Green tomato and dried cherry relish

This year, I had way more green tomatoes left on the vine than any other year. Thanks to two volunteer tomato plants that grew three times larger than my other tomato plants, I knew I had to find a recipe to take advantage of the bumper crop.

The third attempt was the charm. (The first attempt was using a green pickles recipe by Emeril Lagasse that turned into a hard rock of carmel – not usable. The second attempt was an adaptation of my refrigerator pickle recipe, and after several days those started to taste good, but still not perfect.)

This idea was inspired by Martha Stewart’s recipe: http://www.marthastewart.com/recipe/green-tomato-relish

However, I had many more tomatoes than she had in her recipe, and was missing some ingredients. I adapted and it turned out so tasty.

Here’s what I did:

8 cups of green tomatoes, cut into bite sized pieces (halved if they are cherry tomatoes, quartered for grape/plum tomatoes, etc)
1 large white onion, chopped into bite sized pieces
1 cup dried cherries, chopped into very small pieces
1 large cucumber, deseeded and chopped into bite sized pieces

In large sauce pan, bring 3 cups brown sugar, 3 cups vinegar, 1 tablespoon cinnamon, 1 tsp salt, 1 tsp black pepper, 1 tablespoon mustard seed, 1 teaspoon ginger to a boil, stirring until sugar is dissolved. Add vegetables/cherries to mixture and reduce to low boil/high simmer for 15-25 minutes, or until tomatoes are soft, some of the liquid has evaporated, and before the tomatoes have begun to disintegrate. Pour into mason jars (this made about 1.5 32 ounce mason jars worth of relish), including enough of the syrup to add some flavor but not so much that it would be swimming (think consistency of pickle relish).

Store in refrigerator for up to a month. Delicious on pork chops, pork loin, grilled cheese sandwiches and more.

Another Martha Stewart project – what can I say, I love her.

This is a super sweet project, and you may already have everything you need to complete it.

– Pair of gloves

– needle and thread

– Polyfill

– Buttons

– Ribbons

This project, from start to finish, takes about 20 minutes. Project found here.

Monster mittens

Ever since I saw this on Martha Stewart’s Web site, I have been dying to make them. I bookmarked them on my computer and waited for the perfect occasion.

Enter my cousin Riley’s 4th birthday party, coming up at the end of the month. This will likely only be part of his gift, but what a fun little homemade trinket to throw in the mix.

Finished!

This was a super easy project and would take someone who is good at hand sewing about 15 minutes. I found the mittens at KMart – they were actually Superman mittens but had a removable tag. It’s surprisingly difficult to find plain mittens nowadays. I freehand cut spikes for the monsters’ backs out of two pieces of felt, used red embroidery floss to sew on the spikes and button eyes, and make little nostrils. Simple and so cute.

Completing a craft project in our house is not easy with three out of control dogs. To give you an idea of what I was working with, our giant goldendoodle, Rufus, was quite offended to not be the center of my attention.

Can I eat those monsters?

How about if I bark at you?

Oh, hi. Were you trying to sew? How about giving me a haircut?

Tomatoes in the winter

My favorite thing to do in the spring and summer is spend almost every waking minute I can in my garden. I love to be covered in mud, surrounded by beautiful things in bloom. In the mornings, I always run out to check new growth before heading to work. As soon as I get home in the evenings I dive right in to weed, water, check progress and harvest fruits and veggies. Most of the time, I don’t even take the time to change and am weeding in high heels and dress pants.

Winter is a rough time for most anyone in the frozen midwest, but it’s especially rough for us gardeners. No light, no garden therapy … we’re left to peruse pictures of the past year’s gardens and buy seeds in hope for an unseasonably warm early spring.

Thus in fall and winter I turn to sewing projects and crochet, and all things indoors. Enter the perfect, oldfashioned, quick sewing project that brings minds to the warm summer ahead.

See inspiration here. I love Martha Stewart’s section of homemade gift ideas, and this one is especially fitting. What can be sweeter than handy-dandy tomato pincushions cheering up the house on snowy days? They are super easy to make, taking less than 20 minutes a piece to sew, and can be made in front of the TV or fireplace. As usual, I went a bit overboard – and made 12 one evening while we were watching a movie. It’s the perfect use of scrap fabric and has kept any dogs in this family from stepping on a sewing pin in quite some time.