How To: Canning Diced Tomatoes

We’ve had a plethora of tomatoes in our garden this year, so many in fact, that I decided I wanted to can them. We still had several cans of tomato sauce in our pantry from the last time I canned so I decided that was out of the question. I thought about what type of tomato products I use most during the winter and settled on diced tomatoes. I tend to use these in Chili and other hearty recipes throughout the winter so in order to save a little bit of money l decided this was what needed to be canned.The first step to canning fresh tomatoes, no matter how you will be doing it, is to blanch and skin all the tomatoes. To do this you need to make an X at the bottom of the tomato, then blanch it. You will need to blanch it for about 60 seconds. After this immediately plunge it into ice cold water and the skins should just fall away. If you would like to read more in depth on the blanching process check out my previous post on How To: Blanching Veggies. You will also need to begin prepping the canning jars and lids. Because of the acidity in tomatoes you can water bath can them. If you are new to the canning process read my post on How To: Water Bath Canning.I chose to use the Hot Pack method of canning. This requires a pot of boiling water on the stove while you’re dicing. After you’re done dicing the tomatoes you are ready to pack the hot jars. Remove the jars from the boiling pot. Put in ¼ Teaspoon of Citric Acid in the bottom. Fill the jars with the diced tomatoes leaving a ½ inch headspace. Then cover the tomatoes with the boiling water. Place the lid on the jar and tighten the band to fingertip tight, then tighten again.Place the prepared jars in the water bath canner. Process them for 45 minutes with the lid on. Then remove the lid and process them for another 5 minutes. Remove from the boiling liquid and place on the counter in a spot where they won’t have to be moved for 24 hours. Let them sit and cool. If you find that any jars did not seal you can actually process them again if you catch it within 24 hours. Otherwise put the unsealed jars in the fridge and use within a week. The sealed jars you can put in the pantry for storage.

Tomato Rigatoni with Pepperoni and Parmesan

I found this recipe while perusing my copy of March’s Food Network Magazine. I thought it looked amazing in the magazine and with a few tweaks it would be perfect for dinner! This would be great for a large crowd since it is easily doubled or even tripled. It also would make a fantastic potluck dish since it could easily be made ahead of time and kept warm in a crockpot.Alex and I were so surprised at how delicious this dish turned out. With the red pepper flakes you might think its would be spicy, but it really isn’t. The pepper flakes simply give the dish the right amount of love when paired with the other spices. We also decided this dish would be wonderful if we added sausage both with and instead of the pepperoni. It’s really up to you which you would prefer, although one of the best things about this recipe was munching on the crispy pepperoni![amd-yrecipe-recipe:224]Source: Adapted from Food Network Magazine: March 2016

Quick & Easy Bruschetta

We first had this at a family gathering, Alex’s Aunt made it for us once and I was hooked! It is so quick, easy and yummy. I found all my ingredients at Aldi (grocery store) so it is also really economical to make. You will definitely surprise and excite your guests with this party appetizer.I’ve used premade ingredients for this recipe. You can do the same, or if you have fresh produce from the garden you could make your own. The key is to keep the tomato sauce chunky and full of spices. The sauce really provides much of the flavor for the dish so you do not want to skimp.The Parmesan cheese really provides a salty compliment to the slight sweetness of the tomatoes. You want to make certain you do not skimp on the cheese. It is also key that the cheese has completely melted and has begun to brown before you remove it from the oven. These are best served warm.[amd-yrecipe-recipe:83]