Today I will be picking and preserving Anaheim peppers and making basil pesto for the freezer, as well as for us.

A basket full of yummies

Roma tomatoes

Anaheim peppers

These are a few pix of food we harvested earlier in the spring – we now have a couple pounds of shelled and blanched peas in the freezer, along with at least five pounds of blanched green beans. And of course, all that salad!

Our first peas!

A couple pounds of beans

Bell pepper fell off – it was about 3 inches long, just enough for Dan’s salad

April 25

This is from last week, so it’s a little smaller now, but we definitely need to eat more of this. I also added a couple of parsley plants in there. It couldn’t be easier to grow – just sprinkle the seeds on and keep it watered.

May 15

I thought it was an onion, but when I pulled it out, I saw it was a head of garlic – and a good-sized one, too.

That reminded me that in the kitchen, I had a head of garlic with sprouts on the cloves, so I got that, separated the cloves, and planted them in the garden, so this fall, we’ll have more homegrown garlic. For the record, I planted them between the pepper plants (so I can find them again).

We can really get a lot of food in a relatively small square garden. We won’t be buying salad greens for another month, and we had frozen peas from last year’s garden till February.

Mixed lettuces and peas

Baby peas and chives

It’s time-consuming to make, so I usually start cutting things up a day or two before, to make it easier to get started with the cooking. Once everything is together in the pot, it simmers for a couple of hours and makes the house smell really good The pork becomes buttery soft and the broth is full of flavor. Delicious. I like to serve it with cheese and roasted red pepper quesadillas, for a little crunch, and of course, margaritas.

Pork & Tomatillo Posole

4 pounds pork butt or shoulder, trimmed of fat and cut into bite sized pieces
Coarse alt and freshly ground black pepper
1/4 cup canola or corn oil
2 yellow onions, diced
1 1/2 pounds tomatillos, husked, cored and chopped
4 jalapenos, stemmed, seeded and minced
4 garlic cloves, minced
1 tablespoon, dried oregano (preferably Mexican)
8 cups chicken stock
2 cans hominy
1 bunch cilantro, chopped

Garnishes (posole is traditionally served with these garnishes; I just serve with some lime wedges)
1/4 small head green cabbage, thinly sliced
1/2 small red onion, finely diced
10 radishes, trimmed and thinly sliced
2 limes, cut into wedges

Heat the oil in a large, heavy-bottomed pot over medium-high heat. Add about 1/3 of the pork in an even layer and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Brown pork on both sides, making sure to get them nice and golden. Remove the browned pork to a medium bowl, then add another 1/3 of the pork, season and continue till all the pork is browned and in the bowl.

Add the onions and a large pinch of salt to the pot. Saute for about five minutes, scraping up the brown bits on the bottom of the pot. Add the tomatillos, jalapenos, garlic and oregano and continue to cook for another few minutes to soften the vegetables.

Add the reserved pork, pork juices and chicken stock to the pot. Cover it, turn the heat to high and bring to a boil. Remove the lid, turn the heat to low and simmer until the pork is tender and starting to fall apart, 1 1/2 to 2 hours. Add the hominy for the last half hour.

Stir in the cilantro and taste. Add salt and pepper if necessary. Ladle the soup into bowls and serve with the garnishes.

This is a composed salad I made one day last summer. Since the high is supposed to be about 42*F today, I’m hoping the thought of a cool salad on a hot day might warm me up. If not, I’ll make some hot chocolate.

This is for Photo Friday’s weekly photo challenge. This week’s topic is Homemade.

I didn’t get very far, but I’m going to try again. Here are some photos from the last few days.

Day 1, Nov. 29: Oak-leaf hydrangea leaves, from the garden


Day 2, Nov. 30: Quesadilla with cheddar and mozzarella cheeses and roasted red peppers


Day 3, Dec. 1: Hydrangeas: These were our Thanksgiving centerpieces, along with camellia blossoms. I tried and tried to get rid of the glare – covered the light with a lace tablecloth, then a pillowcase, changed the angle of the light – still too bright.

Last night, the local weather jockeys forecast our first frost warning, so I went out in the dark to rescue the last of my tomatoes and peppers before they froze to death. Here’s the haul.