Week 22 - No Sunlight

I know, I know.  Get out the tiny violins.  But our gloomy summer continues, and even though it is mid-August, I have yet to pick a ripened tomato from my own garden vines.  Make that nary a ripened tomato, full grown cucumber, juicy melon or spicy pepper.  The lack of sunlight has really made for a bummer summer and a lackluster garden.  Gratefully, our CSA is in a southern California location that isn't experiencing the grey that we are.  Though the weather has impacted the timing and availability of several of their crops as well, I'm excited that they are able to harvest a variety of fruits and vegetables that aren't growing for me!

In the box this week

(top) lettuce, cabbage, cilantro, kale

(bottom) okra, turnips, onion, cantaloupe, avocados, heirloom tomatoes, strawberries, grape tomatoes 

Meal plan for the week

Sunday: turkey meatloaf and mashed Turnips with crispy shallots
Monday: stewed Okra curry with Tomatoes and Kale
Tuesday: fish tacos with pico de gallo (using Cilantro, Onion and Grape Tomatoes), Cabbage and Avocado
Wednesday: canning and take out?
Thursday: roasted Heirloom Tomato sauce over pasta

Given a surplus of Heirloom tomatoes available through our CSA, we're purchasing an extra ten pounds and I'm planning on my first attempt at canning tomato sauce.  Typically, I'd tend to use a Roma or other paste tomato for sauce, but this recipe seems appealing enough to give it a try with heirlooms.  It will be interesting to see how many pints I can get out of 10+ pounds of tomatoes.  Probably fewer than I'd like, but it will still be fun to have some jars of homemade sauce on the shelf for future pizzas and pastas!

 How much sauce will this make?

This week's title is inspired by the song of the same name by Death Cab for Cutie.