I did have a lovely boneless pork roast that I cut into three thick chops for one meal. They were floured, seasoned and pan fried, then served with stuffing. The rest of the meal came straight from the garden; green beans, butternut squash baked with butter and brown sugar, sliced tomatoes and cucumbers with ranch dressing.
The remaining end of the pork roast was put in the crockpot with barbecue sauce, then served on toasted burger buns. The sandwiches were served with potato salad (potatoes and onions from the garden), and fresh picked corn and cherry tomatoes.
Food Preserved.............
Three pints of ketchup
Five pints of thick tomato sauce
Five pints of diced tomatoes and two pints of odd colored tomato sauce. The color is odd because I used both red and yellow varieties of cherry tomatoes in it, which gives it an orange hue.
Two gallons of green beans (about 6 pounds) were frozen.
Join in at Robin's to see what others have been cooking and preserving!
Hm... what I'd give to try your homemade ketchup... :)
ReplyDeleteThe ketchup is the same one as in the Ball Blue Book, using cider vinegar. I think it has too much vinegar, but hesitate to change the recipe. I really like Mrs. Wages mix for ketchup, but I didn't have any on hand.
DeleteThat is a lot of green beans. And that first dinner is huge. I'm such a light eater. I eat veggies and get filled very fast and then am hungry not long after. Well except tonight. We went out and I ate way way too much. Then we had Frappuccino as we listened to some free music on the square. It was a really nice evening, but I ate way too much.
ReplyDeleteDaphne, I should probably show my plate sometimes, instead of Mr. Granny's. I don't eat half of what he eats. Usually. I have to save room for that home made ice cream, LOL!
DeleteBoy, is this a tough post to read---my tummy is growling already, and looking at that delicious meal is putting me over the edge. It all looks so good.
ReplyDeleteHave a great weekend!
:)
Hey, Sue, my stomach is growling too! Just thinking about how good that butternut was can get me all excited :-)
DeleteThat dinner looks fantastic!!!
ReplyDeleteThank you, Erin!
DeleteMust. Eat. Now. :-)
ReplyDeleteLOL, 1st. Man. I wish you were here, I'd feed you!
DeleteI just received the following email, and think this is the proper place for it....
ReplyDeleteGranny for some reason I am not able to comment on yr blog so just emailing it to you.
I must definitely say Mr. Granny is very lucky to have Mrs Granny. I'm a silent follower of yr blog, I try to get inspired by yr blog and keep myself busy, since my older child left to college your blog become part of my world, every day I come by yr blog expecting and hoping granny must have posted something new to share, if you are not active on blog I feel so low, I always admire your humorous way of writing and love all your pictures, sometimes I feel very jealous too, why can't I grow like granny...... but your green thumb is matchless. Keep going granny,
Mamata
Thank you so much, Mamata. You made my day :-)
DeleteI know theoretically you can make everything from scratch...but ketchup?! I never imagined that! The butternut squash looks divine! I have never had sweetened squash (can you imagine that?) so I'd really like to give it a try. I have tried butternut squash once before, just plain, roasted and was not impressed. I think I was missing the butter and sugar:)
ReplyDeleteOh, Tosh, ketchup is easy! Just do it like tomato sauce, but add sugar, vinegar and spices and cook it until it's really thick.
DeleteI love, love, love butternut squash, but it must have butter and brown sugar on it in my world. It can be baked or steamed or microwaved, it can have the butter and brown sugar in the cavity or you can scoop out and mash up the flesh and season it with lots of butter and brown sugar or butter and maple syrup. Or....you can mash the flesh and use like pumpkin in a pie! It can substitute for pumpkin in any recipe, cookies, muffins, etc.
I am suffering from butternut squash and homemade ketchup envy! As usual, everything looks beautiful Granny! You are an inspiration! Hope your weather cools up a bit for you!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Nutmeg. Triple digit temperatures forecast for three days, then it "cools" off into the high to mid 90s.
Deleteoh my that all looks great! I should try canning diced tomatoes this year. I usually just do whole and then mush them up when its time to use them...cause i'm lazy...lol
ReplyDeleteMrs. P., the diced are so darned labor intensive, I think I'll revert to whole tomatoes. It took me half the day to get those few pints, and I can buy them on sale for about 50 cents a can!
DeleteEverything looks good. I love the feeling of accomplishment when all the jars are stacked up.
ReplyDeleteThanks, David. I get much more satisfaction from jars than from freezer bags! I don't lose things in jars either, but once the chest freezers are filled I can't find anything!
DeleteEverything looks delish Granny! I'm still waiting for tomatoes. Although I did spy a few starting to ripen. Hooray!
ReplyDeleteHolly, it seems like my tomatoes are slow, too. I have lots of cherry tomatoes, but not many of the larger ones for canning.
DeleteI have been going through your site and enjoying every minute. This is my first year for a pretty good garden, not as large as yours, and first time for canning. I did can some tomato sauce. Cooked it a long time but it was still a little watery. Spent all morning on it and ended up with 3 1/2 pints. Like you said, lot of work for something rather cheap in the store. BUT we know where it was grown and it was organic!
ReplyDeleteI have a question on your green beans. I have been freezing mine as they get ready (blanch them, cool down and I use my foodsaver to seal them. I got one package out last week to cook, and steamed them and they were tough! I always steamed them when they were fresh and they were wonderful. Should I boil them after they are frozen?
Look forward to more goodies on your site.
Diane
Diane, thank you for visiting, and I hope you stick around!
DeleteI keep the skins on my tomatoes, cook them until they are soft, then use a stick blender to make them into a smooth puree. I put them through the chinoise (or a food mill) to get out tiny bits of tough skin that didn't disintegrate with the blender, and to remove the seeds. Very little waste, and a thicker product to start with before I boil it down. I measure the depth of mine with a ruler, and boil it down until it's reduced by half. It really doesn't take so long that way. If I remove the skins first, and don't cook them with the tomatoes, it takes much longer to reduce down.
Yes, I boil the heck out of my frozen green beans. I'd say at least ten minutes. I hate frozen green beans that are undercooked!
OH - thank you, I'll try the tomatoes that way next time. And start boiling those darn beans.
DeleteI'll stick around, been checking out your recipes also!
Diane
Wow Granny, that's a lot of beans! I sure hope I get to make some homemade ketchup this year. The plants aren't looking too good :( I still have to can a lot more plain tomatoes, plain puree and salsa. I have to keep "The Italian" happy.
ReplyDeleteRobin, I really want to make some salsa, so I hope I get a few good pickings of the larger tomatoes. I could have made a half batch yesterday, but I was out of garlic! Today I have garlic and no tomatoes.
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