Tomato Fever

This is my second year canning over here at Raising Z and Lil' C.  Last year I thought I would give it a whirl and canned 40 lbs of tomatoes.  I realized that the savings in doing this was minimal over buying organic canned tomatoes but the product was worth the trouble.  All winter long (until about March) we had one delicious tomato dish a week.  We used them to make soup, sauce and other pasta dishes.  It was so nice to have the fresh taste of summer all winter.

 So for those reasons, I decided to do endure the hot kitchen on a warm September day and try it once again.  I learned a lot from my many mistakes last year so this year went a lot smoother.  I am still only doing the 40 lbs because of our lack of good storage and this year S wanted to try adding salsa to the process.  We have been having so much fun making different types of salsa.  So far we have 10 pint jars and we have a smoky, spicy type and a mild.  S wants to make a bunch more and then make labels for them.  If we can get some beer brewed we will have a nice little Christmas gift :)

 Applesauce is up next but I freeze this and store it in our chest freezer.  I still have one bag from last year that I am saving but now that apple season is upon us, I think it is time to open it up.  The applesauce I made last year tasted like apple pie filling (without the guilt)...so GOOD.  It may be a lot of work to prepare food for the winter but it is the perfect way to brighten up a cold, dreary winter day!