Tomatoes, Zucchini & Lemons

Today I took the day off to get ready for a weekend at Orr Hot Springs, I took the day off to prep some food for us to bring to eat over the weekend. Last night, I checked the tomatoes -- some were really close so I decided to leave them on the vine for at least a few more hours of hot weather (Thursday was hot and Friday promises to be warm as well).

Well, this morning when I went out to the garden, I discovered that someone else beat me to one of my beautiful Paul Robeson tomatoes:

Believe me, that critter (likely a squirrel since there are small claw marks next to that groove), didn't eat enough to dissuade me from cutting out the chewed part and including that tomato in my raw lasagna. I got quite a few big tomatoes off the vines and a pile of cherry tomatoes (not all are pictured here).

That basil turned into a big pile of pesto - most of the pesto was frozen in ice cube trays. The tomatoes mostly went into my first attempt at raw veggie lasagna.

VEGGIE LASAGNA: This was the first time that I made the I managed to get some photos of the veggie lasagna as I got it started, but was so busy that I didn't have time to take more photos of the process of layering and the finished product.

This tasted really good, but there are a few things I learned:

• Making raw marinara with mostly sundried tomatoes and some fresh tomatoes, garlic, olive oil, salt and a pinch of cayenne is the most brilliant idea ever. It results in a hearty, thick, delicious marinara that I wouldn't hesitate to heat up for pasta. This confirms my desire to get the solar dehydrator done ASAP so I can dry up a pile of tomatoes!
• Processed the pine nut ricotta too long -- resulted in something more like tahini rather than my friend's fluffy pine nut ricotta.
• Use a bigger baking dish - using a smaller baking dish does not mean you will make less.
• Using white truffle infused olive oil on the zucchini was a really good idea.

LEMONS - I also picked a pile of lemons from my friend Regan's yard to make a gallon of lemonade for our weekend at Orr. I also made a gallon of sweet tea using peppermint, spearmint and lavender.