Yesterday I canned all of the tomatoes that we had from our garden. We've been eating tomatoes everyday since about July 10th or 12th. I really don't mind eating tomatoes everyday. But, we were getting more than we could eat, so we decided to can all we had. It ended up processing into one gallon of canned tomatoes ( 1 quart and 6 pints).
This is the first time I have canned on this size scale. In the past I have made my grammommie's red pepper relish in half pint jars. There has only been three to four jars, so I never needed any big deal canning equipment.
Yesterday, I went to the local hardware store in downtown Graham and bought a big boiling water canner with rack, a pack on pint jars, and the super useful tongs to lift the jars out of the boiling water.
I came home, cleaned the kitchen, washed peeled and cut the tomatoes, then had to stop for dinner. Wonderful hubby brought dinner home from BB-Q and Ribs Co.. We don't eat there often, even though it's not far away. It just seemed to go with the process of canning tomatoes to me.
Then I gave the kid a shower, read him his stories, came downstairs and started the cooking and canning of the tomatoes. I started the whole process at around 2pm in the afternoon and finished it just after 10pm with a break for dinner and bedtime. Whew!
Hubby and I are now looking quite forward to some of his grandmother's recipes that just aren't the same unless you use home canned tomatoes. Mainly, he likes her stuffed peppers and her spaghetti. (Spaghetti from a Scots/Irish/English descended family living in the sandhills of North Carolina. It's not very Italian. But it's good.)
Bruce handled all of the afternoon neglect with his usual destructive tendencies. We had to have a clean-up time after dinner. ( this is where my mom would say "Just put him in front of the TV!" - but that;s another post.)
Hopefully I'll have some creation pictures to share before long. I've a couple of things in the works.
If anyone has any good pickled okra recipes, let me know. I love my okra, and I'd hate to waste it on a recipe that ended up not being very good.