Now this wouldn’t ordinarily be an exciting thing for most kids, but for an eleven-year-old who loves to cook and hopes to be a chef one day and challenge Bobby Flay, the opportunity to make his own pasta sauce from scratch is pretty exciting.
So Day 2 started off with Ben in the garden with instructions to fill his bucket with red tomatoes…
There is two things I love about this next photo — One is that before going into our garden he announced “I need to go put on my camo!” and Two, he was instructed not to touch the cucumber plants… well, Ben being Ben, he simply couldn’t resist. Mr. Basketmaker caught him in the act, touching one of the blooms from said cucumber plant. His defiant curiosity is irresistible!
Then for some messy parts: like boiling the tomatoes and dumping them in an ice bath (which was our farm sink). I like how Ben meticulously carried each tomato, separately…
And even more messier part: the cutting and separating of the meat! I got a kick out of Eric covering the entire surface with newspapers!
And not to bore everyone with every step involved in canning, here is the final result…
This batch produced four large jars of ready-to-go pasta sauce, which also included what was needed for that night’s spaghetti dinner, with Ben’s homemade turkey meatballs (yum!). And Mr. Basketmaker made a deal with Ben that they would split the harvest… so two of those jars we will be mailing to Chicago for him to use on future meals. And from the looks of the additional bucket of tomatoes picked, looks like he will be doubling his stash!
Imagine a daily delivery service of fresh ingredients. Here in Maine, we are loving cabbage salad. k
Sounds perfect. Send us some cabbage salad please! And put it on my tab!
I love following Ben’s adventures with you all. He’s truly blessed to have such a great Aunt/Uncle team who challenges and inspires him. I miss seeing him next door so I love reading about his adventures there!
Why thank you Di! I just hope he’s not bored! He’s definitely growing up… we had some amazing conversations last night and this afternoon while we had an Aunt/Nephew lunch date! LOL! We will miss him when he leaves…
Just read an article where most city kids can’t even identify common vegetables. You are not only putting a name to a vegetable, but are showing him how it grows, how to pick it, and how to turn it into a delicious food. Love it!!!!!!
Why thank you Miss Nancy! I hope he’s able to recognize the difference between homemade pasta sauce and the stuff you buy in the store. There’s simply no comparison!
Wow! Future chef, indeed.