Mac and I walked out to the garden this morning to see what was ripe. The green beans aren't quite ready yet, but finally there are beans growing. We have lots of peppers and I also picked several yellow squash. We have lots and lots of basil and lots of tomatoes.
I picked an egg basket full of cherry tomatoes. All of these are from two cherry tomato plants!
All washed up.
Today I am roasting tomatoes. I cut the cherry tomatoes in half and placed them on baking sheets lined with parchment paper. I added basil leaves to one pan and some rosemary to the other. I drizzled olive oil, added kosher salt and fresh ground pepper--then into the oven for 3 hours at 225 degrees. I also threw in some cloves of garlic. This is gonna be good! Meanwhile,
these heirloom tomatoes and about half a bushel of their sistas are begging to be used. We planted about 2 dozen tomato plants this year. I've already canned 22 quarts of tomato sauce, plus we've had plenty for eating. Last week I made delicious bruschetta. Today, I'm making more tomato sauce since we have used most of the sauce on our shelf during the winter. This tomato sauce recipe was given to me by a friend about 30 years ago. I've used it over and over and it's become a family favorite sauce. The pasta sauce on the Kroger shelf never measures up to the sauce made with our own organically grown tomatoes.
This little contraption has been a big help to us through the years. We bought this almost 30 years ago and we use it every summer. The tomatoes get washed, cored and quartered then added to the white reservoir at the top and plunged down through the strainer. When the handle is turned, the juice runs out and into the bowl while the skins and seeds go out the side and into another bowl. It eliminates the whole tomato blanching/removing skin step!
Victorio Strainer!
This receipt was in the bottom of the box. We bought this for $37.54 in "ninteen hundred and eighty three." (I thought I should talk like an old timer since the receipt looks so old!) I just checked online and they still sell these gems. Sears has them and I'm sure that the Amish store, Lehman's, still stocks them.
Victorio Strainer--I sing your praises! By the way, the kitchen is smelling amazing right now from those little tomatoes roasting away in the oven.
Okay, the tomato puree is mixed with peppers, onions, garlic, tomato paste, sugars and lots of spices. It's gonna be hot in my big silver pot!
After cooking on the stovetop for two hours, the sauce gets ladled into hot jars and then processed.
Remember those little cherries in the oven? They are finally done and worth the wait--they have such wonderful flavor! They're good for snacking right out of the oven. I added some to pizza for supper, then stored the rest in a jar in the refrigerator for snacks, tossing with pasta, or for a bagel topping in the morning.
Delicious pizza.
Yummy roasted tomatoes.
We ended up canning 7 quarts and 7 pint jars of tomato sauce today--this brings the summer total to 29 quarts and 7 pints. They look so pretty on the shelf. With more green tomatoes on the vine and ripening, we should have more to can next week!
