Pantry Update

I wanted to give a final total of canned goods that have been produced this summer. Our garden is done producing enough to can. (There are enough green tomatoes to still can, but I am not for sure I will can any more). Here are the totals:

64 quarts of tomatoes

7 pints of salsa ( I didn't really like the recipe so I didn't make anymore).

9 pints of tomato relish

16 quarts dill pickles

12 pints Pickled Green Tomatoes

3 quarts Pickled Green Tomatoes

3 Jalapenos (left over from last year)

9 pints blackberry jam

7 pints apple butter (left over from last year)

31 pints of tomato sauce

5 quarts of tomato sauce

38 quarts of green beans

5 1/2 dozen frozen corn on the cob (I found a great recipe for this)!

48 quart bags of frozen corn, cut off the cob

14 pints of peach jam

Some of these totals aren't near enough to last our family through the winter. For example, I was not able to grow enough green beans to reach my target of 60 quarts. I estimated that I needed that much to last us until next summer. The late bed of green beans just didn't produce like I had hoped. We are getting enough beans to eat fresh, but not near enough to can the expected amount. Looking over this list makes me realize that I should can some more Green Tomato Pickles for the winter. This will be easy because I have the veggies in the garden. I am not for sure that the tomatoes will be enough for the winter, but I will have to see.

We are still eating out of our garden so I am not using the canned goods much at this point. Our green beans, peppers, okra, eggplant, and green with some red tomatoes are still producing for now. I use the green tomatoes to make Fried Green Tomatoes which everybody in our family loves. I started making a sauce of thousand islands dressing and tarter sauce mixed together to serve with the Fried Green Tomatoes. It is really good. I use this dish as meat often times in our meal. I will add a large pot of beans for protein to accompany the Green Tomatoes and I also will include homemade macaroni and cheese. This is a great meal that is cheap. (I know it isn't weight friendly)!@!!!

With the late freeze killing our apple production, I wasn't able to put up any apple sauce this year. I made a ton of that last year, but our kids ate it as fast as I could make it. I would come in the kitchen and find an empty quart jar where one of the older kids had eaten the entire quart by himself!!

The late freeze took out the blueberries here in our area so I couldn't make any blueberry syrup or jam. I also did not spend the money to buy extra peaches to freeze. I went several times to pick some up, but by the time I decided I really wanted them bad enough to buy them, they were all gone. I will miss having bags of frozen peaches in our freezer. I always used them to make homemade peach cobbler and homemade fruit salad. They will be much missed this year.

grace and peace,

julie