July...And Summer Recipes
by Jackie Mason on July 10, 2008

Denise Sawicki | July 10, 2008
Sounds tasty. I haven't had the energy for cooking in ages. My mom does a fresh cherry pie at least once a year and it's delicious. Almond extract is also a good ingredient for cherry pie.

Scott Hardie | July 11, 2008
Sounds like you're making the most of that new back yard. :-)

Kelly Lee | July 11, 2008
Yum pickles! I think I'll make some! thanks for the idea.

Tony Peters | July 11, 2008
I love the summer...we bought a share at a CSA farm, every week we pick up 8-10 lbs (so far) of veggies, we are also growing Hebs Corn, Sunchokes, Tomatos, Tomatillos, Garlic scalions and such. The plan is to fill the freezer with Veggies, we did a fair job last year with a half share so this year should be great.
interesting by product of growing garlic, the flower stalk, called a scape, has to be cut in order for the head of garlic to form. These Scapes are like really garlicy green onions...between the farm and our yard we had about 7 pounds of garlic scapes...2 pounds got flash boiled and frozen in 10 bags for stir fry...the rest I blended with EVOO and jarred and bagged it...the house smelled like a garlic pasto for a week...its great to cook with and also makes a nice relish (oddly discovered by my mother) or on crackers

Jackie Mason | July 12, 2008
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Tony Peters | July 12, 2008
my Yard is about 9000 sq ft about a third of that we have planted with fruits (Blueberries, yellow raspberries and blackberries) and veggies. A CSA farm is community supported agriculture, it's a way for farmers in areas that have large bedroom communities to have enough funding to stay organic (tap the yuppies), I have exchanged tomato seeds with the owners of my farm (we had a fantastic cherry tomato last year that he planted this year, he had a yellow that was almost desert like).

Not sure about Almond extract though I know it's alcohol and almond flavor of some sort, I bought a pound of Vanilla Beans in the Middle East last year and have made Vanilla Extract and Vanilla sugar with a lot of them the rest are in the freezer. I've never had a problem adding Vanilla to a recipe, it's like adding coffee to chocolate even if it's not a primary flavor it broadens the taste

Denise Sawicki | July 14, 2008
It would be near the vanilla in the supermarket but it's a different flavor. Vanilla wouldn't ruin anything though, I am sure. Almond extract is a pretty neat flavor. Smells a bit like cyanide or so I hear. :P