Stewed Tomatoes - Easy Recipe and "Why do I have black spots?"

GREEN BEAN "RECIPE": So I was wondering the other day what other people use stewed tomatoes for and came across a site where someone says they use stewed tomatoes with green beans. I thought this sounded tasty and I did have some stewed toms left over that wasn't enough to fill a jar for canning. I had DH buy some green beans from the fruit market so I could make it with the stewed toms.

It turned out so YUMMY especially with the spicy kick. We snapped up about a pound of beans then I started the beans in a steamer basket which is how I normally cook them. For the last 6 minutes I simply transferred the beans to a pot and cooked them with about 1 cup of stewed toms in a pot. I suppose you could cook them all together at once in a pot and skip the steamer basket, but make sure you have enough liquid so as not to burn everything. So easy, but so tasty! I'll bet this would be tasty as a cold picnic dish too - I might try that since I do have a picnic coming  soon.

"WHY DO I HAVE BLACK SPOTS?"  One day I opened a can of my stewed tomatoes and discovered black spots on the underside of the lid. I dumped it out. Then I opened another can and discovered a bit of the same thing. While the toms had been in storage for about a year, the coincidence of getting two jars in a row with black spots didn't seem right. So of course I went searching for an answer and found that black or brown spots are perfectly natural with some foods. Here is a quote from a food science specialist regarding black spots on the lids of canned tomatoes:

Natural compounds in some foods cause a black or brown deposit on the underside of the lid. This deposit does not mean the food is unsafe to eat. However, whenever a sealed jar comes open, spoilage is likely and the product should be discarded. (Read the whole PDF)

Stewed Tomatoes - Canning Recipe

I've been making stewed tomatoes for a few years now and each time I try something just a little bit different. This year I've added just a bit of habanera peppers. We My husband uses the stewed tomatoes to cook spaghetti sauce with 1/2 of a quart of stewed tomatoes, 28 oz can of store bought tomato sauce (to thicken it a bit) and a pound of ground beef. He also makes goulash which is pretty much the same thing minus the tomato sauce and he uses shells instead of noodles.

 

Below is my one batch recipe that will make about 7 1/2 quarts; obviously you can adjust everything but the lemon juice. I cut the ingredients chunky. 1 tomato is cut into 8ths, green/red peppers and onions are cut about 1/2" pieces. The hot peppers and garlic should all be cut up small. If you don't want to do this all in one day it is perfectly fine to prep the tomatoes and let them sit in the fridge overnight; pour out the liquid that accumulates in the bottom of the container a couple of times. If you really want to get rid of the liquid remove the seeds and membrane from the center of the tomato.

2010 STEWED TOMATOES

20# Roma tomatoes

4 Green peppers

1 Red pepper

4 White onions (Related Post: Stop Crying! How to cut Onions without Tears)

5 Jalapeno peppers, minced (Related Post: Cutting Jalapenos and Habaneros - a burning lesson)

1  Habanera peppers, minced

1 Garlic bulb, pressed or minced (not one garlic clove, the entire bulb!)

¼ cup olive oil

½ Tbsp Black pepper

1 Tbsp Sugar

1 tsp Salt

1 tsp Crushed red pepper

1 tsp Italian seasoning

2 Tbsp lemon juice for each jar

Begin by blanching the tomatoes for 45 seconds and dunking into cold water. Remove the tomato skin and squish out some liquid (If you store them overnight you can just pour off the liquid a few times - I poured off probably 3-3½ cups of liquid) Halve the toms, cut out the core then quarter the halves (8 pieces). Prep about ¾ of the tomatoes and start the canner leaving the last ¼ of tomatoes to do in a bit.

Cut up the other ingredients. Put everything but the tomatoes into a large pot (12 quart or larger is best) and sauté with about ¼ cup olive oil. Stir Frequently. Sauté for about 20 minutes.

Prepare the remaining tomatoes while you sauté the rest of the ingredients (you can do them all at once, but I don't like to have the 20 minute down time)

Add the prepared toms to the pot of sautéed ingredients and cook for 20 minutes.

Prep the jars and lids following standard canning instructions. Have rims, jar lifter, lid lifter, wet towel, hot pads and newspaper ready.

Add 2 Tablespoons of lemon juice to each quart size jar.

Place lid and rim on the jar and process the jars in the water canner for 40 minutes. Remove from the canner and place on many layers of newpaper to protect your counter. After 24 hours, remove the rims (wash and store them), wipe down the jars and when dry you can apply a label. I prefer my labels to be on the glass so I use a piece of masking tape and label it (Stewed Toms - 8/8/10 - Batch #1). It is recommended that you store your toms in a cool, dry place for up to a year. I store mine in the basement and have had no problem with jars that are two years old. 

Yield 7 ½ quarts

Cutting Jalapenos and Habaneras - a burning lesson

Yesterday was peach salsa and stewed tomato canning day. I used 25 jalapenos and 8 habaneros. I had two cutting sessions; once for the stewed toms and once for the salsa. I started noticing throughout the day that my fingers were starting to sting a bit. I knew it was from the hot peppers but I continued on my diligent canning path without taking it too seriously. I have cut that many jalapenos without gloves before and have just had mild effect on my fingers from it. The last time I made salsa I tried habaneros and after reading about them and discovering that they are like 100x hotter than a jalapeno I decided to wear gloves. Well, my memory must have slipped me this time around or I was just too stubborn to go downstairs and get a pair of latex gloves. OH MY. Not long after the second cutting of the jalapenos and habaneros my palms and fingers were on fire. This was way more than a little uncomfortable; it was "I'm going to scream" kind of hurt. I had washed my hands thoroughly after cutting the peppers, but apparently that didn't work. Anyway my hands and fingers continued to get worse as the canning process went on and every time I would touch a hot jar or hot lid it would make the pain flare.

After about a half hour of the intense heat I was feeling in my palms and digits (mostly the left btw since that is the hand that did the holding while my right did the chopping), I decided I needed a solution! A while back while making jalapeno poppers I discovered that milk killed the heat. So I poured a bowl of milk and soaked my left hand in it. This was only temporarily soothing. I poured myself a beer. No not so much to drink as it was to stick my on fire fingers into the golden nectar in hopes of lessening the pain increased as each minute went by. It did not work.

Next I took my bowl of milk upstairs to the computer to ask my trusty friend Google what the solution might be. The definite thing to try was milk; did that though with no result. It was suggested to use alcohol so I poured a bowl of that and soaked for several minutes with no result. Then I tried a bowl of vinegar with no result. Then I poured the vinegar into the alcohol and added the milk and soaked my left hand. This did not help. According to the information I read that it's the caspsaicin in hot peppers that causes the sensation of burning tissue and that contact with heat (hot water, hot jar, hot lid) will reactivate the capsaicin and hurt even more. Once the burning sensation begins it's pretty much too late since the capsaicin oil has soaked into the skin. A better choice would have been to wash my hands with rubbing alcohol right away (or to have worn gloves!). Although it is extremely uncomfortable, the severe burning will slowly go away on its own and is not damaging the skin... in a day or two.

Knowing why my fingers feel like they are on fire didn't help of course so I continued to conjure up ideas of how to make it stop. Ice cubes gave only temporarily relief. Practically in screaming agony I sat down to eat pizza with DH; yes, hot pizza... oh my. Afterward I gobbed on aloe and took 4 200mg IBuprofin. I glopped on some more aloe which seemed to provide the most relief of everything I had tried so far. The aloe dried on my hands and I re-wet them with just a sprinkle of water a couple times and rubbed the aloe around again. I laid down thinking for sure I wouldn't be able to sleep, but between the IBu and the aloe and probably the fact that I was no longer rubbing and using my hands and fingers, I fell asleep.

Today, I can feel the heat just a tad and have promised myself that never ever again will I cut that many hot peppers without gloves!

Stop Crying! How to Cut Onions without Tears

Today I am canning peach salsa and stewed tomatoes. As I laid out the ingredients I stared at the onions in the netted bag and pondered the question "how do I keep from crying when cutting onions". If it weren't painful, I wouldn't mind so much. So of course I set out into the world of the WWW and found a few things out about cutting onions and ways to stop the dreaded painful tears from falling.

Here's a bit about why we cry from onions from TLCcooking:

"Unless you're a chef with a freshly broken heart, the tears you shed when chopping onions aren't emotional ones. That leaves two other categories of tears: basal and reflexive. Since basal tears are the ones that hang around our eyes and eyelids to act as a lubricant, that leaves us with reflex tears. The lachrymal glands above the eyelids regulate the release of tears. In the case of reflex crying, an external irritant, such as dust or smoke, triggers nerve endings in the cornea to communicate with the brain stem. The brain registers the irritation in the eye then alerts the lachrymal gland to stimulate tear production to flush away the invader.

If we're chopping onions a few feet away from our eyes, what's causing this weepy reaction? The answer begins in the soil. Onions are part of the plant genus Allium, along with garlic, chives, leeks and about 400 other cousins. These vegetables absorb sulfur in the earth, which helps form a class of volatile organic molecules called amino acid sulfoxides. These sulfoxides are the real tear-jerkers when onions go under the knife"

So to answer the question at hand I did some more research. I've heard of and tried all sorts of different approaches such as breathing through your mouth with 2 carrots stuck up your nose which is not only unattractive but ineffective! There are suggestions to light a votive and to cut the onion under water - both of which do not solve the problem. You can dip the cut side in vinegar which will remove some of the acid, but will also change the flavor. Then there's the suggestion to wear goggles which something I had not tried yet.

So I will tell you the secret to cutting onions and not crying. Protect your eyes! I donned a pair of swimming goggles and went at it. I breathed normally and even at the end of my cutting I took a big ole whiff of the bowl of cut onions. I chopped 9 large onions and shed not one tear!

I suggest cutting the onions away from a hot stove to avoid steaming up your goggles.

How to make Applesauce

Yep, that's right. Fall brings on the need to make more applesauce. While it's a lot of work, this is SO much better than anything you'll ever find in a store. Last night we finished off last year's canning supply and had some that I just canned with marinated grilled pork chops. OMG, it's so good.

Canning is getting more popular too with the economy being bad. For like $25 I made 27 jars of applesauce that will certainly last an entire year even when giving some away. Of course for a first time canner there are initial expenses, but if you continue to can you will save in the end: canner $14, jars ($9/12), jar lifter & funnel ($3/4 each?). The most time consuming part is peeling, coring and chopping the apples so it's helpful if you have two people canning together.

This is a quick Tutorial on how I make applesauce and can it. If anyone wants more information or has questions I'd be happy to answer them as best as I can! I suggest you take notes on how much of what you use so when you make it again you can perfect your previous batch.

SUPPLIES:

• apples (10# = about 4.5-5 quarts)
• sugar
• cinnamon, all spice (optional)
• apple juice (not necessary, but produces a better taste)
• 1 pat of butter
• stuff to peel, core and chop with. You don't have to get high tech here
• something to mash downward with, a potato masher works well
• water bath canner (just saw one at Wal-mart for $14)
• canning jars with lids and rims
• jar lifter - necessary!
• wide mouth funnel - not necessary, but very messy without
• tongs or magnetic jar lid lifter (I made mine with a dowel and glued a magnet to the end with Goop)
• hot pads
• newspaper
• rag/towels

FIRST:

• Put water in the canner with the lid on and turn it to high first because it takes forever to boil.
• You have to heat your jars. They say to boil them in water for 10 minutes, but I don't have that much stove room so I picked up this little trick and it works great. I put an aluminum pan on my electric griddle, put water in the pan then turn the jars upside down and put them in the pan so the mouth of the jar is in the water. Turn the griddle on 400 and it will sanitize and heat the jars (of course the jars are clean to begin with though).
• The jar lids need to be heated to 160 degrees. For me that's medium low which produces small bubbles, but not boiling.
• The rims need to be on hand (clean and dry)
• Set up a cooling area by putting several layers of newspaper down so you don't burn your counter

You'll need apples, doh! It's best to get a variety of apples; for this year's recipe I purchased the following amounts of apples then divided them into batches: 20# Red Delicious, 20# Roma, 10# Golden Delicious, 6# McIntosh, 3# Gala, 3# Honey Crisp. The first picture shows my bags of apples all stacked up... yes that's 60 pounds of apples! If you are making more than one batch split up the apples into batches trying to evenly divide each apple type into each batch. The 2nd picture shows my 6 batches with the apples evenly divided.

Next is to peel, core and cut. I picked up my apple peeler (pic 3) at a garage sale for a couple dollars but I had a rather cheap plastic one that I got from Big Lots for $5 that I used for several years and it worked fine. I found that neither peeler cored well plus it spirals the apple and I want chunks not slivers. Obviously you can use a regular vegetable peeler. After peeling, you can core the apples using an apple corer or just cut the apples and use a paring knife to remove the seeds and core; I tend to use both depending on the size of the apple and vertical alignment of the core. I found it better to chop up the apples into like 1" pieces (no rocket science here) so they cook faster and are easier to mash. I tried a hand-crank chopper once, but wasn't crazy about the little pieces and it was almost harder to mash them when they are so small.

Cook the apples. I always start off my applesauce cooking with water and apple juice that I got from the previous year's apple peel (pic 4) and freeze in Zip-Lock bags. Check back soon for more on apple peels, apple juice and apple jelly! Anyway, you can use store bought apple juice (recommended if you don't have your own) or water (better with some juice though). I like cinnamon applesauce, but it's not necessary and you can adjust the amount to your liking. Technically sugar is not supposed to be necessary, but I always add some because Dave likes the sauce to serve as a side dish and desert! So add sugar if you like; the official recommended amount is 2 Tbsp per 4 cups. You'll put your apples, juice, sugar and spice in a large pot. Add a pat of butter to keep the applesauce from foaming while it cooks.

Here's my applesauce recipe for a 10 pound batch:

• 10 #of a variety of apples
• 1 1/2 C apple juice
• 1 1/2 C water
• 2 C sugar
• 1 Tbsp cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp all spice

So put all the ingredients in a large covered pot on high (pic 5) until it boils then turn it down to medium low heat. You'll want to cook it for at least 30 minutes and while it's cooking you need to mash it up; I use a potato masher (pic 6). If you don't have a masher or want smoother applesauce you can transfer several cups at a time to a blender and give it a quick whirl. I've used this method when I got lazy, but most of the apples were already mashed up.

Fill the jars. Grab one of the jars (w/ a hot pad!), put the funnel into the mouth and fill it to 1/2" from the top. You're suppose to run a plastic thing around the inside of the jar at this point, I usually use one of those lettuce cutters or the handle of a spatula or sometimes I forget and nothing horrible has ever happened just don't use a metal object. Wipe the rim of the jar! Using tongs or a magnetic lid lifter (pic 7). (hint: if you put the lids in the pot one up, one down, one up, etc it's easier to get them out). Position the lid on the jar rim and screw on a rim finger tight. I know your instinct is to wrench on it, but seriously finger tight (like screwing in a light bulb) is what you want.

Process the jars. Using a jar lifter lower the jars into one of the slots in the metal rack inside your canner. I stagger the placement one across from another so the rack doesn't tilt and knock the jars on their side. (pic 8) I also don't lift the entire rack out of the canner. I've burnt myself way too many times doing that and have therefore removed the handles on the side of the rack. You want your jars to be covered by at least 1" of water; a pot of boiling water on the side is helpful if the level is too low after loading it. Once the canner returns to a boil start your timer: 20 mins for 1/2 pint and pint, 25 minutes for quarts. Beginning at 1,000 feet to 3, 000 feet you want to increase the processing time by 5 minutes for each additional 3,000 feet. Search online if you're not sure.

Remove the jars. Using the jar lifter (pic 8) remove the jars one by one (or dare to use the handles on the rack!). With a rag underneath to catch falling water place the jars about 2" apart on the newspaper (pic 9). Sometimes the seal on the jars will pop while you're carrying it; this is ok. You may or may not hear the seal on the jars pop indicating that it is sealed. You can test the seal the next day by pressing down on the center of the lid; if it gives way, your seal is broke. You can reprocess within 24 hours if this happens, but make sure you use a new lid!

Store the jars. The next day you can remove the rim (prevents rusting), wipe down the jar, and label it. I've been using masking tape on the side of the jar to label because the stickers you sometimes get when you buy the jars do not come off easily when you want to reuse the jar and since i use the replacement plastic screw on lids if I write on the seal it gets thrown away and I don't know when it was made. Obviously if you are gifting the jar you can use a nicer label :) Put the jars in a cool place out of sunlight. I've stored my canned goods for 2 years plus with no incident. Most information says to store no longer than 2 years and some say just one year.

If you ever open a jar and it didn't seem like it was sealed, smells funny, doesn't look right and heaven forbid has a white webby look... DO NOT EAT IT! It's not worth the risk. Out of the hundreds of jars I've canned I've only thrown away 2 jars of stewed tomatoes so it's really not likely that your seal will fail if you process the jars correctly.

I hope you've found this information helpful! Like I said before ask if you have any questions and I'll do my best to answer!

Applesauce Time!

Actually it's past applesauce time, but started to panic that if Jim took a bunch back to FL with him that Dave and I would run out before a year's time! OH MY! Simple solution: make more applesauce. I'm so smart. Now normally I make applesauce about the first week or two of November so this is by far the latest in the year that I've made it. My choices weren't as good but there was enough to get a good combination. I also wonder about the sweetness of the apples or maybe it was just the combination I used. The applesauce seemed a little tart, but sweet. It's still good, but next time I'll make sure I get on the ball and make it by the second weekend of November rather than the last weekend of November.

Since I was making a small batch I bought about 31 pounds which yielded 14 quarts of applesauce. I made Jim's with a tad less sugar than the "desert" kind that Dave likes.

Pumpkin Seeds, Pumpkin Puree and "Eating Pumpkin"

The large carving pumpkin doesn't get any respect as an eating pumpkin although I've been using them for just that for several years now. Every year after Halloween I make tasty pumpkin seeds and pumpkin puree and mashed pumpkin that I freeze and use the whole year. Yep, all from "carving" pumpkins. I've made dozens of pumpkin muffins, pumpkin cookies, pumpkin pies, pumpkin bread, pumpkin biscotti and pumpkin logs. I've yet to make a pumpkin cheesecake, but you can bet I will at some point. Yes all that from FREE pumpkins. Yep, I said free. Who needs to go buy "pie pumpkins" at 67 cents a pound when you can pick them right from the curb? The best time to get free pumpkins is the week after Halloween on trash day. People all over the world are throwing out perfectly good uncut, pristine condition pumpkins. They set them next to their trash so it's not like you have to dig for them. You do however have to have enough guts to stop and pick them up. :)

Ahh, anyway this year I picked up 10 pumpkins over a couple trash weeks. I did trash one since it had developed a soft spot after sitting in my garage for two weeks.

It is not recommended by the FDA that pumpkin puree be canned so how the heck do you turn those great pumpkins into year-round edibles? Easy as "pie". LOL

HARVEST THE PULP AND SEEDS:
1. Wash/scrub the pumpkin thoroughly before cutting
2. Cut in half so you have a top and bottom
3. Cut away seeds from both halves. Hold the stringy stuff and seeds in one hand and squish the seeds free landing them into a colander. Rinse the pulp from the seeds. Set aside.
4. Slice the pumpkin into 2" to 2½" strips or as close as you can get. Obviously you will cut around the stem.
5. Using a knife "fillet" the mucky stringy stuff from the pumpkin strips revealing the firm flesh underneath. You do not have to remove the skin! Unless you really like using the knife and wasting a lot of time.
6. Next you'll cube the strips so they are sort of square. No they don't all have to be the same size.

COOK THE PUMPKIN:
There are several different methods for cooking the pumpkin, but I've found the least troublesome and most consistent to be steaming. I have a very large pot with a basket that I use which will hold about 1/2 to 2/3 of a medium size pumpkin that's been cubed.
1. Toss the pumpkin cubes with the skin on into the basket and put the basket into a pot with a couple inches of water.
2. Turn the burner on high and bring the water to a rolling boil.
3. Once boiling turn the heat down to medium high and steam the pumpkin from this point for 30 minutes. If you still have white spots after 30 minutes steam it a little longer.
4. Dump the cooked pumpkin cubes into a strainer and allow to sit until long enough to handle without burning yourself. It takes a long time to cool so I recommend starting another batch or going on to working on your seeds in the meantime.

MAKE THE PUREE OR EATING PUMPKIN:
5. Once cool enough to handle you'll pretty much squish the skin away from the pulp with your fingers by sort of pinching the skin the pulp basically pops away. The skin is garbage. Put the pulp in a colander.
6. Mash the pulp while in the colander to release the extra liquid. Don't be gentle here... squish it good by pressing your hands down onto the puree so the liquid exits through the colander holes. You can use the bottom of a flat bowl or plate too! You don't have to squish it so it's dry, but you should be able to form a ball out of it that holds its shape. At this point you can fill freezer bags with pumpkin that I call "eating pumpkin". It's simply mashed up pumpkin that can be frozen for a whole year. When you're ready to enjoy I nuke it a bit until I can get it out of the freezer bag, put in a a sauce pan and add a little bit of butter and cinnamon for a tasty squash side dish. Seriously! Even my husband likes it!
7. Continuing on with making the puree; after mashing and squishing you'll transfer it to a blender or food processor if you should be so lucky and puree it. Since you squished the liquid out this is not as easy as it seems and using a spatula to slide along the wall of the blender will help get it pureed. Yes, keep the spatula firmly against the side or you'll be picking silicone out of the puree!
8. I then scoop 2 rounded cups of the final puree into freezer Tupperware. Actually I scoop it one heaping cup serving into a sandwich bag and load 2 packets into one Tupperware with a piece of wax paper between . Of course you can use freezer bags too and use any portion size you'd like just be sure to remove the air before zipping closed and flatten the bag so when they freeze you have a stack of pumpkin "bricks".

To thaw the puree I generally just let it sit in a bowl on the counter top. Discard any liquid that escapes which is why I use heaping cups because there's always liquid run off that reduces the amount of pumpkin that you end up post thawing. Substitute your pumpkin puree for the canned stuff called for in recipes!

Another way to go about this is to not squish the liquid out, puree it, then let the liquid drip out through a jelly bag or several layers of cheese cloth. The squishing method is faster though.

COOK THE PUMPKIN SEEDS:
There are several ways to make pumpkin seeds. I've tried several different recipes and methods the sure fire first step though is to boil the seeds in salt water. The ratio I use is:

1 cup of seeds
4 cups of water
1 tablespoon of salt

Each medium size pumpkin produces typically between 1½ to 2 cups of seeds so adjust the above ratio for how many cups of seeds you have. Bring the water, seeds and salt to a boil then turn down to simmer and cook for 10 minutes. Drain the seeds into a colander. I like to blot the seeds with a paper towel to remove as much water as I can.

Heat the oven to 400 degrees. Spread about a tablespoon of olive oil over the bottom of a roasting pan. Spread the seeds out over the roasting pan, all in one layer. Bake on the top rack until the seeds begin to brown, 10-20 minutes. When browned to your satisfaction, remove from the oven and let the pan cool on a rack. Let the seeds cool all the way down before eating.

Alternatively you can mix your seeds with the olive oil rather than coating the pan with it. You can use butter rather than olive oil. You can go way healthier and substitute either butter or oil with egg whites.

Typically I use olive oil with sugar mixed in for "regular" seeds and also make "Cajun" seeds where I'll add some Cayenne pepper and sugar to the olive oil and mix them up before baking. There are a lot of different recipes, but IMO the first step should always be boiling the seeds in salt water.

Apple Pepper Jelly and Cinnamon Spiced Apple Jelly

This is "apple pepper jelly"; it's the first time I've made it. No I don't really know what I'm going to do with it yet, but I didn't want to make all regular jelly thus this creation was born. Ok, I lie a little bit; I did basically follow an online recipe. The floaties in there are jalapeno peppers. I'm thinking this stuff will be good as a topper for cream cheese and crackers. I hope somebody likes it because I made 7 jars of it.

10/10/2008 - I've served this up several times now on variety crackers smeared with a bit of cream cheese and it's been a big hit. Some people are turned away by it being called jelly so I've decided to call it a spread instead. It's a rather odd combination of sweet and hot. The heat is actually pretty mild / mild plus IMO and the sugar could have been reduced. Anyway, since I've seen a lot of folks hitting my page searching for this recipe I'm adding my recipe and notes to this post.

Marni's Apple-Pepper Spread

2/3 cups jalapeno peppers (6-7 should be enough); I used my hand grinder to "mince" them

2 1/2 cups apple juice (I used the cinnamon flavored apple juice from my 2007 applesauce canning)

2 tablespoons white vinegar

6 cups granulated sugar (I suppose you could try the reduced sugar pectin to lower the amount of sugar needed)

3/4 cups water

1/2 teaspoon butter (real butter, salted. This keeps the jelly from foaming)

4 drops of green food coloring

1 package pectin + 1 teaspoon of pectin from another packet (The extra bit seems to be needed to ensure jellies will set up properly)

1. Mix first 4 ingredients and set aside
2. Put the water, butter and food coloring in a sauce pan and gradually add the pectin while bringing the mixture to a rapid boil that won't stir away.
3. Add the jalapeno mixture and bring it to a hard, rapid boil stirring constantly for 1 minute. (the 1 minute countdown begins after the mixture has reached the rapid boil point.
4. Strain the juice into a warmed vessel (just warm it up with running water and wipe otherwise the jelly will cool too quickly on the sides and begin to set up on the sides.)
5. I stirred in about 1/4 cup of the strained jalapeno back into the jelly before filling the prepared jars. (I thought it would look nicer and add more heat)
6. Skim any foam if necessary and ladle into prepared jars leaving 1/4" head space and process for 10 minutes
7. I turned the jelly jars a few times as it cooled to distribute the jalapeno pieces (yes, normally a big no-no to touch the jars while they cool!)

My Yield = Six 1/2 pint jars and one 12 ounce jar

I'd already put the jellies in the basement before taking the picture of it. Sure I've made regular old apple jelly before, but this year I decided to make apple jelly with a touch of cinnamon and a sprinkle of other spices like nutmeg, ginger and all spice.

The apple juice that was used to make both of these flavors was from last fall when Kelly and I made applesauce. The best apple jelly is actually made from the apple peels and not the apples themselves. Seems strange I know, but I've made it both ways and the peel method is better. This time I added a couple of cinnamon sticks to the pot as it simmered on the stove to give the apple juice a pleasant cinnamony flavor.

Apple jelly is probably the easiest jelly to make and can because apples already have a natural pectin which imo really helps with setting up the jelly when used with a regular packet of pectin of course. I have read where you can actually make your own pectin from apples, but my name is Marni... not Martha!

Ready to can and self watering pot

I couldn't resist heading out to Eastern Market to see what goodies I could find. I got there at about 4:30 and wandered around quite a bit not buying anything but taking in the venue for what it is. I must say I didn't really find anything truly interesting to me today and had no real inspirations to buy large quanities of something that would most certainly tie me to the kitchen for the rest of the weekend. First I picked up some asparagus for $1 a bunch then added the cut little Gerber Daisy plant for another buck. Chatted with the corn people for a bit and bought 6 ears for $1.50 (probably more than I needed to pay but I was feeling generous. Then wandered over to the cute vege guy that goes out drinking too much the night before and picked up some banana at normal store pricing. I wandered around a bit more checking out mangos and what not. The big guy that always wears the suspenders and strikes me as the type that should have a pipe hanging from his lip was selling strawberries for $1 a container and the old Italian next to him had red grapes at $2 a case and cucumbers which he was getting rid of for $1 a case. Ok twist my arm. After yakking with these two fellas and even getting a hug from one who stated I was "just too cute" I scooped up a case of cukes and was handed 2 free bags of his red grapes. I loaded up the car and actually left when I decided that I could make chocolate covered strawberries so I turned around and headed back in to the jolly overall wearing farmer and purchased 2 containers. At home I kept maybe 8 of the cukes and dropped the rest along with a bag of grapes at the neighbors to do with as they pleased.

Another self watering plant experiment. Could I have just gotten lucky that the first pot like this did so well because of the nature of the pots used and plants planted? Time to do another test! I have my $1 Gerber and I picked up a $3 pot at Walmart. I couldn't find another pot to fit inside the green one so I figured I'd try using just the pot the darn thing came in. Here's the story...

Take a ceramic pot and if it has a hole in the bottom plug it up with plumbers putty by rolling a gob into a cylinder, sticking the cylinder of putty through the hole then smashing down the putty on both the inside and the bottom. I added a little more to the inside before smashing it.

The inner pot sat a little too low and would make it difficult to grab the edge to remove it for watering so I added some pea stone to bring it up to the proper height. Fill'er up with water and see if it leaks. Nope! Drop plant in water. La la la some time later I check on it and decide that it's taking on quite a bit of water. Is it because of the soil or maybe the 8 holes in the bottom of the pot.

Hmm. Remove some of the original soil from pottom of plant and add some of my own (must admit though they look exactly the same). Using the same principal as plugging the green pot I plug every other hole in the bottom of the Gerber pot (yes, I had to pull the Gerber out to do all this). La la la. A while later I don't see water pooling at the surface so I'm guessing my adjustments are all good. Looking at my new little pot I decided that between the pot and the plant that there was just too much green. So I decided I'd decorate the pot! Using some of those flat glass marbles used in vases with flowers and hot glue I had at it. Oooh, it looked so cute! Then I filled it with water and lo and behold all the glass pieces literally fell off! Oh my... darn it!

Update: I have since redecorated the pot with a glue that I'm hoping will work and I picked up these cute little beads at Michael's to add some more flare. Here's a picture tonight. I haven't put any water in it yet! I'll have to get a better picture of the finished pot that's better, but for now this will due.

The Canning of the Strawberries (and what not)

Well, the kitchen is back to normal except for the jar bands that are currently drying on the counter. The canning went about as smooth as canning can go with a couple minor incidents neither of which broke, mamed or permanently hurt anything. I arrived home as quickly as I could and eager to get started after a typical day in the brown truck with the exception that I used my break and lunch time to go shopping at Meijer for the additional supplies I'd need for the evening's adventure. One small delay was that Parr Roofing and his crew of two were there strapping the ladder to the roof of his pick up truck. Couldn't find Rick and later learned he was "touring the grounds" and greatly admired my wall of overgrown ivy. I pointed at the propagation experiment I have going and informed him that he was more than welcome to whatever ivy I have growing inside. Heck, I'd even plant a whole flat for him if he makes us a deal on the roof repair! Rick Parr and I go back to the days and dealings of volunteering for the community organization. Anyway, it was good to see the old southern man again.... now get out... I have canning to do!

Actually the canning went well except for that first pot of sugary syrupy strawberry mixture bubbling over onto the stove creating a black gooey burning sugar mess on the stove top; thank goodness for our flat top stove or I'd have never gotten that mess cleaned up. I somehow lost the directions for making up the jelly using the "no sugar needed pectin" so I was dashing back and forth from the kitchen to my upstairs office where I was Googling like mad to find the directions; I did find them on the Ball (the jar maker) website. Later I was using the tongs to try to pull up the handles for the jar basket and forgot that the tongs aren't very long and partially emerged my right hand into the very very hot water; I still can't believe I didn't get any blisters from that one. Finished products: 33 jars of various sizes yielding a combined total of about 60 cups of the smile making red goop. I can't wait to try the "no sugar needed" jam since it didn't separate after spooning it into the jars. Reason? I can really only figure it was the difference in the pectins or I'm really thinking it was the 1 cup of unsweetened apple juice that I have frozen from last year's applesauce making.

Mmmmmmmmm!

Oh yeah, I revisited the clinic yesteday after my first visit on 6/21. I do feel like it's getting better, but there's still that looming idea that it's really not getting better and that it's gotten as good as it's going to get and if it does wind up feeling fine again that it will just be a matter of time before it gives again. After all it's been 4 1/2 years (13/2/03) since I banged the crud out of it on that fire hydrant. My last visit I saw Dr. Duprey and he mentioned 3 things it could be... 1) meniscus injury 2) MCL strain 3) brusing of the meniscus. I'm hate to be the pessimist here but if were 2 or 3 would I have been feeling it since the fire hydrant incident?

It's Canning Season!

So a few years ago I decided I wanted to make and can some salsa with tomatoes from my garden then later that year I decided to try applesauce and apple jelly. And I did and it was good! So the following year I went canning crazy; I canned strawberry jam & preserves, raspberry jam, black cherry jam & preserves, more applesauce, stewed tomatoes, peaches, peach jam. I think I named them all. Anyway, I went to Eastern Market on Saturday and picked up 3 flats of strawberries which is 1 more flat than I got last year (there are 8 2qt containers in one flat). I gave the vendor $20 for all of them. I just ran out of strawberry jam but we still have some preserves from last year. Maybe I'll have to look and see if I can't find a stalk or two of rhubarb and try combining that in a few jars this year. I've never had strawberry-rhubarb jam before so I have no idea what it should taste like.

I've been working on learning to do stranded knitting (aka Fair Isle). Once again Knittinghelp.com came to the rescue! Thanks KH!! I decided rather than cut and paste felt eyeballs for my fiery dragon that it would be better to knit them. I wonder if I can figure out how to knit the teeth too. Here's a couple pictures of the front and back of my practice piece; however, I decided later that I think the mock up of the green eye and slits for pupils I came up with after Googling images of alligator eyes looks way better than white eyes with square pupils. Here's the link for the finished Fiery Dragon Scarf.

Saturday was a hashing day... A casino hash which brought out about 20 fun seeking hashers to dash about the streets of Detroit looking for flour to lead them to 3 casinos and 1 beer check on top of COBO on a 92 degree sunny day.

After the hash I was dashing off to a Ken and Sandy's for the infamous Adrienne Estates block party which featured food, hillbilly horseshoes, volleyball, 7 kegs of beer and the ever popular ice luge! I Mark and Lance arrived about the same time I did and Cathy had apparently been there for a while. Oh there were the interesting stories the next morning of people passing out on bathrooms with their panties down (glad that wasn't me!), two people locking lips on the hood of some one's car (the previous passer-outer was involved) and a comical bed swapping that occurred twice that night (I was involved in that one).Unfortunately I didn't have a camera to get any pictures of the festivities. All 4 us stayed for the pancake breakfast down the street in the morning. Too bad I was feeling so poorly that I couldn't eat. It was one of those cold sweat things I get now and again mostly around that time of the month which appeared today.

The rest of Sunday was spent trying to recoup which took until about 5pm prior to which I would prop myself up at the kitchen sink and work on getting all the strawberries cut. I timed a few cartons and figured it took about 10 minutes to wash and core one container. 24 containers X 10 minutes / 60 = 4 hours! Yikes that's a long time to cut berries!