Crock Pot Spaghetti Sauce

Been keeping my crock pot busy lately :)

During the summer, I wash my excess tomatoes in a vinegar bath. Then I cut the stems and bad spots out of and throw them in the freezer. I used to blanch and skin them before putting them in the freezer, but a few years ago I found out that if you put them in the freezer without skinning them, the skins come right off when they start to thaw. Why should you put all that heat in your house in the summer? 

Anyway, during the winter I pull them out and make all sorts of goodies. This winter, I found a crock pot tomato sauce recipe, but since I rarely start with just a plain tomato sauce, I decided I might as well go ahead and add the ingredients to make spaghetti sauce. I've also been making ketchup ... but that's another post.

To begin with, I fill the crock pot with tomatoes and let it cook overnight so the volume is about half what I started with.

The next day I add:

one chopped onion

two handfuls of dried sweet peppers

2 tsp salt

2 cap fulls of lemon juice

a tablespoon of minced garlic

2 tbs of dried basil

one tbs dried oregano

and enough tomatoes to fill the crock pot again.

I let this cook overnight again and then puree it with my stick wand.

I hot pack the sauce in pint jars and give them a boiling water bath for 10 minutes. 

This makes about 4 pints of sauce I think, but we always have to have spaghetti or pizza or something the day it is finished, so I'm not quite sure :)

Yum, yum!

God Bless You All!

~Grama Sue

Country Snow Challenges

It is going to be a challenge getting to those chickens today! Back in November, we moved them all to the smaller white building in the center so they are all together today to keep each other warm. Grampa Tom made sure they had plenty of food and water yesterday, but we still have to get out to get the eggs. It looks like there's a big drift along the garage and through the gate into the lot. UGH!

And yes, the electric pole is leaning ... against the garage actually ... that happened last summer ... maybe the summer before? Grampa Tom says it's not going anywhere. He's got other priorities ...

Other than getting to the chicken shed, we don't have anywhere we have to be the next few days. Good thing! If this wind doesn't lie down, we could be snowed in for a few days. Our road commissioner does a great job and we have 4-wheel drive on the truck, so it's not like the old days.

Grampa Tom and I kinda like being snowed in   The first time I came here was in the winter of '78- '79. We had just started dating. There was a huge snow storm that left us both stranded in Keokuk at a friends house. After 3 days, the roads in town and the highways were finally cleared enough for us to get out, but not home. (We both lived in the country.) We went for a drive and Grampa showed me where he lived. 

He said, "See that white house over there? That's my house. There are 11 kids there right now. My folks are in Huston. They had some friends over the night it stormed so bad and their parents weren't able to come get them."

I was horrified and asked how far it was to the house. He said about a half mile so I suggested we walk over there and check on them. We got over the fence and found ourselves in waist-deep snow, but we figured it wouldn't be so deep once we got out in the field. We were wrong. It was waist-deep all the way across. Took us 2 hours and the temperature dove 20 degrees as we waded across. It was another 3 days before we were able to leave. The kids were alright. I shouldn't have been so concerned. They were all teen and pre-teen country kids who knew how to take care of themselves, We were all of 20 years old and not any more capable, but I'm glad we did it. Made for some wonderful memories!

God Bless You All!

~Grama Sue