Oh my goodness, last week was a canning/freezing/drying extravaganza around here. Three five gallon buckets of tomatoes became Addictive Tomato Chutney, my favorite salsa, quartered tomatoes, BBQ sauce, and lots of Roasted Tomato/Vegetable Sauce.
I also used some Black Cherry and regular cherry tomatoes to make some of the roasted tomato sauce, which turned out really good, I think. They are quite a bit juicier, so I think I’ll have to add a can of tomato paste when I cook with it, but the flavor was great and it was even easier than using regular tomatoes! I simply threw the tomatoes into the roasting pan whole, tossed them and the added veggies with olive oil, garlic, seasonings and balsamic- no cutting or coring necessary.
Oh, I love it when an easy thing gets even easier- I also love that I found a way to use the millions of cherry tomatoes our two plants put out!
Our food dryer ran pretty much 24/7 in order to dry the 2-1/2 five gallon buckets of Italian plums. We ended up with 10 quart bags of dried plums, canned Spicy Plum Sauce, and a few jars of “plum nectar” – a new recipe that mixed plum juice with some apple and lemon juice. I thought it would be fun to have on hand to mix with sparkling water.
There are less tomatoes this week, thank goodness, ’cause it’s a busy one. Time for the slow cooker and a couple of quick meals in between ours and our daughter’s activities, plus *deep breath* my 30th high school reunion this weekend. Gah.
Monday- Slow Cooker Pork Stew, Easy Artisan Bread, tomato salad
Tuesday- Pakistani Kima (new from the More With Less cookbook), brown rice, roasted carrots, peppers, and onions (with a curry-type seasoning)
Wednesday- eat out (daughter’s away xcountry meet)
Thursday- Slow Cooker Spiced Whole Chicken, Broiled tomatoes with spinach & cheese (new recipe), Parmesan Rice Cakes (using leftover brown rice), green salad
Friday- Homemade Tomato Soup, tuna melts on homemade bread, peppers with ranch dip
Saturday- 30th HS reunion dinner *gasp*
Sunday- Creamy Pesto Pasta with chicken (left from Thursday), veggie plate
-Jami
I believe a cottage can be anywhere or anything (condo, ranch, farmhouse) as long as you have a "cottage mentality" which puts people above things, celebrates imperfections, embraces simplicity, and finds joy in everyday life. Thanks for joining me!
The tomato soup is going on my to try List! Looks so good.
I just started drying items this year, how do you store them for maximum longevity? I’m using canning jars with oxygen packs in them, then using my food saver to take out what oxygen is left in the can. These are items I’ll use regularly over the next 3 months. Then on longer storage items I’m putting them in food savor bags with an oxygen pack then sealing them in a mylar bag. I know I’m not storing these items for 30 years, but I would like them to last just in case I don’t get around to using them within a year. Am I over doing it or is safety the best policy?