Canning Stewed Tomatoes

*recipe is not usda approved this is my own recipe

I will admit, this is my first time canning my own stewed tomatoes.  It was easy, not as easy as whole tomatoes.  But there was lots of chopping, lots of crying, (from the 6 onions I chopped), lots of peeling, coring, and chopping of tomatoes, but they turned out great.  

Here's the recipe I used:

4 - 5gal buckets chopped, peeled and cored tomatoes

1 c chopped celery 

1/2 c chopped onion

1/4 c. Chopped green pepper

1 tbs sugar

2 tsp salt

Cooked till ingredients were all mixed and it smelled yummy! Ladled into hot jars and processed my qts at 13lbs of pressure for about 15 mins. 

I pressure cooked them.  I will be honest, I used about 1/3 Dixie Gold tomatoes which are less acidic, so I hope that doesn't affect the acidity and storage life of them. 

It's so colorful with the Dixie Gold tomatoes. I love it!!

I canned stew tomatoes, the ground cherry chutney and bottled all my 3.5 gallons honey in one day.  Here was my haul...

Trying something new

Ground Cherry Chutney

I love ground cherries.  If you don't know what they are, they are in the same family as a tomato but look like a small tomatillo. 

They are sweet, nutty, very different flavor than a tomato or tomatillo.  I love them and they come up voluntarily now all over my yard and garden.  Aunt Molly is the variety I grow and it is an heirloom, so the plants that pop up on their own I can harvest from them too.  

Well I have grown these for the past couple of years now and I have been meaning every year now to make a chutney.  So this year I finally did it.  It was time consuming shucking all of them, harvesting is pretty time consuming too, but worth it! 

Recipe is here... 

1 c sugar

2T water  - Carmelize with sugar 

1/2 c minced onion

1/4c apple cider vinegar

1 c ground cherries 

Salt and pepper to taste 

I thought adding thyme and sage would be good with this too. 

Water bath for 15 mins

Aren't they so pretty?!

It's pretty amazing on a roast!  You should growing these next year.  I bet you will be pleasantly surprised at how good they are! 

Canning Spaghetti sauce

I have yet to run out of sauce, thank goodness.  But that means I have to make a lot to make sure I don't run out.  I have posted my recipe here before.  I will say I added more brown sugar to this recipe because it was super acidic.  I was a little impatient and I didn't let it cook down as long as I should have, but it still tasted delicious!! 

My mother in law got me this old fashioned grinder for Christmas last year because I was always borrowing hers to make my sauce.  She found it at a vintage shop last year.  I was looking on it, it was made in May of 1900!! That means this sucker is 114 years old and still works like a champ!  Thanks Marsha I absolutely love it!! 

I love the smell of cooking tomatoes.  Even better is the sound of the POP as the jars seal! 

I love canning season!! I live for it! 

Happy canning y'all!! 

Canning whole tomatoes

*recipes from Ball Cannibg book 

So this was my first time canning whole tomatoes and I loved it.  It was super easy and super fast.  No cooking or cutting up, just peel, core and pop into a hot jar, add seasonings and boilin water and seal and pressure cook.  So easy and so beautiful! 

Here are the seasoning recipes I used:

Italian spice blend 

4tsp basil

2tsp thyme

2 1/2tsp oregano

1 1/2tsp Rosemary

1 1/2tsp sage

1 tsp garlic powder

1 tsp hot pepper flakes

Add 2 1/4tsp per pint

Mexican spice blend

6tsp chili powder

2tsp cumin

2tsp oregano

2tsp garlic powder

2tsp ground coriander 

1 1/2tsp season salt

Add 2 1/2tsp per pint

Preview of a Princess Snow White Party!

My daughter seems to be obsessed with Snow White.  She is not addicted to the movie by any means, but I asked her several times what kind of birthday party she wanted, and she said "Snow White" every time.  So a Snow White party would be perfect for our little princess.  

  Now I am 8 months pregnant, and am planning this party to be the week before my scheduled induction.  Crazy, I know, but I want her to have a special party just for her before she will no longer be the only child.  

  So we are having an actual Snow White come to her party for an hour to sing, dance, paint fingernails, do what princesses do.  There is a local company here called enchanted princess parties  that has every princess imaginable.  It's pretty cute.  

  So the party is a few weeks away, and I am getting a head start on the planning and decor.  I ordered her birthday invites from Anders Ruff (found on etsy) and they turned out adorable!  Since I am so pregnant and have little energy these days, I am trying to make this as adorable as possible, with the least amount of effort.  

  Here is what the party will entail, and then after her party, I will post all of the pictures.

- Red bow headbands for each little princess

- a saw dust "dig" for all the jewels 

- a real princess to entertain them

- a Barbie - Snow White birthday cake

- finger nail painting

It should be a pretty fun and hopefully low key party.  I cannot have this baby before the party, so I am depending on the princess to entertain the girls for the majority of the time. 

   Here is a little sneak peek of the red bow headbands for each of the little girls...

Here are all the jewels they will get to dig for 

Cannot wait to see it all come together!

Update. Here's the pics from the party