we've sown a fall crop of bush beans that *should* be ready to harvest by mid to late October, we're bringing in lots of nasturtium and sunflower bouquets and we're watching the cucumbers, basil and watermelons spring back to life for one last shot at joining a meal.

Bush Beans acting all promising.

We never get tired of nasturtium bouquets. Or smooching moose.
That should be a bar name, "The Smooching Moose." Right? Right.

This Moon and Stars watermelon is a little late to the game, but we're letting it think it's still summer.

It also means that some of our sorta crappy looking summer plants that really should have been pulled by now are getting a few more weeks to do *something* before they're summarily chucked into the bin.

And, for this Jaune Flamme tomato that *something* is joining us for lunch today.

This is also a really good time to do some fall planting of perennial vegetables, pruning of herbs and feeding.

Artichokes, like this Green Globe guy, do well planted as younglings in the fall. They'll usually produce a small harvest in early spring and then be big and bushy for the next spring. We plant ours in the perennial landscaping beds since they don't need to be replanted every year like most of your vegetables do.

Feverfew, a herb used a lot for treating headaches (by regularly chewing a few leaves), appreciates an early fall pruning to remove old growth so that it can put on lovely healthy new growth. It self-seeds in our area (Zone 9), so if you have it growing this fall, you'll have some new seedlings cropping up in spring. If you don't have it growing already, it's a great seed to start in spring once the soil warms up.

This Meyer Lemon has seen some rough years, but is bounding back after its recent feast.

Growing citrus? Lemons, limes, kumquats, oranges, clementines, whatever - they're all prepping fruit for the California winter right now and would appreciate a little snack to get on their way. Generally speaking, citrus plants need to be fed three times a year - late winter (February), late spring (May) and late summer (September) - to produce reliable fruit crops.  We like Gardner & Bloome's Fruit Tree Fertilizer because it's organic, readily available (Yay! No hunting around!) and the application amounts are easy to calculate (Yay! Because we suck at math!).

So, we're not getting bummed about the forthcoming putting to bed of the summer garden because we're too busy growing fall crops and prepping for winter planting.

Lusty tomato pasta

When in doubt, and in tomato season, you will find me in the kitchen making this dish.

Especially if any of the following situations are at play:

• It's hot out. Like, so hot you can't imagine turning on an oven or even whispering the words, blow dryer.
• The tomato plants are producing at a rate unequaled in all of plantdom.
• I only have a few minutes to make dinner and even fewer brain cells with which to craft it.
• I don't have much in the way of fresh meat, so it's pantry staples + garden produce or nothing.

The crucial EXTRA important key to this dish - to making it a dish that you will come back to when you're hot, sweaty, starved and not prepared to think your way through a complicated recipe - is the bowl treatment.

The what?

Yes, the treatment you give your bowl (a good sized glass bowl works best) with the cut side of a garlic clove is the key to a dish that will have you drinking the juices straight, before you even get to the whole "dinner" part of things.

Or, if you're me, you'll pour yourself a little glass of this liquid delight while the mixture is getting all lusty and you'll drink it right there with a little basil garnish because that totally makes sense in the heat of the moment.

And believe me, when you're making this, heat is almost certainly involved.

So, next time it's hot, you're starved for something great and your garden's pumping out tomatoes and basil at a terrifying rate - here you go.

Lusty Tomato Pasta

Adapted from The Splendid Table's recipe for Mellowed Fresh Tomatoes for Pasta

My changes in bold

Ingredients
2 tomatoes per person, chopped
1/2 pound whole wheat spaghetti
1 bunch of fresh basil, rinsed and ripped
2 garlic cloves, papers removed, halved
3 T olive oil 
1 T sea salt
1 t cayenne pepper
1/2 t fresh ground black pepper

To make
Rub down the inside of a glass bowl with the cut sides of the garlic cloves until it's completely coated. Leave the garlic in the bowl and add the tomatoes,  peppers, salt and oil. Stir completely, being sure to drag the mixture around the sides of the bowl to completely incorporate the garlic's juices.

Throw in the basil, give it a final stir and then let it rest while you boil the pasta.

When the pasta's almost al dente (slightly uncooked in the center when you bite into it), drain it and immediately toss it with the tomato mixture, being sure to get the pasta down to the juices waiting at the bottom of the bowl.

Let the pasta mingle with the tomato mixture for a few minutes, tasting the juices and adding salt and pepper to your own taste. 

Serve with some fresh basil on top and some toasted garlic bread on the side. Otherwise be prepared for your diners to drink from the bowl, which isn't the worst thing that's ever happened.

Zucchini cheddar biscuits

If you're looking for something else to do with squash aside from stuff it or saute it or bury it in every sauce and pasta dish to hit our table, I'm here to tell you that you can bake it.

And not like bake a stuffed squash or something, but actually bake it into biscuits which are really tasty and lovely to serve with dinner. 

And then when you're all drunk with the power of baking squash into things, you can make this for dessert.

I'm just saying that I know what happens when you're drunk with the power of baking vegetables into things and I want to support that.

Anyway, this recipe from Garden Fresh Vegetable Cookbook, which I love and adore, is Zucchini Cheddar Breakfast Biscuits and transforms a giant squash into 2 cups of perfect matchsticks that get turned into 1 cup (after draining and squishing) of binding goop perfect for biscuits. And don't be deterred by the "breakfast" in the title, there. I served these with dinner and no one put up a fight.

Wouldn't you like to make these biscuits with all of the squash moving into your guest room? I bet you might.

 Zucchini Cheddar Biscuits

Adapted from Andrea Chessman's recipe in Garden-Fresh Vegetable Cookbook
My changes in bold

Ingredients
2 cups of julienned summer squash
1 tsp salt
3 cups whole wheat flour1 Tbsp baking powder
2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp fresh ground mixed peppercorns
4 Tbsp cold unsalted butter, cut into cubes
1 cup grated cheddar
1/4 cup buttermilk
*I omitted the bacon called for in the recipe because we didn't have any on hand, but I'm SURE it would be delicious to include. Obviously.

Toss the squash and salt into a colander and let it hang out for half hour. At that point you can squeeze the water out of it and end up with a nice 1 cup wad of squash goop.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

Sift the flour, baking powder, baking soda and pepper into a bowl and cut in the butter until you have a coarse crumb texture going on. Then mix in the cheese and squash with a fork and then add the buttermilk. Stir it around with your fork until it forms a nice stiff dough.

Flour your counter or a board and turn the dough out onto it for a brief kneading session where some of it will get stuck to your fingers, but that's OK. Just flour your hands more. Roll the dough out and use a random glass from the cupboard to cut biscuits into the dough. I found our highball glasses worked nicely, but if you want to get all technical you could use a 3 inch round cutter.

Put your biscuits on a baking sheet and toss them in the oven for about 15 minutes.

Go to town with these at whatever meal suits you. I don't judge.

The One of Chili

The original recipe for this chili, which comes from the hallowed halls of Sunset magazine, is very good, but I made a single crucial amendment to the recipe that, for me, brought it to all new heights.

Much like Neo was The One where The Matrix was concerned, well, this chili became The One where chili was concerned. 

I think you'll appreciate the crucial amendment, too: homecanned tomatoes. 

I use only my homecanned tomatoes in place of storebought canned tomatoes and, holy mackerel, it makes me want to smack my lips. In fact, I do believe that I DO smack my lips when I eat this chili. Which is often, in the winter months, because it is also one of my favorite things to make.

It's a handy one pot dish (as most chilis are) and it's so satisfying to compile that it just pleases me on all levels.

That's a lot of love from one dinner, so it gets a special place in my book. Right next to The Best Sauce Ever. Yep. and this Chocolate Beet Cake.

Just to forewarn the meat fearful out there - this is not a vegetarian chili recipe. And for those who are bean fearful - this is not a beanless recipe, but you can make it one by just...wait for it...not adding beans.

The One of Chili

Adapted from Smoky Beef and Bacon Chili from Sunset Magazine

My changes in bold 

Makes 6 servings

Ingredients

2 slices thick-cut peppered bacon, finely chopped
1 large onion, finely chopped
1 large garlic clove, minced
1 1/2 pounds lean ground beef
1 tablespoon plus 1 1/2 tsp. chili powder
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 1/2 teaspoons paprika 
1 tsp. cayenne pepper
About 1 tsp. salt
1 can (14.5 oz.) homegrown tomatoes
8 oz. of homemade tomato sauce
1 bottle of India Pale Ale beer (gluten fearful? Use a gluten-free beer.)
1 teaspoon Worcestershire
1 can (14.5 oz.) pinto beans, drained (bean fearful people, this is what I was talking about)
Sour cream and grated cheddar for topping

To make

In a large, heavy-bottomed pot over medium-high heat, cook bacon, stirring until it just begins to brown, about 4 minutes. 

Add onion, lower heat to medium, cover, and cook, stirring occasionally, until translucent, 4 to 7 minutes. 

Uncover pan, stir in garlic, and cook 1 minute.

Increase heat to medium-high and add ground beef; break it up with a wooden spoon and stir gently until it loses its raw color, 6 to 8 minutes. 

Stir in spices and 1 tsp. salt and cook 1 minute. 

Add homecanned tomatoes, homemade tomato sauce, beer and Worcestershire and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low, cover partially and cook 30 minutes.

Add beans and cook 10 minutes, uncovered. (Bean fearfuls - you get to skip this step.) 

Season to taste with additional salt. Serve warm, with toppings on the side.

And in case you want some direction on the toppings, I'd go with sour cream, shredded cheddar cheese, chopped green onions and some crispy bacon. 

But I bet you could have thought that up on your own. Sorry, I was fantasizing.