I was a busy girl in the kitchen yesterday.
My mom gave me some more tomatoes, so I had another little canning session.
It was a lot less nerve-wracking this time since I knew what I was doing.
Anyway, I now have seven more quarts of local, organic tomatoes, which makes me happy.
While I was in kitchen mode, I did some other cooking too. I made some chocolate pudding, and it was really, really good. I used some cocoa powder from Tropical Traditions and I also used some local milk, and I'm not sure which made the difference, but it was fabulous.
Somehow I have not posted the recipe I use for chocolate pudding. I will try to rectify that.
I also made a batch of whole wheat bread.
And a batch of yogurt.
To finish things up, Lisey helped me make a double batch of energy balls.
You know what is one of my favorite things about homemade food? I love how much packaging waste it prevents.
My tomato jars can be completely reused except for the lids.
My pudding ingredients all come in recyclable/compostable containers and the finished pudding is in reusable glass containers.
My whole wheat bread is stored in reused plastic bags.
My yogurt packaging produces no waste at all (even the lids can be reused since I'm not actually sealing my yogurt jars).
My energy balls are just fine in my lasts-forever Pyrex container.
Plus, everything I made is delicious and inexpensive, and a number of my ingredients were organic/local.
Sometimes, trying to minimize the food packaging we bring into our house seems like an impossible and/or expensive task, so I'm always thrilled when I manage to do that AND be frugal. Yay!
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Today's 365 post: A little storm blew through
Joshua's 365 post: Archeopteryx
Looks great. I may just have to bake some bread today. Keeping out of the kitchen just now until my wife wakes up. Which of course is a good excuse to goof off on the Internet a bit. Feel like a bad reader, I've been busy the past couple of weeks and so am behind on reading your site.
There's nothing to say you can't just catch up all at once! I sometimes like getting behind on my favorite blogs because then there's a whole bunch of posts to read in one sitting. It's kinda like getting your mail when you get home from vacation. 🙂
And at least this isn't mostly bills! 🙂 Actually half the time I've missed was my vacation. Looks like you guys had a great trip to REI. Waiting to try out our new tent next month.
Rock on kitchen queen! What a fab cooking day...very inspiring!
Have a wonderful weekend. 🙂
I LOVE this post!!!! You have given me incentive to hang out in the kitchen for a bit to create some homemade treats instead of the pre-packaged junk that they sell in the stores!!
I LOVE my pyrex containers too! Soon, I will not have any plastic ones. Yeah!
Amazing that you did all this on a hot summer day!
Just one note: in your tomatoes photo it looks as if your jars are being processed in a stock pot shorter than the jars are. This might get you a seal but the guidelines I've always seen for canning say to have the jars covered by 1" of water at least. Might just be the picture though.
I knew I should have explained that! It's a pressure canner and the lid isn't on yet...I just took that picture before I put the lid on and actually starting processing the jars.
All of my jars are sealed and packed away. Yay!
Ooh good to know! I should look onto pressure canners this week. We're planning our tomato fest for next weekend.
Hi Kristen and Bobbie-Sue - help me please! I am so glad to see this post and read the comments. I was making jam with a friend of mine yesterday (she has a peach tree and was teaching my daughter and me). We didn't water process them jam after we jarred them. She says she doesn't always do this. I was looking for recipes onlline last night and all of them say to water process. Have you ever heard of anyone doing this? I have the jars of jam that haven't been refrigerated or frozen assuming they would be fine until I started reading last night and it seems that they should be frozen or regrigerated. What should I do? Thanks! Thank you for any comments/help you can give me. 🙂
Yes, they should either be processed or they should be put in the fridge or freezer. It's possible that the high sugar content of the jam could preserve it at room temperature, but I would not be willing to risk having all my hard work go to waste!
Kristen is exactly right, it might be fine, but why risk it? A lot of people are kind of cavalier w/ jam because of the sugar content. Make sure you take a little jam out before you freeze them so they have enough room to expand. Most freezer jam recipes call for 1/2 of headspace where most hot water bath methods call for 1/4 inch. That 1/4 could mean the difference in breaking your jars.
Thank you both so much,
It's been a day since we canned them. So it sounds like I can still process or freeze them at this point? I'm hoping in 24 hours they're still OK to do either.... 🙂
Marg.
Yeah, they should still be fine to process and freeze...just put them in the fridge until you do something more permanent with them.
wow
What do you put in the jars with the tomatoes as far as seasonings go? I'd love a receipe for your canned tomatoes.
Obviously I can't speak to her recipe. My mother-in-law's method, which is how my wife and I do it uses a teaspoon each salt and vinegar.
Mine are just plain....whole skinned tomatoes and salt. 🙂
I just cracked open a jar of the homemade tomato soup we canned last summer at my mom's. (We cook down the tomatoes with a cut up onion and some bay leaves, salt/pepper then run through food mill. Thicken the juice with a little flour/water return to boil and season with sugar. Process as for tomato pieces) So delicious with macaroni in it- and instantly makes me feel like a kid again!
WOW! You were super busy! Very impressive and everything looks great. I'll definitely have to try your recipes, especially the whole wheat bread! 🙂
Those tomatoes are absolutely beautiful! Were they from your parents' garden? I stocked up on large cans of organic tomatoes from The Grocery Outlet, but I'm sure they won't compare to your gems.
Katy
P.S. Next time I hit the east cost, I will come down to visit you, and we can make stuff/paint stuff/write stuff.
Yup! Free from my parents' garden. Yay!
And yes, you should totally come and visit me.
You go, girl!!
Yes, would you share how you do your canned tomatoes? I keep picking up organic local tomatoes from my csa, but have been making them into paste to freeze because I'm a little nervous about canning them, even though I have all the equipment! Any pointers would be mucho appreciated!
I core them, dip them in boiling water for a minute, dump them into cold water, and then the skins peel off easily. I then pack them tightly into jars, add 1 teaspoon salt to the top of each quart jar, and process them in the pressure canner for 10 minutes (after it reaches pressure...the canner takes a while to reach pressure).
Freezing tomatoes works very well too, though!
I read somewhere recently that you can freeze tomatoes first to peel skins off easily for canning (no burnt fingers!)
Do you add any liquid (water) to the quart jar before pressurizing them? Or is the liquid in the jars (in your photo) just the natural juices of the tomatoes?
It's just the juice from the tomatoes. And in fact, I often drain off some of the juice so that I can pack more tomatoes into the jar. Tomatoes have a LOT of water in them.
hi
i love your site.. now i am a "new" gardener and homecanner. i want to do some batches of tomatos but i was just wondering why cant you re-use the lids?? i was given a case of mason jars and lids.. and i dont know if i have to go out and buy new lids as i have never done this before
thanks so much
They can't be trusted to make a good seal the second time around, and a lack of a proper seal can make your food unsafe to eat.
Better to spend the $2 and get a box of new lids (you don't have to buy new screw bands...just the flat round lids pieces).
you can also save a lot on the cost of new lids every year if you buy lids in bulk. I often order up to 1000 at a time and this lasts me a couple years. Pennies per lid that way rather than $2 to $4 for a dozen at the grocery store. Try Amazon or Lehman's online for larger quantities.
Nice tip! What a great way to spend dome of those swagbucks!
Ohhhhh good to know! We are still going from what we recieved as gifts from people who stopped canning.
Hi Kristen,
I wanted to ask you about the nutritional content of homemade yogurt. I would like to make some using my greek yogurt as a starter. Once the yogurt is made, will it have the same protein content as the starter? Thanks in advance for your help with this
Actually, it'll have the same protein content as the milk you started with. The starter mostly just provides the yogurt bacteria.
If you want to make high protein Greek yogurt, make regular yogurt and then drain it through a sieve lined with a cloth napkin or cheesecloth. This will let the whey drain out, and that's how they make the Greek yogurt you buy in the store.
I tried using the greek yogurt as a starter once, because the store I was at was completely out of plain and vanilla yogurt. It does not turn out right though: it has an almost glue like consistency.
I want to try to make more homemade bread, but I have difficulties with cutting straight, even slices. Any advice? Sometimes it is easier to buy store bread. I but whole wheat bread at an outlet store for $1 a loaf.
I actually wrote a post about that! https://www.thefrugalgirl.com/2009/07/by-very-very-very-popular-request-my-bread-knife/
what do you mean the lids can't be used from the tomatoes? I can a lot but I don't do it under pressure and the lids seal but I still continue to use them over again.
Everything I've read says that's not a safe practice with modern canning lids, and I think a $2 box of lids is worth every penny if it means I'm sure my food will be safe to eat. 🙂
I do reuse my jars and bands, of course!
Just a note on lids. I use the reusable Tattler lids. http://www.reusablecanninglids.com/ Only the rubber rings need to be replaced occasionally.
Yes, please, I would like to see the chocolate pudding recipe, and a vanilla version if you have one, please!
I'll make a batch and take pictures. I think I posted the recipe 3 years ago on my original blog, but I'm pretty sure I can do a better job with the photos by now.
Great job canning! I have 19 jars of homemade pasta sauce and going for more! It takes 2 quarts for each of my "famous lasagna", so I need lots to get me through until next year.
I use re-usable canning lids. They can be found at www (dot) reusablecanninglids (dot) com They can be re-used many times. And if the rubber ring wears out, it is easily replaced. I have no affiliation with this company, except I like their product, and have used these lids for years.
tattler lids are awesome, I am slowly switching over from the traditional ones because the regular Ball and Kerr ones all have BPA in them, and the Tattler ones do not.
I'm looking forward to the chocolate pudding recipe (and vanilla if you have it!) Yum!
I reuse my canning lids when I freeze my produce. I freeze peas, green beans, corn, broccoli, and cauliflower in mason jars. I cap them with spent lids from my canned tomatoes, peaches and pears. I also use them on my yogurt jars.
Just wondering how you are going to use your canned tomatoes? Do you have some recipes you could share? I just started canning last year and have done some jams, jellies, pie fillings and applesauce but no tomatoes yet..tried to make sauce last year and got frustrated. Doing the whole tomato looks a bit easier.
I've made yogurt many times following your recipe and your tutorial. Thank you so much! I've tried various plain yogurts to start the batches...some work well and some don't. My kids & I love the yogurt because you can just add in whatever you want.
Do you have a recipe & tutorial for the tomatoes too? My friend has done this. I haven't...yet.