A Little Salsa...

I danced in the kitchen again yesterday. The last of my frozen tomatoes became salsa. I have my electric water bath canner set up on the porch, so even though the temperature has dropped outdoors, I won't have to worry about steaming up the kitchen. 

All my pints (and one half pint) fit into the canner in one batch, so after a 40 minute bubble bath, they were all finished. I started to remove them, but one of the jars started to siphon, so they all stayed in the water until it cooled down late day. The one that siphoned didn't seal, but everything else did.

Before bed, I removed the rings, cleaned the jars and labeled them. Final step was to line them up like little pretty soldiers in the pantry. I went to bed with a smile on my face.

I did take time to rest during the day, and iced my knee on another time-out. I have physical therapy this morning and didn't want to backslide. I'm feeling pretty good right now, but I'll take my pain killer just in case I get a tougher workout from Nicole than what I usually do with Jenna. It's Jenna's birthday today so she took the day off. I won't see her on Monday either as the clinic is closed for the holiday. I'm down to twice a week now, so I won't have PT again until next Friday. I'll keep working on my exercised, and hopefully I'll have made some more progress by the time I do see her.

I'd better get rolling. I don't want to be late for my appointment, and the sooner I get to my session, the sooner I can get back home to do something fun. What, you ask? I haven't decided yet.

What do you have planned for this holiday weekend? I'll be back here tomorrow.

Homemade Rotel...

A few years ago, I started assessing what I repeatedly purchased at the grocery store. I then decided to start canning those things myself. I was always buying tomato products: Rotel™, spaghetti sauce, pizza sauce, stewed or diced tomatoes, and salsa, to name a few. I now can all those things at the farmhouse, and after calculating everything but my time (as I thoroughly enjoy doing this), we actually save money.

Case in point...When I first started buying pizza sauce, I always got Pastorelli brand in small cans. They cost 99¢ each. Even after we moved to Florida, I'd order from a supply place in Wisconsin and have it shipped by the caseload. After we moved back to Wisconsin, I still purchased that brand at the grocery store. Then, one day about five years ago, the price of the same 99¢ can bounced up to $1.79! I think I bought two cans because we needed it, and then decided no more. My half pint jars cost us 71¢ each, use the highest quality San Marzano tomatoes from a local grower, and I know (and can pronounce) every single ingredient I use.

Same goes for all the products we can. I know what's in our jars. No unpronounceable ingredients. No toxic growth hormones in our meats. No insecticides on our vegetables. This time of year gets really busy (and right now, more-than-usual tiring), but it's worth it for our family.

This year, I've already finished the Rotel™. Next is our salsa. This weekend I'll be pressure canning venison that I've prepared and is in the freezer, along with a turkey (from a Thanksgiving sale last year), beef roasts, and chicken. Then next week I'll buy more tomatoes and green peppers for pizza sauce, as well as apples for Handsome's favorite apple sauce. I'll wait until after growing season to pressure can mushrooms, pinto beans, baked beans, homemade soups, and whatever else can hold until then.

By winter, our pantry will be restocked for the next two seasons until summer comes around again. We'll be able to enjoy the fruits of our labor, and when the weather is blustery and cold, knowing we won't have to hop in the truck to buy a meal will be well worth the time we spent now.

I see the surgeon on September 8th for what I expect will be clearance to drive and work again. I'm doing my at-home and in-clinic physical therapy to get back to my full range of motion. Once I get clearance, my boss and I have discussed starting me back for four hours on Friday nights to see if I can tolerate that. Once I clear that hurdle, I'll get back to my regular Tuesdays, and perhaps one or two more days. 

So, with that in mind, I want to get as much of this canning behind me before then, so my days off into fall can be spent sitting in the autumn sunshine and stitching. Doesn't that sound blissful? I know the coming weeks sounds like a lot, but trust me. I'll be careful. I don't want to push "Bob" (my Bone-On-Bone leg) because I'm not ready to have that second surgery yet. I'd really like to wait until spring, if I can hold off that long. Fingers crossed.

Guess What I've Started...

During the course of my physical therapy sessions with Jenna, I've learned that she's engaged and they're planning a wedding next year. With that in mind, can you guess what I've started working on for her? 

I know that I'll have it completed well before our last session together the end of September, but I wanted to pull colors and at least set up the project long before then, so I have plenty of time to pace myself. 

I didn't do much else yesterday. I did pull thirteen one-gallon bags of frozen San Marzano tomatoes and organized them on trays (still in the bags) to thaw. Once they're ready, I'll start the homemade Rotel™ and salsa. I decided it was best to save up my energy, because that's going to be a marathon canning session once I get started...most likely tomorrow.

In the meantime, I'm going to continue my needlework pursuits and see what I can get done today. I'll share more tomorrow.