Using everything from the garden . . . .

My friend Rachel sent me the www.cooks.com recipe below:

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PURPLE HULL PEA JELLY
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1 gallon pea hulls
2 pkgs. Sure-Jell
8 c. sugar

Wash pea hulls thoroughly, at least twice, then bring to
boil in a heavy pan with enough water to cover hulls. Boil
over low heat 8 to 10 minutes. Save the juice,
approximately 8 cups, and discard hulls. Combine juice and
Sure-Jell in heavy saucepan and bring to a boil. Boil for 2
minutes. Add sugar and boil an additional minute. Pour
mixture into glass jars and seal. Purple hull peas produce
grape flavored jelly. White crowder peas produce honey
flavored jelly. Lady peas make apple jelly; and by
combining the hulls of crowder, purple, whippoorwill and
lady peas a plum tasting jelly results.

Is this for real??? Sounds GREAT! I absolutely love the idea of wasting NOTHING and putting only the minimum stuff in the compost pile. These boiled, spent pea hulls could even go into the worm bin!

I made another batch of veggie burgers last night with a combination of sauteed squash, green beans purple beans, onions, carrots, and leftover cooked rice, and they turned out MUCH better. I added some reconstituted TVP and a packet of onion soup mix, eggs, and rice flour to the pureed mush, and the patties baked up nicely. I froze 24 of them.

I made salsa last night to use the bounty of tomatoes I had from the garden. I pureed whole tomatoes, an onion, a huge garlic clove, a small can of fire-roasted jalapeno peppers, and then added kosher salt, pepper, cilantro, and cumin until I got the right mix. Ohhhhhhhh, yes! I took half and put it into a Tupperware container and left the remainder in the food processor and added about half a can of pineapple and chunked that up some more. AYayayayay! SO good. I ate chips and salsa, veggie burgers and salsa, and salsa on a spoon! So good. It will probably be even better today!

I love using everything that comes from the garden. I'm getting tired of the Contender green beans, though. They taste fantastic, and the plants are producing LOADS, but they have this peach-fuzz type thing on the bean that makes it so you basically have to scrub each bean individually!! Too much work. I've begun to wipe each bean with a paper towel before washing, and that's actually easier, but geez. I don't have THAT kind of time.

I have to get my canning shelves built and installed so I can put UP some of that salsa, and I need to be making some peach jam and some jellies, too. My freezer over-floweth, and I prefer using that real estate for meat and certain veggies, although frozen peaches and strawberries make the BEST toppies and pies. So many decisions.