Funny Things They Say 2

Okay so last weekend I watched my little sister's two kids. Rach is 4 and Logan is
6. As soon as I picked them up to come to my house, little chatty cathy Rach (who normally is not chatty with most people but her parents) is going on, and on, and on, and the next thing I know I hear, "When Beck grows up to four, then he might know some stuff." Hmm...funny. Then when Becca calls my phone to talk to her kids, I think they were outside playing and so I told her I'd have them call her back in a bit. Once I got to Logan I told him his mom called and asked if he wanted to call her back. He says, "Umm, no thank you." Hmm...again, funny.

Canning Fool!

Okay so who loves to can? I love being able to put up some food to keep on my shelves. I feel so domestic while doing it, and I love looking at it. Sitting there so pretty making my pantry full. So here is my latest...spaghetti sauce! I tried this recipe for the first time and it's pretty good. I'm in search of a really mouth watering mmmm kind of recipe so I'll try another one maybe in a few weeks. Here's how I did it.


I filled the sink halfway with as hot of water as I could get from the tap. Added tomatoes. Then poured 2 big pots full of boiling water over them. Then I let them sit while I prepared the other ingredients. After I prepared all the other ingredients, I pulled the skins off the tomatoes which at this point come off easily.


I added water to a small pot and boiled my jar lids slowly.


I added about 2 carrots, 1 large zucchini, 2 onions, about 3/4 cup brown sugar, 2-3 cloves minced garlic, and two blenders full of pureed fresh tomatoes. I added some shakes of Italian Seasoning with a heavy hand. This barely fits in a large pot. (If using a true stockpot you could double this to fill it.)


I chopped everything except the tomatoes with this wonderful little gadget. I got it at Target for maybe $15 and LOVE IT! Chopping time is cut by at least half!


I cooked the sauce on med/hi for at least 45 minutes, boiling. Make sure to stir it consistently. While the sauce cooked, I prepped the jars with 2 TBs lemon juice each.

Then I poured the sauce into my quart jars, wiped the rim completely with a hot rag, added a boiled jar lid, tightened a ring onto the jar, then stuck them into my waterbath canning pot. Once the water is boiling in this pot, (water was being brought to a boil in it all during the prep work) I set the timer and let the water bath boil steady for 30 minutes. I know the jars are sealed once out of the pot by pressing my finger in the center of the lid...if it flexes back it's not sealed. If it's tight and doesn't move or pop then it's sealed. Wah-la!

Pickles!

Oh my yummy!! If you like pickles, then you'll LOVE these pickles! With garlic, dill stalks, and some onion, they sit and cure up nicely on your food storage shelves. I made them several weeks ago with my sister Erin and Aunt Cathy. Andy and the kids couldn't wait to have some so we opened a bottle a few days after. They were really good. Then about a month later we opened another to let a neighbor try them out, and they were AWESOME! Come January, they will be out of this world good! If you want the recipe leave me a comment and then I'll post it.