Canning Week!

These cherry tomatoes are my favorite treat!  Love to snack on them!

Wednesday morning I intended to check out the garden and of course enjoy the beautiful morning.  Unbeknown-st to me the garden had exploded since I last harvested Saturday!  I carried 5dishpans of cucumbers, green beans, peppers, and tomatoes to the kitchen.  Each time I returned to the garden I found yet another cucumber! 

There were two pans plus of the cukes!

Almost a gallon of beans.

Two dishpans of tomatoes.

Beautiful fragrant basil goes into my canned tomatoes.

After canning 40 pounds of tomatoes Monday and Tuesday I really was not looking to do much more but I am...can't let things go to waste.  You would think with only 4 cucumber plants this harvest unlikely.

40 pounds of tomatoes yielded 16 quarts of lovely tomatoes.

Here are my favorite tomato and tomato sauce recipes.  But, I do admit to adapting even my own favorite recipes by this year tossing in a fresh clove of garlic into each jar!   Just click on the links that follow to take a peek at the recipes.    thehiddenpantry.blogspot.com/2012/08/canning-tomatoes.html   and for sauce    thehiddenpantry.blogspot.com/2012/08/canning-basic-tomato-sauce.html

This is a recipe I LOVE for sweet and chunky hand cut pickle relish and I have it going right now.  I use it in potato salads, tuna salads, ham salad, chicken salad, macaroni salad, and more!  So very handy as well as delicious.     thehiddenpantry.blogspot.com/2012/07/fresh-cut-chunky-sweet-pickle-relish.html     Just click on the lick to check these recipes and directions out.

I have also been working on two more pickle recipes and look forward to sharing them too!