tis the season

I was seriously walking through the yard towards the shop on a hot, humid, not to mention balmy afternoon yesterday while singing "It's the most wonderful time of the year".  Santa's got it all wrong!  Summer time, tomato time, garden time, seventy at night time is, in my own opinion, the most wonderful time of the year.

Tis also the time of year for fruit flies... gnats... in your house if you have any piece of fruit or vegetable sitting out for any length of time in your home.  If you've seen one please believe me there are more.  Many more.  I have shared my recipe for gnat juice twice now and felt the need to share it again.  Mainly because I had to log on today to look up the recipe myself.

By the way, one of my sisters, in a pinch, made the gnat juice using regular white vinegar and it worked.  So if that's all you've got by all means try it!  You will be amazed at how quickly the little buggers go for the concoction!

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.

theeyy'rre baaacck

after seeing a few tiny black foreign beings flying around my house, i realized that I needed to look up my homemade recipe for gnat juice.  i honestly don't know why they come in this time of year.  maybe it's the (very few) tomatoes brought in from the garden and left to ripen in the window sill or maybe they just fly in when the doors open and close in the evenings.  regardless... they get in somehow and must be dealt with in a serious manner. 

 

i mixed up a batch of my infamous gnat juice and y'all, i kid you not, i had one swirling around the air right over the mixing bowl as i was pouring it into the decorative small jars and candle holders i chose to display my potion in.  this recipe makes enough for me to have  one in the kitchen, dining room, pantry and bathroom.  for some reason they like the moisture and humidity in there.  or maybe they just like to annoy me in there.  either way, they must go.  the recipe is simple and it goes a little something like this....

 

Gnat Juice

1 cup water

1/2 cup cider vinegar

1 tablespoon dish washing liquid

 

stir together and pour into little bowls for display.

the gnats will be laying at the bottom of the juice before you know it.

 

 

here's the original post

 

 

 

i feel better now.

xo, laurie