Holiday Baking

Part of our family's holiday tradition is making edible goodies for the neighbors. This year we made the following:
chocolate dipped pretzels
spritz cookies
chocolate mint kiss spritz cookies
frosted sugar cookies
walnut fudge

Normally I make some type of bread and cocoa mixes, but this year we were short on time.

German Queen and Pink Brandywine Tomatoes

Pretty German Queen tomatoes and banana peppers.  We opened the first jar of our pickled banana peppers.  The taste was right, but they were soggy.  I wonder what the key to crispness is???

A beautiful specimen of Pink Brandywine.  Such a pretty pink and creamy color.  Not to mention a wonderful, sweet flavor.

Roma and Roma Grape Tomatoes

This year I planted regular Romas, which I love because they are so meaty.  Of course most use them for sauce, but I love them diced for tacos and salads.

I decided to try the Roma grapes and you can see the size difference in the pic.  They really are basically just a smaller version!

I really wish I had planted some small cherry tomatoes for salad.  A few years back I grew the little white and sweet 'Snowstorm'.  That was a favorite.

Mr. Stripe Tomato - 1st of the Year!

Finally, Mr. Stripey put out his first tomato, well... actually two!

My daughter thought the inside of this yummy cutie was too cool!

Today's Harvest, Mostly Tomatoes = Heirloom Tomato Salad

Today had a pretty decent harvest and much is close too.  I decided with this nice variety of heirlooms that I should make a fresh tomato salad.  Here's my impromptu recipe:

1 Mountain Pride tomato

2 smaller Early Girl tomatoes

1 Mr. Stripey tomato (see next post for cool pic of this cutie!)

1 Pink Brandywine tomato

1 German Queen tomato

1 Roma tomato

1 Roma Grape tomato

Dice all of those, drizzle with a really good (preferably organic) Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Add a handful (nice, precise measurement!) of fresh grated mozzarella cheese

Chopped fresh basil (I used Thai and Lemon Basils from the garden - so aromatic!)

and a little fresh ground pepper.

YUMMY!

We had this with Lemon Rosemary Chicken & Rice, Steamed Broccoli and Ciabatta Bread.

Mountain Pride and Roma Tomatoes

The Mountain Pride Tomatoes were put in on 5-19 and have begun to produce steadily.  

The Roma tomatoes were also put in on 5-19.  These wonderfully meaty but more pear-shaped tomatoes are starting to get more prolific.    This plant has stayed fairly compact with minimal trimming.  

Early Girl and Bradley Tomatoes

My Early Girl tomatoes lived up to their name.  The plants were set in the garden on 4-18 and I began harvesting on 6-23 and they have continued to produce heavily.  These are good, all around tomatoes.  They don't have the unique flavor of some of my heirlooms, but you can't beat the huge production!  I've used pole and cage supports because they have stayed heavy with fruit.  I've cut them back about every 2 weeks and fed 3 times this summer with fish emulsion.  It should have been 4 times, but the dryness made me slow down my feeding schedule.  I put in 5 plants.  One is looking a little peaked with the lack of rain.  I'm trying to water enough, but can't seem to keep up.

The Bradley tomato plant (only 1 put out on 4-17) has been pretty prolific also.  It has had more problem with stem rot, but I'm trying to stay ahead of it.  These tomatoes are beefy and scrumptious!  This is ONE heavy plant.  Also caged and staked, but it still wants to pull over. I've cut it back a bunch, but it really wants to bush.