Canning your own salsa

This was meant to post tomorrow, Friday. I made a mistake though and marked it as June 1st not July 1st and it e-mailed all the sweet folks that get e-mail notifications about my blog posts…so one day early…here ya go!

My blog friend Andrea over at From the Bookshelf posted this great salsa recipe, I monkeyed with it a bit and posted my frugal version here. Next step is to figure out how to be able to save it for later use.

1st try was freezing it. Umm, yeah that did NOT work.Big fail!

2nd try canning. Worked perfectly. Here’s what you add to the recipe to jar it successfully. Add 3 TBSP of white vinegar per salsa recipe batch. I made a double batch so I added 6 TBSP of vinegar.

• Warm your jars, via boiling water
• Place the salsa to a sauce pan
• add Vinegar to the salsa, stir well
• boil for 5 min
• allow to cool a bit and place into jars (do not over fill)
• Place lids on jars and screw lids on (finger tight)
• place in boiling water (make sure the water level is above the lid of the jar)
• process for 20 min.
• remove from heat and allow to cool
• remove from the pot and allow to rest on the counter-top overnight
• store in a cool, dry space for up to 1 year
• refrigerate once opened.

Here are my pictures… By the way, see the green basket the cans are processing in? I highly recommend it. It’s made by Ball, it comes in a Home discovery canning kit. I found it at Wal-mart for about $10.

Strawberry Freezer Jam

I’m linking up with Alli-N-Son for sweet tooth friday

I think I have said before that I am new-ish to making jellies and jams. I’ve made pickled items before, but not many sweet things.

I had the opportunity to host a canning party through House Party. I was sent a huge box of canning items, a few jars, coupons and recipe books.

We made strawberry freezer jam. Freezer jam is pretty darn easy. It’s a no-cook jam. It’s more like a chunky fruit spread, but that’s fine by us.

Freezer Jam…adapted via my new canning cook book.

The canning cookbook had a few freezer jams, but none that were just strawberry.

I adapted a strawberry banana jam recipe.

What you need:

6 cups of mushed, smashed, crushed strawberries

1 1/2 cups of sugar

5 TBSP of Ball instant Pectin (It is a Ball cookbook, for a Ball Canning party) Product placement intended I’m sure.

• mix the sugar and Pectin together
•  add sugar mixture to the strawberries
•  stir constantly for 3 minutes
• Fill freezer jars (I used the Ball brand plastic jars)
•  place the lid on the jars
•  Let the jam “set” for 30 minutes on the counter top
• label and freeze for up to one year              OR
• gobble it up now, pour it on ice cream, roll around in it, have toast for every meal with gobs and gobs of jelly. 
• OR…(what I did) place 2 in the freezer and 1 in the fridge. They will “keep” in the fridge for 3 weeks (yeah, like they will last that long).
• Enjoy

How do you make freezer jam?

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I’ve seen miles and miles of Texas

***Warning, this post is full of statistics, facts and all manner of brainy info I got from Wikipedia*** You will (possibly) be educated and probably be annoyed by all the facts I’m spewing. You’ve been warned.

This is part one of _____. (not sure how many posts I can milk out of our vacation adventures).

Texas has an area of 268,820 square miles, and I can’t say I’ve seen them all. I have seen a good many miles of Texas, though…by car on trips….yep…miles.

We live in a big state, a BIG state. Here’s a little Texas info via my IB (Info Bestie) Wikipedia….don’t judge me, I like me some Wikipedia.

“Texas is the second largest U.S. state, behind Alaska, with an area of 268,820 square miles (696,200 km²). It is 10% larger than France and almost twice as large as Germany or Japan, though it ranks only 27th worldwide amongst country subdivisions by size. If it were a country, Texas would be the 40th largest behind Chile and Zambia.”

So yeah, it’s a big state, with a friendly name…

” The name, based on the Caddo word “Tejas” meaning “friends” or “allies”, was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in East Texas.^[8]“

We’ve got some great neighbors…..“Texas is bordered by Mexico to the south, New Mexico to the west, Oklahoma to the north, Arkansas to the northeast, and Louisiana to the east.”

There have been 6 different flags flying over Texas over the years. Six Flags over Texas, more than just a theme park.

“The first flag belonged to Spain, which ruled most of Texas from 1519 to 1685 and from 1690 to 1821. The second flag was the royal banner of France from 1685 to 1690. The third flag flown (1821 through 1836) was the flag of Mexico. The fourth flag belonged to the Republic of Texas from 1836 to 1845. The fifth and current flag is that of the United States of America, which Texas joined in 1845. Upon secession Texas abandoned this flag for its sixth, until readmission to the Union in 1865.^[3] The sixth flag belonged to the Confederate States of America from 1861 to 1865. During this time, the Confederacy had three national flags.”

So Six flags, 268,820 square miles, good neighbors and a friendly name….:)

We drove from Dallas to Corpus Christi. (377 miles one way) We stopped in our State Capitol, Austin on the way to Corpus Christi.

We stayed in Austin for one night. We stayed at a cool hotel, that looked like an apartment complex, but it was not an apartment complex…I was told this with much gusto. The Hotel Allendale….not an apartment complex…trust me.

We toured the State Capitol, beautiful…large…hot.

I saw squirrels beg people for food, seriously they get up on their hind legs like a dog and beg. It’s very cute, but I had no food. Lucky for me they are not too upset when you don’t feed them.

I saw people strumming guitars and singing for money on street corners.

I saw a grocery store in downtown Austin, very strange to me. Downtown Dallas does not have a grocery store. Hey WHOLE FOODS, we need a downtown grocery store too!

My daughter ate a guacamole taco….brilliant.

We saw segway tours of downtown Austin. Funky, but cool.

I saw a group of people gathered with signs asking for equal rights for people who are gay and lesbian.

I saw so many bicycles on the roads…so many. The streets have a bicycle lane, very cool, but it felt dangerous to drive next to a person on a bicycle.

I enjoyed Austin.

We drove on to Corpus Christi on day 2.

To be continued……..

Garden Gab: Week 14

How is your garden growing this week?

My sweet across the alley neighbor watered my garden for me while my family was on vacation.Thanks Becky!

We arrived home to find lovely okra growing, more roving strawberry vines and happy little green peppers. I planted more beans once we got home from vacation. They are already popping their lovely little heads out of the dirt. Beans are so awesome, they sprout so quickly.

Remember the Garden Gab week 13 post, I posted a picture of my husband digging a hole? The holes were for a sun shade for our pool. I included pictures of the finished sun shade. Yep, I’ve got a handy husband. Thanks Honey!!!

I’ve still got a few bugs munching things, but the heat seems to be keeping them at a minimum (yay!)

Here’s my garden pictures…

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Meatless Monday:Very Veggie Soup

Thank you for being so sweet and interactive with my guest posters last week. You’re all wonderful, lovely, amazing people and I adore you.

After a week of vacation and wonderful guest posts, I am ready to get back into the blogging groove. I’ll tell you about my family vacation soon. I’ve got lovely pictures and stories to tell you. Soon.

My husband, daughter and I went to the farmer’s market Saturday, our son went to the mall (teenaged boys hate the farmer’s market…apparently) we got lots of lovely fruit and veggies.

We bought strawberries, peaches, apricots, a yellow/orange watermelon, onions, figs, a cantaloupe, oranges, pickling cucumbers and two different types of tomatoes.

My daughter and I made strawberry freezer jam….it’s pure genius. I’ll post the simple recipe later this week.

Now, on with Meatless Monday…Ready for a wonderful veggie creation? I am.

Today’s meatless post is……..

Very Veggie Rice Soup

• 6 cups of veggie stock (Because I am using very flavorful homemade veggie stock, I am not adding much extra spice) Or use 6 cups of water
  
• 2 cans of corn (drained) or use fresh corn (I was going for easy)
• 1 can of diced tomatoes
• 1 package of frozen soup veggies (I use the Kroger brand)
• 1 (medium) diced onion
• 1 can of butter beans
• 2 zucchini (chopped)
• 1 1/2 cups of Veggie juice (tomato based)
• 2-3 cups of uncooked rice
• about 1/4 cup of frozen chopped spinach (I’m guessing 1/4 cup because I free poured)
• 1 TBSP of cilantro
• 1 TBSP of garlic
• 2 generous TBSP of Homemade salsa or store-bought salsa
• a pinch of salt and a dash of pepper

I froze the veggie stock in plastic containers, it makes it easy to pop the frozen broth out of the container and into the stock pot.

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• Add the stock to the pot, warm to a medium heat, it will begin to melt.
• add the veggies in what ever order you want
• add the veggie juice, salsa, rice, and remaining spices
• give the soup a stir and cover it with the lid
• cook it on a medium heat for 30-40 min.

Serve it with a salad and garlic bread or what ever you prefer.

Enjoy.

Garden Gab….My mother’s garden

If you ever wondered where I got my green thumb, wonder no more.  My father is great with ferns, aloe and hot peppers.

My mother has a huge and productive veggie garden.

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I hope you enjoy these pictures of my mother’s garden and 1 day’s harvest.

I’ll update you on my garden’s progress in a day or two.

Creamy Grape Salad, a guest post by Rose

I just adore Rose, I was so excited when she offered to do a guest post for me during my “blog-cation week”! Rose is an outstanding cake artist. I’m not kidding, some of her cakes almost look too pretty to eat…almost.

I hope you enjoy Rose’s post, I know I am going to enjoy eating this grape salad one day soon.

Creamy Grape Salad

Guest Post by Rose Atwater from AdventuresinSavings.com

Summertime is in full force here in southern Mississippi (it was 92° today) and with summertime, comes cool, refreshing salads. The salad that I want to share today is one of my Mama’s favorite salads and it’s her go-to recipe for potlucks at church. Everybody likes it – it can sit on the dessert table or be served as a light and sweet side dish.

It has tons of flavors and textures and it’s just plain yummy! I made it myself a couple of weeks ago and it was gone lightning fast! So… here we go.

Here’s what you’ll need to make this delicious salad:

4 pounds of seedless grapes (green and/or purple – I use 2 lbs of each)
1 8 oz package of cream cheese, at room temperature
1 8 oz container sour cream
1/2 cup white sugar
1 teaspoon of pure vanilla extract*

4 ounces chopped pecans
2 tablespoons of brown sugar

*Pure vanilla extract is best, but all I had on hand was clear vanilla flavoring from my cake adventures.

Wash and dry grapes, then cut them all in half (the cutting step can be skipped, but the grapes seem to absorb the flavor better if they’re cut and it adds an extra texture).

In a large bowl, combine cream cheese, sour cream, vanilla, and white sugar. Mix until smooth and creamy.

Pour the “dressing” over the grapes and stir until evenly incorporated.

I forgot to take a picture of it all mixed up before the last step .

Sprinkle with brown sugar and pecans, mix again and refrigerate for a couple of hours to chill or until you’re ready to serve.

Refrain from eating a bowl before it has a chance to chill…or not. I couldn’t help myself!!

I have heard that this salad is also wonderful using Splenda instead of sugar, fat free cream cheese and low fat sour cream! I haven’t tried it myself but if you’re on a diet, I think it’s certainly worth a shot!

Rose has been married to her college sweetheart, Richard, for almost 15 years and they live in the country with their 6 children, 20+ chickens, a cat and a garden! She blogs over at AdventuresinSavings.com and shares deals, freebies, coupons and lots of other fun stuff, including her love of cake baking and other kitchen adventures! Be sure to look her up on Facebook as well…here and here.

Fresh Tomato Sauce, a guest post by Kate

***Something strange happened and this post has posted twice. Identical posts, very strange***

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Kate is a new-ish blogging friend of mine, meaning new to me…not new to blogging. She is brave in the kitchen (see her Tuscan chicken under a brick recipe), she loves pictures and her blog posts are full of lovely step by step guides. I hope you enjoy Kate as much as I do.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

First, I would like to thank Jamie for letting me guest post this week while she’s on vacation. It’s an honor to write a post for her terrific blog and I’m delighted to get the chance to share one of my favorite recipes with you! I hope she is relaxing and getting some much deserved rest!

To introduce myself, my name is Kate Battistelli and I’m a wife, mother and a lover of food, family, gardening, entertaining and home preserving. I live and cook in Orlando, Florida. My goal is to help you provide your family with healthy, delicious, made-from-scratch meals every day of the week. I have a wonderful husband, Mike and a lovely daughter, Contemporary Christian recording artist Francesca Battistelli. She’s married to Matthew Goodwin and they have given Mike and I a beautiful grandson, Matthew Elijah. I’m currently writing my first book entitled Growing Great Kids. It’s designed to inspire parents to partner with God to mine the greatness in their children by raising them to reach their highest potential.

I love to blog and mine is called The Kitchen Princess. I’m inspired to teach folks how to make healthy meals with out additives or preservatives. Each post shares step by step techniques to help make your cooking experience a little easier. Here’s one of my go-to recipes for tomato sauce. It’s simple, inexpensive, healthy and tasty. And a great way to use up excess tomatoes!

Fresh Tomato Sauce In A Flash – Ingredients

At the moment, I have loads of tomatoes growing in my backyard. In Florida, tomatoes come early and are gone by July because of the intense heat.

We are only able to eat so many tomato salads and salsas so at least once a week, it’s time to make fresh tomato sauce. Just a few basic ingredients and in about 15 minutes you’ll have a wonderfully fresh and deeply tomatoey sauce to pour over pasta, use in eggplant parmesan or chicken cacciatore or anything else your family loves! Serve this over a big bowl of pasta, add a green salad, some freshly grated parmesan cheese and some crusty Italian bread. Delicioso!

Fresh tomato sauce.

Roma Tomatoes – Aren’t they beautiful?

With a sharp knife, cut an X in the end of each tomato.

Put tomatoes in hot water for a minute then plunge into an ice water bath.

The tomatoes will be very easy to peel.

Squeeze peeled tomatoes to remove seeds and excess liquid. Roughly break them up with your hands.

Saute garlic in olive oil.

Add tomatoes to the garlic and cook for a few minutes. They will start to release a lot of liquid.

Remove tomato pulp from pan and let remaining liquid cook down for about 5 minutes.

The liquid is cooked down enough when your spoon leaves a mark when you run it across the bottom of the pan.

Add the tomatoes back in to the cooked down liquid. Add sugar, oregano and crushed red pepper.

Fresh, gorgeous tomato sauce!

Fresh Tomato Sauce In A Flash – Ingredients

• 2 pounds Roma tomatoes (about 12-15), or any tomatoes you like
• 2 cloves garlic, chopped
• 2 teaspoons sugar
• Salt to taste
• 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper (optional)
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• a few tablespoons olive oil

Fresh Tomato Sauce In A Flash – Method

1. First, you have to remove the skin from the tomatoes. Bring a pot of water to a simmer. Cut an X in the bottom of each tomato. Gently place tomatoes in the hot water.
2. Let them sit in there for 45-60 seconds. The skin will start to loosen at the X.
3. Put a large bowl of water and ice in your sink. Remove tomatoes from the boiling water bath and plunge into the ice water. This makes the skins super easy to remove.
4. Remove skins from tomatoes by peeling with a sharp paring knife. Cut off the stem end as well.
5. Squeeze tomatoes to remove as many seeds and as much liquid as possible. Roughly break up tomatoes with your hands and put in a bowl. Set tomatoes aside.
6. Heat olive oil in a large saute pan. When hot, add garlic and saute for a few moments.
7. Add the tomatoes to the garlic and break them up with a spoon as you stir them around. Add a few pinches of salt.
8. Let the tomatoes cook a few minutes and you’ll see them start to break down.
9. The sauce will look watery. Remove tomato pulp from pan and let the liquid cook down for about 5 minutes. It will thicken. Add the tomatoes back in.
10. Add the sugar, oregano and crushed red pepper and a splash of olive oil. Taste and adjust seasonings.

Princess Tips

• I prefer Roma tomatoes for sauce but any kind will work.
• Feel free to switch up the herbs. Fresh basil would be delicious.
• Add a splash of balsamic vinegar before serving to deepen the flavor.

Fresh Tomato Sauce, a guest post by Kate

Kate is a new-ish blogging friend of mine, meaning new to me…not new to blogging. She is brave in the kitchen (see her Tuscan chicken under a brick recipe), she loves pictures and her blog posts are full of lovely step by step guides. I hope you enjoy Kate as much as I do.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

First, I would like to thank Jamie for letting me guest post this week while she’s on vacation. It’s an honor to write a post for her terrific blog and I’m delighted to get the chance to share one of my favorite recipes with you!  I hope she is relaxing and getting some much deserved rest!

To introduce myself,  my name is Kate Battistelli and I’m a wife,  mother and a lover of food,  family,  gardening,  entertaining and home preserving.  I live and cook in Orlando,  Florida. My goal is to help you provide your family with healthy,  delicious,  made-from-scratch meals every day of the week. I have a wonderful husband,  Mike and a lovely daughter,  Contemporary Christian recording artist Francesca Battistelli. She’s married to Matthew Goodwin and they have given Mike and I a beautiful grandson,  Matthew Elijah. I’m currently writing my first book entitled Growing Great Kids.  It’s designed to inspire parents to partner with God to mine the greatness in their children by raising them to reach their highest potential.

I love to blog and mine is called The Kitchen Princess. I’m inspired to teach folks how to make healthy meals with out additives or preservatives. Each post shares step by step techniques to help make your cooking experience a little easier.  Here’s one of my go-to recipes for tomato sauce. It’s simple, inexpensive, healthy and tasty. And a great way to use up excess tomatoes!

Fresh Tomato Sauce In A Flash – Ingredients

At the moment, I have loads of tomatoes growing in my backyard. In Florida, tomatoes come early and are gone by July because of the intense heat.

We are only able to eat so many tomato salads and salsas so at least once a week, it’s time to make fresh tomato sauce. Just a few basic ingredients and  in about 15 minutes you’ll have a wonderfully fresh and deeply tomatoey sauce to pour over pasta, use in eggplant parmesan or chicken cacciatore or anything else your family loves! Serve this over a big bowl of pasta,  add  a green salad, some freshly grated parmesan cheese and some crusty Italian bread. Delicioso!

Fresh tomato sauce.

Roma Tomatoes – Aren’t they beautiful?

With a sharp knife, cut an X in the end of each tomato.

Put tomatoes in hot water for a minute then plunge into an ice water bath.

The tomatoes will be very easy to peel.

Squeeze  peeled tomatoes to remove seeds and excess liquid. Roughly break them up with your hands.

Saute garlic in olive oil.

Add tomatoes to the garlic and cook for a few minutes. They will start to release a lot of liquid.

Remove tomato pulp from pan and let remaining liquid cook down for about 5 minutes.

The liquid is cooked down enough when your spoon leaves a mark when you run it across the bottom of the pan.

Add the tomatoes back in to the cooked down liquid. Add sugar, oregano and crushed red pepper.

Fresh, gorgeous tomato sauce!

Fresh Tomato Sauce In A Flash – Ingredients

• 2 pounds Roma tomatoes (about 12-15), or any tomatoes you like
• 2 cloves garlic,  chopped
• 2 teaspoons sugar
• Salt to taste
• 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper (optional)
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• a few tablespoons olive oil

Fresh Tomato Sauce In A Flash - Method

1. First, you have to remove the skin from the tomatoes. Bring a pot of water to a simmer. Cut an X in the bottom of each tomato. Gently place tomatoes in the hot water.
2. Let them sit in there for 45-60 seconds. The skin will start to loosen at the X.
3. Put a large bowl of water and ice in your sink. Remove tomatoes from the boiling water bath and plunge into the ice water. This makes the skins super easy to remove.
4. Remove skins from tomatoes by peeling with a sharp paring knife. Cut off the stem end as well.
5. Squeeze tomatoes to remove as many seeds and as much liquid as possible. Roughly break up tomatoes with your hands and put in a bowl. Set tomatoes aside.
6. Heat olive oil in a large saute pan. When hot, add garlic and saute for a few moments.
7. Add the tomatoes to the garlic and break them up with a spoon as you stir them around. Add a few pinches of salt.
8. Let the tomatoes cook a few minutes and you’ll see them start to break down.
9. The sauce will look watery. Remove tomato pulp from pan and let the liquid cook down for about 5 minutes. It will thicken. Add the tomatoes back in.
10. Add the sugar, oregano and crushed red pepper and a splash of olive oil. Taste and adjust seasonings.

Princess Tips

• I prefer Roma tomatoes for sauce but any kind will work.
• Feel free to switch up the herbs. Fresh basil would be delicious.
• Add a splash of balsamic vinegar before serving to deepen the flavor.

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Hidden Treasures, a guest post by Kathleen

Finding new and exciting ways to connect as a family is a wonderful thing! My friend Kathleen tells us how her family tried something new and found the best treasure of all.

Meet Kathleen and her beautiful family……

A couple of years ago my husband came home from work with an idea the whole family could do together: Geocaching. This would mean we would have to go on hikes, up hills, and into the woods. Considering the fact that we are not a woodsy type family and we don’t like to go camping at all he was surprised when we agreed to give it a try.

Our first geocache was on our son’s sixth birthday. It did indeed take us into the woods and we were climbing over tree branches, going here, there, and everywhere. We went around trees laughing and talking the entire time until we found the geocache: The Hidden Treasure! We were so excited when we finally made it and got to open the treasure to see what goodies might be found. We also brought along our own treasures incase there was something we saw and liked so we could exchange. Geocaching became a family Saturday event for a couple of years. We truly looked forward to doing it.

There was one geocache that we did where we found a travel bug. A travel bug is a toy or object with a metal tag attached that you can use to track it’s progress across the world on Geocaching . You are allowed to remove it as long as you put it into another geocache in a different area.This particular one was a rubber bat on a string. We had a great idea! We were going on vacation that Summer to Branson,Missouri and we knew there was a geocache there as well as caves that we could take a tour of. Our great idea was to take the bat with us to the caves and then find the geocache and put it in that one. We were so excited about this adventure! We had a lot of fun taking that cave tour and we had just as much fun doing that geocache in Branson and giving Batty its new home. We also liked the Hidden Treasure that was in that geocache!

We did this for a couple of years and had fun doing it as a family. We had many, many laughs while on our outings and we were able to get some exercise in as well. The real Hidden Treasure was the time we got to spend as a family.

To learn more about Geocaching

Attached picture is of our family at Marvel Cave in Branson, Missouri. Our daughter is holding the travel bug “Batty” Batty was last seen in a geocache in Ohio.

Kathleen Smith is a mother of 3 and lives in Upstate New York. Kathleen is the author of Marriages & Miscarriages: One Woman’s Personal Experience available in paperback as well as on most ebook readers (http://bit.ly/mamkindle). She has a desire to share her story in hopes that it will help others understand what feelings one has when going through miscarriages. You can learn more about Kathleen and her book at kathleensmith.org or follow her on twitter @srkbear