August 18, 2009: You Know You Have a Good Tomato When....

You know you have a good tomato when you look down and see this....


Seems as though most of my shirts look like that these days! There's just something about a juicy red tomato, fresh picked from the vine.



I was down to nothing but quart jars, so I had to use them for my dill pickles.



But son John showed up with three cases of pints and half pints for me! Yes, he's a good kid....but he's a smart kid, too. He knows he'll get most of them back filled with goodies!

16 comments:

  1. What a very sensible son you have haha, sneaky thing:)
    Good to see you haven't grown sick of tomatoes despite being surrounded by hoardes of them!

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  2. Good Morning,AG!
    I'm hoping to have a shirt with that dribbled down the front real soon. As for now, it's good Michigan peaches(not mine)that I'm wearing.
    Thanks again for the trip info-you're the best!

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  3. Ah, the gift that gives in return. How perfect!

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  4. 36 more jars to be filled! It's like a blank canvas. :D

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  5. My cherry tomatoes just don't leak like that. I put the whole thing in my mouth and it is so neat.

    So were you very happy to see more canning jars or have you had about enough of them by now?

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  6. That John is a smart one! Granny, I can all of my pickles in quarts, because they get eaten so quickly.

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  7. Marrissa, I'm tired of tomatoes sitting in containers everywhere, but so far I'm not tired of canning them or eating them! Just when I think we'll never eat all that I've canned, one of my kids comes along and relieves me of a few jars ;-)

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    Good morning, Sue. Oh, how I wish I had some peaches! My neighbor gave me a few from her tree, but a windstorm knocked most of them off the tree. If I had realized she wasn't going to pick them up, I'd have been over there with my bucket!

    You're welcome about the trip info. If you want to check out the coast, the loop could be made the opposite direction, beginning and ending in Sedro Woolley. Or, if you had to make a choice, pick the northernmost highway. If you do the loop, be sure to spend time in Leavenworth (the town, not the prison). Check out the events at http://tinyurl.com/aw7p3v Of course, that's "touristy", the rest of the drive is just plain beautiful.

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    Ribbit, I live to preserve the fruits and vegetables of my labors for the children. Yes I do. I'm trying to convince myself I really do.

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    Kitsap, love that analogy!

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    Oh, Daphne...I am so jealous of your sweet cherry tomatoes! I'm going to pick mine to toss into sauce today, they just aren't worthy of eating fresh.

    I was very happy to get the jars! I wasn't going to buy more, but to be gifted with them was very much appreciated.

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    EG, I could have put the bread & butter pickles in quarts, but Mr. H is the only one in this house who will eat dills. I'll probably end up giving these to my daughter. Even John wouldn't take the dill pickles or relish!

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  8. does your son know how wonderful he is??? :D i also have several shirts that have that red dribble down the front.. whats canning season without them!!!

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  9. Too funny! I was at WalMart yesterday picking up some canning jars and my son pointed out that my shirt was dirty (I have a bad habit of picking produce on my morning walk and using my shirt to carry it!) So I marched over to the table full of colored tshirts and bought 4! They may be plain old Hanes Her Way, but they are CLEAN! Now I should put them up high so I can't get to them and muck them up!

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  10. What a nice gift. So I started working on the sweet relish this afternoon and I've already hit a road block. I bought 9 monster cucumbers and thought I would have 16 cups of ground cucumber(I'm subing the onion & pepper for more cucumber). Well after gutting out the seeds and membrane as well as the excess juice I only have 6 cups. I can't make it to the store until tomorrow so my question is: Would you go ahead and make 3 pints with what I have or store the ground cucumbers in the fridge and do the whole batch tomorrow?

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  11. Dan, is there a reason you don't want to add the peppers and onion? They are quite critical to the recipe, even if you didn't use the full amount. Do you have a zucchini that you could chop up and use in place of the cucumber? If you want to wait and get more cucumbers, just cover what you have already chopped with cold water and put it (covered) in the refrigerator for up to 24 hours, then be sure to drain it well. I'd wring it in a clean kitchen towel to make sure you get all the water out.

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  12. hmm, I think I will make 3 pints today and subtract a 1/4 from the vinegar, sugar & spices so I don't have to much liquid. I had some relish recently that just had cucumber in it and it was very good. So in place of the 4 cups cucumber, 2 cups onions & 2 cups peppers I am going to use 8 cups cucumbers.

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  13. Roasted G, most of my shirts look like that lately. I think I have a hole in my chin ;-)

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    Erin, I'm always using my shirt as a "basket" to carry produce from the garden. Half the time I'm just going out there to look, but usually find something that has to be picked.

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    Dan, when I have extra liquid from pickling, I put it in a jar in the fridge. Then when I have just one or two cucumbers, I slice them into a jar, heat up the leftover pickle juice to boiling and pour it over the cukes. Cool them and keep them in the refrigerator...they are good to eat the next day, and keep for ages. This would work with your leftover mixture from the relish. Just use a slotted spoon to put the relish in the jars and save that leftover sweetness. My kids like those refrigerator pickles better than the real thing!

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  14. I just finished the relish and after subtracting a 1/4 from the recipe it made exactly three jars. I love when recipes work, this one is definitely a keeper. I reserved a little on the side for a hot dog taste test and it was excellent, thanks for posting the recipe.

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  15. You're welcome, Dan. I sure like it. I think I've made about 16 jars of it so far.

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  16. I laughed when I saw the stain on your shirt... so very true!!!!!

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