Today marks the first day of school for Capt. M (4th grade) and Mr. B (2nd grade)! This week will definitely be trial and error as we adjust to a new schedule. We’ll be up earlier in the morning and need to make sure to hit our target bedtimes. The boys have had such a fantastic summer which is making it harder for me to convince them that school will be fun! Needless to say, I have two boys who are disappointed that the summer has ended.
As if the back to school preparation wasn’t enough, I ended up canning about 50lbs. of tomatoes over the weekend! One of our neighbors blessed us with a share of their tomato crop. I have never processed so many tomatoes in my life! It was a very time consuming project but hubby and I are pleased with the results.
We canned 20 pints of seasoned tomato sauce that we will use for pasta dishes and homemade pizza sauce. I also ended up with 6 pints of tomato juice that will be used in soups this winter (like Litsa’s Vegetable Beef Soup!).
In addition to the quart of fresh salsa in the fridge, we canned 15 half pints of salsa. Some of these jars of salsa will end up as gifts, while the rest will be used in our Mexican dishes.
For the school/work week food prep I made snack cups, frozen yogurt popsicles and chocolate chip pumpkin bread.
If you are new to Menu Planning, check out my tips on creating a menu plan.
Monday- Leftover chicken and homemade mac & cheese
Tuesday- Fajitas
Wednesday- Breakfast for dinner (eggs, potatoes)
Thursday– BLT Sandwiches, salad (we still have an abundance of tomatoes!)
Friday– Homemade pizza
What is on your menu this week? If you need some inspiration, checkout my recipe index!
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Hi Renae! I’m popping over from Organized Junkie’s linkup. I’d love to know your recipe for tomato sauce. I’ve canned it 4 or 5 different years but it always comes out so liquid and acidic. And we use tomato sauce every single week, so canning would be a huge blessing for us, but none of us ever like the way it comes out. So I’ve stopped trying and just go for canned.
Kate @ Teaching What Is Good recently posted..Eating healthy is EXPENSIVE!
Hi Kate!
I used the recipe from my Ball preserving book and modified it slightly. I did peel and seed the tomatoes ahead of time. I think the deseeding ahead makes it so the sauce isn’t thin. Straining the sauce to remove the seeds after pureeing is what the original recipe calls for but you are more likely to have a thin sauce that way. The recipe: 45 pounds tomatoes, 6 cups chopped onions, 12 cloves garlic minced, 1/2 cup olive oil, 2 tablespoons oregano, 6 bay leaves, 1 tablespoon black pepper, 1 1/2 tablespoon sugar, 1/4 cup salt (optional), 1 tablespoon basil, lemon juice. Saute onions and garlic in olive oil until soft. Add tomatoes and seasoning. Heat until simmer and then simmer for 20 minutes. Remove bay leaves and puree mixture. Add 1 tablespoon bottled lemon juice to each pint jar or 2 tablespoons to each quart jar. Fill jars with sauce leaving 1/2 inch headspace. Process for 35 mins for pint or 40 minutes for quart jars in a water bath canner.
Hope this helps!
Renae