Tomato Sauce : : Harvest

Disclaimer: This post was started like three weeks ago, so all the writing and photos below are from that time frame!  My thyroid has been removed, i am finally on the recovery side of this and am feeling SO much better!  Thanks for all the thoughts and well wishes during this time.  I am now feeling inspired again to write some blog posts up, so stay tuned, I'm back!!!

Anyways, onto the Tomato Sauce::

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My days at home have been flowing seamlessly from one to the next, without much thought or notice.  I have been waking up early, eager to get to my reading/crafting/writing/cooking or baking.  I have been eating breakfast early, which is unusual to usual routine.  I try to stay busy all morning, have my lunch around 1pm, and then rest for a few hours before i start dinner.  It's such a wonderful schedule.  We all know, and I'm not going to preach, that Americans work too hard, too long.  We should all strive to get into the groove of working 6-7 hours a day.  It is lovely.

Yesterday i babysat our good friend's four month old for the morning, cherishing her babyhood, while i held her during her nap, instead of putting her down.  Then i went to visit my friend Jackie, who on Wednesday's watches her nieces, and brings her own little along.  So i would say it was quite the baby filled day.  For anyone that knows me well, they will know how much i adore children and babies.  It was a fun, but full day, which i am not used to right now, therefore hubs and i fell asleep around 8:00 last night. 

 I am loving these days of rest and peace.  Today I stayed home.  I dug the tomatoes out of the freezer, waiting for a day like this.  At harvest time, i simply blanched and peeled the tomatoes, so they would be ready to go when i had the time to make my sauce. 

: :  First i laid the bags on the counter to thaw out for a few hours.  I also took out a few bags of green peppers to mix in the sauce.

: :  Then i waited.  And waited. 

And

Waited some more.

Then it was dinnertime, and no sauce was to be made that day. 

*note to self: next year, take the tomatoes out of the freezer the day before you plan to cook. (ahem).

Fast forward to Saturday (two days later)

: : Once the tomatoes were properly thawed out, i began my procedure.  First i chopped up my green peppers and 2 onions.  I placed them in the pots with some minced garlic and a few tablespoons butter to saute them for a few minutes.  Once the onions were soft and almost see-through, i started to add my bags of tomatoes.

: :  This year, since i am not making the sauce with freshly picked tomatoes, i ended up just dumping the whole tomatoes right in the pot without cutting up.  They were so soft that i figured they would break apart while they simmered.

: :  Last year, i did not add tomato paste, which i should have.  Every time we used a jar of sauce over the winter, i had to add a little 5oz can of paste to thicken it up.  So this year, i used 3 cans of tomato paste, 18oz each.  I bought organic paste, to ensure this sauce would still remain without any trace of chemicals.

: :  Then came the spices:  Rosemary, garlic powder, Italian seasoning, salt and sugar.  I really just put in the amounts that i thought were right, so i don't have exact measurements here.

: :  Once i mixed the paste in, i brought the pots to a boil, stirring consistently.  When they began to thicken up, i put the burners on low, and let simmer for 3.5 to 4 hours.

: :  The last step, before putting my jars in the pressure canner, is to add a dash of lemon juice.  It is my understanding that homegrown tomatoes are high enough in their acid content, but i add in a bit of lemon juice, just to be sure.

My Yields:  

5 Gallon Sized bags of peeled garden tomatoes

2 quart sized bags of sliced green peppers

2 large onions

3 18 oz. cans of Tomato Paste

Seasonings

= 1 Quart, 15 pints and 1 pint not quite full to the top!

Now I'll see how long this sauce lasts, and edit next year to make sure i bag enough tomatoes during harvest season.  I must say that i really enjoyed making the sauce a few months after the rush of the canning had been done.  The tomatoes, that i didn't chop at all, came apart beautifully as they cooked down.  We used our first jar of sauce on a homemade pizza one night, and a pasta dish the next.  It was just the right consistency, which made all the difference! 

Now looking forward to tasting this delicious sauce all winter long.