Canning

Canning...the word sounds a little old fashioned to me. I think I have always associated canning and preserving with my "Maw Maw." I remember she had a cellar with shelves and shelves of colorful jars of things she had canned and preserved for a later use. It is definitely something I never imagined myself doing or having an interest in. We moved into our current house 4 years ago. I started a little garden that summer. I quickly became overwhelmed with the amount the little garden produced. I have repeated history every year since then however. Year after year I find myself at a loss as to what to do with all my produce. My Aunt Kathy has a garden as well. It's not a little garden. It's like a multi acre garden. She always has an abundance of things. They only planted 60 tomato plants this year. They scaled back from their normal 70....Whuck?! Aunt Kathy is always more than willing to share her bounty. I went home for a family reunion this past weekend. I came home with an abundance of tomatoes, squash, cucumbers and okra. There is no way we can even pretend to eat all this before it spoils. I have been dabbling the past few years in different areas. I have made a few jellies. I have started freezing more things. I'm making more of my own foods and relying less on pre-made/processed things. All this has led me to a desire to try canning some of my own stuff. I'll admit. It's an overwhelming thought. But, here I am. With a million tomatoes that are on a short time line. What to do? Mr. Mayer was very eager to give caning a try. I read about it. Aunt Kathy texted me directions. It sounded way to easy. What have I been missing out on? Tonight Mr. Mayer and I tackled our project. Tomatoes were peeled. Chopped. Stuffed in jars. And are currently taking a luxurious bath. Over all the process was ridiculously easy. So much so I have a small fear that I really screwed something up somewhere. Yikes! I hope not. I'm very anxious to try my hand at something else.

In addition to my adventures in canning today I tried something else....I found this recipe for tomatoes in my Gwyneth Paltrow cookbook (My Father's Daughter). I had gobs of cherry tomatoes that needed to have something done with them as well. I was curious about this recipe so I tried it. All I have to say is OMG! I had to put them away~quickly~because I was going to eat all of them. The Dudes really loved them as well. I will definitely be doing that again.