Bread-making Day

Yesterday we made our weekly batch of sourdough bread (Thanks for the starter, Ms. Elizabeth! It is delicious.). I shaped the loaves, and I decided to make two loaves and one batch of sourdough rolls. Annie concocted a delicious cinnamon swirl filling for one loaf. It smelled so good while it was baking, and it came out of the oven at lunchtime. Perfect! Of course, I had to have some of the fragrant, hot rolls as soon as they became cool enough to handle.

Our garden has been giving us an abundance of tomatoes this year. Maybe somebody planted too many tomato plants... But we have enjoyed having tomatoes any way we want them. Yesterday we dried some of our plum tomatoes in the dehydrator. They turned out quite well, but we ate them before we could put them away. I've made an abundance of fresh tomato salsa, and I experimented with tomato sauce as well.

I tried a new heirloom variety of cucumber this year. It is called the Lemon Cucumber, and it really does resemble a lemon. The flavor is excellent, and it does not become bitter. This is a variety I will definitely grow again next year. We are also growing Rattlesnake pole beans, which are green with dramatic purple stripes. They are very good, productive green beans. I must confess to a fondness for growing unusual veggies. That is one reason why I am interested in heirloom seeds. There are many different varieties. I am thankful for our large garden area, which allows me to experiment so freely.