Homemade Tomato Sauce

The hubby planted a huge garden this year. It's huge for us anyway! I've been making pickles, relish and pickled peppers from the massive number of cucumbers and jalapenos I've picked. Then, the tomatoes started coming in, and I became the Bubba Gump of tomatoes! Tomato Sauce, Tomato~Pizza Sauce, Tomato Salsa, Tomato Paste, etc. etc. etc. LOL

Quite frankly, I follow a lot of advice and recipes for canning from my BFFF (Best Foodie Friend Forever) Mary at Cooking With Mary and Friends! She is the Canning Queen! She has a lot of advice, notes and recipes with easy to follow instructions! Check her out when you get a chance at the link above!

For my tomato sauce, I had an abundance of sweetie and cherry tomatoes. The easiest way to deal with them is roasting. I cut them in half and spread them on a baking sheet, and sprinkled them with Kosher Salt.

 Lots of home grown tomatoes!

Sprinkle with some salt and roast at 400 degrees for about 45 minutes or until the tomatoes soften

and the skins split and blister. Process in a food processor. Pack in pint jars with 1 tablespoon of lemon juice. Place the jars in a canning water bath for 35 minutes.

I made pizza sauce and salsa

from the tomato sauce using Mary's recipes.

Pork Moscato

Yesterday, I set out to make several special dishes and a few new dishes to try out before company arrives for the holidays. I made my list for the hubby to pick up while he was out. He planned to do the manly thing a make a run to Lowes, so I tacked on a trip to The Pig (Piggly Wiggly grocery store). It was rainy and cold so he tells me late in the afternoon that he has talked himself out of going because its cold and raining. I'm left in mid-cook mode with unfinished dishes. Time to switch gears and go into improvise and save mode... after ditching the kill hubby mode! Sooooo... I came up with the Pork Moscato and made a simple dressing and gravy. Oh my goodness, after tasting the pork, the hubby says that I should thank him for making me do the pork this way! Yeah! That's gonna happen!!!

4 lbs Pork Roast

1 cup Moscato Wine

Carrots, cut into sticks

Onions, quartered

Cherry Tomatoes

Banana Pepper Rings

4 cloves garlic

Kosher Salt

Black Pepper

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Mince garlic and combine with salt and pepper to make a paste. Rub on the fat side of the pork. Pour wine into the roasting pan. Place pork, skin side up in the wine. (so the garlic rub doesn't wash off) Place the rest of the ingredients in the pan and cover. Cook for 1 1/2 hours or until the internal temperature reaches 160 degrees. Uncover and either broil or cook until the fat is browned and a crust forms. 

 Ready for the oven!

After 1 1/2 hours in the oven and browning time for the crust... 

Prettiest view :-) 

Remove the pork and slice. Spoon the juices over the meat.

Add the veggies to the plate and serve!

My plate with a side of dressing and gravy! It was yummy!

Broccoli Salad

This salad is a big hit at church on Wednesday Night Suppers. I always have someone willing to take home any leftovers!

2 Broccoli Crowns, cut into bite size pieces

1 pkg Cherry Tomatoes, cut in half

1/2 pkg Real Bacon Bits (not imitation)

1 cup Cheddar Cheese, shredded

Ranch Dressing*

Combine broccoli, tomatoes, bacon and cheese. Toss with ranch dressing until well coated.
*It takes a good bit of dressing to coat the broccoli completely.