Green Tomato Relish

I have mostly said goodnight to my veggie garden for another year.  In doing so, I harvested (all farmer Joe-like) what was left of the tomato crop and came out with a ton of green tomatoes.  In years past I have put the greenies in a paper bag and waited patiently for them to turn red or shared them with neighbors. 

This year I wanted to try something different since I had so many tomatoes! 

Enter Green Tomato Relish.

I sort of used this recipe from allrecipes.com and another one that I can't quite put my finger on at the moment.  Here is what I put in my relish:

All my green tomatoes, chopped (pictured above)
3 white onions, chopped (other recipe called for four, but I couldn't chop any more... crying too much, ha!  I can't imagine having to do 12)3 green peppers, seeded and chopped
2 red peppers, seeded and chopped
1 cup cider vinegar
4 cups sugar
3 Tablespoons mustard seeds
3 Tablespoons celery seeds

Chop the tomatoes, onions (so many tears -- and Sammy laughing at me and trying to steal onion bits while I did it), and peppers.  Bring the vinegar, sugar and seed mixture to a boil.  Add the rest of the chopped veggies and simmer/boil for 10-15 minutes.  Then can; required a 15 minute water bath.

I am quite well known by my husband for 'blowing up' the kitchen while I cook or make something.  I find a way to use nearly every pot, bowl, utensil, knife... well you get the picture.  I'm messy, but have a lot of fun! 

And here is a little peak mid-way.

And the result... it's pretty.  And oh my goodness it tastes amazing!!  So far, I have had it in a wrap, on a turkey sandwich, and on a hamburger.  You can definitely substitute this relish for sweet pickles on whatever you eat.

And the bonus is that I grew those tomatoes!!  Neat, right?  Sort of a things coming full circle thing. 

Next time I want to experiment a little bit with making this more of a spicy relish.  I also wouldn't mind trying a version with apples in it.  But there will be a period of leaves, white stuff, spring, and summer before I have another go. 

Oh, and speaking of things homemade.  Check out this pink applesauce I made the other night. 

PINK!

Pepto pink. 

The color was accidental.  I did the normal little bit of water in a pot, add quartered apples (skin, seeds, and all) boiling down till the apples are soft.  Then run the mixture through a Foley mill. 

I am guessing these particular apples had a lot of red pigment in the skin.  Made for a pretty pink sauce to make us smile at dinner time!!

Hope you are enjoying a bit of cooking time in the kitchen as well... what have you been making?

Straw-pple Sauce!

I think you are beginning to notice that I am enjoying myself more and more in the kitchen.  In fact, after a long day at work, I enjoy getting some time in there to be creative, expressive, and try a few new things.

This week Straw-pple Sauce was born!

It's not a 100% unique idea.  Strawberry-Applesauce has been around for some time. 

Just the same, I like to think that I am breaking new territory, because 1) I haven't made applesauce often, 2) I never used a blender to smooth my sauce, and 3) this is the first time I have added strawberries!

Let's see what craziness unfolded...

I got a nice big pot.

And two types of apples.  Four Granny Smiths and six Fuji's.

My helper was at the ready offering her assistance!

I always joke about this... I am secretly on a show called, "Cooking with Katie."  She is my trusty assistant for things like creative ideas, clean up, and of course tasting!

Since I was making a small batch and since I don't have a Foley mill (fancy thing to remove skin and seeds from a cooked down pulp mixture), I peeled, cored, and chopped all the apples. 

Those pieces went right into the big pot.

Next up... strawberries!!  Same deal here; clean and slice.  I used the whole carton of strawberries.

My helper has a special admiration for strawberries!

"Who me?"

Then the strawberries were added to the big pot and the pot was placed on the stove.

I did add some apple juice and water to the fruit to prevent the bottom from burning and helping the pulp to break down.

A quick stir later and we were in business!

As it bubbled, the kitchen became filled with the autumn smell of apples.  If we could have smell-o-rama blogs, this would definitely be the post I would use it on. 

Can you smell the cooking apples now?

Once I was satisfied that the mixture was cooked through, I transferred it to a mixing bowl.

Then scoop by scoop, I added a batch to the blender and gave it a few whirls to "sauce-a-fy" it!

Once all the mixture had gone through the blender it looked so smooth and yummy!!

This is the part where you season it to your liking.  I decided it was sweet enough, so no sugar was added.  I did add cinnamon and nutmeg.  YUM!

It's funny how more of the red color from the strawberries came out while I re-heated the sauce for canning.

I took this as a chance to practice my canning skills.  This was the first time doing it on my own.  I followed the instructions to re-heat the sauce to boiling and to heat the jars, lids, and rings.

Filling the jars was hot, messy, and nerve-wrecking.  But I got through it. 

A reward for my efforts?  A nice big bowl of Straw-pple sauce that didn't fit in the jars.

My assistant was spent.  Done. Tired.  Zonked.  Wiped.

Although, I bet if I had said the word "apple," she would have jumped up on fresh legs ready to do the whole thing over.

And here we are...

...a fun night spent in the kitchen.
...amazing smells throughout the house.
...a few jars of tasty sauce to brag about and scarf.
...a quieter mind that is much less focused on stresses.
...a happy assistance with a belly full of apples and strawberries.

Have you made something lately that tickled your taste buds?