Canning

Remember these …

Well we have had tomatoes in salads, tomatoes in sandwiches, just sliced and salted tomatoes AND I dare say we are starting to tire of tomatoes! Yesterday I sat there eating breakfast and saw 20 tomatoes staring at me on the counter. I couldn’t let them waste, it was too much work growing them. Yet, there was NO way that my family was going to eat all 20 before they wasted. Another problem was that there were only 20, not REALLY enough to can.

So I got on the phone to Aunt Callie for tomato canning advice. She said that I should just do a few jars of stewed tomatoes. Then later on this Fall when I have a lot more ripening at a time I can do spaghetti sauce. She gave me all the necessary tips and other tomato recipe ideas.

SOOOO with the Ball Blue Book in hand I tackled my 20 tomatoes – turned them into four pint jars, and NOW they are NOT going to be wasted!

Aren’t they beautiful?!? I kept saying that to the kids and they thought I was crazy to call them “beautiful”. However, when they “can” their “own” tomatoes someday, I’m sure they will be beautiful to them.

Then tonight I went out to the garden and I’m kicking myself that I didn’t go out before I canned the tomatoes because there were a few more that I could have done. Oh well!

Also, I came across a fun blog tonight from Stephen’s cousin’s blog. She had just posted over some of her canning recipes. Check it out – www.youcancan.blogspot.com.