Tomatoes Out Our Ears - I'm canning like mad!!!

This spring I planted tomatoes and bell peppers because it seemed like the thing to do.  I planted Big Boy, Black Krim, Super Sauce, Steakhouse, and Super Steak tomatoes.  The Big Boys have been a little disappointing compared to other years, but the others are about to bury me, so I've been canning them.  

At 18 ounces, my Super Sauce tomatoes are too big to fit into a pint canning jar, as are my Steakhouse tomatoes, at over 1 1/2 pounds!

Here's a Super Sauce.

Here's a Steakhouse.

I usually can my tomatoes in a boiling water bath canner, but I also process them in a pressure canner.  It just depends on what I feel like using.  I processed my first two batches this year using the water bath canner, but I think I'll be using the pressure canner for the rest of them; it's a little faster and uses less water.

How I Can Tomatoes (Hot Pack)

Always select PERFECT tomatoes.  Slightly underripe is fine.  Overripe is a big no-no.  Don't worry about washing them really well, because you're going to remove the skins.  I rinse them off quickly to remove dirt.

If you don't have time to process your tomatoes right away, you can just freeze them whole in bags or containers.  When you thaw them, the skins will slip off easily - no blanching!  I usually don't do that because I keep my freezer pretty full of Other Things.

To remove the skins by blanching, fill a pot (about 6 quarts) with water and bring it to boiling.  Cut a 2-inch X on the blossom end of each tomato.  Using a fry basket, spider skimmer, or slotted spoon, dip tomatoes into the water for about 30 seconds.  Remove from the boiling water and immerse in ice water (I use a BIG bowl or the well-cleaned sink).  The skins should come right off.

I cut the tomatoes into quarters or halves and remove the seeds.  Put the first three or four tomatoes in the bottom of a pot and "squish 'em good" with a potato masher.  Heat them to a simmer.  As you cut up, core, and seed the rest of the tomatoes, put them in the pot.  Heat them all up to a boil and simmer 5 minutes.

Immediately ladle the tomatoes into canning jars to within 1 inch of the rim, wipe off the jar rim, place a lid and ring (two-piece lids) on the jars, place into the canner and process.  It will be easier if you use a canning funnel when you fill the jars.  Only use NEW lids - don't reuse them.

For a water bath canner, place the canner rack in the bottom of the canner.  Cover the jars with boiling water to at least 1 inch above their tops.  Bring the water to a moderate boil and keep it there for 20 minutes (pints) or 25 minutes (quarts).  When the processing time is over, turn off the heat and let sit for 10 minutes.

For a pressure canner, place the canner rack in the bottom of the canner, add 3 quarts (or the amount specified by your canner's instructions) of boiling water to the canner, place the jars in the canner, lock the lid.  Look for a steady stream of steam out of the vent.  Exhaust the air from the canner by allowing the steam to flow for 10 minutes.  Place the regulator weight on the vent.  Bring the pressure up to 10 pounds (using a three-piece regulator weight) or 11 pounds (using a gauge) for 10 minutes (pints or quarts) OR 15 pounds for 1 minute.  Check your canner's instructions.  After processing time is finished, turn off the burner or remove the canner (CAREFULLY - it's heavy!) from the heat.  The pressure will reduce until the air vent/cover lock drops.  Remove the weighted regulator and let sit for 2 minutes.  Remove the lid and let sit for 10 minutes.

Remove jars from the canner with a jar lifter and place on a dry dish towel on the counter.  Cover the jars with a second dish towel to keep the jars out of any drafts while they cool.  You may hear the lids click when they seal.  Let them sit overnight.  Check the lids for a seal.  The centers of the lids should stay down when you press on them.  Remove the rings, wipe down the jars, label, and store.  If a jar doesn't seal, either reprocess it or put it in the refrigerator and use as soon as possible.

Use within 18 months to two years.  They'll be just fine that long.  

That Darned Knee! And Cranberry White Chocolate Chip Cookies - A New-to-Me Recipe

I haven't been posting regularly the past couple of weeks because we've had yet ANOTHER setback with The Knee That Won't Cooperate.  

After the first replacement, infection, debridement, wound vac, once-a-day IV antibiotics (administered by yours truly, about five minutes each time), removal of the knee implant, installation of an antimicrobial spacer, twice-a-day IV antibiotics (again, administered by yours truly, taking about 1 1/2 hours each time), and finally a new replacement, more infection was discovered three weeks ago.  So, out came the nice new implant and another spacer took its place.  

Now I'm giving yet another IV antibiotic, this time by the old-fashioned drip method, three times a day, over four hours each time, which means I have to do something with the IV every four hours, around the clock.  Can you imagine being hooked up to an IV bag twelve hours a day?  UGH.  I don't know whether I'd have the patience.

Anyway, it's getting really, really OLD.

And on top of that, my tomato plants are PRODUCING, so I'm also trying to fit in canning sessions.  I have a couple dozen of the monster tomatoes waiting for me on the kitchen counter, and a bunch more staring at me from the garden through the back windows.  The plants look more and more disreputable, and the tomatoes look more and more red, ripe, and HUGE every day.

But for something different, I decided to try a new cookie recipe.  After all, cookies are pretty quick and easy, and these just sounded interesting.  That Man has been scarfing them down, so I guess that's a pretty good endorsement!

Cranberry White Chocolate Chip Cookies

1 1/8 c (1 c plus 2 T) all-purpose flour

1/2 t salt

1/2 t baking soda

1/2 c refrigerated butter, diced

1/4 c granulated sugar

1/2 c dark brown sugar

1 large egg, room temperature

1/2 t vanilla extract

1 1/2 c (7-oz bag) Decas Farms Julienne Cut Baking Cranberries

1 c white chocolate chips (the original recipe called for 1/2 c, but, hey, chocolate!)

Makes about 3 dozen cookies.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Spray cookie sheets or line with parchment paper.

Whisk together flour, salt, and baking soda and set aside.

In a separate bowl, cream the butter, then add the sugars and beat until light and fluffy.  Add the egg and vanilla and beat well.  Slowly add the flour mixture and blend.  Stir in the cranberries and white chocolate chips.

Drop by rounded teaspoons onto cookie sheets, leaving about an inch between them.  Bake 10 to 12 minutes.  Allow to cool on the cookies sheets before removing.

The Mid-Summer Yard and Garden Tour - Something's Growing! (Part 2)

The garden, which had an inauspicious start and was so sparse just a few weeks ago, is starting to really look like something's happening!  The peppers are peppering and the tomatoes are tomato-ing!

The garden has nearly exploded with growth!  There are tomatoes and peppers all over the plants.  I'm looking forward to the harvest!

The Late Spring Flower (and Garden!) Tour - Part 2

It's the time of year when the green growing things are REALLY growing, so the yard and garden change REALLY fast!

So I wandered around the yard today to see what's happening, and here's what I found, plus the dumb porch birds from a few days ago...

Species daylilies along the
back of the house weren't blooming
at all last week..

Species daylily closeup.

Not a lot to see here, but after
the original tomato and pepper
plants got nibbled down to the
ground, I put in NEW plants.

I was sitting on the porch and
this house finch came along to keep
me company!

Again, I was sitting on the porch when I took this picture.
This bird is building a nest in my hanging pot of impatiens.
We may have baby birds soon!  

Stella d' Oro daylilies by
the mailbox.  They started
blooming last week. 

Suddenly, Garden! But Then Again...

I didn't have much of a garden last year, or the year before.  My knee had gotten really bad two years ago, and last year I was taking care of somebody else's knee, so...

Anyway, this was going to be the year of the garden restoration.  I weeded around the asparagus patch and dug up the rest of the plot.  In an earlier post, I told about how I'd received the plants I'd ordered from Burpee - delivered upside-down.  I had to wait a week until it was warm enough and hadn't rained the day before.  The weather finally cooperated and the plants went into the ground.

Rosemary

Basil

Bell Pepper

Super Steak Tomato

Super Sauce Tomato

Big Boy Tomato

Here they are - all recovered from their rough treatment by UPS!  Don't they look like happy plants?

Well, we've since had several days with rain, so, again, I couldn't do much in the garden.  When I got out there after a particularly hard rain to check the baby plants, one of the tomatoes was broken off.  Well, the fortunes of war and all that.

Another couple of days of rain, and when I got out there again this past weekend, I found...the rosemary and basil plants.  What the heck?  When I looked more closely at where I had planted the tomato and pepper plants, I found...this:

Nothing but an inch or two of their stems.  Somebunny has been in my garden!  Somebunny is on my naughty list!


We've had a LOT of rabbits and their offspring cavorting in our yard this spring and thought how adorable!  How innocent!  How cute!

Well, no more.  The little stinkers have attacked my poor baby plants.  They are officially not welcome in my garden, darn them.

I've reordered plants, and now we go to war!  I'm putting up a fence.

Sweet and Sour Red Cabbage, and My Eighth and Ninth Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) Boxes - What I Got (The Late Reveal!)

The Eighth Box

I obviously received my eighth and ninth CSA boxes a while back, but I just had to complete the series and show you what my last two boxes contained!

The eighth box included tomatoes, sweet peppers, onions, carrots, and beets, and the ninth box, tomatoes, sweet peppers, potatoes, and carrots - lots of carrots!

I've chopped and frozen most of the onions and peppers, and eaten the tomatoes and potatoes, and some of the carrots (raw).

I still have some of the onions, all the beets, and a lot of the carrots.  I have plans for the beets and carrots, and you'll hear about them in time.

But today, I used one of the onions.  I never got to an Oktoberfest celebration this year - it rained and rained, and I wasn't going to wade through the mud.  I can wait until next year.

In the meantime, I decided to make German cuisine in my own kitchen.  

Today I was inspired to make red cabbage.  The recipe I use is called Rhineland Sweet-Sour Red Cabbage from the original Crockery Cookery cookbook, written by Mabel Hoffman.  YUM!  I've had a hankering for it for weeks, so I went a little crazy and made it.  I'll have a couple of other German recipes in the next couple of weeks, so stay tuned!

The onion came from one of my CSA boxes, but the red cabbage, alas, did not  We never received any cabbage, red or green, so I bit the bullet and headed to the store to buy a couple of heads.  It's a simple, foolproof way to make delicious red cabbage.  

Here's the recipe (my paraphrase):

Rhineland Sweet-Sour Red Cabbage (6 to 8 servings)

6 slices bacon, cooked and chopped (reserve 3 T bacon grease in the skillet)*
1 large head red cabbage, shredded
1 medium onion, chopped
6 T brown sugar
3 T flour
2 t salt
1/4 t pepper
3/4 c water
6 T vinegar

Put the cabbage, onion, and bacon in a 3 1/2- or 4-quart slow cooker.  Mix together the bacon grease, sugar, flour, salt, and pepper.  Stir in the water and vinegar.  Pour over the cabbage, onion, and bacon in the slow cooker.  Cover and cook on low 4 hours.  If the cabbage isn't cooked to your liking, turn the heat up to high for 1/2 hour.  Stir and serve.

*If you want the preparation to go even faster, here's a shortcut - chop up 6 slices of pre-cooked bacon and put it in the slow cooker with the cabbage and onion, and use 3 T of vegetable oil instead of the bacon grease.

My Seventh Communitty Supported Agriculture (CSA) Box - What I Got

I picked up my produce box at Teter Organic Farm, and on the way home, it started to rain - a real frog strangler!  I was glad I got my stuff loaded into the car before all THAT started.  We've had a lot of rain the past few days, and I'm tired of it - UGH.

So this week, we got some mixed salad greens (two bags!), some assorted small sweet peppers, more new potatoes (YAY!), slicer tomatoes, cherry tomatoes (I didn't take any since I'm not a fan), beets (double-YAY!), and some bonus bell peppers.

I'm looking forward to making wilted lettuce again - break out the bacon!!!  And more roasted potatoes.  Or, I have a recipe to try for roasted chicken breasts, potatoes, and carrots that sounds REALLY good.

And the beets - one of my favorites.  I'm afraid that when I cook these, they'll bleed all over the place and look pale and washed out.  To prevent that, you're supposed to leave a couple of inches of the stems on, but alas, there are no stems on these lovelies.  Maybe roasted they won't do that.  I'll need to do some research!

This is also the first week of  EGG SHARES!  For the next eight weeks, I'll pick up a dozen eggs every other week.  The new chickens have finally started to lay, so now we can not only provide eggs to families who attend the free Thursday night dinners at the church and donate eggs to a local food pantry, but we can sell shares.  The idea is for the shares to cover the costs of keeping the chickens, making them a sustainable part of the farm.  Of course, I'm super excited to get my paws on some "fruit of hen" because I help care for the lovely ladies.  Some of their eggs are beyond jumbo, so it will be fun to watch for double yolks!

My Sixth Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) Box - What I Got

This week, the CSA distributed tomatoes, red onions, more new potatoes (YAY!), radishes (meh), carrots, cherry tomatoes (again, meh), and assorted sweet peppers.  I really enjoyed my new potatoes last time - I roasted them in the oven, and they were delicious! 

I left the cherry tomatoes and radishes to be donated to a local food pantry.  Radishes and I don’t get along very well, and I just can’t bear to eat another cherry tomato!  I’m all cherry tomato-ed out. 

I have lots of my own tomatoes, too, because my five volunteer plants have kept pace with the three intentional plants’ production, so I’m pretty well covered up with tomatoes!  I've given away several bags of the red scourge, and I’m considering making and canning stewed tomatoes.  That would use up the tomatoes, some of the onions, and some of the peppers.  I’m definitely going to chop up the onions I don’t need for the stewed tomatoes and freeze them.   I use chopped onions all winter for chili, soups, sloppy joes, and other yummy stuff!

Caprese Salad - A CSA Box Recipe

Caprese Salad

Tomatoes, sliced
Olive oil
Salt
Fresh mozarella cheese
Fresh basil leaves, chiffonade (about 10-15 leaves)
Balsamic glaze

Arrange tomato slices on a plate or platter.  Drizzle olive oil over the slices.  Lightly salt all the tomatoes.  Arrange the cheese pieces and basil leaves over the tomatoes.  Drizzle balsamic glaze over all.

This is a great way to use up the late summer tomato explosion, and it's quick and easy to make.   

Ratatouille (A CSA Box Recipe)

Ratatouille

Sauce:
2 T olive oil
1 onion, diced
4 cloves garlic, minced
4 bell peppers (not green), diced
salt/pepper to taste
28 oz canned tomatoes, crushed
2T fresh basil, chiffonade (8-10 leaves)

Saute onion,garlic, and peppers.  Add tomatoes and heat well.  Add basil.

Vegetables:
2 eggplants
6 roma tomatoes
2 yellow summer squash
2 zucchini

Slice vegetables about 1/8” thick.

Herb Seasoning:
2 T fresh basil, chiffonade (8-10 leaves)
1 clove garlic, minced
2 T fresh parsley, chopped
2 t fresh thyme
Salt/pepper to taste
1/4 c olive oil

Mix all together.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

To Assemble:
In a 9”x13” baking pan (or a 12” round pan), spread sauce even and level.  Arrange vegetables in an alternating pattern (squash, eggplant, zucchini, tomato) on top of sauce, slices on their edges.  Pour the herb seasoning over vegetables. Cover with foil and bake 40 minutes. Uncover and bake another 20 minutes.

My Third Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) Box - What I Got

Another CSA box from Teter Organic Farm!

This week we received zucchini or yellow squash, cucumbers, tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, red onions, carrots, and scallions!

There were actually two containers of cherry tomatoes, but I traded them for some zucchini.  I haven't had a chance to do much with them yet because I left to visit my sister a few days after picking up the box.

However, I DID make zucchini bread (again) and refrigerator pickles - watch for recipes on Wednesdays!  I also ate some steamed zucchini with butter - simple, but oh, so tasty!  It's easy to overcook, though. 

I've been trying to eat up the cherry tomatoes, but there are SO MANY.  That's the way cherry tomatoes are - prolific.  I haven't grown them in years because there was a year I had ONE plant, and for the following several years I had volunteers all over the garden.  It doesn't take a green thumb to grow cherry tomatoes!

When I return from Kentucky, I'll start feasting!