The Creekside Cook

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Basil Pesto

Condiments· Dressings and Vinaigrettes· Freezing· Garden Fresh· Nuts· Pasta· Quick Meals· Sauces, Dips and Spreads· The Basics

Classic Pesto or Basil Pesto? This could be called "Classic Pesto". I'm pretty sure Basil Pesto is the classic combination of ingredients to make this bright and delicious addition to your repertoire of sauces.  If your garden is anything like mine, basil is abundant this time of year.  I pinch off my basil plants throughout the summer, using the leaves in salads and veggies and pasta dishes. It's prime basil time right now So now, I have some beautiful, compact plants with lots of bright ... Read More about Basil Pesto

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How to Cook a Fresh Pumpkin

Desserts· Food Preservation· Freezing· Fruit· Garden Fresh· Pies· The Basics· Vegetables· Vegetarian

Cooking a fresh pumpkin for baking - it's easy! September and October are always SO busy for us. We become slaves to the garden and the freezer and canner. Have to get all that fresh produce, including fresh pumpkin, taken care of! It makes for a lot of very tasty eating over the winter months. Still, I sometimes ask myself just who had the bright idea of planting all this stuff? On the other hand, it is awfully nice to look around on a January morning and find that we have all I need to ... Read More about How to Cook a Fresh Pumpkin

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Easy Tomato Sauce for Canning & Freezing

Canning· Food Preservation· Freezing· Garden Fresh· Recipes· Sauces, Dips and Spreads· Vegetables

An Easy Tomato Sauce is a must if you garden It's that time of year with which I have a love/hate relationship. The tomatoes are starting to come in the back door in multiple 5-gallon buckets now. That means that no matter what else is going on, I have to deal with them. Mostly because we only have so many buckets, and there are plenty more tomatoes where those came from. This easy sauce method helps me get through a lot of tomatoes quickly. It's been a challenging year in the ... Read More about Easy Tomato Sauce for Canning & Freezing

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Preserving the Harvest: How to Freeze Blueberries

Food Preservation· Freezing· Fruit· Recipes

Where we live, here in Upstate NY, it's blueberry time, which means preserving some of that wonderful harvest. Freezing is a fast and easy way to save that summer goodness for later in the year.  I'm bringing this post up from a few years ago, for a fresh audience [and maybe for you to enjoy again!]. Once blueberries start ripening, there's a pretty short window of opportunity to get them picked and dealt with.  You can only eat so many fresh berries.  You might want to check out a few ways ... Read More about Preserving the Harvest: How to Freeze Blueberries

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Garlic Scape Chimichurri Sauce

Condiments· Dressings and Vinaigrettes· Freezing· Garden Fresh· Grilling & Barbeque· Recipes· Sauces, Dips and Spreads

The best topping for any steak! We grow a LOT of garlic.  We eat a lot of it and sell some, plus it's good for the chickens. That does give us a LOT of Garlic Scapes to deal with though. Garlic scapes are the flower of a garlic plant, and leaving them in place robs the garlic bulb of growth. The plant will put more energy into maturing a flower, which will eventually fling seeds around - nature's way of growing more garlic. Our way is to separate the cloves and plant them, but nature takes a ... Read More about Garlic Scape Chimichurri Sauce

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Kale Walnut Pesto

Condiments· Food Preservation· Freezing· Garden Fresh· Nuts· Pasta· Recipes· Sauces, Dips and Spreads· Side Dishes· Vegetables

One thing that enjoys a cool summer is kale. Man, do we have kale! Usually, we have a lot of kale early in the summer, and then again in the fall, but this summer the spring kale never tried to go to seed, so it is still going strong. Every morning, when I go down to tend to the chickens, I make a detour through the garden to grab a handful of kale for my breakfast smoothie. Often we have it for dinner as well, and we are still overloaded. So, I wanted to find a way to use up a lot of kale - and ... Read More about Kale Walnut Pesto

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Tomato Jalapeno Jam

Condiments· Food Preservation· Freezing· Garden Fresh· Jams Jellies Preserves· Recipes· Sauces, Dips and Spreads· Vegetables

This was inspired by Mark Bittman’s recipe in the New York Times back some time ago. We found his version a bit too sweet for us, but liked it enough that I decided to see if I could alter it sufficiently to suit our taste. It’s not like I have a shortage of tomatoes for experimenting. In order to achieve a truly jam like consistency, you can’t reduce the sugar very much, because sugar is what gives jams and jellies their texture. Without it, this will just end up as a spicy tomato sauce. So ... Read More about Tomato Jalapeno Jam

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