“Back to School” also means “Back to Business”. The “business” of Fall Cleaning and Canning! I like to “fall” clean/organize instead of “spring” clean. SO, since fall is a wink and a blink away, it seems like a good time to share a cleaner “recipe”
Here is a cleaner, I like to use. It came from either “ask Heloise” OR from the “Amish Cook” column from the newspaper. I read it years and years ago, before it really ment anything to me and now it comes in handy!!! (often.)
(NO before and after picture, as I am pretty sure there is NO room for a toilet picture on a food blog.)
This will spruce up and freshen up your toilet real nice, use it around the bottom, on the hinges of the seat (remove seat for best results) and the part of the bowl were the water comes out. A little goes a long way, too much and you will be scrubbing gritty paste away for a little while.
This cleaner also works great around your faucets and anywhere where there is hard to reach places to clean. Use it to freshen up the drains in the kitchen and bathroom as well!
The Foamy Cleaner
equal parts water and baking soda
splash of vinegar
Mix together the water and baking soda, as much or as little as you need. Mix to form a paste, the consistency of toothpaste. Brush paste on the areas you want to clean. Let set till dry, about 10-15 minutes. Sprinkle or spray with vinegar, add enough vinegar till it foams. Let set another 5-10 minutes. Wipe clean with a damp cloth (may need to wipe it a few times) and dry with a dry cloth.
Happy “Fall” Cleaning!
On to some food.
Canning. Do you enjoy canning??? It can (pardon the pun…) be a chore, but a rewarding one at that. If your garden is giving you a lot of tomatoes and you don’t want to make sauce or salsa……. just can TOMATOES. Use your canned tomatoes in place of store-bought diced tomatoes. You will need to drain it a bit (just as you do the store-bought).
If you prefer not to use all the onions, peppers and celery that is fine. I just find it add nice flavor and I usually add those veggies to my sauces anyway.
Canned Tomatoes
about 20 medium tomatoes
1 c. diced celery
2 c. diced onion
2 c. diced green pepper
2 TB. sugar
3 tsp. salt
1 tsp. pepper
good dash of garlic powder
Bring a large pot of water to a boil and place the tomatoes (a few at a time) in the boiling water, boil for about a minute ~ then take tomatoes out and place in a sink of ice water. When cooled down a bit, peel ~ the skins should come right off. Cut the stem out as well. Cut the tomatoes up into bite size pieces.
Add the remaining ingredients to the tomatoes in a large pot and bring to a boil. Simmer about 10 minutes. Carefully pour into pints or quarts and process. 10 minutes for pints, 15 for quarts.
Recipe yields about 5 quarts (give or take).
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