Spaghetti Sauce

Made some spaghetti sauce. I also use it as pizza sauce, my family loves it!

Saute until soft:
 1 c. olive oil
1/4 c. minced garlic
4 c. chopped onions (works great to put them in a food processor if your kids don't like the chunks)

In large pot (I use my 23 qt. pressure cooker and I can double this recipe in it) add:
16 pounds of tomatoes (skinned and chopped or pureed, just depends on how you like your sauce), (abt. 32 cups)
1/4 c. basil
1/4 c. oregano
1 T. sugar
2 t. pepper
6-8 t. salt
4-6oz cans tomato paste
onion mixture

Cook and simmer 1 1/2 hours. The longer you cook, the thicker it will be.

Water bath or steam can for 30 min. for qts or 25 min, for pints.*



*Original recipe is for 20 min quarts and 15 minutes for pints, adjusted here for my altitude.

Dilly Pickled Green Beans

Found this recipe and decided to give it a try this year, too. It says to wait a few weeks before opening to allow them to pickle, so we'll have to wait to see how these taste.

4 lbs green beans
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes, per jar
1/2 teaspoon mustard seeds, per jar
1/2 teaspoon dill seed, per jar
1 whole garlic clove, per jar
5 cups vinegar
5 cups water
1/2 cup salt (I used canning salt)

Clean and Cut beans to fit in tall Mason Jars. (one pint).
Place ingredients 2-5 into each jar.
Add beans to jar(s) until full.
Bring to boil ingredients 6-8.
Pour boiling liquid over beans.
Tighten lids.
Process in boiling water for 5 minutes.

Made 2009: 14 pints (7 using dill seed, 7 using fresh dill from the garden)

Tomatoes

Last year was the first time I canned plain tomatoes, and I was shocked that I used the last jar early this spring...so this year I am planning to do a few more. I tried a new method this year to see if it would make any difference in flavor, but the processing time was really long, so I plan to do the rest the way I did them last year...so here's my recipe for how I did this batch:

Wash tomatoes. dip in boiling water for 30 to 60 seconds or until skins split. Then dip in cold water, slip off skins and remove cores. Leave whole or halve. Add bottled lemon juice to hot jars (Pints: 1 Tbsp, Quarts: 2 Tbsp.). Fill jars with raw tomatoes, pressing until spaces between them fill juice. Leave 1/2 inch headspace. Remove air bubbles. Wipe jar rims. Adjust lids and process.

Water bath: Pints or quarts: 85 minutes.

Made 2009: 5 pints

Pickled Green Beans

This is my first year making pickled green beans. I got the recipe from my friend, Cindy. I'm giving them a good 5 weeks to sit and pickle before we sample.

Boil 2 cups vinegar, 2 cups water, 1/4 cup salt

Pack in each in hot jars:
1 tsp. sugar
1 stalk dill
1 jalepeno with seeds or less depending on your wants
1 clove of garlic

Pour hot vinegar,water, and salt mixture over top leaving 1 inch head space

Place in canner and boil for 10 min.

**I did some with seeds, some without and one without a jalepeno to try them and see what we liked.

Made 2009: 7 pints

Refrigerator Pickles

One of my friends introduced me to these pickles: The onions are also great to eat on sandwiches...can't wait for these to finish pickling, so I can start eating them!

So here's the recipe:
1gallon sliced cucumbers
3 white onions

Slice in jar alternating until jar is filled
On the stove in a saucepan

4 cups apple cider vinegar
4 cups sugar
1 1/2 tsp mustard seed
1 1/2 tsp celery seed
1 1/2 tsp turmeric
1/3 cup salt

Stir and bring to a boil. Boil until sugar is dissolvedPour sauce over cucumbers and onions and let cool. When cool put lid on jar and refrigerate. Shake and stir jar with cucumbers for 5 days. Keep refrigerated.