Teresa & Mike CHS - Our journal

[Mike CHS]

I did my rain dance yesterday since we still need rain. My rain dance consists of spraying herbicide which usually results in rain within a couple hours whether or not it's in the forecast.

We need enough items to make a Costco run worth the time to drive there. We have been taking advantage of their free shipping up until now but we are needing some perishable items now among other things. This is the first time we have gone there since this Covid thing started. Teresa can't eat sugar so we will also stop at Publix which is right by Costco since they have the best selection of low sugar products of the stores we have to choose from.

 

[Baymule]

Here is an easy way to condense sauce, catsup, applesauce, or fruit butters without simmering on the stove top.

Chop it all up and bring to boil on stove till the tomatoes are soft. Then pour it into large flat roaster pans and bake in the oven at 275 degrees.. I make catsup and apple butter this way. You only have to stir it about every half hour or so and it doesn't burn. If 275 degrees isn't hot enough you can adjust the oven higher to 300 degrees. You don't want it to boil, you want it to simmer slowly and condense. Takes about 3 hours depending on how thick you want it. Much easier than standing over the stove stirring.

When I do fruit butters, catsup, and BBQ sauce, after boiling the fruit soft, I will let it cool slightly, then run it through the food processor so it is smooth before putting it into the roasting pans. To make BBQ sauce, I just adjust the spices and sugar in the catsup recipe.

Why have I never heard of this? I must try this!

 

[Bruce]

I did my rain dance yesterday since we still need rain.

Shouldn't be a problem around Sat am.

 

[Baymule]

Gotcha on the rain dance. We are doing a hurricane dance LOL. We have ants in the house. So we have an exterminator coming in the morning, he will spray inside and OUTSIDE. Of course, that will get washed away when hurricane Laura comes through around midnight. Maybe the damned ants will drown.

 

[farmerjan]

Crock pots are a great way to cook stuff down and only need occasional stirring especially in the beginning. I make my apple butter that way, and spaghetti sauce a few years ago. I am not a big spaghetti eater, so don't make much. Love my fresh tomato sandwiches, but don't eat alot of tomato"y" things because it bothers the joints. Any plant from the nightshade family will aggravate arthritis and I can tell if I forget and eat alot of tomato stuff .... joints get to really hurting (yeah, even worse than normal!!!!). Potatoes are another thing but I have a hard time giving up mashed potatoes..... I am not a big french fry eater anymore either.... baked or mashed or just boiled with a little butter, salt and pepper...

 

[Baymule]

I've had too much to use a crock pot, but that is a good idea. This year, I have developed an allergy to the tomato vines. I break out in blisters and whelps if the vines touch my skin. Oh joy. I wear gloves and a long sleeve denim shirt to go tomato picking. I'm hoping that I will still be able to eat my favorite members of the nightshade family-tomatoes, peppers and eggplant. My mother developed a sensitivity to them in her late 50's and would break out in an itchy rash if she ate them.

 

[Ridgetop]

If you have the storage space and on want multiple crock pot for canning, go to the Salvation Army or various Thrift Stores. They usually have a bunch of them cheap although you can buy them new for around $20 particularly around Christmas when the stores bring in specialty gift stuff as leaders.

I did use my InstaPot slow cooker feature for spaghetti sauce last time, Worked well and also no stirring or scorching. I may start using it like that as well as the pressure feature.

 

[rachels.haven]

@Baymule , that is how I respond to tomato plants BUT I can still peppers, tomatillos, ground cherries, potatoes for the most part. Eating eggplant annoys me, but I never liked eating live packing foam much anyway. I have trouble giving up the tom plants, so I feel for you, but hopefully you'll still be able to enjoy at least the level I can. Oh man, do those welts feel like bruises...but tomatoes are so pretty with such a fun history and fun to grow...so I MUST PINEAPPLE TOMATILLO IT! Yum.

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It really tastes like a pineapple! The large spreading plants are 3 feet across and covered with hundreds of fruit that are quite different from other tomatillos. They are only about 3/4 inch in diameter and soft so they are great for eating fresh. They fall from the plant when ripe. The...

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[Mike CHS]

We have enough chopped peppers in the freezer to last well into next year and we still haven't used up the last of the peppers from last summer. We still need another batch or so of canned roasted peppers but this is another bed of veggies going to neighbors. We use this little chopper that makes short work of it and we freeze on a flat till the morning and then bag and vacuum seal them. I think Teresa Tom Sawyered me since the few times she processed peppers, she didn't freeze them before bagging and you wind up with a bell pepper ice cube so that became my job.

 

[Baymule]

Teresa ain't no dummy.