The girls in our family have been down to New Orleans over the weekend, but before we left this happened. Just wanted to share the garden bounty with all of you who so love to watch my mom and dad with their garden.
Daddy always plants too much and they end up freezing or canning some of it. Last week, it was corn. The corn was coming in so they picked it, shucked it and got it ready to freeze in freezer bags.
The tomatoes are in too and that makes me very happy. I could eat tomatoes every day and that’s what we’ve been doing since they started coming in. Tomato sandwiches, bruschetta, and caprese salad are all my favorite things to do with tomatoes.
So, we are treasuring these beauties. Mom took a big box of tomatoes down to Lauren’s and she was a happy girl to get them.
At my house, I’ll be making plenty of this….Caprese Salad (I’ve shared the way I make it before, any good tomatoes will do). Oh my word, there is nothing better than this with fresh homegrown tomatoes. It’s become my go-to during the summer months.
I also love, love bruschetta, which I first had in Italy. A perfect combination of fresh tomatoes, garlic, olive oil and basil on a crunchy bread. This is so easy to make too. I take a fresh loaf of crusty bread, like French or sour dough, slice it up and toast in the oven until slightly brown. Chop up fresh tomato, minced garlic, fresh basil, salt and pepper to taste and drizzle in a little olive oil. Top the toasted bread with this and enjoy. It’s SO good and I’ve been making it for Mark and I. We both love it dearly! Those simple foods are the best sometimes.
I was over there when they got the corn going and ready to cut off the cob. It was piled up and mom had it divided into 2 piles. Some of it had been left on the stalk a little too long, so she’s going to use this for soups later on. Some of it was a little more tender than others, so that will be cut off for creamed corn. They had been in the mountains and the heat got to it since it stayed on the stalk for an extra few days. They hate it when the timing doesn’t work out just right, but will make the best of it. There will be more corn coming in at the mountain house garden in August.
Dad got set up for cutting it off the cob. And since I was there, I got a knife and helped too.
We got through that pan on the left pretty fast, in about an hour.
Mom was scraping the cob to get the juice out.
These 2 are such hard workers and never slow down. They really don’t need to put up a lot more since the freezers are already full, but you can’t stop my dad from growing more.
The pan of corn looked like this and then mom blanched it in the oven. She turns it on 350* and lets it heat through and then puts it all in freezer bags to cook and heat later. When she unfreezes it later, she then adds a bit of milk, butter, and salt for creamed corn.
So that’s what’s been going on at my parent’s house lately with the garden. I knew you’d all enjoy seeing what’s coming in right now! I’ll share a few pics from New Orleans soon. We didn’t do that much, it was mostly just hanging out and enjoying those girls!
Hi Rhoda, I really admire your folks for how active they are! My folks are gone but I sure enjoy yours, lol. What a treat it is to always have fresh vegetables, warm from the garden all summer long. Thanks for sharing them with us.
Awesome!
I had to comment after reading the post about your Caprese Salad — this year we are growing Cherokee Purple tomatoes (which I haven’t had before). They are nearly ready and I can’t wait to taste them!! Love your blog — I’m new here and there is always something wonderful to read!
Thank you, Beth, I’m so glad you found me!
what a loving example of how to live…..
Love this post! I was wondering if your Mom & Dad have any secrets in removing the silk
from the cob for those of us that enjoy eating it on the cob?
HI, Rene, I think they just lightly scrub the corn to remove silks. I saw a gadget that had a brush on one side for de-silking corn, but really just running it under water and lightly pulling the silk removes most of it.
Rhoda, I’m loving your mom’s kitchen… my mother had a very similar wallpaper effect in her kitchen – with the chair railing and different/coordinating prints on top and bottom. My mom’s been gone almost four years now. Would love to be able to sit with her and ‘scrape corn.’ My dad passed in March – and I sometimes drive by the old home place and reminisce. Enjoy the days.
Hey, Becky, it’s an old-fashioned kitchen, that’s for sure. And it feels like home!
Pampered chef has a little hand held gadget that takes the kernels off the cob. I love it and highly recommend it!
Love the posts about your parents. They remind of my mother-in-law and father-in-law.
They are no longer living. They always had a garden and worked hard putting up corn and canning
beans and tomatoes. A little tip for cutting off corn….I use the Pampered Chef corn cutter and it
works great. We also add a little water to our corn after it is cut off and blanche it in the microwave
for about 4 minutes, stir and then 4 more minutes. Do it in a microwave safe bowl. Cool and put in
freezer bags. When you are ready to use it, it cooks quickly and all we add is butter and salt. Yummmm!
Looks delicious!!!! I was in Alabama last week and got some fresh tomatoes. Caprese salad, here I come!!!
I love your name. I named my oldest, Audra 32 years ago…Beautiful name 😉
Your parents are such special people – thank you for sharing them with us!
Rhoda, how blessed you are to have these two wonderful parents with you as they continue to teach you about gardening. I always enjoy seeing them, such a great work ethic. These pictures remind me of many days preparing vegetables for freezing. We would often spend time at Mama’s house preparing veg. My two grown children and their two cousins comment on the days spent on Mama’s big porch and helping shell beans. Then Mama would stop at lunch and cook a good meal, just a simple meal but always delicious. Thanks for sharing, always enjoy seeing your parents.
This reminds me of when my mama used to put up vegetables from Daddy’s garden. He only plants tomatoes and peppers now, but we used to have okra, squash, watermelon – one year, green beans and bell peppers. All delicious, but there’s nothing in the world better than fresh creamed corn! I’m thinking I could do this after a visit to the farmer’s market! It is sure a lot of work, but so worth it!
My mouth is watering! I just love posts about your sweet parents! It makes me smile to read about them….hard work, but they love it. These pictures remind me of my childhood. My sister and I was always helping my momma when the garden came in. I’m 38 now, and I cant believe I’m even saying this (cause it is A LOT of hard work) but I miss it! Gardening teaches you some life lessons along the way too! Thanks for sharing!
Love the corn!!! You mentioned New Orleans and I’m going there tomorrow. Where are some of the places y’all eat there? Maybe where locals go???
Hi Cam, such a fun place to visit. My niece lives in the Metarie area, near Bucktown, so we always go to Blue Crab. Not fancy but the food is good. I love the fancy place downtown that is owned by chef John Besh, called August. We’ve eaten there a few times & it’s a real treat. Pricey, but really good. You can make a reservation at lunch and get a great meal that is a little less expensive than dinner.
Oh I love creamed corn. Seeing your mom working away on this brings back the forever stamped in my brain all the times my mom cooked and what the process was. Cooking corm and scraping all that great corn pulp in an iron skillet and cooking for a long time. Seemed forever to me because I wanted to eat it sooner!
Rhoda I feel like such a slacker when I see the produce your parents grow. I planted just a few tomato plants this year. Don’t tell him okay? I will try to do better next year.
Haha, Patty, I feel like a slacker compared to them too!
Rhoda, You and your folks are amazing! I see patience, kindness, Christian love, and a tireless work ethic when I look at your parents; and you exhibit those qualities as well. I live in Mississippi, and the scenes of gardens, home-grown tomatoes, and “putting up corn” look so familiar. Love reading your blog and seeing the beautiful photos. Those illustrating your home renovation give me hope for my own! I also enjoy your fashion and travel posts. I’m happy that you are enjoying and appreciating life. Keep it up!
Thank you, Cynthia, I appreciate you saying all of that. I’m going to keep on blogging, it’s still very enjoyable to me and I feel so blessed that I get to make a living doing this. I’m so happy my family has become a part of my blog too, that makes it extra special for me.
Thank you for sharing my post on how to peel tomatoes. You put together a great round up! Going to check these other recipes out!