What are Heirloom Tomatoes?

Heirloom tomatoes! You may have heard of them and even eaten them a few times. You might grow them in your garden, or even buy them at the farmers market/grocery store. August is a prime month for fresh homegrown tomatoes (although often times gardeners' tomatoes are ready sooner) One of my favorite vegetables to look forward to in the garden are the tomatoes, all different kinds. Let's talk a little about heirloom tomatoes in this post, one of my favorite edible parts of summer!

So what does heirloom mean for heirloom tomatoes?
For heirloom tomatoes the word heirloom refers to the tomato seeds that have been harvested from certain varieties and passed down for generations because of their favorable and desirable characteristics and qualities.

How are they grown?
Heirloom tomatoes are grown the same way as any other tomato. Here are some pictures of green heirloom tomatoes just a few weeks before they will start turning colors.

Why do people want specifically heirloom tomatoes?
Heirloom tomatoes have not be changed for traits such as shelf life, color, and size/uniformity like the average tomato you see more often. Heirloom tomatoes have more of what people call and "ugly" look to them with different coloring, deep cracks, and bumps.

Where can you buy heirloom tomatoes?
You can find heirloom tomatoes at most farmers markets. A lot of farms that offer a CSA membership might add heirloom tomatoes to their weekly shares as well. Since they are becoming more popular, they are more readily available in several grocery stores as well.

Heirloom tomatoes are great to enjoy just as you would any other type of tomato. Be sure to try out some recipes specifically using heirloom tomatoes as well.

Savory Potatoes: A Rumford Complete Cookbook Recipe

Its garden season here in Indiana! Looking through the Rumford Complete Cookbook this month, I thought it would be nice to try a recipe using some sort of vegetable from the garden. We are definitely a potato eating family, so it seemed fitting to try a potato recipe. It sounded delicious and a great addition as a side to our meal.

We are harvesting a wide variety of produce in the garden right now, potatoes being one of them. Each Spring we plant several hundred pounds of a few different varieties to grow for our farmers market booth and ourselves.

Digging Potatoes

Washed Potatoes

The Savory Potatoes recipe is on page 67 of the Rumford Complete Cookbook. Below is a photo of the recipe from the book.

Here is my version of the recipe with some updates:

Savory Potatoes

Ingredients:
6 medium sized potatoes (I used fresh new potatoes, so I used an amount about equivalent to 6 medium potatoes.
2 small onions
1 pint milk
salt and pepper to taste.

Directions:
Clean and slice the potatoes into thin slices. Chop onion into small minced size pieces. In a baking dish, create a layer of potatoes. Then sprinkle lightly with onion. Add salt and pepper for taste. Repeat layers until out of ingredients. Add milk over the potatoes to cover them. Bake at 400 degrees for an hour or until potatoes are tender.

First layer of potatoes and onions

Milk added over all the layers

PRINTABLE RECIPE HERE

These potatoes smelled delicious as they were baking and reminded me of walking into my grandma's house as she was making a meal for the family. The smell of potatoes, onion, and pepper together takes me back to a smells of a homestyle meal.

This side dish was a great addition to our meal and will be enjoyed again!

This post is sponsored by Clabber Girl Baking Powder but my

 thoughts/opinions are always 100% my own.

Lemon Meringue Pie

Lemon Meringue Pie is a classic pie! If you love the lemon flavor it is definitely a pie for you! The lemon filling is so refreshing and delicious and I love it with the the fluffy, sweet meringue.

I learned how to make the lemon meringue pie from my mom. A recipe that was her great grandma's. She shared with me that she always remembers her great grandma having a lemon meringue pie baked every time they visited. It is one of her memories of her great grandma.

Fresh lemon zest using a zester

For the recipe...

Lemon Meringue Pie 

Crust:
1 baked pie crust. Either a homemade pie crust or a premade crust. (Tip: use a fork and the bottom and sides of the crust in the dish to prevent the crust from bubbling while baking). Lightly beat 1 egg white and brush the crust during the last five minutes of baking to seal it for the lemon filling. Be sure to do this step to prevent crust from getting soggy from the filling.

Filling:
1 cup + 1 Tbsp sugar
2/3 cup water
1/2 cup Clabber Girl Corn Starch
3/4 cup lemon juice
2 1/2 tsp grated lemon zest (about 3 lemons)
4 large egg yolks
1 pinch of kosher salt

1 1/4 cups boiling water (that will be added in).

Meringue:
4 large egg white at room temperature
1 Tbsp Clabber Girl Corn Starch 
1/4 cup water
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 tsp cream of tartar

Directions for the filling:
In a medium sauce pan, combine the corn starch, sugar and salt together and whisk to get rid of all the chunks. Then add the remaining filling ingredients except the boiling water and mix until it is combined thoroughly.

Add the boiling water and whisk the mixture together. Bring it to a boil and continue stirring. Reduce heat and cook and continue to stir for about a minute more. The filling mixture will turn a glossy yellow. 

Immediately pour the filling mixture into the prepared pie crust. Allow the filling to cool completely then put in the refrigerator so it is nice and cool for the meringue. 

Directions for the meringue: 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. 

Mix the corn starch and water together in a pan on medium heat. Stir constantly until it thickens into a gel. This happens fast, about 2 minutes. Set the gel aside. In a mixing bowl, gently beat the egg whites and the cream of tarter to dissolve. Using a hand mixer, begin beating until foamy, then slowly sprinkle in the sugar while beating. Continue to beat until stiff glossy peaks form. Then add the gel that was set aside and continue to beat a little longer. 

Stiff glossy peaks forming

Immediately spread the meringue on the cooled pie and spread out using a spatula. Smooth it out or add peaks with the meringue. Place in the oven and bake for 12 to 15 minutes or until golden brown for your liking. Let cool for 15 minutes before cutting and serving. 

and Enjoy!!

PRINTABLE RECIPE HERE

Tips for the meringue: 

Making the meringue for the pie can be a bit tricky! Here are some tips to help make a great meringue. 

Use fresh eggs for the meringue. Make sure they are at room temperature. Fresh eggs will give you more of a fluffy volume of meringue than older eggs. Room temperature eggs will beat faster than colder eggs right out of the refrigerator. 

Heat plays a major part in making meringue. The humidity in the air will cause your meringue to loose volume and flatten faster. 

Stainless steel or glass bowls work best for making meringues. Plastic bowls can carry traces of oils or grease that will effect the stiffness of your meringue. 

Use a hand mixer to whip the egg whites rather than beating them by hand. It can take a while and for the meringue to form constant whipping is needed. 

By cooling the lemon filling of the pie before adding the meringue will help the meringue to stay stiff and set during baking and afterwards. 

When serving the lemon meringue pie, use a knife dipped in cold water to help prevent your meringue from breaking down at serving. 

Lemon meringue pie only lasts generally a day, maybe 2 and then the meringue will start breaking down and weep. It is great to make as a pie that will be enjoyed in the day of baking. 

Enjoy this classic lemon meringue pie recipe. The wonderfully delicious tart flavor with the creamy meringue is a family favorite. 

 This post is sponsored by Clabber Girl Corn Starch but my

 thoughts/opinions are always 100% my own.

Double Chocolate Zucchini Muffins.....and Bread

When zucchini is plentiful in the garden, I love to bake with it. Double chocolate zucchini muffins are one of my favorite recipes to make with zucchini.

Every season we plant a good amount of zucchini for our farmers market stand and our CSA shares. If you've grown zucchini before, you know once the plant starts producing the zucchini grows fast. A lot of our customers prefer smaller zucchini for regular cooking, so we try to pick them at a smaller to medium size.

Occasionally some get missed, it's easy to miss some. Then all the sudden they are huge! But these huge ones aren't wasted! They are GREAT for baking!!

Whenever I see some large zucchini in the garden, I am sure to grab them to shred up using a food processor and freeze! I generally put 3 cups worth of shredded zucchini in Ziploc quart freezer bags and its perfect for my zucchini recipes. I especially like baking with the zucchini.

Now on to the recipe: 

Double Chocolate Zucchini Muffins

Ingredients: 

3 eggs

2 cups sugar

3 cups flour

1 tsp salt

1 tsp cinnamon 

3 cups zucchini 

3/4 cup cocoa

1 cup chocolate chips

1 cup applesauce

2 tsp vanilla

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

For variation add 1 1/2 cup chopped nuts and/or 1/2 cup coconut. 

Directions: 

Mix all the ingredients together well. Bake at 325 degrees. 

Muffins in a muffin pan 10 - 15 minutes. Makes 2 dozen. 

Bread in two loaf pans for 1 to 1 3/4 hours. 

When dough is poured in the pan, I like to add a few chocolate chips to the top of each one. 

PRINTABLE RECIPE HERE

This double chocolate zucchini muffin recipe is a great way to use some of that zucchini in the garden. My kids love the chocolate taste and they are delicious and moist. 

I like to make up a batch of muffins to enjoy right away and also make up some loafs to put in the freezer for later. 

This double chocolate zucchini muffin recipe is a great way to use some of that zucchini in the garden. My kids love the chocolate taste and they are delicious and moist. 

So if you have extra zucchini around, be sure to try this recipe out! Bake up some muffins and grab yourself a glass of milk and enjoy! 

family of 6 we shall soon be!

That's right, our family is growing and will be very soon! Baby #4 is due in 4 short weeks!

4 short weeks! Which also feel like 4 LONG weeks, but I know it will go by so fast!



We do not know the gender with this one.

We didn't find out with our first
We did with our 2nd and 3rd.
We decided to not find out with this one. It's been fun hearing what people think we are having. We shall soon find out!

Our summer has been pretty crazy busy, but looking forward to July being a more relaxed month.

Garden walk about with some sweet tea and my 34 week baby bump. 

I'm in the process of pulling out some neutral baby clothing and getting it washed up. Once we know if we have a little miss or a sweet boy, I'll pull out more clothing then.

I have kept most of my baby gear from the other 3 so I only need to get the essential things.
This baby will be sharing a room with Brynn while in the crib. So I'm having fun deciding on things to decorate half of the room. The crib is up and ready with a few neutral details. I'm sure I will add some gender specific things once we know.

I've got a lot to get ready for baby.....I feel its crunch time!  :)

Quote on Blanket