Easy Halloween Decorations from the Dollar Store

 All you need is:

Black table cloth
purple napkins
pumpkins plates
green and purple tissue paper
spider decorations
candy corn
tea lights
stapler

Staple 3 plates together in a triangle, using 2 staples on each edge about 3 inches apart for stability and stuff the middle with a couple of pieces of tissue paper.  That's it, so easy!

Home Canning from the Garden

This year we home canned corn, grapes and tomatoes (see previous post) with lots of help from our family!  We love having the grandkids (and their parents) come and help harvest, wash and bottle the garden bounty.  It's so fun to all work together and create good memories and food!

Fresh corn is so good. The kids couldn't resist eating it raw while they were shucking!

 Use a soft scrub brush to remove the last of the corn silk.

 Using a large bowl to cut off the kernals from the cob helps catch them when they going flying.

 

 

Fill the jars to the top and then tap bottom of jar on the table to get it to settle to 1" headspace.

 

 

 Add 1 tsp salt per quart

 Fill with hot tap water, keeping 1" headspace. 

Cap jars with hot lids and bands and put in pressure canner and cover with water.

 

Cover with lid, vent without weight for ten minutes after it's starts steaming.  Then add weight and when dial reaches 10 pounds, reduce heat and start timing. Process quarts for 1 hr 20 min, then shut off heat and let cool.

Yum!!

 The grapes smelled so good while we were picking them!

 Of course there was a grape throwing contest with silbings-

 Perfect day to sit in the shade and stem grapes :)

 Use a steam juicer to extract juice.  Add juice to jars with about 1/3 c sugar, leaving 1/4 inch headspace. Cap with hot lids and bands and place in steam canner and process quarts for 15 min.

 We planted the whole back 1/2 acre this year and Derk used black plastic and drip tape on the furrows.

Derk used string to tie up the tomatoes this year and learned how to pinch off the sucker stems.  This has made it so easy to pick this year!

Homemade Marinara, Salsa and Tomatoe Sauce

There's nothing like homemade!  Try my easy marinara and salsa recipes using a steam juicer-

TAMI’S MARINARA

10 qts tomatoes

2 onions, peeled and quartered

2 carrots, peeled and cut in 2 inch lengths

¼ c minced garlic

¼ c dry parsley

1 heaping tbsp. basil

3 tbsp oregano

1 tsp sugar

2 tbsp salt

1 tsp pepper

4 tbsp cider vinegar

EQUIPMENT: 
Colander
Knife/ Cutting Board 
Jars, bands, lids
Tongs
Funnel
Ladle or measuring cup

2 Small Bowls
Medium Bowl
Large Bowl
Steam Juicer
Victorio Strainer
Steam Canner 

Wash and quarter tomatoes.

 Fill bottom reservoir of steam juicer with tap water.

 Fill steam juicer with tomatoes, with onions and carrots on top.

Make sure the tubing has a clamp on the end and is higher than spout so it doesn't leak.

 Steam down till half full or about 2 hrs.

 Scoop out onions and carrots into blender.

Add juice from steamer to cover vegetalbes in blender and puree with remaining ingredients.

Set aside puree in large bowl. Before emptying juice from steamer, check consistency in case you want to add more juice to thin to desired consistency.

If you don't have a food strainer, you can put on some rubber gloves and pull of the skins at this point and puree the tomatoe pulp and add to vegetable puree in large bowl.

Scoop steamed tomatoes into hopper of Victorio Strainer to separate pulp from skin and seeds. Return skin and seeds to strainer and repeat again to get all the pulp.

One small bowl collects the pulp from the shoot and the other small bowl collects the skin and seeds.

Add pulp to vegetable puree in large bowl and mix well.

Sterilize jars. Place bands and lids in a medium saucepan of boiling water. Fill jars, leaving 1/2 inch headspace. Place a lid and band on each jar and tighten down. Place jars in steam canner and steam pints for 45 min and quarts for 60 min.  Tomatoe Sauce is made the same as Marinara by omitting spices, except for salt and vinegar)

TAMI’S MARINARA
10 qts tomatoes
2 onions, peeled and quartered
2 carrots, peeled and cut in 2 inch lengths
1/4 c minced garlic
1/4 c dry parsley
1 heaping tbsp. basil
3 tbsp. oregano
1 tsp sugar
2 tbsp. salt
1 tsp pepper
4 tbsp. cider vinegar

Wash and quarter tomatoes. Fill steam juicer with tomatoes, with onions and carrots on top. Steam down till half full or about 2 hrs. Scoop out onions and carrots into blender. Add juice from steamer to cover vegetables in blender and puree with remaining ingredients. (Don't throw out the juice that steamed off.  You may need to add some back in to adjust consistency.) Set aside puree in large bowl. Scoop steamed tomatoes into hopper of Victorio Strainer to separate pulp from skin and seeds.  Return skin and seeds to strainer and repeat again to get all the pulp.  Add pulp to vegetable puree in large bowl and mix well. Prepare jars, bands and lids.  Fill jars, leaving ½ inch headspace. Steam pints for 45 min and quarts for 60 min.  (Tomatoe Sauce is made the same as Marinara by omitting spices, except for salt and vinegar)

 

TAMI’S SALSA

10 qts tomatoes

4 lg green peppers, quartered

1 jalepeno

4 onions, peeled and quartered

½ c cider vinegar

8-10 stems cilantro

2 tbsp salt

1 tbsp pepper

3 tbsp granulated garlic

Wash and quarter tomatoes. Fill steam juicer with tomatoes, with green peppers and onions on top.  Steam down till half full about 2 hrs. (Don’t throw out the juice that steamed off. You may need to add some back in to adjust consistency) Scoop out peppers and onions into blender, add remaining ingredients and blend till smooth.  Set aside in large bowl.  Scoop steamed tomatoes into hopper of Victorio Strainer to separate pulp from skin and seeds.  Return skin and seeds to strainer and repeat again to get all the pulp.  Add pulp to vegetable puree in large bowl and mix well. Prepare jars, bands and lids.  Fill jars, leaving ½ inch headspace. Steam pints for 45 min and quarts for 60 min.

 So fun having grandkids help!