Saturday, July 21, 2012
Summer's Bounty
This has been a bountiful summer for our garden. And I say "our" completely facetiously. It's Tim's garden, from concept to building the raised beds to planting to harvesting. He does an amazing job, all with the ultimate purpose of making hot salsa.
I did jump in and help by canning spaghetti sauce, using the recipe here. It was my first experience at it, and it sure was a lot of work! Tim had already frozen some tomatoes so I had to thaw those, take the skins off and blanche the fresh ones and remove those skins as well. Of course, I had to prepare the jars by washing them and sterilizing the lids. Then I cooked the sauce itself. As with most everything else I make, I deviated from the recipe somewhat. We had spaghetti that night and the sauce was good but needed thickening (which I will do when I make individual batches in the crock pot) but the taste was excellent. Not so sure I'll do the sauce again. Little House on the Prairie, I'm not.
Here is the making of the hot salsa. All I know is it involves tomatoes, peppers of all kinds and intensities (including one of the hottest in the world, the ghost pepper), apple cider vinegar and I don't know what else. The house stinks smells quite pungent.
Just a day in the life :-)
Linking with Ni Hao Y'all
Oh yum!!!!! Both the garden harvest and the end result!
ReplyDeleteHaving a garden is a lot of work (or so my hubby says!) Thanks for stopping by!
Deleteoh canning is a whole bunch of work - this I know! good job!
ReplyDeleteYes, it is, but with food prices rising we're thinking already about next year. Any good suggestions?
DeleteI found your blog and have read it all morning. I do not have adopted children, or the same issues with children. My husband deploys a lot though, we have different problems. I feel encouraged from your blog. Some of your sharing is deep, and maybe hard for you but you are doing a lot for other moms who read your blog. I am sure dads also. I cannot share some of what we have/had going on but it helps to read what others have gone through, what they do in order to deal. Thank you, for your honesty.
ReplyDeleteThank you again for sharing and encouraging me. I want to write with a purpose and share the struggles as well as the blessings. It gives me perspective and new strength. God bless you today!
DeleteLooks and sounds delicious! Beautiful photos.
ReplyDeletevisiting from simple things
Thank you so much. I only took my camera off automatic a few weeks ago so I'm still learning. But I'm practicing a lot!
Deletewow your zucchini is HUGE! That's awesome that you grow so much! Your tomato sauce looks yummy!
ReplyDeleteThe zucchini is ridiculous, isn't it? And the sauce was yummy but a little thin. Thanks for visiting!
DeleteI found a way to can spaghetti sauce a few years ago that revolutionized the process for me. Wash and core the tomatoes, throw them into a pot of water to cook down a little and then either stick an emulsifier in the pot, or pour the tomatoes and a blender and blend their little hearts out...skin, seeds and all. I PROMISE you can't tell with the finished product, and it took HOURS AND HOURS off the process!
ReplyDeleteThat is a lot os sauce!! I am jealous, no gardens in a city!
ReplyDelete