Feaston’s Freezer Pasta Sauce

Spaghetti. With meatballs. And garlic bread. That’s undoubtedly our favorite meal here at Feaston. We shopped around at the store for our favorite pasta sauce and we generally buy this brand. But lately, our loyalty has switched to a new brand: our own.

With the abundance of tomatoes from our backyard garden we have been making huge soup pots full of sauce, then bagging and freezing it. The plan? Crack them open for some fresh garden taste once winter rolls around.

Check out the jump for our secret Internet-only recipe.

Feaston’s Strawberry Jam Session

I guess it was only a matter of time before our gardening led to canning.

With so much produce coming into season at once, we had to figure out a way to “put it up.”

Luckily, we were able to get some canning supplies for not too much money and set out to use the fruits and vegetables of the season.

First up was hot pepper jelly, a recipe for which can be found here. But what we were really excited about was homemade strawberry jam.

Peppery. Also, a great use of many jalapeno peppers.

Feaston’s Garden Salsa

Tomato season is almost here in our neck of the woods!

For tomato fanatics, such as ourselves, the red globes in the supermarket year round don’t hold a candle to the fresh, sun-warmed fruit you can pluck from the backyard garden. Or pick up at the local farmer’s market, which is what we did.

While this simple salsa would be good on just about anything – plain ol’ chips, burritos, atop a burger or a pile of nachos, we chose to make it the crowning glory of our pork burrito bowls.

Really, extremely, delicious, fun salsa time.

We recommend making this at least an hour before dinner, though the longer it sits, the better it gets. And it couldn’t be easier to make.

You’ll need:

• four medium-size, ripe tomatoes (we like beefsteak)
• one jalapeno
• 1/2 medium onion
• handful of fresh cilantro
• garlic powder

Simply dice the tomatoes, mince the jalapeno, chop up the onion and cilantro and combine all ingredients into a bowl. That’s it. You can adjust to make as oniony or spicy as you desire. Personally, we like good hunks of tomato, a little jalapeno kick and a lot of fresh cilantro.

What will you use your salsa for?

Asparagus and Mushroom Cream Pasta

Asparagus is right in the thick of its growing season and are we ever glad! Unlike the off-season stuff you find at the grocery store, fresh, local asparagus tends to have smaller, more tender spears, making it the perfect addition to this creamy pasta dish.

We recommend you pull out the biggest skillet you can find and save this recipe for a cooler day – no one wants heavy cream when it’s 90 degrees outside.

French Onion Soup

Is there anything better on the planet? Warm, crunchy bread, under a layer of cheese, all atop a steaming, thin broth and onions.

I think not.

Turns out, French onion soup is super easy to make. It’s a little time consuming, but most of that is hands-off time. Gather up your ingredients, pick a weekend to do this, and let’s go.

Warm and gooey. Perfect for winter.