Yesterday, my mom and I canned tomato soup and pizza sauce for both of us in the canning kitchen that's in her garage. We used the tomatoes she and I had grown, and we added an extra bushel we had picked up at my favorite Amish produce stand, Blessing Acres.
My mom's an early riser and informed me the night before that we would start at 7am. I grabbed my coffee and walked to her house, capturing this beautiful sunrise along the way and wondering how many of these I've missed by laying in bed.
We cut up the tomatoes to cook for juice for our recipes.
These were the heirloom roma tomatoes from my garden.
It was one of those days where nothing seemed to jive. I set up her electric Victoria strainer three times and we still couldn't get it to work for us.
So I went and got my good, old-fashioned, faithful one. Soon we had lots of juice flowing and waiting to be made into delicious canned goods.
We did the juicing on her back patio so we could just hose down the mess afterwards.
If only we could have done that to the canning kitchen. I guess you will never know if these onions ended up in the soup! No worries!
I laughed as she and I had a little cook off to see who made their own pizza sauce better. Since she won't be reading this blog I'll just say that I won.
Here's the recipe:
PIZZA SAUCE
quarts tomato juice (1/2 bushel of tomatoes cooked down)
3 large green peppers, chopped
2 cups of oil
¾ tsp red pepper
4 Tbl basil
5 Tbl oregano
1 cup sugar
½ cup salt
1 gal tomato paste
2 packs of pizza spice (I recommend Mrs. Wages)
1 container Parmesan cheese
Thicken with 1 ¼ cup Perma Flo (a cornstarch-based thickener) and 2 cups water
Begin by cooking down ½ bushel tomatoes, straining to a juice. Mix remaining ingredients (with the exception of the Perma Flo and water) with the tomato juice in a large kettle and simmer together. Mix Perma Flo and water in a separate bowl. Simmer pizza sauce for half an hour. Fill quart-sized canning jars and seal with canning lids. Soak the jars in a hot water bath for 20 minutes. The buttons on the lids will pop as the jars seal. Use Caution!
“This is a family favorite! We use it as a marinara sauce, pizza sauce, and spaghetti sauce. I hope your household enjoys as much as we do.”
After a couple more spills, we were ready to make the tomato soup that my family loves.
TOMATO SOUP
10 quarts tomato juice
1/2 cup chopped onion
5 tablespoons salt
3 tablespoons black pepper
3 cups brown sugar
2 teaspoons celery salt
2 cups butter
Put all of this in a big kettle and bring to boil. Then take 2 cups flour and 2 cups water and whisk together. Add to boiling soup and stir until mixed.
Put in jars and put jars in kettle and cover with water. Bring water to boil and let boil for 20 minutes.
Enjoy this soup on a cold winter night or for a quick dinner party served with grilled cheese.
I am enjoying this season of my life. I feel blessed for my mother and also for my Amish heritage.
I hope you're not intimidated to can. Its not as hard as it appears. If I can do it, so can you.
No comments:
Post a Comment