Garilc Scape Pesto

Last week at the Farmers Market the surly Slavic woman had garlic scapes. Being that my own garlic doesn't have them yet this year I inquired to the price as they were off to the side.

I guess hardly anyone was buying them because when I asked she said she would give me a bunch for $1. Well for $1 I could hardly refuse. I didn't know what a bunch meant.

Boy Howdy!!! She FILLED a plastic grocery bag with these. I seem to have an unending supply of these babies! I've given some away but mostly I made pesto. I used The scapes, olive oil, Parmesan, and walnuts (because that is what I had.) Yummy! I froze a lot of it for the winter. You can also saute them as you do garlic and they are a little milder. Kind of how a green onion is to an onion. I also took the pesto and spread it on bread with some mozzarella for an appetizer and smeared it on chicken and grilled it. Next my husband suggested making a dip out of it.

I have a lot of the scapes left so I think I may make a bunch more pesto tomorrow. They scapes also last a long time in the fridge so I will keep some for grilling with veggies.

Putting Up Strawberries

Right now strawberries are in full swing in my neck of the woods.

This past week, my mother-in-law and I took my girl strawberry picking! We picked 10 quarts of berries which ended up being $2 per quart. It was a beautiful day and the plants were full of berries which made picking not such a chore.

I ended up cleaning and freezing a lot of berries for the depths of winter. Along with that I made 2 batches of strawberry jam which came out to be 16 1/2 jars of jam. It's so very good! I used the low sugar recipe but it's still sweet!

This year I planted Rhubarb. It's nowhere near ready to be picked, perhaps next year I can make a strawberry/rhubarb jam.

I have about 1 1/2 quarts left and we've been eating those. I wanted to try drying some for oatmeal or granola but the ones I have are past their prime. If I feel ambitious next week I may go and pick 5 more quarts.