Homemade Red Sauce

Okay, I stumbled on a yummy sauce this week, by accident.  I had to pull lots of tomatoes before birds would get the rest of them so some were not fully ripe yet.  I blanched, peeled and cored, and pureed them as if for tomato sauce, but then I thought I'd try something new.  I have already canned more than 40 quarts of tomato sauce this season and 19 jars of salsa, so I was in the mood for something new.  Can you say enchiladas?  Yippee!  Me too. Love em.

I love cheese enchiladas in red sauce and I had the general idea of what is in red sauce: tomatoes, cilantro, cumin, crushed red pepper, jalapeno, garlic, onion, sweet peppers, lime juice, vinegar, salt, pepper, and olive oil so I set out to refine my own recipe by adding these elements a little at a time, until I liked the flavor.  That's what I did.

RECIPE

I started with a sink full of tomatoes, mostly ripe, some yellow heirlooms snuck in too. 

I Prepared them as stated above and added the following:

4 cups onion finely chopped

12 cloves garlic finely chopped

2 red sweet peppers finely chopped

5 stalks celery finely chopped

1 bunch fresh cilantro finely chopped

3 T dried crushed red pepper

2 jalapeno finely chopped 

(optional- this may make it too hot for you so it's okay to omit jalapenos)

1/2 cup fresh lime juice

1/2 cup balsamic vinegar

1/2 cup olive oil

1/4 cup brown sugar

1/4 to 1/2 cup cumin 

(CUMIN is the VIP for flavor, but can overwhelm some palates, so use sparingly, a tablespoon at a time)

Then, simply cook this down to your preferred consistency, jar them up into properly prepared canning jars with properly prepared lids and rings, and can them in a water bath.  I used my pressure canner as a water bath canner and canned quarts for 35 minutes after heavy boiling began.

My husband LOVED this so much he begged me to marinate some long grain brown rice and black beans in it overnight for him to take for lunch today.  I boiled the rice in water, added the canned beans and the red sauce and let it set up overnight.  It really tastes great.  It just needs a few fresh homemade tortillas to fill up and go.

In spite of my little little rice and beans experiment I STILL canned up 9 quart jars of deliciousness.

WHAT ARE YOU CANNING THIS WEEK??? 

Please SHARE!


I have linked this post to my favorite blog hops:  
Homestead Revival's Barn Hop #30 

and 
Deborah Jean's Dandelion House Farmgirl Friday Blog Hop. 

Another week passes on our little suburban homestead...

Another beautiful week has come and gone.  I love the cooler Fall temperatures and how the weather influences the colors in our trees and plants.  As usual, I spent several hours primping the garden, starting seeds and transplanting them into ready beds.

This week I started a new project.  Readying new, portable conduit hoop houses for the beds.

I bathed and groomed my furbabies, although they were very unwilling participants.  

Here, my baby Chocolate stands awaiting a warm water bath and clippers...  He was trying to get out that door, but alas a metal screen.  If you look real close you can tell that I have already made a pass with clippers to help the shampoo get him clean.  Doesn't he look just like an Ewok from Star Wars?  I think so.

On Friday, we worked at the farm on my weekly FARM LAB trip to Bakersfield College's campus farm.  You can see our progress here.

After a hard day's work at the farm, Jerry and I managed a trip to our local Kern County Fair to experience the animals, crafts, tractors, vendors, rides, and of course the fried foods.  We saw some really unique things that we have never seen before, and so rather than share what we all see at the Fair, I am going to share a few interesting pictures below.

Jerry loves old tractors

Shark tooth fossils...

beautiful handmade, intricate beaded jewelry

like this delicate looking beaded necklace

 

Jerry found a puppet show theater, he was so excited, but he missed the show...

We saw pretty young ladies dancing...

and local California State University Bakersfield (CSUB) Nursing students helping the community by providing FREE health screens that included BMI, blood pressure, cholesterol and blood glucose testing.  I got my screening done.  It was great fun.  These young men and women were very professional and informative! Great ambassadors for their school!!!

Hey, that looks like our fair mascot K.C. The Bull!!!

Here's Jerry standing beside one of the most interesting pieces of artwork I have ever seen made from gourds...  These "people", the chess set, table, chairs, acrobats, dogs, cats, and even mice were all made from manipulated gourds.  

I still can't believe they're gourds

another gourd craft, what a pretty purse.

and a gourd candle lamp...

followed by a gourd basket or jar...  

Who knew you could do so much with a gourd.

It wouldn't be a county fair without food crafts.  I found LOTS of lovely fondant cakes...

This one is decorated in some of the most lifelike gum paste flowers I've seen.

FRIDAY FARM LAB AT BAKERSFIELD COLLEGE

Fridays are lab day at the school farm for my Vegetable Crop Production class.  Today we were very busy.  We spent the last two Friday Lab Days preparing the soil for crops.  Today, we actually made beds and planted close to 11,000 transplants.  (*Click on a picture to enlarge the view)

Our teacher is amazing.  He is new to our school, so we were all curious about his teaching style, but as the weeks go by, we are learning that he is organized, tech savvy, and helpful.  He also happens to be the Farm Adviser for our region.  Which means he is the State Extension Office representative to local commercial vegetable farmers.  We live in the 3rd biggest Ag county economy in the country and just below the #1 and #2 Ag counties in the country, so he HAS to be very knowledgeable.  Already, picking his brain just a few times, I am so excited to have him nearby.  We are going to learn a lot from him this semester.

He prepared a diagram of the field that demonstrated what and where we would be planting.  Then, he gave students bright pink flags to place at intervals to mark the rows and sections off. (You may be able to see them in the background of the photo) Next, he broke the class into teams of two students and he gave each team an 8" long cookie spatula and transplants.  The cookie spatula worked great.  We used them to make the holes for the transplants and to measure the distance to the next hole.  It worked like an assembly line.  One student would make a hole, measure forward to the next hole, and the next student followed behind placing and planting the seedlings.  It really went FAST and because of the cookie spatulas, the plants were evenly spaced making the rows look great.

Our professor was able to obtain an amazing 11,000 seedlings via donation from a very generous grower- Greenheart Farms.  Thank you GREENHEART FARMS and customer service representative Paul Hertel for getting our vegetable crop production class off to a GREAT start.  

We planted romaine lettuce, green and red leaf lettuce, purple and green cabbage, and broccoli.  The seedlings looked great, so I expect some nice looking vegetables.  They were all planted about 8" apart.  Have a look at a few pics of our progress.

and when we were done planting, the sprinklers were turned on and everything got a good watering.

This is the last class I need to graduate, and I have some experience in classrooms.  This group of students are really hard workers.  Most of them are young, my son's age.  For the most part they all work well together and are good to each other.  I feel blessed to be in this class with such a nice group of kids, but it does make me miss my kiddo...

At the end of the lab, our professor asked us to get together for a class photo.  I have a keepsake to remember the day.

This class runs through November so I will post about our labs as often as we experience something of interest to home gardeners.  Our field is broken up into two main sections: organic and conventional.  I hope to learn a lot of helpful information through the course of this experiment as we compare crops in both sections and learn alternative remedies for the organic field setting.

Have a GREAT weekend!

This post was linked up to the following HOPS:

http://deborahjeansdandelionhouse.blogspot.com/2011/09/farmgirl-friday-blog-hop-24.html

http://homesteadrevival.blogspot.com/2011/09/preparedness-challenge-26.html

(You may notice that I have pasted code instead of a link, that's because I recently found a few instances where links were deactivated after a post was archived by blogger.)

FARMGIRL FRIDAY FARM HOP!

Link Up HERE!

WELCOME FARM GIRLS!  

This week has been crazy around our little suburban farm.

I am back in school again, veggie crop production (my last class) graduation next May.  I worked hard at the school farm yesterday.  The class will be planting two separate fields: one conventional (utilizing current commercial technology ie: herbicide and insecticide) and one organic (using only organic methods of IPM).  I am anxious to see the result; although I already know from experience that the conventional field will yield a larger volume of crops, but they will be contaminated just like the ones at the supermarket...

Anyway, it got up to 108 degrees in the field as we manually mixed in 7.5 tons of organic compost into the organic field (it was a 50/50 blend of steer manure and composted green waste) followed by 90 units (lbs) of an organic fertilizer made from composted chicken manure and blood meal.  Then, we spread ninety units (lbs) of Triple Fifteen fertilizer (15-15-15 blend of N-P-K) into the conventional field.  We filled up 5 gallon buckets of each amendment and spread it ourselves by hand.  I woke up today with aching forearms and shoulders.  I guess at my age I should have taken it easier, but I resent the idea that I can't keep up with the teenagers, fooey.  (I forgot my camera, but I will take it next week when we start inserting transplant plugs)

We don't yet know what kind of vegetable we'll be planting, the professor says it's early for our region so he will have to take whatever he can get.  I was hoping to get to plant something that I have had trouble with in my home garden in the past. That way, I might learn something.  I know it will be fun, whatever we plant.  Our school is great.  At harvest time, they let us dig the crops and donate them to organizations that feed local families.  I have helped others dig their crops before and it's a fun day.

Here at home, I have been finishing up a few small creative projects for my son Jon's wedding that is now just a week away.  Almost done. Whew!  He took a load of stuff up yesterday.  I will have the last few done before tomorrow, then on to my last project, his wedding cake.  I am making a modest tier wedding cake for the kids.  I will post pictures and the recipes as I go along this week.

Less than an hour ago, I finished up a batch of homemade tomato sauce.  It was my second batch, but the first one I canned.  I canned about 20 tomatoes and got 3 quart jars.  By the time it cooks down, there's not a lot left, haha.  So much water in tomatoes, I guess. Anyway, the hubby LOVES it.  It's my own recipe (though I confess, I got the basic instruction and how to from several of you in blogland) and it's very simple.

I blanch my tomatoes in boiling water for 3-5 minutes (depending on the variety- some separate from their skins faster) and take them immediately from the boiling water to ice water.  Next, I remove their skins completely, core and quarter the tomatoes, and puree them in a food processor until super fine, and then pour them into my tall, large stockpot to cook down.

To the stockpot I add cleaned, chopped, and pureed garlic, celery, onion, fresh basil, and sometimes bell pepper.  I let it cook down, stirring regularly as it boils.  Once it has cooked down measurably, I add about a tablespoon of balsamic vinegar of Modena, a 1/16-1/8 cup brown sugar, a tablespoon or two of olive oil, and salt and pepper to taste.  Make sure it has cooked down before you add the seasonings otherwise, you might accidentally end up with a sauce that's too salty or too sweet.  I began this last batch with 25 cups of tomato puree and ended up after cooking down with 3 quarts full and just enough to cover two plates of pasta and veggies for me and the hubby for lunch, so I'd say the liquid cooks down about half.  To can it, I just poured it into hot, sterile prepared canning jars, placed my lids finger tight, and water boiled it for ten minutes.  No pressure canning for these jars today.  Had I added meat to the sauce, would have required pressure canning with meat canning requirements.  I'd rather add fresh meat when I prepare it later.

My garden is still putting out the produce.  Everyone else I have talked to have told me that their squash and zucchini are slowing down, but mine have heated back up again.  My cucumbers have slowed production this week.  Good thing too, my refrigerator is still full of all those lacto-fermented pickles.

I picked all my corn ( a small 4x4 plot and followed my BFF Michelle's recipe to dehydrate the kernels and it worked like a charm.

I have been dehydrating this summer, more than in the last 5 years combined. ( I blame this on the heat)  This season, I have dehydrated nectarine, peach, apple, corn, carrots, eggplant, zukes and yellow squash, potatoes (thought I do not like how they look, too dark), and celery and celery leaf.  Today, I ground up dried celery leaf into salt to make my own celery salt.  It's pretty and very fragrant.

I plan to make my first batch of homemade yogurt cheese this week, I hope it turns out...

I hope you Farm Girls have a great week on your Farms!

My FIRST Farmgirl Friday Hop...

Hi ya'll!

I'm Heidi and I'm a suburban farmgirl.  

I live on a small patch of clay soil in the county.  

I have the best family ever. 

My boys are Jon- son, age 20 (soon to be married)

and Hubby- Jerry

(soon to retire- 24 months and counting backwards).  

I have three furbaby Shih Tzu- 

Sugarplum- the Diva

Coco- the neurotic control freak

Chocolate- the chubby teddy bear

**and two camera shy rabbits- Big & Little Blondie.**
________________

I am a stay-at-home Mom, and I have just spent the last few years, back in school, studying agriculture.

Yes, this is a giant pumpkin vine climbing an A- Frame

My favorite flower, Sweet Peas

Chickalita Honeyberry, I think...

Anyway, I love gardening and in my garden I mix veggies with flowers. It's so much prettier and more effective at natural pest control. 

I enjoy creating things, like yummy food

and quilts

I enjoy turning THIS...

into this or something even yummier.

Mostly, I am just thankful to be here 

in the Tehachapi Mountains of Southern California

I love my family, friends, neighbors, and my country.

God Bless America, our brave soldiers and their families.

I wish you a happy, productive week on your farm!

p.s. If you haven't yet joined Deborah Jean's Dandelion House Farmgirl Friday Hop, just do it!
it's too much fun.