I am always looking for ways to use my abundance of winter tomatoes (S Florida’s growing season). This is delicious!

Grilled Eggplant Spinach Tomato Soup

• 1 medium size eggplant, peeled and sliced into 3/4 inch slices
• 3 cups chicken stock
• 1 cup water
• 1/2 bag baby spinach
• 5 garlic cloves, chopped
• 1/2 onion
• 2 TBS basil pesto
• 2 TBS olive oil
• 1 1/2 cups chopped fresh tomatoes or canned

Brush eggplant both sides with olive oil. Grill until nice and golden on both sides with grill marks. About 4 minutes each side. Saute onions in olive oil until translucent with a bit of salt. Add garlic and saute for 2 minutes stirring so it does not burn. Add chicken stock and water. Add spinach and stir until it reduces in size. This will happen quickly. Chop up grilled eggplant and add the rest of the ingredients (except for pesto.) Let this all cook for about 15 minutes. Use an immersion blender to puree the soup. Add the pesto at the end and stir. Serve with croutons. This will make about 6 servings.

I canned my first organic tomatoes of the season today. Actually I turned this batch into sauce. This harvest is amazing, despite the freezing temps we had here for many days. I was diligent about covering the plants with tarps at night, and it paid off.

The canning process includes:

• washing the tomatoes
• cutting an X in them
• blanching them so the skin peels off easily
• chopping them
• Preparing and cooking the sauce for hours
• sterilizing the Ball jars and lids
• sterilizing the pot
• putting the sauce in jars
• swirling a (non-metallic) spatula along the inside walls of the jar to get the air out
• wiping the the rims of the jars clean
• sealing them with new lids
• boiling 3 quarts of water
• putting the hot water in the canner
• placing the jars in the canner
• securing the lid
• setting the burner on high
• waiting and watching, wait, wait, wait
• when the pressure gets up to 11, lowering the heat
• releasing steam from the release lever as needed to keep the pressure at 11
• when 15 mintues have passed with the pressure steady at 11, turning off the burner and removing pot from the heat
• waiting a long time until pressure lowers and pot cools for a long while (I wait 2+ hours)
• removing lid and jars from pot
• you’re done! well not yet . . .
• cleaning up your big mess!

Darwin, my (53 day old) standard poodle puppy wanted to get in (literally) on the canning action

Abundance of varieties, sizes and colors!

Gotta give them a good rinse

Yum! You can see the water marks on the jars from the canner.

Please pray for my organic tomatoes, which are starting to look weary

It is snowing in Central Florida as I write this. It is going to be 31 in Miami tonight. It is raining, cold and miserable. Our homes are equipped for extreme heat but not cold temps. My sympathies to all of you who endure freezing cold winters. My sympathies to you who are visiting Florida from cold climates only to be face with extreme cold here. When it’s cold in South Florida, it feels colder than it does anywhere else in the country at the same temp. Does that make any sense to you?

It has been rather chilly here for a number of days. Tonight it is going to dip down into the mid 30s! We do not have a working heater in our home! We had to cover our tomatoes just in case of a frost!

2 lb Big Beefsteak waiting to be ripened by the sun

2 Roof tarps designed for hurricane damage make great tomato plant  covers1

It is gardening season in Miami, and one of my favorite schools, Miami Christian, is starting its wonderful winter gardening program for the year. Elementary students plant organic vegetables in raised beds outside their classrooms. At harvest time, they sell their veggies to community members. And the money earned is sent to an orphanage is India. How splendid is that? The children learn so much, and they are doing such a generous deed for the needy at the same time.

Today I visited the school to talk to the students about what I know about organic gardening and especially keeping those pests off the plants. Then we planted a few tomato seedlings I grew for them. I praise Miami Christian for their project, and I adore their curious students!

There’s a whole lot more to come . . .

Raised beds make for easier gardening for the children

An eager student from Ms. Cabrera’s class plants a tomato seedling

A board in Ms. Cabrera’s classroom proudly displays photos and letters of thanks from the children in the Indian orphanage

The amount of planning, work and physical labor that has gone onto planting our tomatoes this year has been intense. Here’s what we’ve done to get to this point:

• Research organic seeds  online
• Order seeds
• Buy small seed starter greenhouse
• Plant seeds
• Water
• Transplant to larger containers
• Water
• Go to store to buy 25 bags of organic soil. HEAVY!!!!
• Load up soil in car and bring home
• Move soil from car to back patio SORE ARMS!!
• Arrange pots
• Pick up bags and dump into pots ACHING BACK!
• Plant seedlings
• Water twice a day

25 bags of organic soil!

Couldn’t do it without my hubby!

Can’t wait to eat my first tomato!

As the rest of the USA is winding down its vegetable gardens, we Southerners are just getting started. Last year I had the best organic tomatoes I’ve ever had. So I’m doing it again this year – only bigger and better.  These seedlings you see in the photo are 3 days from planting! Welcome to Miami’s heat, sun and humidity. This climate really helps speed the germination process. The trick then is keeping the plants from frying in the tropical sun. The seedlings will be transplanted soon to larger cells and then a few weeks own the road, they will planted in humongous pots and placed along my backyard driveway.  It’s the perfect place for them, with the ideal amount of sun and easy access to the garden hose. I’ll have my first harvest around Christmas time.

If you missed my gorgeous tomatoes last year, click here to take a look.

I picked this cherry tomato out of my garden today. I cannot bring myself to eat it, because it is too perfect.

After hearing about the floods in Fargo, the snow in Denver and the temps in Chicago, I celebrated living in South Florida by taking photos of all the blooms in my favorite alley in my neighborhood. If you have no flowers in your neck of the woods yet, you can enjoy these until some come your way.

Double Hibiscus

Magenta Bouganvilla – Loves the drought!

Tababoulia Tree – MAJOR Pollen! Achoooo!

Amaryllis

Plumbago

Ruellia (Mexican Petunia) – Once you plant this it spreads everywhere!

Here’s hoping your spring is on its way very soon!