Canning Dangerously

So, I've had a very busy weekend; my mom and sister in town for surgery, a family outing to der Rhinelander, buying new cereal bowls for the hubby, and finishing various projects around the house.

After dinner at der Rhinelander, I've come to a couple of very important conclusions: that I should continue to NOT eat meat because of baby's tummy troubles and that I need to make both German cabbage rolls and strudel for my hubby. I'll probably adapt one of these recipes from cabbagerollsrecipe.blogspot.com or adapt one from my Joy of Cooking.

I'm planning on making BLTs and TLCs (tomato, lettuce and cucumber sandwiches) today. I'll also be making teriyaki chicken (from a scratch sauce) soon. It's so nice to have food in the fridge. Thanks, Mom!

In the crafts, arena: I'm evil and just bought a pressure canner on amazon.com because I want to rehydrate my dry beans, season them, and can them for easy taco/refried beans. This summer, homemade salsa is a must. I'm also planning on learning to knit. I'm thinking about knitting dome fabric to re-cover my kitchen chairs. Plus, I'd like to make a couple of wraparound shirts for ease of nursing and the showcasing of my newly-rediscovered waist.

Today, I plan to make and can marinara sauce, adapting a recipe taken from Put 'Em Up! I have a whole bunch of fresh, hothouse tomatoes that I need to use.

Warning: the acid-base ratio isn't properly balanced for this recipe. Don't use this recipe if you want to preserve spaghetti sauce long-term. Storing food without a proper acid-base balance can lead to botulism (I think). I'm by no means expert at canning and I'm really just practicing. I'll refrigerate and eat this sauce in the upcoming week.

6 hothouse tomatoes
6 C. water
stockpot

 Blanch the tomatoes in the water for a minute and peel the skins off. This is the point where I should have put them in the food processor for a little bit, but I just threw them into a saucepan with :

1 C. water
1/4 C. fresh basil leaves, chopped
1/2 onion, sliced
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 T. oregano
1/2 t. salt

and simmered for awhile, occasionally mashing with a potato masher and adding more water to break the ingredients into a relatively thick.

Boil enough water to cover your jar in a large stockpot. Gently lower your jar, lid, and lid ring into the boiling water, filling the jar. This is just to sterilize the hardware. Let them stay in the boiling water for 30 seconds to 1 minute.

Transfer your ingredients to your sterilized jar, set your sterilized lid on top and screw the ring on only to finger-tight. Boil your jar in a large stockpot for 45 minutes. Set your jar on the counter to cool for 24 hours. After 24 hours, check the seals. The acid-base balance probably isn't right so I'll probably eat this in the next couple of days.

I probably should have followed the recipe in Put 'Em Up exactly, but I don't have 25lbs of tomatoes...

For safety, buy Put 'Em Up and make My-Way Marinara as it appears on page 277.

Good luck.
T-T-F-N: Ta ta for now!