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!

Christmas Topiary Tree- Easy Decorating

Fast and easy decorations!

Supplies

48" obelisk

4- .25 inch dowels

craft wire, ornament hangers, zip ties or string to tie garland to obelisk

4- 6 ft boxwood garlands

2- 15 ft evergreen

green or brown paint for dowels to match obelisk

lights and ornaments, optional

This obelisk was on Amazon for $26.  I've wanted one for the garden for a long time and now I can use it as a dual purpose!

evergreen garlands from the dollar store

black Friday sale for boxwood garland

Begin by cutting dowels to height of obelisk and and paint to match metal. Secure 1 in each large space with wire, zip ties, etc.

Next, bend one end of evergreen garland around post of obelisk.  Wrap garland around obelisk leaving large spaces in between each row.  When you get to the end, bend around another post of obelisk, repeat with second garland.

Now start attaching the boxwood garland by wiring/ tying one end of garland to obelisk and wrap tightly between evergreen or every 2 rows of evergreen.  I only secured the ends so that if I needed to adjust the density, I could do it quickly and not have to undo a bunch of ties.  By wrapping it tightly, it seemed that securing only the ends worked ok.

add lights

add ornaments

and that's it. It's ready for the porch!

lanterns and silk poinsettias make decorating easy

slip covers for couch throw pillows are a quick way to add color.

Make an Easy Fill Soap Pumper

Make an easy fill soap pumper from a candle jar.

Equipment:

Drill motor

safety goggles

spray bottle for water

diamond hole saw bit- 24mm (I got it on Amazon for about $5.00)

dremil tool with cut down tool

supplies:

candle jar with glass gasket lid

sanitizer bottle and pump

Cut off the top of the sanitizer bottle as the anchor.  The collar of the pump will need to be cut down because the threads of the collar don't run the whole length of the collar.  I found that only sanitizer bottles have long enough necks to go through thicker glass lids.

You may want to mark the center with a permanent marker before drilling.

Put on your safety goggles and gloves.

spray some water on the lid before drilling.

The bit jumps around quite a bit before it takes hold and can scratch the top. The best position for me to stabilize the drill is sitting on the floor, cross legged with the jar between my legs and the bottom of the drill against my right knee (since I'm right handed). Using very light pressure at first so the bit isn't dancing all over the top and scratching it, gradually add a bit more pressure.

Stop drilling often and spray more water. To keep drill bit from becoming hot, use enough water and not too much pressure.  Bit should never be more than warm.

Use a few tissues to clean out the pieces of glass and water.  Rinse of jar and lid.

cut down the collar of the sanitizer bottle pump so the threads will match up with the base when you put it together. Use the glass plug you cut out as a guide for how much to take off.  Not all glass lids are the same thickness.

Push the sanitizer bottle base through the hole in the glass top and screw pump down snug.

Done!  And easy to refill- enjoy!