The Easiest Tomato Sauce EVER!

So my "all about us" blog is rapidly changing into a food related blog...I can't decide if this is a bad thing or a great thing. In any case, lately I feel like we are drowning in tomatoes! Tonight, having been blessed with more tomatoes from our CSA and dozens more ripening on the vine outside, I "needed" to eat tomatoes. This being September, Nate was hunting, so the tomato eating fell to me! Poor me, right?!

I stumbled upon the easiest recipe for tomato sauce imaginable! It came from the How to Cook Everything cookbook.

1) Saute two cloves garlic (minced) in 3 tablespoons olive oil

2) When the garlic begins to change color, add 12oz cherry tomatoes (whole) or larger tomatoes chopped

3) Mash the tomatoes with a fork.

4) Add oregano, basil, salt, and/or pepper to taste.

5) Cook until the sauce reaches the desired consistency

6) Eat it with a spoon, over pasta, with veggies, however, just eat it!

This is the before shot, and I really did mean to take an after shot1 The sauce just was so good I completely forgot!

B-B-B-Berries and Some Trivia

How many blueberries are in a pound?

How may blueberries does it take to make a blueberry pie?

Scroll to the bottom for the answers

More berries were in store for us last weekend! Katherine was here for Labor Day, and she had raspberry picking on her mind! We found a great little farm up in Bryant (about an hour north of Seattle) with raspberries a few and blueberries aplenty. Nate had gone hunting with Bryan for the weekend, and we joked that we were all fulfilling our evolutionary responsibilities.

Nate to hunt. Us to gather.

These fall raspberries were just starting to ripen! We were so fortunate to be there for their debut weekend!

We had to search long and hard for the raspberries, but it was worth it! Blueberries were a different story! Not only were the bushes over our heads, but they were literally laden with fruit! I picked 5 pounds in 45 minutes. (That does not count the 1.25 pounds I consumed!)

There are 350 blueberries in a pound, and it takes only one pound to make a pie!

It's not over yet: Making Blackberry Jam

I feel as though when the canning begins, summer is ending. Although we technically have three weeks left, sadly, Seattle decided to begin fall tomorrow with a week's worth of rain. As I cry to myself about needing umbrellas and morn the 10 pm sunshine, I have to remember the good that fall ushers in, delicious, fresh, local, "organic" produce!

My time as a "canner" began last year with an achingly long day of preserving with my boss and friend Katie. Not knowing what we were in for, we decided to make pickles, barbeque sauce, sweet and sour sauce, and chutney. IN ONE DAY! It was exhausting, but I loved it, and I'm hooked!

This year I've pickled carrots and green beans, made amazing zucchini pickles with a recipe from www.LeloNopo.com, and blackberry jam!

Homemade jam is close to my heart. My very bestfriend Katherine de la Fuente and I are friends because our moms made jam together! I remember being lifted up to see the overripe California strawberries stewing away in big pots. We don't get an abundance of strawberries in Seattle, but we do have blackberry brambles everywhere! Mom and I foraged blackberries from the beach by her house, mixed in a little pectin, and voila! Jam!* It's gotten good reviews from discerning tasters, so I'm happy. I'm happy even if summer is ending, and I'll be slightly soggy for the next ten months!

Next time...Summer in a nutshell...Boys, Boats, Family, Lori's wedding, and other summer fun!

*It's not really that easy, but you get the idea!