Mom's Pizza Sauce

My busy canning season like the rest of the year has been a bit odd.  In the past, my husband would pick up two hampers of tomatoes at a time so I usually made four to six products sometimes more.  In the end, I would usually process ten hampers of tomatoes over a seven to ten day period which meant long, tiring days back-to-back.  This tomato season has been slow and relaxed.  So far, I've processed two hampers of tomatoes into three products - pizza sauce, dehydrated tomatoes and tomato powder.  I won't reach the ten hamper mark which is fine since I've been busy canning a lot of other foods as well.  This busy canning season is also a bit different in that I am doing a lot of tweaking and fine tuning of flavours to create unique home canned foods tailored to our family's tastes.

We use a lot of pizza sauce and I make extra to give to the kids.  This year I tweaked the pizza sauce recipe that I had previously modified from Bernardin's Tomatoes Canning & Speciality Recipes (2000).  Pizza sauce must be acidified so both the original and modified versions include lemon juice as the acidifier.

In my newest version, Mom's Pizza Sauce, the acidifier is citric acid added on a per jar basis just before sealing.  I tweaked the seasonings and added that little extra touch of flavour that sets this pizza sauce apart from the ordinary.  My husband determined the exact consistency he wanted for making homemade pizza.  While I make the dough, he usually shapes the dough and does the toppings.  The end result was a delicious, tasty tomato based pizza sauce worthy of being called Mom's!

Pretty in Pink - Low Sugar Chocolate Raspberry Sauce

There has been a breast cancer awareness badge on this blog since it was first created.  Like many, breast cancer has, in more than one way, affected our family.  I was delighted when Brad Steig, President of S&S Innovations, Corp invited me to promote their limited edition pink Tattler reusable lids.  This was an offer I could not refuse!  I have been using the Tattler reusable canning lids for over three years now and cannot say enough good things about them. 
 

I wanted a special product to showcase my new pink Tattler lids.  I chose my original low sugar chocolate raspberry sauce because I thought the pretty pink lids would compliment it nicely.   The original recipe has a firmer consistency which makes the sauce perfect to topping cream cheese or as a dessert topping.  This time I made changes to my original recipe to give a softer texture sauce suitable for use as an ice cream topping.  With a bit of tweaking of the sugar and adding vanilla for a little warmth, I ended up with a delectable ice cream topping worthy of the limited edition pink Tattler lids.  My husband poured some of the left over chocolate raspberry sauce over French vanilla ice cream.  He declared it a winner and went for a second helping with a huge grin on his face.

I'd like to thank Brand Steig and S&S Innovations, Corp for sending me a sample of the limited edition pink Tattler lids.  They perform just as nicely as the regular white Tattler lids except 35% of proceeds from their sale is being donated to the Munson Medical Center Women's Cancer Fund in Traverse City, Michigan!  If you would like to buy some of these lids in support of Breast Cancer Awareness Month, you can you can click the pink button for the sale on the Women's Cancer information page on the Tattler website on October 1.  I just know you will enjoy these lids as much as I do!

Kitchen Quick Tips - Ascorbic Acid

If you need to use ascorbic acid to prevent browning in fruit but have none, substitute a Vitamin C tablet.  A substitute for Fruit Fresh which our grocery stores are no longer carrying is a solution of lemon juice and a Vitamin C tablet in water.

Kitchen Memories Two A Collection of Recipes by The Little Schoolhouse and Museum in Tehkummah Township on Minitoulin Island, Ontario

During our great road trip/camping adventure we stayed overnight in South Baymouth, Ontario where we would board the Chi-Cheemaun ferry that would take us across Lake Huron to Tobermory.  The weather was cold and damp but we still took a walk-about before settling into our room for the night.  Across the main road from our motel we had a lovely view of the Chi-Cheemaun dock.  Scattered across Ontario there are a multitude of small, one room schoolhouses that have been converted into homes.  A few have been rescued and preserved as museums.  Such was the case with the was The Little Schoolhouse and Museum beside the motel to the north.  Unfortunately, we could only peer in the the windows for a glimpse of the past as the museum was closed.

We wandered from the museum around the motel pool ending up in the motel gift shop.  I always delight in finding community fundraiser cookbooks.  These types of cookbooks are comprised of a collection of recipes submitted by members of the community or organization then assembled into a booklet format to be sold as a fund raiser.  I was quite happy to find Kitchen Memories Two (June 2013), a collection of recipes by The Little Schoolhouse and Museum in Tehkummah Township on Minitoulin Island, Ontario.  This recipe book was compiled by residents of Tehkummah Township in support of the museum.  This really is a nice recipe book that I will be making a few recipes from!

These types of recipe books are a treasure not only from a cooking perspective but also are of interest to family historians and genealogists.  For example, several recipes in this book have the contributor's name  followed by 'sister' of so and so, giving valuable relationship connections useful in family history research.  Quite often recipes are contributed in honour of a loved one no longer living.  From a culinary perspective, these are very much home style cooking recipes.  Recipes contributed tend to be family favourites and family signature recipes, some handed down from generation to generation.  One thing I have found too, is the recipes submitted tend to use easily accessible ingredients. 

It is common for fundraiser recipe books to have one or more home canning recipes.  This can be problematic.  All home canned foods must be properly processed to ensure a safe product.  These types of recipe books seldom give the safe canning processing methods of boiling water bath (high acid foods) and pressure canning (low acid foods).  Some as in this recipe book may include instructions for unsafe canning methods such as oven or open kettle canning.  Someone following the instructions for canning meat in this recipe book could find themselves with a product that could make them very ill or possibly worse!  Another problem is ingredient omissions that would not be a problem when cooking but can be critical when home canning. 

I shudder when I see this type of thing.  Improperly home canned food is nothing to fool around with.  It really is like playing Russian roulette with your's or your loved ones' lives.  This recipe book was published in June of 2013 so there really is no excuse not to use current safe canning methods.  Honestly, I wish they would just refrain from publishing home canning recipes in these types of publications.  That being said, an experienced home canner can convert most of these recipes into safe-to- can simply by comparing them to tested home canning recipes, making the necessary adjustments then processing using the appropriate method.