Tomatoes!

As I've mentioned quite a few times, I volunteer at the Farmer's Market on Wednesdays. Today, my stand had a sale too good for me to pass up: Roma tomatoes at $1/#, with the option of buying a 20# box. Done!

So I bought 20# of Roma tomatoes and figured I'd start my canning-tomato-life tonight. (I know, I know, I move in 3 days, but I couldn't pass that up!)

Using this as my spring-off point, I canned half of my box tonight. It made 3 quarts and 4 pints. I put them all in the canner together, as I don't see that it will be a problem being as they need the same time anyways.

This'll be my smartest canning set-up in this apartment yet. I used Francesca's advice and heated my jars in the oven to sterilize, I used the magnetic telescoping wand from a screwdriver to fetch out my heated lids, and my canner has a basket that I will use to remove my jars!

They have to be in the waterbath for 85 mins, so we'll see how pretty they are when I'm done!

Update: lookit how pretty they are!

Also, this is all of the potatoes that I dug up from all of the potatoes that I planted:

For reference, the largest is about the size of a half dollar. :-P

Some Food Stuff

So today in Theory, the lovely girl who sits behind me had a present for me: Cranberry Marmalade! I told her I'd have to bring her some applesauce. Isn't that the sweetest thing? She said she felt like such a goof having it in her bag, and that it was a lame gift. In case you couldn't tell, we've bonded over food. She told me that I should bring her on my honeymoon to King Arthur Flour-land. So I'm currently making a batch of rolls to spread delicious marmalade upon. I have to report back, after all!

Update: verdict? OMG delicious.

Speaking of cranberries, this recipe for pickled cranberries sound intriguing. Just look at how pretty they are!



Also, tasty looking Chicken and Dumplings



Also a few ideas for wedding stuff.

Honey in a cute little jar as a favor! Love it!


Absolutely beautiful calligraphy on those envelopes. Must use...


And a cute looking Scarf Pattern.

Applesauce

The other day, L and I raided the damaged produce cart at the grocery store. We came home with four packs of tomatoes, one pack of red peppers, and one pack of apples. All of the tomatoes and one single pepper have been turned into meat sauce (which was then turned into lasagne last night OM NOM NOM), and just the apples taunted me. I knew that I wanted to make applesauce, especially as I'd opened my last jar a few weeks ago. The fact that the sauce inside was runny and too sweet was mildly disappointing.

So today, I chopped up all of the apples, added a bit of water and the runny applesauce and set it to cook down. It cooked down about 5 hours or so, and then I deemed it worthy. :-P (As the previous applesauce was too sweet, I didn't add any additional sugar or spices.)

Keeping in mind my failure recently, and remembering that I STILL am without my jar lifters (grr), I was a little more cautious this time around. Heeding Francesca, I popped the jars into the oven to warm, instead of submerging them in hot water. I then took great care in using my silicone gripper and a wide spatula when lowering the jars into the water.

According to my Ball Blue Book of Canning, applesauce should be waterbath canned for 20 mins. They've been in there for at least 10 minutes (I'm timing for when the LAST jar went in, because you can't overprocess them by a few minutes) and when they are done, I will remove the WATER with a measuring cup (I did this last time to great effect) and thus, minimize any attempts to burn myself.

When this is all complete, I will have 7 jelly jars (8oz) of applesauce for the minimal price of $1.

UPDATE: Success! 7 jars and no burns! :-D

Pickle Party Results

So I had J and M over to taste the pickles that I made a month ago. The party is over, and it definately looks like good times were had!



We wound up having nibbles all evening (pita chips, hummus, bread, two cheeses, cherry tomatoes, chocolate, and my grape mulled cider), and so dinner never actually was made. As an aside, we went through one whole quart of cider -- it only makes three mugs. I need to make more!

But, we all had nibbles of pickles as well, and I sent each girl home with a jelly jar of pickles (whatever their favorite was).



As you can see, the first batch, the Bread and Butter, was not well received. The common thought is that there is too much mustard seed, and they might be good on sandwiches (thanks J for that suggestion!). The next batch, the Montego Boy, was J's favorite. It was fairly sweet, but still tasty and flavorful. The last batch, the Sweet Pickle Spears, was M's favorite. It was very sweet, with a little bit of an odd aftertaste (both the SPSs and the BnBs used a lot of turmeric and mustard seed, so it could be that), and I felt would be better cold. All in all, if I had to pick one, I would make the Montego Boy again in a heartbeat. The fact that I didn't have to use the water bath canner made it all the better.

Canning Pickles

En route back home from Camp, Mister and I stopped at my mother's house and received many vegetables. So, with a friend, J, hanging out, I made three batches of pickles with the cukes; two batches on Wednesday, August 11th, and one today. I have to wait 4-6 weeks before eating them (although J and I nibbled at one batch just to check :-P -- it will be VERY tasty). Here are the three recipes:

Bread and Butter Pickles

Yield: about 7 pints

-- 4 lbs. 4-6" cucumbers, cut into 1/4" slices
-- 2 lbs. onions, thinly sliced (about 8 small)
-- 1/3 c. canning salt
-- 2 c. sugar
-- 2 Tbs. mustard seed
-- 2 tsp. turmeric
-- 2 tsp. celery seed
-- 1 tsp. ginger
-- 1 tsp. peppercorns
-- 3 c. vinegar

Combine cucumbers and onion slices in a large bowl, layering with salt; cover with ice cubes. Let stand 1.5 hours. Drain; rinse; drain again. Combine remaining ingredients in a large saucepan; bring to a boil. Add drained cucumbers and onions and return to a boil. Pack hot pickles and liquid into hot jars, leaving 1/4" headspace. Process 10 mins in a boiling-water canner.
--- Ball Blue Book of Preserving
** I made 3 quarts and a bit -- I also didn't have celery seed, so didn't use it.

Sweet Pickle Spears

Yield: about 10 half-pints

-- 4 lbs. 3-4" cucumbers, cut lengthwise into spears
-- 4 c. sugar
-- 3 3/4 c. vinegar
-- 3 Tbs. canning salt
-- 4 tsp. celery seed
-- 4 tsp. turmeric
-- 1 1/2 tsp. mustard seed

Cover cucumbers with boiling water; let stand 2 hours. Drain. Combine remaining ingredients in a large saucepan. Bring to a boil. Pack cucumbers into hot jars, leaving 1/4" headspace. Ladle hot liquid over cucumbers, leaving 1/4" headspace. Process 10 mins in a boiling-water canner.
--- Ball Blue Book of Preserving
** I made 4 quarts -- and still didn't use celery seed.

"Montego Boy" Sweet Chips


-- 4 lbs. small kirby cucumbers, cut into 1/4" slices
-- cauliflower florets (optional)
-- 1 quart + 1 2/3 c. vinegar
-- 3 Tbs. canning salt
-- 1 Tbs. mustard seed
-- 1/2 c. + 3 c. sugar
-- 1 Tbs. allspice
-- 2 1/4 tsp. celery seed

Prepare scalding brine (1 qt. vinegar, salt, mustard see, 1/2 c. sugar). Bring to a boil. Scald vegetables in boiling hot scalding brine in small batches briefly until skin changes color. Drain. Pack immediately into hot jars. Prepare packing syrup (1 2/3 c. vinegar, 3 c. sugar, allspice, celery seed). Bring to a boil. Fill jars with hot syrup to 1/8" from top. Seal. Invert jars for at least 5 minutes (or until sealed). Stand away from drafts.
--- Old Farm Pickles and Table Preserves Recipes
** This made just under 4 quarts -- still don't have celery seed.

No Spending Month

So I've already started our No Spending Month to a bad start -- I went out with a group of friends for drinks, nibblies, and karaoke last night. I spent $37 -- which really isn't that bad for all that we did. So maybe I'll have my No Spending Month go to 9/7 to make up for my lack.

We have so many veggies in the house at the moment, I'm really excited to use them! J said that she'll hang out while I make pickles (she's not interested in pickle-making, but when I said I didn't need enthusiasm just convo, she said she'd love to hang), so I should plan that soon.

The caveat for our No Spending Month is to only buy food (or gas/T card as needed). No going out to eat, no drinks, no going out for tea (we have a friend who will habitually call either of us up and go "I need tea and convo"), etc.

[As I was typing the last sentence, I realized that Mister had made plans with a friend to go out tonight b/c the friend seems to be in distress -- it looks like Mister's month will go to 9/8 :-P]

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So in thinking about food, what will we need to be buying...

We have veggies for maybe 4-5 days, so we should stop at the Farmer's Market on Wednesday and pick up veggies.

I have beans at my house, I should bring some over and/or we could buy some meat (perhaps at the Farmer's Market again).

We have a little ricotta and a few eggs left, so we'll need to buy milk, cheese, eggs, and whatever else looks good.

We'll need bread, and some other grains.

I think I will work on trying to get out to a U-Pick and getting fruit for jelly and such. If I can't garden this year, at least I will work on preserving.

... need to buy canning supplies!

Concerning Veggies

En route home from camp, Mister and I stopped at my mother's house. Luckily for me, my mother has actually been gardening this year, instead of pretending and hoping! We picked 17 lbs. of cukes, a little under a pound of beans, 3 plum tomatoes, 2 summer squash and two baggies of herbs (Thyme, Sage, Rosemary, and Lemon Balm).



We'll probably eat the beans, Mister'll eat the tomatoes, we'll eat the squash, and I'd like to try two preservation things: pickles, and lemon balm cordial-type-thing. According to a quick (and I do mean quick) search for pickle recipes, I could put up approximately 30 quarts of pickles with what I've got... and man does that seem like a lot! I'll probably make a bunch of refridgerator pickles too -- that's my favorite way to eat pickles. Quick recipe:

Easy-Peasy 30 Min. Refridgerator Pickles

Slice cucumbers into thin slices (~1/2 cm or so). Chop a small onion into pieces at most 1" long. Combine cukes and onion and cover with white vinegar until submerged. Put in fridge for 30 mins. before serving.

For the summer squash I was thinking about trying a recipe for fried squash slices. Slice, batter and fry. Not sure what I'd serve it with, but I'm always a fan of fried foods!