Tuesday, October 16, 2007

Minor update and pictures

I know I just updated, but I wanted to post some pictures now that Blogger is back and working. I still had tons of tomatoes left, so I talked to a couple of the Italian women who work on base, and they told me how best to can them for use later. So here are pictures of the process. Overall, I ended up with 15 cans of diced tomatoes, 4 (now 3) of sauce, and 2 of what I call "guts"(basically crushed tomatoes). So I think we're pretty good for the winter.

The tomatoes in the plastic bag were about half of what was originally in there. The ones that were already diced at this point were what I'd already taken out.


Even more, besides the ones in the bag. In all, over 25 pounds!


This was fresh basil that I'd just picked off our own plant. I put a few basil leaves, as well as some garlic in each of the jars with the tomatoes. So they are about 90% home-grown (the garlic wasn't ours).


The first batch, about to be sealed up and then boiled.


Doesn't that just look yum?!


This was the first batch, ready for boiling. The cans are about 24 ounces maybe, so we've definitely got plenty of tomatoes for chili, spaghetti sauce, salsa, marinara, pizza sauce, etc...


On another note, I had a couple of people ask how to post comments on the blog because they were having issues. I did some research and realized that when I set it up, Blogger automatically only allows fellow Blogger members to post comments. However, I've changed it now so that anyone can comment. I still moderate them, so they won't show up until I've approved them, but it emails me anytime someone comments, so it shouldn't take me long to get to them.

Thanks for looking!

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Hey, Janie and Neal! I'm glad you made it where we can post now. I've been enjoying "keeping up with the Phillips'" through your blog. What fun!! Love the pics! Your tomatoes did better than ours, but I'm sure you took better care of yours than we did. They look beautiful and delicious. Hope you are both doing well and still enjoying Italy. Looks like you are. I know Mama P and Papa P (not sure if that's right) are looking forward to coming there next spring. Take care and enjoy your time there! Love you both. Gloria(&Marc)