For The Love Of Cooking: July 2012

Wow, it's been a few weeks since I've posted anything! My garden has been growing a lot in the past few weeks and I'm really excited about this update - I FINALLY get to start cooking from my very own garden. There is really something special about growing your own food and then eating it.

Here is a picture of today's harvest:

About 2 pounds of green beans and one good sized zucchini!

What am I going to do with all these fresh veggies?! With the zucchini, I am going to make chocolate chip zucchini bread. I love this bread; it is great for breakfast or a snack and is also very good for you.

I will probably just end up blanching most of the green beans and eating them that way. Green beans are my favorite vegetable, and I would love to grow them again next year. Today, I harvested some of the green bean seeds for next year. Harvesting your own seeds is a great money saver!

Harvesting seeds!

To harvest green bean seeds, just split the bean in half, being careful not to damage the seeds. Remove the seeds and set on a paper towel to dry. Once dry, store in an air tight bag or container. Remember to label your seeds!

Since green beans are my favorite vegetable, I want to preserve some of them to have in the fall and winter. I've been canning for a few years now, but I have never canned green beans. I did a little research and everything I found said that pressure cooker canning is the best method for canning green beans. I don't have a pressure cooker, so I just hot water bath canned them. I put a little salt and a garlic clove in the can. This time I just did one can to see how it would turn out. My hot water bath canning seemed to work well, but I cannot recommend it because it is not approved by the USDA.