FALL is upon us ...

... and that means if you grow a garden (or even a few plants like I do), it's time to get some canning done for the winter months.  

Happy Sunday Everyone!

Mark & I have been busy doing a little canning and I thought I'd share it with you.  I grew up on a small farm and we ALWAYS had a large garden and spend many, many days canning various vegetables to have for the upcoming winter months.  Although I live in the suburbs now, I do plant 3-4 tomato plants (hidden in the landscaping - gardens are not allowed) each year because there's nothing better than a home grown tomato!  Once the season comes to an end, I use the last of the green tomatoes to make one of my childhood favorites:  

PICALILLI!

A lot of people think 'Picalilli' is pickles ... but it's not!  

It's green tomatoes & yellow onions sliced, 

put it a salt brine overnight, rinsed and cooked for a short time in 

sugar, vinegar, pickling spices and a few other spices.  

Then they are packed into sterilized jars, sealed & hot packed for 15 minutes.  

(I will share the entire recipe with you if you are interested.)

A couple of years ago I discovered a hot dog relish that I really LOVED but had a difficult time finding it when we moved from one location to another so hubby said "Why don't we make our own"!  I thought "are you kidding" but he was serious ...we made it and it is awesome!  

Ingredients:  Sweet Onions, Red Peppers, Sugar, Vinegar, Spices


One of Mark's favorites is corn relish ... which he enjoys as a side dish.  He searched the internet a couple years ago ... found a recipe that sounded good ...we made it, he liked it so we made TWO batches this year.  He actually did all the preparation.  I just did the jar filling/processing part of it.

Ingredients:  Corn (fresh or frozen), Red Pepper, Red Onion, Green Onion,
Garlic, Hot Yellow Pepper, Cilantro, Vinegar, Spices

So there ya go ... this is how I have spent my weekend!
It's a bit of work, but hubby & I enjoy doing this together and it's SO GOOD in the winter when you can't get the fresh produce of the summer months.

I still have a peck of 'little' green tomatoes that I'm trying to figure out what to do with.  I remember as a kid that my mom put them up in jars (whole little tomatoes or quartered) with dill & some other spices/herbs but she can't remember how she did them.  I tried a recipe a few years ago that I thought sounded like them but of course with processing them they were 'soft/mushy' when opened and I remember they were firm ... like just picked!  Guess I'll have to do more research ... IF YOU HAVE ANY IDEAS, please let me know.  I want to be able to preserve them in jars but not sure I can do what I have in my mind!!

Have a wonderful remainder of your weekend!

EDIT:  If you are interested in the recipes for these goodies, please click on the Recipes & Home Canning tab below my blog header.