Summer bounty

Tonight I opened up one of the jars of tomato sauce we had canned last fall. I still find it to be a small miracle, when I crack the seal and smell the rich tomato sweetness. We only did a few super huge jars of marinara sauce (2 quart size), and some smaller ones of tomato soup, but I am still so proud of our first year trying to preserve our harvest.

Tomatos and anything acidic can be canned in a water bath canner, instead of a pressure cooker. Jelly is another thing that can be done in the simple boiling water bath. It is truly easy enough that anyone can do it.

I look forward to preserving even more of our garden goodies by canning next year. It is a lost art.

If you wonder what we did with our sauce, we made spaghetti. We used ground turkey for meat, and an herbed pasta we bought at the co-op last weekend. We cooked a quinoa pasta for Josh, who is gluten free, and rounded it off with salad and fresh sunflower seed sprouts. I look forward to our salad coming from the back yard! (I do have salad mix and lettuce coming up in the garden now.)

Happy eating! I hope that you are able to savor the pleasure of foods that you had a hand in creating, preparing, growing, and eating. It makes every meal taste so much better!