Tray Freezing Grapes

The girls came back to me Saturday. We have been tending a neighbor's garden so they had a good time picking fresh veggies. Cherry tomatoes, Romas, and green beans mostly, but there were also a few bell peppers and ears of corn. My neighbor also dug up and gave me all her beets before she went on vacation so we took beets to the community potluck that night. I'm proud to say they were one of the first items finished off. Naturally, I couldn't expect my humble beets to "beat" the hearty Italian lasagna. But we did well. I used the Harvard Beets recipe in the Rodale's Basic Natural Foods Cookbook with apple cider vinegar and two kinds of honey (Colorado wildflower & tupelo).




After the potluck my girls and I took a walk on the beach. We've adapted dusk as our walking time since the middle of the day has been way too hot -- over 100 degrees all weekend.

Sunday was church, watering the garden, resting in the heat of the day, walking in the evenings, and little blood orange frozen sorbets on the porch with candles lit in the lanterns.

Monday was a little cooler so the girls got to go to the beach and the playground. We also went to the library and Rebecca got her first library card! (She's 5.) The books on our shelves now being organized alphabetically by author, Natalie has been asking me a lot of questions about who wrote what and she had a little sticky note with the names of three authors she wanted to read more of. Travers (Mary Poppins series), Baum (Wizard of Oz series), Wilder (Little House on the Prairie series). When we went to the library, the very helpful librarian showed her how to use interlibrary loan to request the titles which weren't available at our local branch. It was a good learning experience. After our move, I can't find the regular library cards that the children have but they each were also given a "keychain" card with the appropriate barcode on it and I was able to find those for some reason. So I made Library Card Necklaces for each child, simply some pretty yarn with the "keychain" card on it. They wore their necklaces and when it was time to check out they simply lifted the necklace off and placed their card on the top of the stack of books.

Today was swim lessons, water day at the Community House, and now they are resting for their naps after lunch. I noticed that the grapes are getting to their peak and we probably can't have any more meals out of them so I have popped them in the freezer on a cookie sheet. This is sooo super-simple! Place on cookie sheet in a single layer, not touching, and freeze until firm. Then put them in a freezer bag or storage container and keep them frozen. They are eaten frozen and are sweet and juicy like ice cream. The perfect treat/dessert for a hot summer day. Plus, then you aren't throwing away grapes which have gone bad.

I know I'll be tray freezing halved pitted cherries too, since the cherries are getting a little past their prime. I'm making yogurt today so we can have parfaits with cherries and yogurt with a little vanilla in it. Also mango, cantaloupe... I love the bounty of summer! I recently purchased some kefir and found that it had 10 live active cultures in it, so I'm thinking of trying my crockpot yogurt recipe to see if I can make kefir too.