Salsa (Revisited)

I originally posted this recipe (tutorial) back in 2009 and thought it was time to revisit it. June is our big spring garden harvest. Depending on the size of our garden I usually spend about every other day to about once a week canning tomato soup, salsa or spaghetti sauce. 

Since our kitchen remodel coincided with canning season this year, my mom graciously let me use her kitchen for most this year's canning! Canning with family is much more fun! 

But now my kitchen is mostly done, and I broke it in making salsa!

Tomatoes never looked so good as they do in new sinks!

Now onto the salsa...

Canning Spaghetti Sauce (Large Recipe)

Spaghetti Sauce

10 cup finely chopped onion

20 cloves garlic, minced

20 tbs cooking oil

20 lbs tomatoes, peeled and cup up

or 10 28 oz can of tomatoes

10 6 ounce can tomato paste

20 tsp instant beef bouillon granules

10 tsp dried oregano, crushed

5 tsp dried basil, crushed

10 tsp sugar

5 tsp salt

10 tsp pepper

10 cup water

10 large bay leaf

1. Prepare tomatoes- scald and peel.

2. In a very large saucepan (the one I use is 16qts) saute the onion and garlic in oil

3. Add tomatoes, tomato paste, sugar, bouillon granules, oregano, basil, bay leaf, salt, pepper and stir in water.

4. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer uncovered for about 2 hours. (Until you are happy with the consistency) Stirring occasionally.

5. At about this time I put my jars in the dishwasher to clean and sanitize them.
You'll need about 25 quarts for this recipe.

6. Remove Bay leaves and simmer for 15-30 more minutes.

7. Prep the lids by putting them in hot (but not boiling water) to activate the adhesive on the back.
Lay a towel down on your counter top, line up your squeaky clean bottles on the towel and get ready to fill them.

8. Pour your sauce into the jars
9. Add 1 tbs lemon juice or vinegar to pints jars
or 2 tbs lemon juice or vinegar to quarts jars

10. Wipe off the tops with a clean rag.
This will ensure a tight seal, also its a good time to check your jars for cracks.

11. Seal the jars. Put your jars on top of the rack, making sure none of them are touching. Place the big canning lid on top of your base. When you see steam coming out the little hole on the side of the lid, set your timer for 15 minutes.
12. After 15 minutes, carefully remove the processed bottles from the rack.
You should hear popping noises when your cans are fully sealed!

Once your bottles have cooled label them with the year and what is inside!

Happy canning!

Learning to Can

 Design kit: Farmhouse Kitchen and Saturday Market by As You Wish Designs

Template: Silkstone Common 3 by Little Green Frog Designs

 Journalling:
Our garden is doing really well this year and we have lots of tomatoes, along with other vegetables. The tomatoes are usually ready to pick and can in early June. Allie is old enough to help me do the canning this year! It was so fun to work side by side in the kitchen with her and teach her about canning. She said it was lots of fun but lots of work and she is so right! We love canning our produce but we especially love eating it!

Applesauce

After making a bunch of apple pie filling the other day, I still had a ton of apples left over. Since Johnny will be eating solid food pretty soon, I thought it would be a good idea to make applesauce with the remaining apples.

Making applesauce was surprisingly easy. You don't need the peeler/corer/slicer that made the apple pie filling so easy. An apple segmenter would work just fine, because you will be straining the boiled apples and removing all the the chunks.

First, load your rings and jars into the dishwasher so they are sterilized and hot. While those are being cleaned, wash and chop your apples. Put your sliced apples into a large pot, add an inch of water to the bottom and boil. Turn the heat to medium and let apples steam until they are soft. 

I've been told if you add Red Hots candy to the boiling apples it makes the sauce super yummy! Since I was making this for Johnny I didn't try it this time.

The next step is to run the boiled apples through a sieve to mash them. You'll add the apples to the top by cup fulls. Then the sauce will come out the bottom while the peels and chunks come out the side. Be sure to have your bowls placed in the appropriate places in order to catch the sauce and the debris.

Place the strained sauce back into a large pot on the stove. You don't need to cook the applesauce further, just keep it hot until you are ready to bottle your sauce. Add sugar and cinnamon to taste.

Fill jars with sauce, leaving about a quarter inch of space on the top. Wipe jar mouths clean with a cloth and pack hot in steam canner for 20 minutes.

Applesauce is said to have a shelf life of about 3 years. You can also freeze it in tupperwears instead of canning. Frozen applesauce is said to last indefinitely.

I used about 60 apples and got 12 half pint and 2 pint jars worth of applesauce.

Instant Apple Pie

Last weekend, Dustin and Mark went to Cannonville (more on that trip later)
and brought home a whole dang bunch of apples from Grandma Bonnie!

I've never done any fruit canning.. just vegetables and jam, so I was at a loss on what to do with all these apples. I knew my sister in law, Kristi, had just done some, so I called her up and said, hey help me out! And like a good sister in law she hooked me up with a recipe and helped me with all my silly questions. Thanks Kris! It turned out to be pretty easy. The hardest part was preparing the apples. But I got one of these little gadgets. If you are wanting to can apples, it is a must! It will save you time and energy.. I was still pooped by the end of the day, but every little bit helps!

Instant Apple Pie

4 1/2 cups sugar

1 cup carnstarch

1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp nutmeg
2tsp cinnamon
10 cups water
3 tbs lemon juice
About 30 medium apples
Yields about 6 quarts

1. Peel and slice apples

2. Mix cornstarch and sugar. Add salt, nutmeg and cinnamon. Stir in water til smooth. Cook til thick and bubbly. Remove from heat. Add lemon juice.

3. Fill bottles with raw sliced apples. Pack down tight.

4. Pour enough sauce to fill bottles. Note: you may have to let the sauce settle and add more, but do not overfill. Allow about a half inch of space at the top.

5. Cold pack (meaning the sauce and apples do not have to be hot) in pressure steamer for 30 minutes. 

I trippled the recipe and got 15 quarts full and a little extra sauce. 

The sauce is so yummy I was licking the pot clean.. I might use the extra for pancake syrup!

Tell Me Tuesday: Plethora of Projects

Remember in my last post, I said that it has been a busy few weeks. Well that might have been an understatement. Our garden is flourishing, as are our children. Oh yeah, and we got new carpet. Awesome right?! Right, except the moving all our stuff outside and living out of a suitcase for a couple days.. then moving and arranging everything back. But it was totally worth it!!

So for Tell Me Tuesday this week, I wanted to share with you the plethora of projects that have been keeping me busy.

1. Spaghetti Sauce

14 quart jars and 12 quart freezer bags (no picture) worth of yumminess

(recipe here)


2. Salsa

25 pints and 3 quarts -- Dustin did all this himself. He's the man!

(recipe here)


3. Zucchini, Zucchini, Zucchini
4. Lace Earring Holder

We have sooooo many zucchinis (off of just one plant, I might add).
I've made zucchini soup, zucchini bread, zucchini with hamburger and rice and zucchini cake. The zucchini cake was our treat for FHE last night. Add some strawberries and ice cream, the kids had no clue the cake was full of veggies. Tee, hee!

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In between cooking up zucchini, I found time to make this little gem for my earrings. **love**

5. Solids

Luke started eating solid foods this week. Note the carrot stained cheeks.

That has been one of the more fun projects!



6. Matching Bedspread and Curtains

My mom and I made Allie a coordinating bedspread and curtain set. The bedspread is made from a flat sheet and the curtain from a fitted sheet. My mom is magic!



7. New Carpet

Last but not least, my new carpet!!!
I'm still working on putting my house back together but man oh man, I do NOT miss the pink stuff we ripped out. Its like a whole new house!

That's it for my project wrap up. Whew..

Linking up to Me and My Boys

Tour De Pantry

I got quite of few comments the other day asking about my pantry. (view post) So I thought I'd give ya'll a tour of my pantry/laundry room/storage area/shoe pile/utility closet. My house was built along time ago.. I'd venture to say that it is 80 years old. My great-grandpa built it. The back of the house, which pretty much consists of the master bedroom and this pantry were added in the 70's (I think). My wise Grandma Faye had this large pantry made with these weird shelves. Shelves that were slanted down... who in the heck wants to use slanted shelves????

Thankfully my grandma was a smarter woman than me. The rolling shelves allow for easier food rotation!! There is a stopper on the edge of each shelf so the cans don't roll to the floor. Which is awesome, or it would defeat the whole purpose. :P

On the other side there are regular shelves without the slant, that fit my #10 can perfectly.

Coincidence?

I think not.

Thanks grandma.

The tops shelves allow for easy storage of large items. Like my canning and gardening supplies...

and paper goods and water. These shelves are easily two feet deep. I have a lot of water stored up in the very left hand corner. See the Jaritos bottle? There are like 50 of em back there.

{Hmmm... I think I need to make a TP run soon!}

Beneath the shelving there is floor storage. I don't like to keep lots of stuff on the floor because... its the floor.. it gets dirty! So we have our shoe storage and above that our crafts storage. Next to this I have a bunch of 5 gallon buckets... but I forgot to take a picture.. oops!

Continuing on... we have the washer and dryer. Not so exciting after those rolling shelves, eh? And yes I got those rocks out of Estefan's pockets. Always check pants pockets!

Food storage is soooooooo very important!
At one time or another, nearly every family will face accidents, illness, unemployment, or other emergencies that will require them to depend on the resources they have stored.

You can buy these Shelf Reliance rotating shelves online for an ok deal. They are spendy but they are on sale right now. Also on Shelf Reliance there is a "Thrive Plan." It calculates how much food your family will need to live for a year or more.

But you don't have to spend TONS of money on a fancy food storage room. You can do like my friend Annie did and get a filing cabinet!!

She said, "i can't wait to print out the little labels for the doors. you know one is going to say: OLIVE OIL. and the other CANNED BEANS. doesn't that just scream classy?"

I love it!

The point is to have food storage, somewhere. Whether is be a pantry, a filing cabinet or under the bed!!

Though we never know when we will face a challenge that will require us to depend on the resources we have stored, we know that the Lord has said, “If ye are prepared ye shall not fear” (D&C 38:30).
President Gordon B. Hinckley reminded us in October 2005 general conference of our need to be prepared: “We can so live that we can call upon the Lord for His protection and guidance. This is a first priority. We cannot expect His help if we are unwilling to keep His commandments. … I have faith … that the Lord will bless us, and watch over us, and assist us if we walk in obedience to His light, His gospel, and His commandments.”4
Let us do all in our power to “walk in obedience” and be prepared. (lds.org)

AMEN

ETA: How awesome!! I just received an email from Raegan about food storage and preparedness. Take a look HERE for recipes and ideas!!!

Spicy Carrots

Saturday morning Dustin picked ALL of our carrots. See this bushy thing in our kids' swimming pool. Its not a bush its the carrot tops! That is a whole lotta carrots!!!

So with all these babies we bottled Spicy Carrots ALL DAY Saturday!

What you'll need: (makes 4 pint jars)
4 hot peppers
4 cloves garlic
1 tsp rosemary
2 pounds carrots, cut 3" long
2 cups water
2 cups white vinegar
3 tbs sugar
3 tbs salt

This recipe says it makes a total of four pints.
So I tripled it about eight times to get all of our carrots done.
Unless you have an enormous amount of carrots like we did you should be fine to follow the recipe as is.

Other stuff you are gonna need:
Steam Canner
Bottling Tools
Jars
Lids
Rings


1. Wash your carrots really good outside and get all the mud and gunk off.
Dustin givin' the carrots a bath

2. Just like with the tomatoes fill one side of your sink with water for the carrots to soak.

3. Peel the carrots with a potato peeler and cut them in three inch pieces
4. Put the peeled carrots in the other side of the sink to soak some more, just to make sure they are extra clean and to keep them from drying out.

5. Halve peppers lengthwise
6. In each jar put in 1 pepper, 1 garlic clove and 1/4 teaspoon rosemary
7. Pack jars full of carrots.
(Dustin really likes unions, so we put in some onions too, but that is totally optional!)

8. In a regular sized cooking pot combine water, vinegar, sugar and salt bring to a boil

9. Pour vinegar brine over carrots in the jars

10. Get all the air bubbles out of your jars. Use a butter knife and work it up and down all along the side until you don't see any more bubbles rise.
(I made Dustin do that part, cuz it is no fun.)

11. Adjust your lids and rings and process in steam canner for 20-25 minutes
12. Use your handy dandy tools and be careful of the steam, its HOT! Don't get burned!!

When we were all finished up we had 22 quarts and 8 pints!
Here's a glance into my pantry. The jars are full 6 deep. We are building up our food storage a little at a time!

****IMPORTANT!!!****
*Carrots always seem like they take a long time to seal. To ensure that you have a tight seal ALWAYS wait until you see steam coming out of the side of your canner before you start timing!

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Now some other stuff....

Markie Mark
I don't know how it always happens but he always seems to be half dressed or only in his diaper...

My primary lesson was on Ammon and missionary work so I made these little cards and future missionary tags for all my kids! Aren't they cute?!
The tutorial for the shirt is found here!!

and
Happy Father's Day!!!

Hope you spoiled all your daddies!
Have a happy Monday :)

Bottling and Bunkos

Salsa

Things you are gonna need:

Vegetable Steamer

Steam Canner

Bottling Tools

Long Stirring Spoon

Large Pot (22 Quart is plenty big)

2-3 Four Quart bowls

Food Processor

Jars

Lids

Rings

Lemon Juice or Vinegar (not both!)

and

• 1/2 bushel scalded & peeled tomatoes
• 4 green peppers
• 4 large onions
• 3 cloves of garlic
• 1/3 cup salt
• 1 tbs paprika
• 2 tbs oregano
• 6 large jalapenos
• 2-3 red chilies
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 tsp crushed basil
• 1 tbs chili powder

Ok.. now lets make some sense out of that!

**How much is a 1/2 a bushel of tomatoes??**

According to helium.com a bushel is 45lbs of tomatoes.. so a half a bushel is about 22.5 lbs of tomatoes.

I don't have a scale to weigh our tomatoes but we estimate that our wire gardening basket is about a 1/2 a bushel. And a basketful of tomatoes fills one whole side of my sink... so one whole side of your sink is about 1/2 a bushel... sorry about the guesstimate!

**scalding the tomatoes**

To scald your tomatoes you simply boil them until the crack open a little.

You'll need something like this baby

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Or you can use a regular pot and scoop the tomatoes out with a spoon. If you do have a vegetable steamer put a pizza pan underneath it when you lift it out of the pot to catch excess water! Then you don't get water on the floor :)

Fill a side of your sink with cool water. Dump the scalded tomatoes in the water to cool off. Peeling hot tomatoes burns your fingers! Once the tomatoes are cool then you can start peeling.

**peeling the tomatoes**
Scalded tomatoes peel really easily. When you cut off the top of the tomato the skin should pop right off! If it doesn't, slide your knife blade under an edge of the skin and peel it back.

I was working alone today so my pictures are minimal..

1. Put your peeled tomatoes in bowls. Chop up peppers, onions, garlic and chilies
2. Add the chopped veggies to the bowls of tomatoes
3. Put everything into a food processor on medium speed
4. Put your processed veggies into your big pot and add your spices, stir it up good

5. Let your salsa boil until it reaches your desired thickness. I let mine boil for about 45 minutes

6. When you think your salsa looks good pour it in your jars
7. Add 1 tbs lemon juice or vinegar to pints jars
or 2 tbs lemon juice or vinegar to quarts jars

**Prepare your cans just like in the Tomato Soup Tutorial. Lids go in hot water to activate gluey gunk, wipe off mouths of jars, check for cracks and seal with bottle rings**

8. Steam in canner for 20 minutes

In the end I got 7 quarts and 4 pints. Depending on the chunckiness of your salsa you could get more or less. Like with the bushel measuring thing- you just have to learn as you go.
Good luck. If you have any questions leave a comment!!

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While I was canning it started to rain. Mark loves to be outside rain or shine. He just took shelter in one of his many vehicles.

Mark in his red car

Mark is his Rhino!

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Last night was Bunko night! I love love love Bunko.
By the way do you say it Bunko or Bonko?! Am I totally saying it wrong?

Anyway it was Black and White night! Here I am with my little sis Ashley in our black and white get ups!

Ashley goes a little nutso when you give her a camera!

Most of our Bunko (Bonko) group! Fun times!!!

The END!