What are you doing in your kitchen today!

I thought this might be a fun thread this time of year as a lot of us are preserving food for the winter. Yesterday I canned 20 jars of salsa and today I am getting ready to can some more pickled beets. I am a little nervous because the last round I made turned out awesome (and I am a poor recipe follower). So the spices may turn out a little different . What are you doing today !

Today in the kitchen I am canning spaghetti sauce and I started some Sungold tomatoes this morning in the dehydrator. I agree that this could be a fun thread. Good idea!

I have cherry type tomatoes dehydrating and I am finishing off the cooking of last night's apple butter in the oven, then canning it. I hope.

Fixing dinner and being glad I planted purple podded stringless beans. Just when we decided the beans were all done and should be pulled, they put out another flush. Because of their color, it's easy to find them in the thick covering of leaves. A big three-lobed Black Sea Man tomato is adding to a bacon-garlic-basil sauce for the beans. Rose Finn potatoes, Nantes carrots, grilled Italian long peppers and a salad with cherry tomatoes rounds out the meal. Oh, and a big Asian (pear from the tree out by the garden) for dessert. BTW, I found enough beans this morning to share with our daughter and son-in-law! Guess they weren't don at all. Nonna

Making veggie soup from some the tail ends of the garden and canning 3 quarts of crushed tomatos. My canner came yesterday.

Kay

Wow, I am a bit jealous, I love dried tomatoes. Nonna, dinner sounds great and Kay I just love soup. I am wishing I am at someone else's house for dinner tonight. I did get my beets done though !

Cheyanne, no need to apologize: you're still 20 pints of salsa ahead of me! (I did get a few jars of pickled beets done, though, over a week ago.) Nonna

Curious Nonna, what is your pickled beet recipe. Also I had to buy my tomatoes and peppers from a local greenhouse that sells them for $2 a pound (Also curious what you can buy toms and peppers for). The deer discovered my garden this year and I had a huge disappointment . I am working on a fence this winter .

Cheyennarach, Pickled beets are easy to make, but messy. Tasty come winter, though. Don't remember where I found the recipe below, some old canning book I'd guess:

Pickled Beets

25-30 small beets, unpeeled
2 medium onions
1-1/4 cups sugar
2 cups 5% acid cider vinegar
2 Tblsp. canning/pickling salt
1 Cup water
6 whole cloves
2 sticks cinnamon
1 Tablespoon whole allspice

Preparation Instructions
Put clean unpeeled beets in a large stockpot and add enough cold water to cover them by 3 inches. Bring to a boil, then turn heat down to maintain a slow boil. Cook until beets are tender when pierced with a fork, about 40 minutes. Pour water off and let beets cool. Slip skins off once the beets are cool enough to handle. Slice, or quarter, and set aside.

Place the sugar, cider vinegar, water, salt, and spices in a smaller saucepan. Bring to a boil and simmer for 15 minutes. Pour this pickling liquid over the prepared beets and bring back to a boil. In the meantime, bring water in canner to a boil and scald jars. Prepare lids. Pack hot beet mixture to jars, wipe rims, and add lids. Process in boiling water bath for 30 minutes.

Thank you Nonna!

I pickled ginger. Not ginger from my garden though. Can we even grow ginger in the garden?

CC

cheyennarch, I forgot to add to the pickled beet recipe: after you've served most of the beets, save the last few and the juice. Add a couple of peeled hardboiled eggs to the juice/beets and refrigerate for a day. Serve the eggs cut into quarters (so they show off the yellow yolk, white inner portion, and the red outside), place a couple of the beets (drained) on the plate with the eggs and serve as an appetizer. Note: don't leave the eggs in the beet liquid longer than 2 or 3 days or they will become rubbery.

I found a recipe for sweet pickles on the web. My first 4 quart jars disappeared in less than 2 weeks, so I'm trying my hand on a second batch.



However, Today is ONLY day #4 of the 8-day process.