Making Tomato Juice

 

I found that if microwaved the fresh tomatoes for about 5 minutes I got more juice from them.

Hook up your Squeezo Strainer to the counter/table and get to work!

Year ago, (20?) we were brave and hooked the drill to the crank and we've never gone back!  It rocks!

 

You just hold the trigger down a little if you want the juice in the pan and not all over everywhere...

One bowl of tomatoes gave me 4 qts of juice.

 

I have three 2 qt jars that I used this year.  I dusted off my math skills and was able to figure out (all by myself!) that if you use 2T of lemon juice in 1 qt jar, I should use 2T in 2 qt jar.  YAY for my rockin' math skills!

To prevent splatter mess, put a big ol' sheet or drop cloth down to just cover your "stuff."  Also, the drill drips a bit so just throw a rag down.  If you do this before you begin, you don't have near the mess to clean up.  Lesson learned...

Push the tomatoes down the funnel while pressing the trigger:

JUICE!

I canned 21 qts and 1 pint of tomato juice.  It will separate and not look pretty when you are done canning.  That's okay!  IT'S NORMAL!  If you want it to be together, just give it a shake when right before you open it.  If you're adding it to a soup or stew, it doesn't matter.

So, be brave and hook up the drill and never hand crank again!

Peach & Cilantro Salsa

I'm in love with this new canning cookbook my friend got for me!

It puts all of these great tasting canning recipes in one place... I thumb through the pages, mouth watering, dreaming of the next canning day.

My dream has become my reality as I have spent the last several days canning in my kitchen.

The Salsa Verde is the best I've ever had!

Today, I am giving the peach and cilantro salsa a whirl.  

Here it is, simmering on the stove filling my home with define aroma.

The cilantro and mint wait patiently to be added to the pot just prior to canning.

You won't find the recipe posted here. I highly encourage you to purchase this cookbook.  And just so you know, I am not getting any kickback for recommending this awesome book.

Save your pennies, and you may be able to be the highest bidder at some of the auctions I donate to coming up.  Ha!

I unfortunately didn't have enough to fill the last pint jar. Therefore, I had to sit down with my bag of chips and eat it.  It was a tough job, but somebody had to do it! And I was the only one home...

Steve's Salsa

I have tried salsa recipes for years. It seems like I never have good luck canning them.  One of my friends shared this recipe and it gets rave reviews!

Steve's Salsa

24 Large tomatoes (Leave the skins on them and cut the tomatoes into at least quarters, if not smaller, for what size you want your "chunks" to be.  I had little guys so I went by 24 cups, thinking one large tomato diced equals about a cup.)

6-12 Jalapeno peppers (Six for mild and remove the seeds, I used six and left the seeds in going for a "medium", use 12 for hot.)

6 Medium onions (I used two Gargantuan ones!) 

3 large green peppers (I used two large ones because green peppers aren't my favorite.)

3 cloves garlic (I used 4 because while I don't love green peppers, I do love garlic.)

1 cup Vinegar 

1/3 cup sugar

3 Tablespoons salt

3 Tablespoons oregano

3 Tablespoons cumin

Once the tomatoes were diced, I got out the food processor and let it do the chopping for me.  In went the jalapenos, onions, peppers & garlic.  Of course, this was done in batches...

To the chopped ingredients, I added the vinegar, sugar, salt, oregano & cumin.  I stirred that up very well then I added all of the diced tomatoes; after I drained 1 1/2 cups of juice off them.  (I let them sit for a while as I visited with a friend and when I came back there was quite a bit of liquid. This is how much easily poured off.)

 

Liquid drained off:

Stir it all up!

From there I filled the pint jars, put the lids on them as one does when canning, set them in the water-bath filled with cold water.  (Just enough water so it covers the tops of all the jars.). 

I turned the burner on, brought it to a hard boil, set the timer for 20 minutes, and that batch is complete!

 

This made 13 pints of salsa.

Cost analysis:

Tomatoes - from my garden, priceless, but for the sake of a figure, we'll say FREE
Jalapenos - again, from my garden
ORGANIC Green Peppers, 3/$1 so, .66 (clearance at local market!)
garlic - .59
The vinegar, sugar*, salt, cumin* & oregano* are things I just have on hand.
Cost of lids: $1.86/box

Total out-of-pocket expense: $3.11 for 13 pints of salsa.  That's 23 cents per pint of NON GMO, home-grown, as good as it gets salsa!!!

*organic ingredients

Salsa Verde - Thanks Pinterest!

I was gifted Canning for a New Generation and have drooled over what to make out of it.  I was wasting time on Pinterest the other day and came across a salsa verde recipe that looked delicious.  Kept reading and saw that Ladyface Blog had gotten her yummy recipe from none other than the cookbook I have on my own shelf! 

Just in time, I got 10 pounds of organic tomatillos ordered for $14.00.  I had my onions and garlic on hand; as well as our jalapenos and serano peppers in the garden.  I had organic lime juice on hand but checked and it's $4.25 for 16 oz and I used a good 12 ounces of it. 

Looks like I have around $20 of cash invested in this recipe plus on hand stuff.  I know there is a dollar amount to that but I don't feel like figuring out how much my three onions cost.  To figure my labor on the garden produce - well, that's priceless so we better stick with cash.

I tripled the recipe and should have gotten 12 pints.  I got 10 1/2.  I only canned 10 pints because we're going to eat this heavenly goodness tonight; all half-pint of it!

I'm no math geek but I do believe that comes out to $2 a pint.  Other organic salsa sells for $4 - $4.25 for 16 oz.  Again, I'm no genius but I do believe I just cut the price in half!  Plus, I know exactly what went in our salsa!  I'm so excited!!!  The flavor is unbelievable and I can't wait to eat more tonight - that isn't off the spoon. 

Just another post that pinterest is always wasted if it eventually leads to action.  I just need to remind my husband of this everytime we open a jar!

Caldo de pollo

We're seeing how much money we can save this month on our food/grocery bill so soups are on the menu!  Last week, I made Locro de papas, a recipe from Ecuador and we ate it Wed, Thu & Sat nights.  Friday my parents had us over for delicious ham & beans.  This week we are having a simple caldo.  Caldo, in my experience, can be made with whichever meat you want so the title would be "caldo de pollo" if using chicken, "caldo de rez" if using beef.  One major difference in this soup is whole pieces of chicken are used; i.e. "bone-in."  Here is what I used and my costs:

In my 24 QUART stock pot (yes, it is HUGE) I added:

~ 5 lbs of "whole" chicken quarters (the thigh and leg are still connected).  Cost: $2.50
~ 5 lbs potatoes quartered (organic) Cost: $2.50
~ 2 lbs carrots chopped large (organic) $1.25
1 bunch celery, chopped large (organic) Cost: $.25
2 whole onions, chopped Cost: Free from gleaning onion field near-by.
2 orange tomatoes, chopped large Cost: Free garden produce, donated plants so time only
Filled pot with water
Added dash of salt, some black pepper and 3 cloves garlic

Total cost: $6.50
Fed ~ 35-40 people; which makes the cost per person: 35 people = $.19/person and 40 people = .16/person. 

An option for those who don't want to eat it every day for a week would be to freeze it for future meals "on-the-go."  We are eating it often for specific purposes I will share with you later.

Canning Season 2011 Complete

Lots of jam and jelly made this year!

Right to Left: Pears, dill pickles and dilly beans
bottom shelf: zuchini, dill pickles, dilly beans, beans

You can barely see the jars of applesauce from last year (not canning any this year)
PEACHES! I love the peaches this year.

Tomatoes. I love canning tomatoes. I am not sure how many I canned total, but kept 63 qts for us. Canned for my mom and two brothers, too.

First year doing hot peppers! They are pickled but not dill so think nacho style hot peppers.

First year doing Dilly Beans - my Mom has done them in the past.

First year doing Zuchini Pineapple! I can't wait to try it! I bought organic pineapple juice and used the zukes from my garden so I'm very excited. Think crushed pineapple and that's the texture.

I enjoyed canning this year. I missed the time spent with my Mom but feel real good about having a nicely stocked pantry with most of it from our garden or own fruit trees!

Apples are soon but since I have applesauce and apple butter left from last year, it will be low-key and I'll dry more apples for snacks and granola. All in all, I feel great about the bounty the Lord blessed us with and look forward to eating quality food from our garden this winter. Now, if my freezer was stocked with home grown beef or better yet, elk or deer, I'd have no complaints what-so-ever!

Canning Season 2011

Canning season is underway. In past years, I have purchased most of the stuff I was canning and so it was a huge project that plumb wore me out but it was over in a matter of days...

Now, I am canning from the garden so it seems like a never ending canning season. One batch today, two yesterday, one tomorrow, all spread out, taking FOREVER!

I know I prefer the first way as far as my time goes and having canning stuff out forever but price wise, my investment were the plants or seeds (some were free), my organic spray I use from Melaleuca and our time.

So, I guess I prefer the way I'm doing it this year as opposed to past years since my quarts of green beans and tomatoes have become pennies to the dollar now and they're exactly what I want - natural, no chemicals and I know what we're getting.

Jams have been made and canned, too, using Chillover Powder from MaryJane's Farm. I LOVE IT! I need to order some more so I can finish my jam making for the year.

Back to grindstone, I'm ready for quilting days to come.

Vermicomposting Take 2

A few months ago, I was so excited to bring you my new adventure in composting with worms, aka vermicomposting. I told you I'd bring you an update on how to get the compost from the worms and increase your worm population....

Today was a gorgeous sunny day so we took advantage of the sun and went outdoors - with our worm bin.

We dumped the composted material and worms onto a black garbage bag and let them dig for cover. It quickly came apparent that they were working hard on reproducing because there were eggs everywhere! Not wanting to distrub the eggs and not wanting to loose the worms to the garden, I had DH make a new composting bin for me.

Digging for worms!

In that new bigger bin, I put new newspaper and some coffee grounds. These went on side of the bin. On the other side of the bin, 75% of the compost and worms. They will gradually move to the clean side and start feeding and living. The babies will hatch and move to the food, too. Then, I will be able to easily scoop up the vacated compost on the one side of the bin to use for my garden starts!!!

In my original little bin, I put the 25% compost and worms, along with new bedding, same situation as above. This is my indoor bin. I will now work on growing this population, just like I did before.

How many worms do I have? Thousands!!! I couldn't scoop one handful of compost without there being several worms in it. They are all over... and it was beautiful.

And, I think I may have found a way to get my niece to stop biting her fingernails. She had no idea that the "dirt" was actually worm poop!!! Once she found out, she hasn't bit her nails since. Next time I see her with her fingers in her mouth - "to the compost bin, you go!"

Vermicomposting!

I ordered my start-up sytem from Azure Standard and couldn't wait to open my worms! Everything I've read about composting says the best way is composting with worms. Redworms, to be exact. Did you know they can consume up to half their weight in "food" a day? So my 1,000 red worms weigh about 1 lb and can consume 1/2 lb of scraps a day! WHOO HOO!!!!

1. Start with a nice size tote with holes drilled in the bottom and sides.
2. Add some dirt on the bottom - sprinkle with water so it's moist.
3. Add moist shredded newspaper on top of the dirt. (see below):


4. Get about a pound of redworms, 1000 count.

5. GENTLY dump them in the bin on top of the paper:

6. Watch them dive for cover!
7. Add some food for them to start eating!

8. Put lid on!

9. Set in isolated dark area that doesn't freeze nor an area that will bake the little crawlers. (We choose a corner in our pantry that works for us.)

10. Bury the food under the paper and then just work clockwise around and by the time you do that, you can just keep going!

Other things:

~They don't like vibrations - washer/dryer for example

~ The bedding needs to be kept moist but not wet.

~ Don't bother them too much!

~ Under the tote, place tin to catch any water - or something to keep it from making a mess.

What to feed them?

The easiest answer is what NOT to feed them. Same as a compost pile outside.

NO meats, fats or dairy!
All fruit and veggies plus grains.

They LOVE coffee grounds and filters AND tea bags!

NO metal or other noncompostable material.

Yes to dryer lint but that can be thrown in the garden and tilled in, too.

I'll write about how to separate the worms from the compost and also how to expand your worm popluation to increase production - later.

This compost is SO valuable! You will use it in your garden, beds and anywhere you are planting something!!! Plus, you are decreasing your footprint by sending less to the landfill and saving money by not buying mulch or any other planting soil!

Questions? Suggestions? Let's here 'em!

Strawberry Lavender Jam

I tried my hand at Strawberry Lavender Jam this year. I had 4 lbs of strawberries and too many to count lavender plants outside so I set out in search of the perfect recipe and by George, I FOUND IT!

Here you see the strawberries and lavender boiling. That's an important step in jam making:

See the Lavender? The smell was out of this world delicious!!!

I also found a new use for my Pampered Chef mix-n-chop - it works perfectly for mashing fruit in jam making. I used it for my peach recipes, too.

8 nicely sealed jars of the nectar:

And here's where I remembered to take a picture of it on my toast. I probably shouldn't tell you this was my second piece....

The one different thing to this recipe than anything else I've made is the overnight step of letting the lavender, strawberries and sugar mix flavors. I think that proved to make the lavender really come through in a nice, not overpowering but "I'm here!" way.

My Garden

Jesus, I want the garden of my life to be a beautiful and bountiful as You. Create in me a rich and fertile soil, O God, and clean out every weed that keeps me from enjoying Your presence and bringing You glory. Your Book is full of inspiration for gardeners of the heart. There I come to know and love You, the Master Gardener, and delight in Your wisdom. (With help from Karla Dornacher's book, "Down a Garden Path.")

Today I planted my garden. YEAH! My Dad and Roy went and got the rototiller, peet moss and some railroad ties to make it all nice. While they did that, with Paco's help, I ran to the nursery to buy some plants.

We planted tomato plants of different varieties, a variety of cucumbers, summer squash, butternut squash and jalapeno of course! 13 tomato plants, 4 nice cucumber hills, zuccini and squash to boot! Still to plant: lettuce, radish, carrots and basil to boost productivity in the tomato plants and also a natural repellant to bugs.

I love playing in the dirt. I love seeing things grow and to be able to eat food we have raised! I can't wait to have such an abudance that it is time to make and can salsa, tomato sauce, jelly, pickels and to taste the butternut squash dessert at Thanksgiving... yummy!

I will try and get a nice picture of my garden and post it. It's still a work in progress but at least the weeds are under control - for the time! ha!