Still tomato-ing along

With assistance from the girls, 22 pounds of cooked tomatoes along with carrots, celery, and onions were sent through the food strainer. Although this recipe stated that it would make 7 quarts, I actually ended with 9 quarts of vegetable juice. YUM! A bit "richer" flavor than JUST tomato juice for those cold winter days when we make Chili!

Since the large soup pot was used to cook the veggies together and I was still unloading the goods into the food strainer, I used our next largest pot to collect the "puree" as it was coming out of the strainer.....

BOY! It was JUST large enough for the juice of this batch!!!!

We're still going strong; Paul and the girls just headed out to pick up some vinegar so we can try ketchup next.

In the meantime, taking a moment to update y'all while the pizza sauce is simmering (another 6 pounds of tomatoes here). And yet another 6 pounds has already been sent through the strainer, awaiting the ketchup recipe....and that'll be the lot of the tomatoes today.

22 pounds tomatoes -> vegetable juice (9 quarts made)
6 pounds tomatoes -> pizza sauce (which'll make 10 half-pints; enough for 10 pizzas)
6 pounds tomatoes -> ketchup (should be ~ 5 pints)

OH!!!!
I forgot....I also cut up about 2 pounds and those slices are currently in the food dehydrator, along with 2 trays of basil. The house has a YUMMMMMY aroma right now.

so....35-36 pounds of tomatoes used today (so far). I may head out in a bit to pick some more if the ketchup recipe works out. PLUS, the girls already polished off one of my jars of salsa the other day, so I have to make more of that....

Hmm....haven't even gotten to just simply canning whole tomatoes!!! That may happen throughout the week, or next weekend.

Red, Juicy and IN ABUNDANCE!

Oh boy! Bet you can guess what the vast majority of my day entails :0)

And this only shows a small portion of what we have on the vines..... Oh THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU for such a harvest!!!!

Canned tomatoes
Stewed tomatoes
Salsa
Ketchup??? worth a try?
Spaghetti sauce??? Need to find a recipe to try...
Pizza sauce??? Have a recipe to try!

AND....Paul received a Food Dehydrator for Christmas last year that I'm curious to try out!!! I remember Judy dehydrating basil and tomatoes to create her own seasoning (blogged here), so I will attempt that as well, but I will actually MIX THEM TOGETHER! I LOVE tomato-basil EVERYTHING! Chips, crackers.....so...why not try to see what creativity can lead to if we have our own home-made "seasoning."

Happy Saturday!

Love today's date...

9 - 10 - 11

As a math teacher, today's date is "fun!"

SO....what a great day to HAVE FUN!!!

My plans:

The Blue-n-Gold Pride quilt!!!
{{but i also have TONs and TONs of tomatoes to take care of at some point}} ;0)

Hmmmm.......and at 12:13 PM I simply HAVE to take a moment to say "I love mathematical patterns!!!" {{I missed the 12:13 AM moment, so I only have the PM moment left}} :0)

;0)

Typin' on the brand new MacBookPro

It arrived today!!!

Turned it on 40 minutes ago....
Set up the email program...
set up some other settings...

And starting tomorrow----will transfer over EVERYTHING that my coworker buddy Darin saved from my old MacBook hard drive. WHEW! I owe him BIG TIME!!!

Have others of you had this thought cross your mind? .....
"back in the day".... there came a time where it was considered 'normal' that each household had more than one Television....
"now"...... it almost seems that it's becoming a time where every household has more than one Computer/Laptop.

How many computers/laptops are in YOUR home?

We are only sitting at 2 laptops now; we had a third computer, but it was "old" and too much of a pain to update. However....I foresee within the next 2 years, we'll need to get a third computer/laptop. We also have one iTouch with wireless capabilities if we really get "hard up" to get online.

Blue-n-Gold Pride :0)

Lunch was made
Dishes were done
Laundry was started
Salsa got made (10 half-pints)

and I STILL had time to play around with my Blue-n-Gold Pride leader-ender units. Lots of pressing; lots of dog-ear trimming; lots of subcutting for the 9-patches. I only have 1/3 of the 9-patches completed and about 1/2 of the gold/gold HSTs. ALL of the B/G HSTs are completed, and I started piecing some "diamond" units...

I hope to make some quick progress on this now that I'm moving it off the L/E pile so that it can be used yet this Football season! Blue-n-Gold are our school colors.

Happy Monday!

Smith Mountain Morning top

Smith Mountain Morning (71"x83")

Two words:

WOW BONNIE!!!

This pattern is AMAZING! Love it!!!


I'm still in the piecing mood, but lunch is looming and the kitchen is a mess and the laundry still needs my attention and the tomatoes want to be made into salsa........

So yeah....don't think I'll get back downstairs today. BUT...happy with my morning!!

Smith Mountain Morning layout

While waiting for a load of clothes to be done, I figured "WHY NOT?" Since I spent some time outside trimming the edge of the lawn for Cassie to finish up the mowing....and now that I'm paying the consequences of that move thanks to my Ragweed allergy.... :\

I grabbed the Smith Mountain Morning blocks and organized them into the center of the quilt. Learning from experience...before sewing blocks together into rwos, I snapped a picture and blew it up on the computer to make sure everything was correct. I sure don't think I can find any incorrect block placement here....and the scrappiness seems to fit just fine; no "like" fabrics near each other....

I might just get this center done before taking off to the farm tonight.

WHEW! Three posts so far in one day.

TOMATOES!!!!

They've survived AND arrived :0)

I wasn't sure what I was going to find when I went outside just now to check the status of the tomato-patch. If you can look past the dead leaves and non-existant leaves.......the FRUIT is arriving BEAUTIFULLY!!! THANK GOODNESS!

I have a feeling.....next weekend; we're going to be canning tomatoes. YES!

Heading back to the house, the girls were "hanging out" in the garage with the new babes.

They never grow tired of handling the baby chicks. :0) These 24 will be raised strictly for meat; in 10 weeks, they'll be in the freezer. Harsh, yes.....but 'tis life.

The OTHER chicks from a couple of months ago.....I couldn't find any of them around to snap a picture, but imagine a "middle-size" chicken. They've grown QUITE big and we can't wait 'til they start producing eggs next year.

Alright....the decision has been made: we're heading up to the farm later tonight, so I have the day. As bad as I'd love to get some quilting in, there are too many other outside projects that need attention.

If you didn't read up on Cassie's SUPER 5K run this morning, be sure to check that post out. {{If you look close at the picture of Caitlyn holding the chick, Cassie is in the background STILL wearing her medal. :0) Think she's still tickled pink???}}