fresh eatings

from this past week.

I cut all the swiss chard. There's not much of it.

Made a chard frittata, and it will probably be the only one this year. Oh well! It was pretty good.

Have picked a few of the big tomatoes. The plants are not very prolific, but what they do give us tastes just fantastic. These are the brandywines. A few days later I picked two similar-sized beefsteaks.

Made them into a plate of capresi with fresh mozarella and just-picked basil leaves. Yum! Also a salad one day. Cherry tomatoes go without speaking- the kids help themselves nearly every day and when I can I pick a bowlful and just keep it on the counter for snacking.

There's frequent, but slim, pickings of green beans. Sometimes I save them up in a tupperware until I have enough to make a decent side dish. Or just steam what I've got for the day and everyone gets a total of five or six beans on their plate. It's pathetic. However they don't complain!

And I still have loads of carrot foliage I saved in the crisper. I have been adding this to all kinds of things. I put it in spanish rice instead of parsley- it was good, but really did change the flavor. I have tossed it into soups. I sprinkled some into a spaghetti pie the other day, and added some to my chard frittata, just to have ways to use it up.

I am eyeing a tree in the front yard. It makes pretty pink/purple flowers in spring, and forms hard little rosy fruits in the late summer. They look better this year than ever. My youngest keeps asking me if we can pick and eat them. I think they are crabapples, and I know you can make crabapple jelly. I just want to be absolutely sure I have identified the tree correctly first. Will have to take some pictures or pick a few samples of fruit and leaves, to compare in a book or something.