tomatoes to feast on

After a few bad luck years with tomatoes we have surely been blessed this year.  We have more than once filled our back picnic table with delicious red fruits fresh from the garden.  I have been canning my little heart out and not complaining a bit about it.  It's amazing what things seem to overwhelm and something like this does not.  Even though I was pulling jars out of a canning bath at nine thirty last night.  I have put up five batches of salsa, three batches of tomato juice, two batches of pasta sauce and two batches of diced tomatoes... and I'm not done yet!  I haven't actually had enough tomatoes to can diced tomatoes (not to mention juice) since 2010.  A home canner will begin to ration the goods.  To this day I have one jar of homegrown diced tomatoes left in the basement pantry... just in case.  I love the whole process from starting my own seeds for the garden, planting the garden, hoeing, weeding, nurturing, picking and putting up.  It's all so lovely when it goes as planned and truly takes several months.  I start seeds in late March and plant the plants in May then now it's August and they are producing like crazy.  And the other thing is (I'd better watch my bragging) that the tomatoes are stellar with no rot, very little bad spots and no splitting.  If you don't believe me... see for yourself.  Hope everyone is having a wonderful gardening and canning season!

My... what beautiful peppers you have!

Looks like a tomato party!

Canning salsa last night.

The crushed and diced tomatoes.

Please don't think that all is perfect in my little canning world.  I filled a jar with tomatoes that apparently wasn't hot enough to handle the hot tomatoes and when I picked it up the bottom fell off.  I had tomato and juice in the drawer and cabinet and floor.  Luckily it was only a pint jar!

And finally... a recipe.  This is the recipe I used for two batches of tomato juice that I have full intentions of enjoying in a bloody mary on some cold winter morning or day.  They will also be used as back up for soups and such.  This recipe has just the right amount of spice and heat and once in a glass of ice all that is needed is the vodka and Worcestershire sauce and maybe a little salt.  Or you can leave out the vodka all together and have an amazing nutritious drink.  Enjoy!

By the way... for my batches of this I used my father-in-law's banana peppers which have a lot of heat this year and I used my Vitamix to chop my peppers, onions and celery.  What a life saver!  And always remember to use gloves when handling peppers.

Great Green Beans

Holy Moly!  After such a horrible garden experience last year, which produced absolutely no canning possibilities, this year we have been blessed!  We actually decided to cut down the size of our garden and cut out several items that we usually grow like cucumbers, cantaloupes, watermelon and corn.  We planted two rows of green beans; one row of flat Italian and one row of tenderette bush beans.  On the Thursday evening before I left for Florida, my friend Melia, sister Tracy, niece Kristen and my hubby Shaun all picked, washed and broke the row of Italian beans and the afternoon before we left was spent canning beans.  The row had a good yield of 48 pints!

I returned home the following Saturday and on Sunday morning, Shaun and I headed to the garden early to pull the plants in the second row of beans.  Instead of picking beans off of the plants we decided both times to pull the plants and pick the beans.  That way, on one hand you only get one batch to can, but on the other you are done... and sometimes that is a plus!  Shaun and I picked, washed, broke and I canned most of the afternoon on Sunday.  I have to say I did miss the additional hands in the picking and breaking but together we got it done.  Shaun's dad also came by to chat and broke a few beans with us. We'll put you to work!  Out of the tenderette row we wound up with 39 pints and 5 quarts of delicious green beans.  Enough to last the two of us a good long time.  I shudder to think of yet another and another afternoon spent picking and canning beans.... now on to the tomatoes!!!  I have already put up twelve half pints of salsa and plan on putting up some pasta sauce tonight.  Even though our garden this year is smaller it is still keeping us busy!  Oh... I didn't mention how wonderful our green bell peppers are doing!  I chopped and froze nine very large peppers last night too.  Whew!

Maybe it was due to our very cold winter maybe not but the bugs don't seem as bad this year so we opted to not use any bug killer at all.  We've had a little problems here and there and I've already seen a huge horn worm on my tomatoes... blick!  I hate those.

The beans actually got a little bigger than we usually like them to but they will still be divine!

Can you spot the okra?

A tip or two when using a pressure canner.  Note: my canners are old... I have no idea if newer pressure cookers leak or are any different but I can't imagine how they would be.

First, when building up pressure, I like to wait to put the weight on until I see puffs or a light steady stream of steam coming out of the top.  Then I put the weight on.

Be sure you know what weight of pressure you need.  Green beans take 10 pounds of pressure.

This is going to happen... water spewing or dripping out from around the lid while the canner is trying to build pressure to seal.  Wipe it up quickly and maybe hold a kitchen towel around the leaks until they stop.

For more pressure canning tips please visit my Pressure Canning Tips page and do ask questions if you want to!

And speaking of canning tomatoes... here's my recipe for Tomato Basil Sauce which is a great base for soups and pasta sauces.

Have a lot of cucumbers?  Here's my recipe and instructions for Dill Pickle Spears.

And if you come across any good potatoes or have grown them yourself and not dug them up yet or even if you have grown them yourself and want something else to do with them besides let them sit and wait you can check out my Potato Madness post from 2009.

Have a good weekend and get busy canning people!!!

Oh hey... I just can't hush can I, I found a few posts of mine on drying herbs.  You just have to get your plants and produce while you can... unfortunately Autumn is coming.

Saving Herbs

What to do with all those herbs

Drying Parsley

and Garden Friend or Foe

sunday afternoon

I much enjoyed my Sunday.  We slept in.  I made baked brie for breakfast/brunch that I didn't make on Christmas morning.  I got laundry done.  I canned black eyed peas, black beans, rattle snake peas, white beans and a mix for the chickens for extra protein.  All the while I listened to tunes. 

HERE's a post on canning dried beans and peas.  So easy to do if you've got the right equipment.

And HERE's my post on baked brie.  So delicious. 

Chicken Mix - kidney beans, white beans, black beans, barley and lentils.

Black eyed peas for New Year's day.  I even went ahead and added the smoked ham, salt and pepper.

Rattle snake peas that grew in our garden this year.

One of my favorite songs and bands that I listened to while I canned today.

sacred

 

my time spent canning to me is sacred.  that i have the ability to grow, nurture and put up produce is fantastic and feeds my soul.  if you have been reading, our garden was a huge failure this year because of too much rain.  so i have felt a void this summer.  as if i should be doing something or am forgetting a chore.  the tomatoes used in this one batch of salsa that I canned were from our neighbors' garden.  they only put out five or six tomato plants and luckily they had extras.

 

 

 

 

Produce Coming Out of My Ears

Dear blog readers, it's been four days since my last confession... of blogging.  And I promise I will never say the phrase "coming out of my ears again."  It's become a habit and even I cringe when I say it because it just comes right out.  "I have got squash coming out of my ears."  I am not however tired of actually having that much squash, or cukes, or zuc, although the zucchini is playing out.  But the cucumbers are not!

We have two cucumber plants and thanks to the recent rain last week, amidst the terrific lightening storm that almost wiped out our corn, I have picked enough cucumbers over the last week that I am now on my fourth batch of Shaun's favorite pickles. 

I had a thought and in checking my canning journal.  It shows that in 2009 I canned nine batches of 3 day lime pickles.  In 2010, two batches.  In 2011, two batches.  The supply in the basement is beginning to get low.  The lack of canning in 2010 and 2011 was not because we had so many still in stock.  Well maybe partially, because I could have gotten the cukes from somewhere, but, I do recall in 2010 our crop of cucumbers was not so good.  It was dry and we had a lot of hollow cucumbers.  Then last year the crop again was not so good.  So my thought is, can all I can.  You never know what the next couple of year's garden may prove.  If I only put up two or three batches, housing five or six pints each, we will run out.  Not a huge big deal, but he eats these pickles on every sandwich he makes.  I don't want him to not have something he treasures so much.  So I will can all that these two plants will produce.  There's just no sense in not doing so in my eyes.  We planted it, the Lord is providing a good crop, I should do my best with it.  What is that called?

I don't even waste the bigger ones.  They would almost cover the whole hamburger.

 Cuckes soaking in lime.

 One batch down and one in the pot to go.

 A feat of beauty.... fair worthy.

 This is what the kitchen looks like after picking the garden.

And the tomatoes are on the porch.

Pressure Canning Tips

I did some canning yesterday.  Squash and Zucchini were the the stars of the stage.  Thirty five squash made ten pint jars and five zucchini, of various sizes, made seven pint jars.  I add in "various sizes" for I purposely used the zuc that had gotten a little out of hand.  You see, here in Tennessee, we had very high temps for a few weeks then rain, rain, rain.  The rain caused a few zucs to grow wild and out of control and the garden was too muddy to pick.  I am happy I took time on a Sunday morning to spend a few hours puttin up.  I will appreciate my efforts more when winter rolls around and I have ready-to-go squash and zuc for my minestrone soup!

While canning, I devised some tips for canning veggies.  Especially listed for pressure canning. 

Tip #1  soak rubber gasket in canner while heating up water.  this will allow it to make an easy fit and quicker seal.  this is only needed before the first batch.  after that it is already swollen.

Tip #2  splash a tablespoon of white vinegar into the pressure canner while heating water.  this will prevent your jars from becoming cloudy while cooking.

Tip #3  heat jars in microwave.  fill halfway with water and heat off and on until ready to use.  then use the boiling water in the jars to fill jars again once you put the hot veggies in.  brill.

Tip #4  loosely hold dish rag around canner to catch water until seal has formed.  it can make a big mess with an older canner.

Tip #5  you don't want your canner to constantly rattle.  when rattling begins, turn the heat down a touch until it regulates again.

Tip #6  store pressure canner weight, the little round thing that regulates pressure, wrapped in a paper towel to prevent rusting. 

Tip #7  when using a pressure canner for the first time, involve a friend.  assure them that they won't get hurt.  sometimes an extra dose of confidence is all you need.  plus canning is more fun with a friend!

Aren't these beautiful!? 

Every time I can there is always at least one or two jars that I look at and say "Oh, you're going to the Fair!"  And I am not kidding.  I take canned items to the Robertson County Fair every summer.  And canned squash as beautiful as this is surely a winner! 

giggle box garden

Finally!  The garden at the DC is planted.  Tuesday afternoon the tiller came down and before I knew it, the Mr. had tilled up a good spot.  It is not as big as our garden at home and the plants will be a little closer together.  But it's our garden.  We will dig in it, play in it, watch it grow and soon enough we will be eating lunch from it!  We planted corn, zucchini, squash, black cherry tomatoes, watermelon and flowers. 

I had a seven year old friend with me this week. Yesterday, she helped plant the garden and helped to make the garden markers. We used wide mouth canning lids and painted each veggie on them. Then poked holes in them and hung them by stakes made from coat hangers. So precious! I actually think we mixed up the squash and zucc this morning. I'll have to rearrange when I go back down to water this evening.

The seeds were soaked overnight.

 We had a plan.... and stickers!

 Corn... in an Easter egg.

 So cute.

 And I helped.

 Use a good sized nail for the hole.  Make sure not to nail it to the floor!

 Just snip a dry cleaning pants and you have a ready made hook on one end.

 I gave them a quick spray of top coat to the paint wouldn't wash off in the rain.

Plus it gave them a little shine.

 As for me... I don't miss my old office life one bit!

We look like glamorous spies... don't you think?