blueberries

Boxing Day, July 1

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Beebalm blooming in our yard. Because I just needed the vegetables put away.

Dear John,

The cabinet is fixed! The kitchen is still in chaos!

I have been coughing far too much since I last wrote (and sleeping far too little).

The weather is hot. The pool is a delight.

I finally made it to the garden and watered. Hours later a thunderstorm actually arrived. I’m sure it did a better job watering the plants than I did. If I’d trusted it was coming, maybe I would have spent the time staking the tomatoes or deadheading the dahlia. On the other hand, I needed the water splashes and bet the plants still benefit from the extra hydration.

The past week had minimal cooking, as expected. Hopefully, we keep getting things back towards order and health. And maybe don’t get too overwhelmed by the produce coming in?

Today’s Box

  • Blueberries
  • Yellow Peaches
  • Celery
  • Collards Swapped for Lettuce
  • Garlic Scapes
  • Red Beets
  • Sweet Fresh Onions
  • Green Zucchini

Things in the fridge

  • Sunchokes
  • Cucumbers
  • Fennel
  • Green Garlic
  • Greens: Lettuce, Napa Cabbage, Green Cabbage
  • Broccoli
  • Radishes

In the Garden

  • Three radish
  • Peas dried on the vine. Ready to be planted in the fall?
  • Garlic from a neighbor
  • Handful of blackberries that made me cough
  • Flowers if I had stopped to pick them. Dahlias and calendula both. And carrot.
  • Basil if we need it but I didn’t pick more than a few flowers that got pinched

Open Preserves

  • Still to be done.

Pantry Beans

  • Jumbo Peruvian Lima Bean
  • Mayocoba Bean
  • Split Red Lentil
  • Good Mother Stallard
  • Rio Zape
  • And more tucked on other shelves…

Don’t get too overwhelmed! Just get fed.

  • We made the taco filling with last week’s squash (on the one night when it was cool enough to brave turning on the oven). And the tuna melt with some of the zucchini was dinner tonight. I think the zucchini spaghetti might be next?
  • When I saw we were getting celery, I mentally set aside some of the cucumber for the celery, cucumber, apricot salad. Our cookbook notes remind me we had it for the Fourth years ago. I think we might have it this Friday. Not sure if that’s our contribution to a lunch after the parade or a party later in the day. Maybe let’s plan on another slaw for whichever celebration doesn’t get this one.
  • And continuing the Six Seasons theme, I’m eyeing the beet slaw on pistachio butter. We should probably put pistachios on the grocery list.
  • I’m tending toward beet and radish greens in the coconut turmeric rice as a meal that will make leftovers. Requires cooking, but not too much time laboring over the heat.
  • Should probably pesto the garlic scapes. Just to make sure we use them!

Love,

Sarah

Boxing Day, June 24

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Dear John,

It is hot. Too hot. And feeling hotter. Boiling water to cook noodles or, maybe, presoaked beans is about all the heat I want to add to the kitchen.

Speaking of the kitchen. Since I last wrote, we had a rumble, crash, shatter as the cabinet that holds our dishes detached from the wall and fell to the floor. I am so grateful that we didn’t need to go to the hospital with injuries (though I don’t think your arm would agree that you are unharmed). Hopefully we’ll meet with contractors soon and start figuring out what our next steps are.

In the meantime, let’s think through foods that are easy prep, few dishes, and minimal heat.

Today’s Box

  • Blueberries
  • Cherry Plums
  • Broccoli
  • Green Cabbage
  • Red Butterhead Lettuce
  • Yellow Straightneck Squash

Things in the fridge

  • Sunchokes
  • Cucumbers
  • Fennel
  • Green Garlic
  • Napa Cabbage
  • Broccoli
  • Radishes

In the Garden

  • Hopefully something comes after the heat. Poor plants.

Open Preserves

  • Still to be done.

Pantry Beans

  • Jumbo Peruvian Lima Bean
  • Mayocoba Bean
  • Split Red Lentil
  • Good Mother Stallard
  • Rio Zape
  • And more tucked on other shelves…

Quick and Cold. Or at least cool.

  • Veggies in a dip. Hummus. Ranch. Elote dip. Yogurt sauce. I don’t know what I’m thinking most, but that is how we consumed broccoli last week and I think we should be prepared to do it again.
  • Do we have a cabbage salad with black beans? Cumin dressing? Is this something my dad served? Maybe I’ll ask him. I am assuming we’re going to be shaving the cabbage for salads and slaws.
  • The squash is what I would normally turn the oven on for. The tuna casserole is our standard! The taco filling is a favorite! I might just cook them down in butter and serve on grain bowls? Maybe add some to some eggs and do an instant pot frittata dish?
  • Maybe it’s time to check out Grains for Every Season and see if there’s some particular inspiration for grain bowl salads. I cooked quinoa today, so we have that on hand. Maybe try amaranth soon? It’s more of a porridge. Sounds like something I’d fry an egg on? Maybe? This is why I should look at recipes! In the meantime, I’m going to try to channel the fast casual salad bar places and prep different bits to mix and match. Today’s lunch was quinoa + leftover Indian curry + feta + radishes + raisins. And I liked it. So, room to experiment for sure.

Love,

Sarah

Boxing Day, June 17

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Dear John,

The beauty of travel is being inspired by other places and people. A magic of visiting friends and family is getting peeks at how other people live. In that vein, a few ideas of things that I liked on our recent trip:

  1. The front yard turned wildflower meadow. I know, we are working on it despite the lack of full sun. The bee balm is blooming right now! And I’m not going full wildflower because I also want the cut flowers–dahlias and zinnias both.
  2. The scissors and sign inviting people to snip flowers. The focus of this blog is our food, but the flowers are lovely and there’s a reason I include them in the harvesting list. Give us Bread, but give us Roses.
  3. A ceramic soap dish that drains into the sink. Because glazing holes is a trick and a half.
  4. I love the berries at the garden. I fantasize about berries at home. Let’s research raspberries in containers before we dig up some from friends though.
  5. On the one hand we have many other things to do that aren’t getting done. On the other hand, sitting down with a puzzle for an hour was a delight.

Today’s Box

  • Blueberries
  • Sugar Plums
  • Broccoli
  • Romaine Hearts
  • Slicing Cucumbers
  • Snow Peas

Things in the fridge

  • Sunchokes
  • Fennel
  • Green Garlic
  • Lettuce
  • Napa Cabbage
  • Broccoli

In the Garden

  • Who knows? We need to check on it! Probably some radishes and calendula and maybe even cosmos and basil. Raspberries or blueberries if they’re still left on the bushes?

Open Preserves

  • Still to be done.

Pantry Beans

  • Jumbo Peruvian Lima Bean
  • Mayocoba Bean
  • Split Red Lentil
  • Good Mother Stallard
  • Rio Zape
  • And more tucked on other shelves…

Meals to make. Maybe.

  • Debated how to use the peas and decided on a cacio e pepe e peas. Bit of Smitten. Bit of Six Seasons. I know they say it’s not a dish for leftovers. Let’s frittata any that are.
  • I left the lettuce in an empty swap box. Here’s hoping we regret the decision. Salad with fennel and cheese and fruit and nut. Salad with broccoli and blueberries and cucumber and poppy seed dressing. Salad of napa cabbage and dressing. Salad!
  • I’m debating between saucy tofu with noodles or bean salad to use the cucumber. I think I’m leaning tofu. But I bet it’d be good with those lima beans.
  • Do we want to turn on the oven to roast broccoli? Or make pizza with broccoli florets? Or should I go with the current favorite blitz to sauce and put on pasta? I do love the lemon feta velvety pasta and we haven’t had that yet this season.

Love,

Sarah

Boxing Day, June 25

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Dear John,

Two years ago, the Stir-Fry Greens mix was successful, especially the kale. Last year, we grew rainbow chard. This year, the greens of choice are collards.

I grew up in collards country. They’re a frequent side in the meat and three menu, where macaroni and cheese counts as a vegetable. But I didn’t grow up with them at home. New Year’s! Not everyday.

I do love the Lee Brother’s Four Pepper Collard Greens. Especially on a grilled cheese sandwich. And a simple sauteed side is always good, especially with a pot of beans and rice like we had for dinner tonight. Or as a topping on a greens and grits bowl. Here’s some preemptive brainstorming for other ways to use them:

Today’s Box

  • Blueberries
  • Red Seedless Watermelon
  • Gold Beets
  • Gold Zucchini
  • Purplette Onions
  • Thumbelina Carrots
  • Red Kale

Things in the fridge

  • Broccoli
  • Celery
  • Cauliflower
  • Kohlrabi
  • Sunchokes
  • Greens: Lettuce, Cabbage
  • Roots: Fingerling Sweet Potatoes
  • Alliums: Garlic scapes, Green garlic, Onions

In the Garden

  • Collards
  • Herbs: Dill, Basil (as pinched), Zatar, Rosemary, Oregano, Mint
  • Calendula and Cosmos

Open Preserves

  • Ha! We need to do a fridge check. I’m just going to leave this as a placeholder.

Forever trying to keep the cooking cool during this heat. But cooler this week so maybe we can do a roasting night?

  • The beet greens ended up with some collards for dinner tonight. (Last minute plans having friends come to dinner is the life I want to live. It was not a fancy meal. But it was delicious. And, hey, rice and beans is their toddler’s favorite food!)
  • When I picked up the box, another woman was getting her veggies. She commented on the carrots and I said I’m excited for the greens. Time to pull out Scraps, Wilts, and Weeds and make carrot top pesto! I don’t have any specific plans for the little knobs of carrots though.
  • I was serious about trying the zucchini with collard greens pesto. If we can brave turning on the oven.
  • That roasted beets with avocado and sunflower seeds from Six Seasons was yummy AND made a dent in our pickled peppers. Maybe let’s do that again! Else the beet slaw with pistachio butter on the previous page.

Love,

Sarah

Boxing Day, June 18

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Dear John,

It’s a heatwave week. In mid-June. I do not like climate change.

I’m a little worried about the garden plot and how it will do. We have straw down, so hopefully that will help keep roots cool, keep water in. And hopefully we will get to water a few times, despite the challenges of getting out in cooler hours.

Today’s Box

  • Blueberries
  • Broccoli
  • Celery
  • Green Leaf Lettuce
  • Mixed Fingerling Sweet Potatoes
  • White Cauliflower

Things in the fridge

  • Blueberries
  • Broccoli
  • Kohlrabi
  • Yellow Straightneck Squash
  • Greens: Red leaf lettuce, Cabbage
  • Roots:
  • Fennel
  • Alliums: Scallions, Garlic scapes, Green garlic, Onions

In the Garden

  • Collards
  • Herbs: Dill, Basil (as pinched), Zatar, Rosemary, Oregano, Mint
  • Calendula and Cosmos
  • Community raspberries

Open Preserves

  • Ha! We need to do a fridge check. I’m just going to leave this as a placeholder.

Trying to keep the cooking cool

  • Recipe to evaluate if it’s worth the heat generated: Six Seasons cauliflower steaks with provolone and pickled peppers. (Working on using last year’s pickled peppers before this year’s crop comes in.)
  • And there’s a celery puttanesca style salad that we haven’t tried yet. It also uses provolone and pickled peppers. I think we have a theme.
  • Fennel and sardine pasta is yummy.
  • Kohlrabi + kale salad. On repeat.
  • I have no idea how to use sweet potatoes at this point of the year. So lets store them and contemplate.
  • Lettuce + blueberries + brocolli + lots of herbs + lemon cream dressing

Love,

Sarah

Boxing Day, June 11

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Dear John,

We’re sneaking back to this routine. I’ll write more later. For now, let’s brainstorm some meals for the week ahead so we know what to shop for at the grocery store tomorrow.

Today’s Box

  • Blueberries
  • Rhubarb
  • Broccoli
  • Fennel
  • Mini Purplette Onions
  • Kohlrabi
  • Yellow Straightneck Squash

Things in the fridge

  • Rhubarb
  • Greens: Red leaf lettuce, Cabbage
  • Roots: Beets, Radish, Turnip
  • Fennel
  • Alliums: Scallions, Garlic scapes, Green garlic

In the Garden

  • Collards
  • Herbs: Dill, Basil (as needed), Zatar, Rosemary, Oregano
  • Calendula and Cosmos
  • Community raspberries
  • Neighbor’s mint

Open Preserves

  • Ha! We need to do a fridge check. I’m just going to leave this as a placeholder.

I hope they’re easy meals vs slow to assemble salads

Love,

Sarah

Boxing Day, July 11

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At the beginning of the box life there are more “wait, what is this?” moments. Learning all the different greens that are given, for instance. A decade of on-and-off, but mostly on CSA–half of which we’ve also be gardening in one community or another–three of them with this particular set of farms, that feeling is pretty rare. But I saw blue hyssop on the predicted contents list this week and the only thing I could think of is “Purge me with hyssop and I shall be white as snow.”

I know the Bible is a compilation of many different types of texts, but I generally think of Psalms as the poetry/music collection. Not a cookbook.

Masterclass mastered the SEO. So…..I dunno. Use as one of our herbs of the week? Toss in a salad with the cabbage? Blend with yogurt or hummus for a dressing? Sneak into the morning smoothie?

Today’s Box

  • Blueberries
  • Yellow Peaches
  • Watermelon
  • Blue Hyssop (unless it’s mint. Or sweet basil. But it doesn’t look like either of those.)
  • Celery
  • Gold Zucchini
  • Malabar Spinach
  • Red Cabbage

Things in the fridge

  • Cherries
  • Peach
  • Red Spring Onions
  • Fennel bulb
  • Greens: Cabbage, Chard, Collard, Beet
  • Carrots, turnips, beets
  • Green plums

In the Garden

  • Rainbow chard
  • Basil leaves getting pinched with flowers
  • Dill flowers
  • Calendula flowers still getting dried by the trayful
  • Rosemary
  • Oregano
  • Calendula and cosmos bouquet

Open Preserves

Garden glimpse

We hadn’t touched last week’s chard when we went by the garden this weekend. So bare minimum thinning for this week’s harvest.

In lieu of garden flowers, a picture of the new color of cosmo that popped open at home. Hello pink petals! Hello yellow center!

Meals to make to celebrate summer

  • This is the spinach that I much prefer cooked. Maybe we mix with some rice or quinoa and stuff a zucchini or two? Or involtini.
  • Celery and fennel salad.
  • ‘Tis the season for blueberry peach pie.
  • A few beet reds snuck into a smoothie and I think I liked it? Expect a repeat. After I finish my cucumber innards muesli (made with the seeds scooped out of cucumbers before making a salad last week).
  • We haven’t used those collards for too long. How about a salad?

Love,

Sarah

Boxing Day, July 4

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Dear John,

The fireworks are echoing down the street. I’m wiped from watching parade in the summer heat. You’re in the kitchen making everything neat.

Today’s Box

  • Blueberries
  • Dark Sweet Cherries
  • White Peaches
  • Fennel
  • Red Beets
  • Red Spring Onions
  • Slicing Cucumbers
  • Yellow Patty Pan Squash

Things in the fridge

  • Cherries
  • Watermelon
  • Peaches
  • Fennel bulb
  • Greens: Cabbage, Chard, Collard
  • Carrots
  • Green plums

In the Garden

  • Green beans from neighbors
  • Rainbow chard
  • Turnips + greens
  • Radish + greens
  • Beets + reds, beet + greens
  • Sad looking ending the pea season
  • All the lettuce (17 slugs, 1 earwig)
  • Basil leaves getting pinched with flowers
  • Dill flowers
  • Garlic chives weeding forever
  • Calendula flowers getting dried by the trayful
  • Rosemary
  • Oregano
  • Calendula and cosmos bouquet

Open Preserves

Garden glimpse

We pulled the peas, and planted beans to take over the tent. Two volunbeans, four from the soup pack. Harvested the last of the spring planted radish and turnips. I’m debating if we plant something else short there, or wait for the cucumber and strawberry to spread as they grow.

The beans we planted (two weeks ago?), have all popped up. The chard keeps getting thinned, so even though it’s growing, I feel like we might not be totally overwhelmed. Nevermind how loaded the bike was before we left.

I checked the internet’s horticulture wisdom and realized we needed to prune all of our tomatoes – it’s an indeterminate year.

Meals to make to celebrate summer

  • Internet browsing brought me to a newsletter with a series from Pandemic Part I. There’s this salad that looks great for cleaning out bits and ends. I made it last week and it was a hit. Not sure it’s calling me again so soon, but wanting to save.
  • It’s been so long since we made smashed cucumber salad. I miss it. We are making it this week. (I spied the first baby cucumber fruiting today. Maybe we’ll have some of our own to harvest.)
  • And the patty pan squash means it’s time for my annual making of the roasted squash and herbed chickpeas from chocolate & zucchini.
  • Green beans and tofu?
  • We just tossed fennel pesto that had gone moldy. So we can make some again. But learn from our mistakes and FREEZE it. Also, toss fennel on a salad of lettuces + peaches + toasted pecans.
  • How to use this week’s beet greens? (The beets will keep. Fine dice and roasted. Sliced on pizza. I’m not worried about them.) And what about the supply of chard? Last week brought a quiche with a mix of parm, cheddar, and gouda. Another quiche, but this time with chevre sounds potential. Honestly, it’s been a bit since we had pizza. That sounds kinda good. So does having it with pasta in a tomato sauce.
  • Last thought, if we have extra cucumbers, maybe this salad but with fennel.

Love,

Sarah

PS The wedge salad was as good as I dreamed and makes me want to get iceberg lettuce again. The toppings we used–roasted beets, toasted nuts, green onions, parsley, blue cheese dressing–feel so similar to my autumnal salads. But those are served with kale and that makes all the difference.

Boxing Day, June 13

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Dear John,

At a party this weekend, I passed on a bag containing the last of the dahlia bulbs we thought were likely viable. To be fair, there’s still a package left to be taken to the post office. And the package to your brother is puttering around the postal system–at least now it looks like it’s in the right zip code. I am late sending my parents the last of the calendula seeds. But also thrilled to have grown things to the point of sharing no only the produce but hopefully some future plants.

Guess the next test is if any of it actually grows for anyone.

In the days when the sky is eerily orange. When the rain is too little, or far too much. When the heat keeps me inside with air conditioning (that helps me now, but maybe only makes everything worse?). When I find another dead bee as I water the plants. It’s hard not to obsess about the challenges of creation.

So we care for our flowers. And try to share a bounty of blooms. Continue the work. Share life’s glories.

Today’s Box

  • Blueberries
  • Dark Sweet Cherries
  • English Peas
  • Green Cabbage
  • Green Kale
  • Red Leaf Lettuce
  • Red Chard

Things in the fridge

  • Breakfast radishes
  • Fennel stems waiting to get pickled
  • Lettuce
  • Collards
  • Zucchini
  • Green plums

In the Garden

  • Lettuce, still pretty, still with slugs. And earwigs
  • Radishes + their greens
  • Turnips + their greens
  • Beets + their greens
  • Rainbow chard
  • Calendula flowers getting dried
  • Peas for the sampling–snap, snow, and shelling
  • Rosemary
  • Oregano

Open Preserves

Garden glimpse

You found cucumber starts! We got more stakes! So there’s now a mound with bush pickle cukes where the turnips and a couple of calendula plants used to be. And a mound with a trellis and burpless cukes where the edamame was. I attempted to transplant the edamame to the center of the new bean tent. Soup beans by the thick poles, volunbeans by the thinner ones.

So….I think we’re done planting for a little bit. Time to let things grow. Hope for rain. And tend what we can in the meantime.

Meals to consider

  • So much chard getting thinned. Let’s consider the chard and PB banana wraps. They’re a curiosity to me.
  • Beet greens in the turmeric ginger rice. Radish and turnip greens and the bitter greens with chickpeas. More chard with pasta? Mix the greens, creams, and eggs?
  • The snap peas and shelling peas got shelled, zapped in the microwave. There was enough for us each to have a spoonful. We don’t have much more of the snow peas, but maybe we can add them to a stirfy.
  • Summer rolls with lettuce or chard, and all the other veggies?

Love,

Sarah

Boxing Day, June [JULY] 19

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Missing: green peppers and cabbage that were forgotten in the backpack. (Which is one step better than the bread forgotten at the pick-up site. Memory is not our strong suit these days.)

Hi John,

The predicted contents for today’s CSA included corn, so I was all excited for the annual eating of Half Baked Harvest’s Grilled Corn and Basil Salad (with Blueberries). Then today’s email arrived and instead of corn we’re getting green bell peppers. Womp womp.

Maybe we’ll have stuffed bell peppers soon? (Help! My Apartment Has a Dining Room has a couple of recipes as do many other of the books on the shelf I’m sure.) And maybe we’ll buy corn at the market this week.

Supposedly in Today’s Box

  • Peaches
  • Blueberries
  • Celery
  • Green Bell Peppers
  • Green Kale
  • Green Savoy Cabbage
  • Malabar Spinach

Things I think are in the fridge

  • Blueberries (farmer’s market)
  • Peaches
  • Fennel
  • Cucumber
  • Cranberries
  • Lemon squash
  • Gold zucchini
  • Neighbor’s garden zucchini
  • Greens: Napa Cabbage, Kale
  • Black radishes, Purple Daikon radishes
  • Sweet potato
  • Jerusalem Artichokes

Growing in the Garden

  • Edamame
  • Basil
  • Kale
  • Tomatillas (surely ripening soon?)
  • Tomatoes should start to come in this month
  • Occasional ground cherries
  • Peppers? Soon?
  • Garlic? Perhaps
  • Dahlias and marigolds and nasturtium
  • Rosemary forever

Open Preserves

  • Preserved eggplant
  • Lacto-fermented green cherry tomatoes
  • Lacto-fermented blueberry jalapeno hot sauce
  • Pickled banana peppers with oregano, basil, and black pepper
  • Plain pickled banana peppers
  • Pickled fennel stems with orange
  • Spicy pickled fennel stems
  • Radish kimchi
  • Green tomato chutney
  • Applesauce
  • Probably still more uninventoried

Meals that you can maybe make in the coming days (slash weeks)

  • Noodles with veggies! Peanut noodles + edamame and radish. Noodles with zukes.
  • We’ve somehow managed to stock up on eggs. Crustless quiche to the rescue! But maybe a veggie shakshuka is in order soon. Or maybe we should boil eggs for the snacking.
  • I’m intrigued by the popcorn on a salad idea. More purposes for that corn we’ll buy…
  • Continue with the beans and greens. (But maybe freeze some of the beans we cooked last night.) Also consider bean salad (compare to bean salad recipe in Simply in Season).
  • Cabbage summer slaws
  • A care package came with some maple-rosemary-almonds. Now I want more candied nuts.

Love,

Sarah

Experimentation

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Dear John,

Greetings from our home laboratory. While you’re sitting at the computer presenting on your simulations, I’m a room-length away, mixing and chopping and scheming. While these concoctions simmer, I’ll be a dutiful scientist and document my four experiments. Maybe it’ll make it easier to plan something in the future.

#1 Growing

Our cilantro has all flowered and faded. We’re left with the seedheads. And, while coriander is a pantry staple, I’m more excited about the possibility of more cilantro this fall. The plant does better in cooler weather anyway, right?

I’m attempting the trick we learned from Ros of starting seeds in plastic bottles. I took a couple of water bottles out of the recycling, found a flatter circle going across the diameter and used it as a guide to cut them in half. Bottom half got a handful of potting mix. Four to six seeds poked in with a chopstick. Splash of water. I cut a slit at the top of the base so I could squeeze it together and put the top half of the water bottle back on top. Voila window sill greenhouse.

Next question, will we get sprouts? Tune back in 7-14 days.

#2 Fermenting

We decided to take the CSA jalapenos and try fermenting a hot sauce. Here’s what went in the jar:

  • 340 grams jalapenos
  • 35 grams red onion
  • 140 g wrinkly blueberries (I’ve been putting the mushy berries in the freezer. This seems like the right use for them)
  • ~1 gram of coriander seed from the garden (That which did not get planted)
  • 3% brine
  • Dash of brine from last year’s fermentation

Waiting a week, or two, to see how it tastes.

#3 Cooking

Enough of the volun-beans have dried on the vine that I can cook with them as a dry bean. I took a half cup of beans, covered them with water, added some dried rosemary, salt, and pepper corns. It’s been simmering on the stove for a while now. To be fair, I didn’t give them any soaking time. That’s supposed to be the great equalizer of beans. I figure we know these dried beans are fresh.

They’re not done yet, but the ones I’ve tested seemed nice. Trying again in, let’s say, 7-14 minutes.

#4 Reducing

Recipes for canning tomatoes start with at least a few pounds of tomatoes. Although our harvest is coming in quicker than our consumption, we haven’t amassed that much. But since the collection on the counter is all paste tomatoes and since some of them were starting to pass their peak, I’m trying my hand at making a paste. Mostly following the conserva recipe from Six Seasons. Cut them up, put them in the dutch oven with a put of olive oil. Currently they’ve cooked to sauciness. Next step is to dig out the food mill and use it to separate the seeds and the skins. (And yes, I’m going to try making tomato skin salt.) Then keep up the low and slow cooking. Decision here, maybe 7 hours. Who doesn’t love a theme?