Celery cat

This is my celery cat. I saved him from the dump and now has a new life perched on the kitchen counter. 

 

Celery has been one of the best producers in the garden this year! Some came from seed but the rest has just been recycling itself. Cut off the bottom before using, drop the bottom (the part you usually compost) into a shallow dish of water for 24 hours and then plant in the garden. A new celery plant grows! Amazing! 

Or you can also do it this way...the celery cat way. Pull the plant, roots and all. Retain some of the roots when you bring it into the kitchen. Place the celery into your celery cat, or similar vase, and add enough water to just cover the roots. Just cut off the stalks you need, when you need them. Keep the roots wet but not the stalks. When you have used all the stalks replant in the garden.

When the freezing weather arrives pull the remaining plants from the garden. Place them in your root cellar/basement/what ever cool place you have. Keep the roots moist but not the stalks. You can use them from here all winter and what is left can be replanted in the garden in the spring! 

Frozen tomato

Last year our garden produced so much abundance we wanted to save all the excess for winter. I must admit the thought of canning has not appealed to me much. It seems to involve so much work, time and household energy. I tried, instead, freezing everything. I would flash freeze just about everything on a cookie sheet before dumping it into a Ziploc bag. This prevented everything from clumping together in the bag and then we could pour out just what we needed and not have to defrost the whole bag. I did not have any doubts this would work with most everything but I wondered about tomatoes. Hey, nothing ventured nothing gained right? So I just chopped them up, just like I was making salsa. Then into the bags. I laid the bags flat to freeze so they would be easy to store. 

Last night I took the first bag out to use. AWESOME! DELICIOUS! EASY! We have a freezer this year and a bigger garden planned!

The Recipe

Caramelize some onions and garlic. Add the tomatoes and whatever other veggies you have in the fridge. We used carrots, broccoli, celery, I added some precooked brown rice. If you still have too much liquid from the tomatoes then add in some extra rice (not cooked). Just before it is ready add some fresh baby spinach and kale. On the plate top with fresh grated Parmesan cheese and provolone cheese.