Weekend Labors...

It was Labor Day Weekend, so I kept busy in the kitchen. I bought forty pounds of beef steak tomatoes from a local producer, with stewed tomatoes, homemade Rotel™ and tomato juice in mind. I processed the first fifteen pounds of tomatoes, which yielded these gorgeous seven quarts of stewed tomatoes, plus two quarts of juice.

I would have processed more tomatoes, but there was a gentlemen who brought pears and McIntosh apples (Handsome's favorite) to the store where I work. We had this big plastic tub, filled with bags of both. I get our pears from Andy and Shelly, but all our apples from the old tree dropped before they ripened, so I jumped on the Macs. 

I came home with twenty five pounds, so Handsome and I cut them all up and put them in two Nesco™ roasters to cook down while I did the tomatoes. I didn't finish the applesauce until midnight, but went to bed with fourteen quarts cooling on the counter. One didn't seal, so it went into the fridge so we'll eat that first.

I did blanch and peel the beef steaks, so I saved  the peels to dehydrate. Did you know that you can also preserve these to make tomato paste? I only just learned about this. Once dehydrated, I pulverized the skins in my little grinder (dedicated to spices and veg - no coffee) and then placed them into a jar.

To use for paste, mix 1 part powder to 1 part water. It's that easy. In the alternative, the powder can be added by the spoonful to soups or other dishes to enhance the flavor. It takes a while to fill a jar, but I have more tomatoes to process, so there will be more skins.

I took the day off on Sunday to rest and spend time with Handsome, but got back to it yesterday. We didn't have plans as Handsome tires quickly, so I want him to rest. Instead, I processed twenty pounds of San Marzano tomatoes (like Romas) into pizza sauce.

I don't peel these tomatoes. Instead, I cut out the core, and then cut them into quarters to run through my food processor...peels and all. The peels are undetectable when the mixture is cooked, and it adds more texture to my paste. As always, I then season the tomatoes with my favorite, Mrs. Wages Pizza Sauce packets to cook.

By mid-afternoon, I'd processed twenty one 12 ounce jars, and eight 8 ounce jars of sauce. After they cooled, I removed the rings (I do that with all my jars), made sure they'd all sealed, wiped the rims and labeled them. They're now in the pantry cupboard awaiting our next homemade pizza.

I work today, but will process the rest of the beef steak tomatoes tomorrow. Then I'll be taking a little rest from canning to work on some craftier pursuits. First things first. I'd better finish getting ready for work. I don't want to be tardy. See you tomorrow!

Cooking In The Kitchen...

The last of the potatoes were canned yesterday, adding a dozen quarts of (kind of) cubed potatoes to the pantry. I believe I canned about 30 pounds of potatoes in total. We had eaten some from the bag prior to these two days of canning, I kept about 7 pounds fresh, and tossed about 7 pounds that had turned. I waited to photograph this lot until after they'd all sealed, cooled, and were labeled.

As I was recuperating from surgery as the tomatoes all ripened late summer, there are bags and bags (and more bags) of tomatoes in the freezer. I decided to pull a couple to see how they fared, having never frozen tomatoes before. 

After they thawed, I cut out the cores and popped them in batches into my food processor. I tried multiple recipes for pizza sauce this year, but found the Mrs. Wages Pizza Sauce mix made the best tasting sauce. These four jars were actually half a batch for the package instructions, so it was a good test. 

I can say that the frozen-then-thawed tomatoes passed the taste test and I'll be looking forward to processing the balance from the freezers into more pizza sauce, spaghetti sauce, salsa, and as stewed tomatoes.

Today I'm going to do the holiday baking. I've pulled about six different recipes for cookies, bars, and candy. We'll see how far I get before I run out of gas. I'll have to work fast to keep ahead of Handsome's sweet tooth. I'm hoping to have more than a few filled tins by the end of the day. Just one cup of coffee and then the mixing shall commence.

Weekend Projects...

 

Session One (of two) for the latest Clara Warshauer (@clarastitching) class was Saturday afternoon. This project is to create a koi brooch, but Clara is looking for suggestions from her class on other ways to finish it. When it's finished, it's a bit larger than I'd wear a brooch, but I have a few other ideas in mind that I'll share later.

Our class was two and a half hours long, and they're Zoom classes so we get to meet other classmates and interact with Clara while she's teaching. She also records the sessions so that we can watch them later, if needed. Her classes are always fun, and two of the other students have goldwork certificates from the Royal School of Needlework, so I value their shared information, too.

Our second (and last) session for this class is next Saturday, and Clara would like to see our work at that time, so I will be stitching mine this week. She also encourages students to use their imaginations when assembling their own pieces, so you may see that mine will have a few variations when I get to that point. I only took notes on Saturday, so I'll be busy getting caught up, and will share my progress as I work on it.

Handsome and I did some more canning this weekend, too. The result of our labor is twelve half pint jars of pizza sauce, and eight pint jars, plus one twelve ounce jar of salsa. This time we used Mrs. Wage's Pizza Sauce Mix, but only half of the 5 tablespoons of sugar it called for.  The salsa is also a Mrs. Wage's mix that we've used before and love.

One thing I'm doing differently since learning it from my aunt, is that I'm not blanching and skinning the tomatoes prior to processing them. After washing and removing the stem and core, she cuts them into quarters and chops them up with her stick blender. While I have one, I chose to use my Cuisinart™ food processor instead. Once everything is chopped up, the skins just about disappear in the mix, and as they cook, the chopped tomato skins don't rise to the top as larger pieces usually might. They're well and truly incorporated into the tomatoes, saving so much extra time and effort. They also add just a bit more texture to the cooked tomatoes, which Handsome and I think is a plus. We'll continue to do them this way.

This week, in addition to my needlework assignment, we're planning to make applesauce. I still have canned mushrooms and canned potatoes on my list, but that won't likely happen this week. I'll be needle dancing instead.

I hope you're planning something that makes you happy for the next few days. If you're in the mood to share, I'd love to know all about what you'll be doing.