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My mom canned a lot too, but it was pretty much all fruit (lots of peaches and plums and cherries) or things like chili sauce and relish or pickled cucumbers and beets. Beans were pickled too to make salad. She did do tomatoes but always added a tbsp or so of vinegar to make sure. Nobody I know had a pressure canner it was all open kettle or hot water bath.
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TN and cw,

My grandparents had a fig tree in their backyard. Grandma would spend the day making fig preserves. They were delicious.

Grandpa would eat her preserved figs on her delicious homemade biscuits. I have never been able to make biscuits as well as my grandma did.

I would eat the figs raw as a snack when I would visit them.

The neighbors had a pecan tree and they would swap each other. Grandma would give the neighbors her preserves and they would give her pecans so grandpa could make his pralines. He made delicious pralines.
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Cwillie, tomatoes are one of the most acidic foods you can can; that's why so little pressure and so little time to can them. I have known of botulism cases from green beans, beets, and soups but the causes were stated as not properly sealed jars. My family canned extensively in my grandmother's and my mother's generation (and there has always been some canning in my rural community) with no problems. My mother taught canning the food, we didn't add salt or anything unless we were making pickles or pickled beets or okra. I think the primary reason was it was quicker to not add anything during canning. We canned hundreds of jars from the garden and occasional purchases from farms (for example, at least 100 quarts of tomatoes and green beans, 50 quarts of greens, 12 half gallons of blackberry juice, 24 half gallons of apple sauce, 24 quarts of sliced apples, etc.). Mother canned more with her family since she was one of eight during the depression. In the summer, taking care of the garden and canning the produce were very time consuming. Because Mama broke beans and sliced corn off the cob so much faster than I, Mama started the canning after breakfast and I did all the housework before joining her to pack the jars and watch the stove and pressure cooker. I can still remember sitting in a chair in front of the pressure cooker and checking the pressure after each page as I read a book and then carrying the jars to the basement storage room...
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I cook with them the same as I would use canned tomatoes. The neat thing is that as they start to thaw the skins slip right off, plus you can grab just one or a dozen according to your needs.
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cw,

What do you do with the frozen tomatoes afterwards? Cook them? Does freezing change the texture or flavor? Do they become mushy?

Have you tried pickling foods? There is a woman at my farmers market who sells the best pickles! I have never researched how to pickle vegetables. I love pickled cucumbers, green beans, okra, etc.
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Techie my mom was always leery about canning tomatoes because supposedly there was a local family that died of botulism from them.... I've learned that adding vinegar or lemon juice is a way to ensure the tomatoes are acidic enough to prevent botulism. But mostly I just freeze whole tomatoes, it's so much easier.
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When my nephew was small, he wanted tomato juice with his cottage cheese so my mom started opening a quart of her canned tomatoes and putting them through the blender for "juice". As I read various recipes for cream of tomato soup, many of them direct you cook cans of diced or crushed tomatoes, let the soup cool, run it through a blender in batches, then return the soup to the pot to reheat it. Why? Although I have a recipe that works with no salt added tomato juice, it's easier to get the no salt added diced petite tomatoes so I am working on a recipe using them. I put the tomatoes in the blender just out of the can. If I use carmelized onions and garlic, I add that to the (cool) tomatoes in the blender and then put it all in the pot to heat... (I also have a version with powdered onion and garlic for a quicker/easier preparation.) I don't seem to taste any difference between blending the hot vs the cold... is there supposed to be some tomato flavor that comes out or blends better with the onion/garlic pieces before they are blended smaller?

BTW: I plan to can more tomatoes this summer; both for soup and because my nephew and his younger son like "juice" with their cottage cheese. Like mom taught, scald the skin off whole tomatoes, let them cool to handle and quarter them (cutting out the core) and putting them directly into the jars; then 5lbs pressure for 5 minutes. I always thought tomatoes were the easiest to can. When a jar wasn't filled one day, just put it in the fridge and fill it the next day. Also get a chance to teach canning to the boys. They, like me, may not can much in their lifetime, but at least they will know how its done if they ever choose/need to preserve their garden stuffs. They definitely like taking the spaghetti, soups, and other left overs I occassionally can to the lake house.
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NHWM, the impala was my mom's when the first car I ever drove.
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I have to take mother to the urologist tomorrow to see if she can get her catheter removed permanently

It will probably be all day

They have been testing her I would rather they would keep it in to be safe she has kidney disease but she wants it out

ANYWAY tomorrow is going to be take out probably pizza but maybe Chinese McDonald's would be aok as well 🙂
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Shrimp and spaghetti left over from Sunday

🙂

I like this thread a lot of good ideas 👍
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Glad,

Your mom’s minister was ahead of his time with his fancy car. That is mild compared to the luxury cars and mansions that the televangelists have today!
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Glad,

Dom Peringnon was a Benedictine Monk.

The monks have breweries too!

Look at buildingcatholicculture.com

They have breweries all over! Interesting list. Brewing Monks: A List of the World’s Monastic Beers
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Oh, but it was a 1966 Chevy Impala convertible!
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glad - outings with him don't sound like much fun

What did I have for dinner - one large pumpkin brownie. it's a day off for me!
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The Lutheran minister that married my mom and dad was a bit, I guess you could call it wayward, drank and smoked. Mom used to talk about how cool she thought he was because of that.

Then later in life, they, minister and mom, dated. I remember them taking us to see Sound of Music, I think, maybe Mary Poppins, I am foggy on that. He drove mom's car and his driving really scared me. He would not press on the accelerator evenly, constantly. He would give it gas, then take foot off accelerator, brake a bit and coast a bit, then apply the accelerator again.

Isn't it strange then things we remember? I was probably 12 or so?

What does that have to do with dinner? Nothing.
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Pam,

Sounds like my friend who grew up in a strict Baptist Church in Tennessee. Drinking was a sin!

When she came to our house for BBQ’s, she drank beer. I would joke with her about drinking a beer or two.

She said to me, “Yeah, Baptist will tell people that they don’t drink, but we all hid the booze in our basements in case the pastor and his wife came over!” LOL 😆 They drank, just not openly.

The Amish have different sects. Some are very strict and others not nearly as restrictive. Did your friend dress in the Amish clothing when she went on vacation with you?

I am amazed at how many religions there are in this world!
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Need I grew up in Lancaster Pa with many Amish neighbors, They had a phone in our garage they paid for,, LOL and my babysitter was a gal who loved to watch TV at our house. The younger sister was my BF for my early years, and her parents allowed us to take her to Chincoteague Va for vacation one year. Several of the family members came to my wedding. They are mainly nice people with a great sense of community . One of the daughters left the faith to become a nurse. They still saw her,, just "on the side" LOL They are as human as the rest of us. We used to party with alot of them before they joined the church,, the bowling alley was the hang out!
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Pam,

The Amish are very resourceful. Aren’t they? Some sects are modernizing to some degree. They have cell phones and computers for business purposes.

I love their craftsmanship. Do you have any of their furniture?

I admire many things about them but I don’t like the way they shun the people in their families who leave.

My husband has a friend whose father left the Amish community and they never spoke to him again. They didn’t even know their daughter in law or grandchildren. It’s sad.

It’s truly fascinating to me how people are able to hurt each other due to their strict religious beliefs.
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Not sure what this soup starter is, but it's powder and you add water,, I upped the flavor when I made some yesterday with a splash of worchestershire sauce. It is delish! you can find all sorts of interesting things at the Amish stores around here and in Pa. DD overbought her food delivery boxes this week and we got the making for a potatoe soup,, even came with the bacon! Looks pretty good for tomorrow! we used to get the boxes but we were away from home a bit and stopped. She pretty much lives on them as she likes to cook but they include all the ingredients so she dosen't have to pre plan as much She knows right now her Dad can't eat alot of things due to his dental surguries,,
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I’m doing an easy dinner tonight, spaghetti and meat sauce. Salad with Italian dressing.
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Ordered in a Pizza.
It’s 75 degrees. First warm day of the year. My cool Norwegian blood has to adjust every year . Not cooking tonight .
When I was a kid I used to overheat and pass out . 🙄🙄
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Caesar salad with grilled chicken.
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We had black bean soup.

I also made a spinach artichoke dip to munch on. It was the first time I made it using Greek yogurt. I was a bit skeptical but it turned out well. Served it with whole grain crackers.
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Cheeseburgers :)
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It's got plenty of feta, mozzarella and parmesan in it - you can't go wrong!
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I’m going to make a spinach artichoke dip with Greek yogurt. I found a recipe that looks good 😊. It’s on fitmittenkitchen.com
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Pam,

I have never used a soup starter. What exactly is that?

I make a cream of mushroom soup the way cw has described it.

I love mushroom soup as well.
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The chef at a restaurant where I worked for a few years used to get requests for his mushroom soup, as far as I can remember it was just onions caramelized in butter, a ton of sliced mushrooms, chicken broth, and half and half. Maybe some flour to thicken it?

The weather network says cedar and juniper pollen levels are already high here.
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My allergies are killing me, and I have been craving good cream of mushroom soup,, with sliced mushrooms,, A friend and I went to Amish store a few days ago and I found mushroom soup powder starter , and got some baby bellas. Hubs sliced some up and made me soup with the mix.. it was really pretty good!
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Just read in Nola.com that two New Orleans restaurants and one bakery were named as James Beard Award Finalists.

The bakery is very old. My mom who was born in 1925 went there as a child. I have been there more times than I can count and I have brought my daughters there as well. Angelo Brocato’s is on Carrollton Avenue in Mid-City. Brocato’s original location was in the French Quarter, but has been in Mid-City for many years.

I am happy for the Brocato’s family! Wonderful people and fabulous cappuccino, gelato and pastries.

The restaurants mentioned are Dakar Nola a modern Senegalese restaurant on Magazine St. and Lengua Madre which is a Mexican restaurant on Constance St.
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