Green tomato relish

My mother in law makes the best zucchini relish. and i ran out of it last winter. But we didnt get any really nice in the garden, SO this year i had so many green tomatoes I had to see if i could find a relish recipe near to hers.

I found a recipe on allrecipes.com that was close. here is what i found.
what i did differently was i used all green peppers. Steve says its really good.

BBQ sauce

when harvesting my tomatoes i had some that were "half ripe" so i popped them into my 6 quart crockpot and cooked them down....

after running them through the food mill i gave the sauce a try..  pretty tart for spaghetti sauce.... not gonna work.... what to do with it now? Well Matt Cant have BBQ sauce except one brand so why not try it? so here's what i threw together, My family, who all love BBQ chicken say this is a win.


BBQ SAUCE

3 quarts of sauce
1/2 a bag of brown sugar
1 teaspoon of liquid smoke
1 teaspoon of cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon onion powder
1 teaspoon garlic powder
salt to taste

Green Tomato Jam

I haven't been blogging lately and im sorry, I have been busy making everything i could think of with my green tomatoes.

This is green tomato jam. Sounds weird? well yea a little. but really good.
heres how i did it....

i filled my 5 quart crock pot and cooked green tomatoes down in it twice. this took two days and it reduced both 5 quart batches to 1/4 of the amount so i only got maybe 3 quarts of cooked down tomatoes . then i ran them through my food mill. it was thick like a weird greenish brown spaghetti sauce.... and i added 1 teaspoon of cinnamon, 1/2 a teaspoon of cardimum and three cups of sugar. I cooked it for another 8 hours or so

its tastes like a jam or a butter, but you get you mind saying wait is that tomatoes? yes i think it is... out of those approx 10 quarts i got 5 jars this size ... not a huge yield BUT very good and better than throwing them out...

Putting up green beans

To freeze green beans with a toddler in the house you have to get creative.... Matt watches far too much TV as it is, so when he came out and asked for "up" I thought well why not? I was standing right next to him.... we started off with his but on the counter and his feet in the sink.  soon enough he opted to sit in the sink while i washed and cut up my beans... OH YEA im posting about putting up beans!  WELL THEN....

Matt loves water

So first you need to snip cut and wash your beans to what ever size you want. If you have one of these gizmos (pasta pot) it will make this job SO MUCH easier!

All cut up and waiting for the water to boil

While i am cutting up my beans, Matt checks my cooling off water to make certain its good and cold.  i normally use ice in it, but I was out...

Splash splash splash

After your water gets to a good rolling boil, (big bubbles) put your beans in the boiling water to blanch them. keep them there for 3 mins.

pasta pot

This is my pasta pot, it works perfect for blanching veggies. Its like a double boiler except the top part is a colander. i need to keep this closer to the front i actually forgot i had it! I used to use it all the time. If you see one of these second hand Snag it, you wont regret it.

Chillin' Out

After your timer goes off, Pull your beans out, and pop them int he sink of ice water. If you had a toddler in the other side make certain they know the word hot and you tell them... My does and the whole time i was swishing the beans to cool them off he told me not to burn myself. "OT! OT! OT!" I will be happy when he learns his H sound

ready for the freezer

After they are cooled down, pop them into a freezer baggie and pack it good and tight. AIR is your beans enemy. I squeeze the baggie before i seal that last little bit up.  I think i have the equivalent of 3 store cans in this baggie. but they will be FAR BETTTER thna any you get out of a can!

Apple butter

Apple Butter 1st Place

I realized i never posted a recipe for my apple butter.  So its about time i do that.

I start off with applesauce, if you HAVE to use store bought PLEASE read the label  some apple sauces use high fructose corn syrup in them as a sweetening agent.  I know that MOTTS does  not.  Please use something without it. IT may be a bit more expensive (like $1 a jar), but worth it. you will need two large jars. (at least)

Any time you can however its better to make your own sauce. if you need a sauce recipe here is mine....APPLESAUCE

after you have your sauce, put it in your crock pot because you are gonna cook it.
this is pretty much what i add, yea this is one of those "grandma recipes" that i eyeball. but for my best guess

Add
1 cup of sugar
1 tablespoon of cinnamon
1 teaspoon of pumpkin pie spice

and let it cook..... if you have a well sealed crock pot, set a wooden spoon under the lid so it can vent. the vent is what REALLY gets the house smelling nice.

your apple butter will reduce down and thicken up. IF you made your apple butter out of apple sauce from the store save one of your jars. you can put it right into a jar after you have washed it. you will have to store it in the fridge.

IF you want to keep it in the cupboard,  you need to put into BALL jelly jars and seal with a 5 minute process.

Crab Apple Jelly

THIS RECIPE PLACED 2ND PLACE AT MY COUNTY FAIR

My Step Father has a crab apple tree. My Mom let him know that i love to make apple jelly. So he told me that i could have all the apples from it that i wanted. {apparently the only ones who want them are the deer} Gleefully Steve Mom and I went over to gather apples. Mom Pushed Matt around in the stroller while Steve and i picked up the ones that had dropped and picked as high as we could reach. There is still probably enough to do this whole process again, and i just might!
Fist i put the apples in my stock pot and filled it with water and boiled the dickens out of them.


Then i put them into a tee shirt that i had sewn the arms and neck hole off. (Basically i made the whole thing into a square bag and cut off the arms and neck after sewing) This is the juice i got from my apples isnt it pretty? a lovely shade of pink.


then i followed the recipe on the pectin instructions to make this beautiful jelly.

bring to full boil;
7 cups of juice
1 package of pectin
boil for one minuet
quickly add
9 cups of sugar
return to boil
add to sterilized jelly jars
hot bath for 10 minuets