How to can tomatoes

Have you ever wanted to try canning tomatoes, but are intimidated or lack a pressure canner (or whatever it is called...)? Well, I have good news: It's not hard, and you don't need any special equipment. I did not know this until the other day when my husband's aunt had given me a lot of tomatoes-more than I could eat before we were going out of town-and said, casually, "you should just can some." "Me, can? I can't do that- I don't know how!" was pretty much my response as I envisioned something like glass jars exploding on my stove top. She proceeded to tell me how to do it, and before I knew it, I was saying, "you mean, that's all I have to do?" and writing the instructions down, step by step. I don't know a lot about canning, so I was happy to hear that you do not have to have any special pressure cookers or  canning devices to can tomatoes.

Canning tomatoes is simple, really. I have wanted to learn for sometime, and am so glad I tried it. I have 2 quarts of lovely looking canned tomatoes sitting on my counter as I type this, and I can't wait to use them. Now, I will admit that I don't have a garden, but I do have a toddler running around everywhere, so between those two things, I don't know that I'll be putting my newly acquired canning skills to much use again in the near future. Maybe one day when I have a garden or a few years down the road when we're out of the toddler phase. But, I certainly know what to do when someone gives me more tomatoes than I can eat, and there is nothing like fresh canned tomatoes in comparison to store bought. And, I now have an even greater appreciation for those lovely jars full of tomatoes and such given to me by people who do canning a lot.

So, if you would like to know how you, my friend, could can your own tomatoes, just follow these simple steps!

What you need:

Tomatoes (a lot. I probably used 15 medium-sized tomatoes to get two quarts.)

A large pot or dutch oven, or two. One for the tomatoes, an one for the jars to sterilize. And a smaller pan for the rings and lids to sterilize.

Glass canning jars, with NEW lids and rings (don't use old rings and lids because they won't seal properly) You can get all of this at the grocery store or any type of super center. 

Tongs
Ladle

Pot holders or a thick dish towel (my preference) to hold the hot jar as you ladle the tomatoes into it.

1 tsp. measuring spoon

sugar and salt. You'll use 1 tsp. of each per quart of tomatoes.

What to do:

Prepare stove top for canning: Take your clean glass jars, and place them upside down into a large pot filled with about 1-1/2 inches of water. Again, make sure to place the jars upside down in the pot, so that the steam rises within them during boiling and sterilizes them properly. If you have room, you can also put your lids and rings in the bottom of the pot. I did not have room, so I placed them in a separate smaller saucepan. Without any heat on, leave all of this be until the tomatoes are nearly finished cooking. You just want to have this set up to make things easier once it's time to really get down to business.

Start preparing the tomatoes by peeling, coring, and quartering the tomatoes, placing them in an empty pot or dutch oven as you go. This took me about 30 minutes total. 

Once finished, place the tomato filled pot or dutch oven over medium heat and slowly bring to a boil.

Once the tomatoes are boiling, turn the heat to low. Simmer on low, uncovered, for around 30 minutes, or until the  tomatoes turn a brilliant red. As my husband's aunt says, "you'll know when they've done this". Honestly, I couldn't really tell a color change, but I just simmered them on low for 30 minutes.

About 20 minutes into the tomatoes cooking, turn the stove eyes  that have the canning jars, rings, and lids on to medium-high. Bring those slowly to a boil as the tomatoes are finishing up cooking. This is easy, but just keep an eye on the jars. You'll see some bubbles rise out of the jars before the water is actually boiling. Once it is boiling, keep an eye out and make sure the water doesn't start rising up to the top (or bottom, actually) of the jars. If it does, just take the tongs and tip the glass jar momentarily to let the air escape, then place it back down upside down-this prevents too much water rising up and tipping over the jars. Once the water has started boiling, let it boil for 2 minutes so that the steam rises up in the jars and they are sufficiently sterilized. You need to do this right before you want to ladle the tomatoes into the jars, so do this near the end of those 30 minutes.

Now you are reading to get down to business and start canning! 

Carefully take one jar out of the water and place it right side up on the stove top. I used a thicker dish  towel to hold the jar in my hand because the jar is really hot but was sliding out of my tongs when I tried using them.

Once you have filled up the jar, place 1 tsp. each of salt and sugar into the jar. Do not stir, just let it rest on top. You can always gently shake the jar once everything has cooled to make sure the sugar and salt get evenly distributed, but I don't think that is really necessary.

Take your tongs and remove a lid from the boiling water. Place the lid on the jar, and then, using a towel or pot holder, screw on a ring from the boiling water. Don't do it so tightly that you'll never be able to get it off! After this has all sat for a little while, the lid should seal to where it won't pop when you press it down in the center, and the tomatoes will be preserved until use.

And that's it! Just repeat this until all your jars are full. Label your jars so you'll know when you canned them, if you are canning a lot. Enjoy freshly canned tomatoes in all sorts of soups and sauces!

Cream of mushroom (plus others) soup alternative

I've been wanting to find a way to make my own "cream of..." soups to replace the store-bought version,  and found a website a few weeks ago with several home made alternatives for various condensed soups. The store bought soups are so convenient, but I wanted to know how to make a healthier alternative. I made the cream of mushroom soup substitute the other night, and it was delicious. I found myself scraping the leftovers from the saucepan with a spoon and thinking about how it would make a great soup this coming winter!  It was very simple to make, because it's basically a roux combined with chicken stock that you allow to thicken and reduce. Just make sure you condense it enough; I was in a hurry so mine had more of a soup-like consistency that would be perfect on its own, but for adding to a baked dish, it would have been better to take a couple of extra minutes and let it thicken up and reduce some more to a "condensed" consistency.

Below is the recipe. It's really not that much extra work, most of the ingredients are things you already have on hand, and knowing that the ingredients are healthier than the processed cans from the store is motivating. I tripled the recipe and froze what I didn't need. Like I said, this would also make a delicious cold weather soup to serve on its own.

Cream of mushroom soup alternative
From MarilynMoll.com (click here for original recipe and other "cream of" substitutes)
Makes the equivalent of one 10-ounce can of soup.


I N G R E D I  E N T S :
3 Tbsp. butter
3 Tbsp. flour
1/4 tsp. salt
1 cup chicken stock, water, or milk (I used chicken stock-click here for a homemade recipe)
1/4 cup sauteed mushrooms
1 Tbsp. onion (I cheated and sprinkled a dash of onion powder instead)


D I R E C T I O N S :

Melt butter in a heavy saucepan, and saute ¼ C finely chopped mushrooms and 1 Tbsp finely chopped onion. Blend flour and salt into saucepan while cooking and stirring until bubbly. 

Using a wire whisk to prevent lumps, stir in liquid ingredient choice slowly. 

Medium thick sauce is comparable to undiluted condensed soups and makes approximately the same amount as a 10 oz can.

Roast chicken, chicken stock, and leftover chopped & frozen chicken for another meal...all from a single bird!

One thing we are trying to do is eat less meat and poultry so that when do eat it, we can eat better quality meat, To make this more doable, I have been learning to roast chicken and then make stock from the carcass. I also save the leftover meat and either make chicken salad or freeze it to use in soup, a casserole, pot pie, or something else like chicken fajitas or tacos in the future. So, I may pay $8 for a good chicken, but I get several meals out of it because I use the entire bird. Chicken stock is full of nourishment, and roasting a whole bird is much more cost effective than buying chicken breasts. I am sure I'll still buy chicken breasts from time to time, but I'm trying to be more frugal in this area.

I hope this is helpful. For some reason, roasting a chicken was always intimidating to me, and it seems that sometimes in the past I've had to cook it for longer to get the meat to the correct temperature. However, I really liked the directions for how I most recently roasted it where I cooked it on a higher temperature for part of the time before reducing the heat, and I found it cooked more quickly. Cooking chicken stock might sound intimidating or time consuming, but I assure you that it is not. Adding the raw cider vinegar just draws more nutrients out of the bone, and then letting it simmer in water with some vegetables is just an easy thing to have in the crock pot (I've cooked it on the stove before as well, but I feel that I can come and go more safely if it's in the crock pot). Straining it takes very little time, and like I said, I didn't even skim the fat off because I didn't have that much come up. And I love having leftover chicken on hand for some future meals. It's much nicer than having to pay a high price for chicken breasts that are just going to get boiled and chopped up,

So, all that said, here is what I am doing.

First, roast the chicken...

I adapted a recipe from Cooking Light

The nice thing about roasting chicken is that you can add whatever herbs and spices you want. Don't worry about the exact amounts, these are just estimates.

I N G R E D I E N T S :

1 small roasting chicken (3-5 pounds)

Olive oil

2 cloves garlic

juice of one lemon

2-3 Tbsp. XVOO

1/4 cup white cooking wine

1/4 cup fresh parsley (or 2 Tbsp. dried)

1 Tbsp. fresh oregano (or 1-2 tsp. dried)

1 Tbsp. fresh basil (or 1-2 tsp. dried)

3 Tbsp. fresh rosemary (or 2-3 tsp. dried)

1 tsp. fresh thyme  (or 1/4 tsp. dried)

1 tsp. kosher or sea salt

1 tsp. freshly grated black pepper

1 Tbsp. paprika for sprinkling over top before roasting

1 tsp. kosher salt + 1 tsp. black pepper for sprinkling over top before roasting

D I R E C T I O N S :

Preheat oven to 450.

Remove and discard giblets and neck from chicken. Rinse chicken with cold water, pat dry.

Starting at neck cavity, loosen skin from breast and drumsticks by inserting fingers, gently pushing between skin and meat.

Combine all other ingredients (besides the paprika and final amounts of salt and pepper) into a food processor, and blend together for the seasoning. Rub seasoning mixture under loosened skin and drumsticks, then on top of both sides of the entire chicken and inside the cavity.

Place chicken breast side up on a rack in a roasting pan. Lift wing tips up and over back, and if you want, you can also tie the ends of the legs with some cord (I didn't have any cord and it's not necessary, but it does look nice if you want to do the extra step).  Finish by sprinkling paprika, salt, and pepper over the top of the chicken. Pierce chicken several times with a fork.

Insert a meat thermometer into thickest part of thigh, making sure to not touch the bone.

Bake at 450 degrees F for 30 minutes, and then reduce the oven temperature to 350 degrees F (do not remove chicken from oven) for 45 additional minutes. If chicken is getting too done on top, tent it with foil. Bake until the thermometer registers 165 degrees F in the thickest part of the thigh, but not touching a bone. Cover chicken loosely with foil, let stand 10 minutes. Discard skin (I save it for the broth). Remove chicken from pan; place on a serving platter.

Next, save leftover the leftover meat...

Remove all remaining meat from the bone. You can use this for chicken salad (great for lunch), or you can freeze it and have it on hand for a soup, casserole, or other type dish down the road. I place it in a freezer bag and label it. Sometimes I have a lot, and other times not as much, depending on the size of the chicken and how hungry we were at dinner. But even 1 cup is great to keep for adding to a dish down the road.

Now, for the homemade chicken stock...

Here are two articles on the benefits of homemade bone broth.

Homemade soup broth

Make chicken stock in the crock pot

I make the stock similar to the directions in the above link, first letting it sit covered in cold water with 1 Tbsp. raw cider vinegar for an hour. Then, I add either 1 huge carrot or 2-3 regular ones, 1 onion, and 3 stalks of celery, all chopped up into large chunks. You can also add a clove or two of garlic, but I didn't do that this time. Then, I add 2-3 bay leaves, some parsley, and thyme (I only had dried thyme so I just sprinkled some in). Cook on low in a crockpot for 8-10 hours. Strain in a colander or mesh sieve to remove the gross stuff and chunks of meat, bones, and vegetables, and skim some fat off the top if there is a lot (I didn't really have to do that). Then divide into portions for storing. You can put some in ice cube trays, some in 1-2 cup portions, or even in mason jars or leftover yogurt or other plastic food containers. You can also store them in 1-2 cup portions in freezer bags. Label stock and freeze until you need some for a recipe! I have only done this twice in the past month, and look at all the stock I have. This will be great for soups or adding some into recipes.

How to cut an onion

I recently took a cooking class, and one of the things I learned was how to cut an onion. This was so helpful that I wanted to share it with you.

Start with a good, sharp knife. You don't have to spend a fortune; I bought a Kitchenaid Chef's Knife (it also came with a good paring knife) at TJ Maxx. It didn't cost me much, and I love it.

Disclaimer: Please be careful throughout this process. These knives are big, and you need to concentrate and go slowly to avoiding cutting yourself! Sharpening your knife from time to time makes things easier and keeps things safer because you don't have to "saw" as much. Always hold the onion in place as you are going.

Begin by cutting the end opposite the root off the onion. Leave the end with the root on.

It's always a good idea to have a trash bowl, A la Rachael Ray.

Next, stand the onion up with the end that was cut as your base. Slice the onion in half, starting by going through the root.

Now, peel the outer layers of the onion off so that the smooth, white layers are on the outside.

I also learned that it's best to hold the knife like this:

Rather than holding the handle near the end, grip the handle closer to the part that is attached to the blade. Place your thumb on the TOP of one side of the blade,  and your index finger on the TOP of the other. (Obviously, you want to make sure and keep your fingers away from the cutting part of the blade.)

This gives you more control over the movement. Be careful!

I apologize for the grainy pictures, but have you ever tried taking a picture with one hand while holding a sharp knife in the other ;)?

Now, place each onion half with the large cut side down, and hold the onion in place with your fingers by the root. Take the knife, and place it so that you can cut horizontal layers through the onion. Start cutting, using the end of the blade closest to the handle. As you move the knife towards the root, move the knife diagonally through the onion, so that by the time you get to the root, the end with the tip of the blade is what is cutting the onion. Does this make sense? It's a little hard to explain in writing. Go very SLOWLY, and, again, be CAREFUL!

If you do this correctly, then by the time you get near the root, the end of the blade will be what is cutting the onion (see picture below). Okay, this is important: STOP before you cut the root!

This will hold the onion in tact once you begin to dice it. Repeat, cutting 2-3 horizontal layers total on each onion half as instructed above. This will help to make smaller diced pieces. Notice what part of the blade is cutting by the time you get near the root.

Once you've sliced your horizontal layers, root still in place, take the onion and rotate it to where the cut end is facing you and the onion is still resting on the large, flat portion. Continue to hold the onion with your fingers at the root. Now, make parallel cuts from the cut end towards the root. Again, STOP before you cut through the root, so that the onion remains intact. Do this to both onion halves.

Now, rotate the onion 90 degrees as pictured below. Carefully hold the onion together by placing your thumb on the root end and your fingers on the opposite, (or vice versa, depending on which hand you use) so that you are holding the onion with your fingers and thumb like bookends. Carefully slice through the onion several times (these cuts will be perpendicular to the ones you made in the previous step),  starting at the cut end and working your way towards the root.

Do this to both onions halves, and you're done! Discard the root end. Isn't that easy? And don't you have nice, small diced up pieces?

Each time I repeat this process, it gets easier and my onions are diced a little better. I'm so glad I learned how to do this. If your pieces aren't as small as you like, simply take your knife and dice through the pieces until you are satisfied. The more you practice this method, the less you'll have to do this at the end.

By the way, I love this tool pictured below: It is great for scooping up diced veggies, and you can also use it for slicing and dicing! You can get it at most good cooking stores.

All done! I hope this helps. Phew! This post took a while to do.

I don't know how people who take pictures step-by-step every time have time left to do anything else!

One more tip I'm hoping to start:

To save time, it's a great idea to dice up onions and freeze them separately in small freezer bags. This saves a lot of time during cooking, and it's much cheaper than buying the pre-chopped bags of onions in the freezer section.