Terrific Tomatoes

It's the day I've been waiting for since we used our last jar of salsa. It's the first day of tomato canning. In previous years, I've ordered 40 lbs. of Romas from our farmers. This year, I'm going for broke with 60 lbs. We picked them up yesterday. Just look at these beauties.

They stretch on for miles!

So, I'd already told myself I wouldn't start on them until today. We had to get some things from the grocery store, and I still had carrots I wanted to finish up before starting on the salsa and pasta sauce. These are so quick to make. I had them all done from start to finish in about an hour.

The kids go through them so fast. They're downright addictive. It's a good thing we get lots of carrots in our CSA shares. You can find the recipe for the Spicy Dilled Carrot Spears right here.

When those were finished, I worked a little more on the mug rug for the Teal Mini Swap. I was ready to cut the teal fabric for the borders of my piece. Smitty was on the ball...helping for all he was worth.

There's just a little more quilting to do on this, and then it'll be ready for binding. Here's a little tease since I can't show you the whole thing yet.

While I was downstairs, I took the opportunity to get a picture of Sleepy Sadie. She's hard to catch when she isn't moving and blurring her image. I think she's trying to stay incatnito. Possibly she has arrest warrants for when she was a free roaming cat...probably for murdering chipmunks.

It's rare for me not to have every minute of my day planned. I'd already done some slow-stitching, and so I was sitting trying to figure out how to fill the last hours of the day. The ripening plums were on my mind because I'm trying to figure out a way to can them into something other than jam. I'm thinking barbecue sauce, but that will have to wait until after the tomatoes are finished...probably on Wednesday. Then, I remembered a recipe I'd seen on Smitten Kitchen for this Magic Apple Plum Cobbler. And, hey...who doesn't love magic? Plus, I had some apples leftover from the apple extravaCANza, and so what the heck? This cobbler was born.

Mine was baked in an 8 x 8 baking dish because I wanted to bake it in the toaster oven. We had it for dessert while we watched TV last night. I don't know about you, but I don't think it's safe to eat cobbler without some ice cream. And, wow, was that ever good! Just before putting it into the oven, you sprinkle the top with cinnamon and sugar, and it bakes into the nicest crunchy topping. It was a great way to use a few plums and the last of the apples.

But that's not the only thing going on the baking front. With all the jams and jellies I've made this year, we are in serious need of some sourdough, don't you know. And so I got my starters out and fed them, and then used the pour-off from the white starter to get started on some bread. I fed it and left it on the counter.

Several hours later, it looked just the same, but peeking inside, I could see it was starting to bubble. A good sign.

By the time we went to bed last night, it had risen just about an inch above it's rubber band starting point.

When I got up this morning...whoops! Shoulda put that puppy on a plate. And let me tell you, it's a small mess, but ooey-gooey difficult to clean up. It had run down the tiles behind, and it took a tooth brush to get it out of all the little cracks and crevices in the tile. Oy. And me with no coffee yet.

So, I got it all cleaned up and set it on a plate. Half an hour later, it looked like this.

Just before coming upstairs to write this post, I noticed it was nearly to the top of its jar again. Obviously, I'm going to have to keep it stirred down to avoid another mess. I won't be ready for this until Tuesday, and so I might hold off feeding it again until it settles down some.

The kitties are out for their morning romp. They've settled into a nice routine. Out first thing in the morning, then in by noon. They come in tired and ready for napping. It means they're only out about four hours during the day. It gives them a good amount of time for exercise and exploration. We always walk all the way around the house, clapping our hands and yelling, "Bad dogs, go away!" One morning our neighbor some distance away heard us doing this and yelled back, "No bad dogs over here!" The kitties think this monster hunt is great fun and follow us all the way around.

Sadie has staked her claim to the spot next to this mole hill. She's thinking she could score herself a mole. She never eats her kill, but brings it back to Smitty and he, um, cleans it up. She had a litter of kittens before she came to live with us here at her forever home, and we think she learned early on to be a provider. "Here, Smitty, here's your breakfast," we imagine her saying. Smitty is happy to oblige. Breakfast of champions.

Just before coming upstairs to write this post, I tried something new in pasta sauce land. Here's my thinking: With my new Kitchenaid food grinder, I can peel and seed the tomatoes, but I've consulted some of the canning forums and learned that I'll get only tomato puree that way. I really want my sauce a little chunkier than that, and so I decided to run half through the grinder, and roast the other half. I'd read it's easier to peel them by roasting rather than blanching. So I cut them in half and put them in a 425°F. convection oven.

My expectation was that it would take 40 minutes, but I set a timer for 25 minutes to check on them. Then, Smitty came upstairs asking for treats, and so I ended up going downstairs to check them just 15 minutes later, and whoa! Those babies were ready! And Oh. My. Gosh. Is that ever easy! I can pluck the skins right off of them with tongs!

You must understand that this process ordinarily takes hours, and doing it this way is going to cut down on the time significantly. I'm so stoked!!!!!

So today's goal is 8 quarts of pasta sauce, and 4 pints of salsa. Tomorrow I'm hoping to do as much, and then Tuesday I'll take the day off because I have some errands to run. Wednesday, I'll have just 4 quarts of pasta sauce to do and another 4 pints of salsa, and that will be that. Pasta sauce and salsa should use all but about 5 pounds of my 60 pound haul. The rest will go into Bloody Mary Mix.

There are miles to go before I sleep, so I'd better get walking.