Scrumptious garden food into salsa & spaghetti sauce

I have been quite busy outside of the garden work. But in my down time, I'm watering the garden, hoeing, weeding, harvesting and canning.

Lately I have been picking and stringing beans from the garden. My family has been gracious enough to help, and even grandma is canning beans for me. In exchange, she gets all the beans she wants.

Patty pan squash, beans & potatoes for canning 

Beans canned 

Beans & potatoes canned, spaghetti sauce & pickled cucumbers/peppers 

Of course the tomatoes, peppers, and herbs from the garden are going to making salsa, spaghetti sauce or salads.

I turned these into salsa minus the cucumbers 

Here is the salsa, more tomatoes & carrots 

I turned these herbs, tomatoes & peppers into spaghetti sauce 

Here's the spaghetti sauce & pickled cucumbers/peppers 

Luscious Garden food & flower gardens

I've been working a lot doing patch work around the house, cutting out moldy walls and putting pieces of drywall in, mudding, painting, and grouting tile in the bathroom too. Our AC leaks water and it comes into the living room, so I titled it more to prevent it from gettjng in anymore, which is why I had to replace the drywall, mud and repaint. My living room and bathroo  are pink now, haha.

I've been casually enjoying every meal of garden food. I've been picking beans, stringing them and breaking them to be canned, thanks to my grandma and siblings help. 

I've hurt my arm so I'm having slight issues doing a lot of physical work. I endured the pain of digging a hole today to transplant my grandma's new butterfly bush, and then clipped back the dead one.

I'm  even having trouble driving and holding my protest signs at rallies for my sore arm. It has to do with all the atrain I've put on the arm doing a bunch more physical labor than I'm used to. I digress...here are photos of the harvests from my garden...

I always admire my grandma's flower garden

Garden art sun around my grapes

Garden food into vegan cheesecake and veggie spaghetti

I am stuffed from tonight's dinner. I made garden spaghetti and vegan cheesecake with loads of garden blueberries.

The spaghetti sauce was made with garden herbs and harvested tomatoes. I foraged for chanterelle mushrooms in the woods too, and fried them in the sauce. It was delicious. And I prepared homemade garlic bread too.

The bread was really good so I'll provide the recipe: 4 cups flour, 1 1/2 tsp salt, 1 pkt of yeast, sifted together then make a well in the center for 2 tbsp of oil and 1 3/4 cup hot water. Knead the dough for 5 minutes after mixing. Sit on the stove for an hour and 30 minutes, kneading every 30 minutes. Bake at 375 degrees F for 30 minutes after preheating oven.

Before baking the bread, I made the blueberry cheesecake with tofu and tofutti brand cream cheese mixed with blueberries that I picked today. I mixed the ingredients in a processor then put it in a vegan graham cracker crust, baked for an hour at 350 degrees F. Afterwards, chill in the fridge and then I added frozen blueberries from the garden.

I took some photos of the garden today too of melons and peppers, which I'm excited for, among the many more tomatoes to come.

Eating off the land & garden dinner ideas

With garden cabbage and carrots, I have made cole slaw.  Usually cole slaw has mayonnaise but I veganized the recipe with non-dairy and egg free mayonnaise and mustard. It was goid in its own but I also ate it on sandwiches with veggie patties.

With the blueberry pickin's I have been making a smoothie every morning with them and almond "milk."

With the cucumbers and tomatoes I have been eating salads. The dressing I have been using recently is this poppy seed dressing. The cucumbers have been prolific so I'm also pickling them.

I have pickled 14 jars of cucumbers so far

I harvested lots of beans the other day so I fried them with some garden potatoes too.

With the yellow squash I'm harvesting, I'm still eating them fried over rice. Same way with the Chanterelle mushrooms, I fry them and eat with rice.

These meals are very basic, very country, and I've said this before: it's a good feeling to eat from the things you grew. The process is like no other to nurture and provide...it's not like hunting or raising animals to eat...this is saving the seed, planting the seed, composting food scraps to give nutrients to the plants, water it, and patiently wait and pick an abundance of food almost entirely free or low cost. And with this style of permaculture gardening, it is low maintenance so less work.