Canning Tomatoes

So the end of the growing season is both a happy and a sad time.  I love eating fresh foods that we have grown ourselves.  There really is nothing better tasting that a home grown tomato.  Put that on a BLT with a little avo and it's a slice of heaven on earth!  When the branches of the plants are brown and the harvest is dwindling, this is the time to preserve.  Although it's called "canning" it really is "jarring" your bounty.  Here is an account of my tomato sauce. 

Start with tomatoes, onions, garlic, seasonings. 

Dice onions and garlic, cut tomatoes in about 4" to 6" pieces.  Cherry tomatoes can go in whole.  Cook for several hours until falling apart.

Remove any large pieces of skin floating on top with tongs.  (Please ignore the tomato splattered stove)

Using a hand blender puree until smooth.  The recipe I used from the Ball Canning Book says to strain the mixture to get out the seeds and skin.  As there's lots of fibre in the skin and the seeds hold lots of nutrients, I left them in. 

Fill jars leaving 1/2" headroom.

Be sure to wipe off any drips and put on the lid.

Process in a boiling water bath for about 40 minutes with the lid on.

Voila!!!  You have fabulous tasting sauce for the Fall and Winter months!!

We had a little left over sauce, so I made up a dish for lunch.  I roasted some giant zucchini in the oven, added some salami, fresh tomato sauce and mozzarella.  Wonderful!

Canning (jarring...haha) really is easy.  You can only use the water method on high acid foods like pickles (later this week) or fruits.  Other veggies require a pressure cooker, which I do not own.  I hope you enjoyed my tomatoes as much as I did!

Cheers~

Marti

Summer Sabbatical--Sort Of

I have been remiss about posting to my blog.  No real reason, other than our summer season routine has been a bit hectic.  So it appears that I'm on a bit of a Summer Sabbatical, sort of.

Now Max is finished with Summer School and we are set to begin our summer in earnest!  Here is a mini update and a preview of posts to come.

We had a great visit from Aunt Laurie and her guy, Jim over 4th of July weekend. 

Our garden is doing great!  Lots of carrots, potatoes and tomatoes.  Nothing tastes as good as a home grown tomato!!  We have a smattering of cucumbers, beans, squash, various peppers and radishes.  We have been enjoying eating from the source!

Here is a tart I made form our garden bounty!  Pie crust* with squash, spinach, onion, tomato and basil.  Top with a little cheese and bake for about half an hour at 350...so fresh and yummy!!!!!!!

Perfect Pie Crust:  In a mixer start with 2 cups of flour (I like 1/2 whole wheat and 1/2 white), a stick of very cold butter cut in small pieces, about 2-4 tbsp sugar, 1 tsp salt.  Turn on mixer on low using the paddle attachment, begin adding small amounts of ice water until the dough begins to hold together.  When you can make a ball, divide in half, wrap in wax paper and refrigerate at least 20 minutes.  Now you're ready to make a pie or tart!

Look forward to a few more posts....I'd like to make. 

1.  Max's time at the Jensen~Schmidt Tennis Camp

2.  Our experience at the Windansea Surf Club's Day at the Beach Surf Camp

3.  The fabulousness of Cooper Lindsey who recently turned one year old!

I hope everyone is having a fantastic summer!!

Cheers~

Marti

Earth Day & Other Activities!

This week I seem to be playing catch up.  Last week was a whirlwind of activity!  Here are the highlights.

On Thursday, I reconnected with a great friend from college!  Dave and I had lost contact over the years, but thanks to Facebook we recently reconnected!  It had been over 20 years, but we picked up right where we left off.  It was so fun to spend time together and introduce him to the important people in my life...Max and Larry.  Max was a little shy, but enjoyed using Dave's camera!

Friday was Earth Day and I was the guest lecturer at Max's Kindergarten.  We covered some ASL (American Sign Language) signs that had to do with growing things....grow, garden, pea, cup, water, sun, etc.  After that we planted some peas in repurposed containers.  I chose peas because Kindergarten students need some immediate feedback and peas sprout quickly. 

Here are the pea seeds planted in the recycled Mandarin Orange cups.  On Tuesday (yesterday) some of the peas had already sprouted!

When I returned home from the Kindergarten class, I had a pleasant surprise waiting for me....plants!  I had volunteered to be a tester for Burpee awhile back.  Fed Ex delivered a box of live plants, and on Earth Day.  How fortuitous!

In the box were 2 plants of each:  2 varieties (Red Delicious, Costa Rican Sweet) of pepper, 3 varieties (Napa Grape, 4th of July, Early Girl) of tomato and 2 (Sweet Italian, Boxwood) varieties of basil.  I got right to work.

The plants arrived and were strong and healthy looking.  Typically, I grow heirloom varieties, directly from seed.  The row on the left are my own plants.  The middle and right hand rows are the Burpee tomato plants, which are hybrids.  The peppers and some of the basil are in the sunny spot near the tree trunk. 

Here are the black soy beans starts that I transplanted in the big garden.  These were started from seeds from the Bountiful Gardens catalog.  They have a lot of hard to find seeds and all are heirloom.

Here are some peas, started about a week and a half prior that I transplanted.  Let's see how the tomato ladders work as support for them.

Since my cucumber starts keep getting devoured by the snails, I'm trying something new.  I am covering the area in plastic and spreading diatomaceous earth on the plastic.  The back is a support so these cukes can climb.  So far, my cucumber seedlings remain unmolested by the snails.....yippee!

So hope you enjoyed my gardening updates from last week....stay tuned for more.  Enjoy your week!

Cheers~
Marti