Canned Heirloom Tomatoes

I used this recipe to can some of my abundance of tomatoes! Can't wait to use these in the middle of winter to make soups, stews, salsas & sauces! :)

Superior heirloom tomatoes

Forget pickles and jams on your first go-around. Home-canned tomatoes can’t be beat, are wildly versatile and are economical to boot. I promise you won’t regret the effort.

Ingredients
• 5 pounds heirloom tomatoes
• Lemon juice (from the jar is best)

Method

Make two, criss-cross slits in the bottom of each tomato. Loosen the skins of whole tomatoes by boiling in water for 45 seconds.

Immediately plunge the tomatoes into a bowl of cold water to stop the cooking process. Slide the skins off and cut out the cores using a sharp paring knife. Set aside in a large bowl.

Fill sterilized pint-sized jars with the skinned tomatoes, leaving a ½ inch of headspace from the top. Crush the tomatoes by pushing them down into the jars with your fingers as you go.

Add 1 tablespoon of lemon juice to each jar. If you prefer, you may also add a single basil leaf at this point, although I prefer to keep mine plain so that the tomatoes can be used in virtually anything.

Wipe and cap the jars and heat-process in a boiling water bath for 45 minutes.

Makes about 8 pint jars.

Chocolate Chip Zucchini Brownies

I followed this recipe & was pleasantly surprised at how tasty these were! I think the chocolate chips really make the brownies rich & delicious. I peeled the zucchini before shredding it to hide the green stuff a little better & it definitely worked. I don't think anyone would've noticed without me telling them. :)

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
1/2 cup canola oil
2 cups all purpose flour
1/4 cup cocoa
2 cups shredded zucchini
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 cup chocolate chips

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease an 8 x 11 baking pan with cooking spray, set aside.

2. In a stand mixer, combine sugar, canola oil, and flour, combine until mixture resembles wet sand. While mixing, on low, add cocoa, zucchini, vanilla extract, salt and baking soda. Mix until well combined. Stir in the chocolate chips.

3. Pour brownie batter into prepared pan and bake for 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean and the brownies are set.

4. Cool on a wire rack. Cut brownies into squares and serve.

Pickled Pepperoncinis

I followed this recipe last night to make Pickled Pepperoncinis! So excited to taste the final product! I quartered the recipe to make just two pints, since I didn't have 4 quarts of pepperoncinis yet. I also opted for omitting the olive oil. Wouldn't mind trying it next time...just kind of forgot this time.

Pickled Pepperoncini
Yield: 8 pints
4 quarts peppers
4 cups vinegar
4 cups water
4 teaspoons salt olive oil (optional)

Wash peppers thoroughly. Remove core, seeds,
and stems of large peppers. Cut as desired, or leave
whole after coring. The small, hot peppers may
be left whole with stems intact. Make 2 small slits
in whole peppers. Mix vinegar and water, heat to 150-
160F/66-71C about to the simmering point. Since it is
rather volatile, vinegar should not boil a longtime.
Pack peppers rather tightly into jars. Pour hot
vinegar and water over the peppers to 1/2 inch
of jar rim. Add salt to taste, seal, and process 15
minutes in hot-water bath. If oil is desired, add
vinegar to only 3/4 in of jar top. Add olive oil to
come 1/2 in from top. The peppers will be coated
with oil when they pass through the oil layer as
you use them.