Canning crushed tomatoes

 Here's the update: the new tomato crusher arrived. It's deep in color, nice grip area. I'm dying to make salsa to can. will check the local farmer's market today. Compare this one to the one below. I love the cut-out area for your hands.

Ok, ok, it isn't time yet. Matter of fact, I only have really little green tomatoes on my vines, but I can hardly wait! I am dying to do my own crushed tomatoes this summer. There's an article in the magazine called Taste of the South. It's about canning crushed tomatoes. The article introduces the reader to a lady called Martha McMillin, owner of a store called Preserving Place. It's in Atlanta, Georgia. Her website show some food products she's made and sells. They sound wonderful. But, I was after a tool she showed in the article. It's a Kraut Mallet. She uses it to crush tomatoes. It's made by a local woodcrafter out of walnut. An old tree fell and they're using its wood to make these mallets. Her shop is loaded with preserving tools and lots of hospitality. I called her to inquire about this gorgeous and hopefully useful tool. Her voice was warm and so friendly. If you call her, she'll mail you just about anything she's got for sale. She uses a Fed Ex cheap shipping, so with my darling WA state tax, this 14" long mallet ran me $30. It'll last a lifetime and I plan on leaving it to my grandkids!!!
She explained that she asked the woodcrafter to make a special area for where you put your hand. She wanted it comfortable and workable. I love that someone thinks of these things. A regular cabbage mallet looks like this:

ONe if the differences is the cutout for your hand. I wish the Taste of the South website has their new mag, but it's not there yet. But in the meantime, if you're curious, seek out the magazine. Lots of recipes for summer cooking, salads, sides and this wonderful article about canning.
What is available for me to can right now are strawberries. Will be making some serious jam.

Hubby's Favorite Salad for Father's Day

I've been mimicking my Mom's potato salad for years. She and my grandmother never went by recipes. They "eyed" everything. So I can only come up with a reasonable facsimile to our recipe.
You start with 3 pounds of Yukon Gold potatoes. Skinned and quartered. Place in pot, boil and simmer until softened-eatable stage. You decide.
Steam 5 plus eggs--it's whatever your steamer can hold. Mine holds 9 large eggs, so I steam 9 eggs. They're good to munch on. You need 5 for the salad. Steam for 20 minutes. I use large organic eggs. Once steamed, I pull the steamer out and rinse the eggs in cold water. Let them sit on dish quilt to dry and cool down.
I chop a sweet onion, if large, use half, small, whole. Add all these ingredients to whatever size bowl that holds them. Now you're going to add mayonnaise, salt and pepper. Add to your taste and looks. Hubby like a creamy look to the salad, so I add mayo until it looks creamy. I don't use much salt as I know my family will add no matter what. I use sea salt. And, I grind fresh black pepper. I love pepper but I don't put too much, family again. I add more to my own serving.
Other options I love to add is green onions, sometimes crunchy bacon and some shredded cheddar or Jack cheese. Add what you like and make it your own.
So now, eggs are chopped in the bowl joined by the onions. Potatoes are cooling. I'm writing this little blog report to you.
 My wish is that you have a wonderful weekend. I'm thinking of my Dad and all he taught me. How much he loved me. And, because he lived in Hawaii, when I was told he wasn't going to make it, it was so difficult to get there and say "good-bye." He died while I was in the air flying to Hawaii. It took three days to find a flight with an empty seat. That was a really hard reality to deal with for me. Certain songs would bring memories of him back and I would instantly tear. Now I can listen and smile.
If you are going to be with your Dad tomorrow, give him an extra squeeze and a hug. Kisses don't hurt either!

Big Boo Boo

I'm happy to share with you some very good results. My hubby and son spent many hours redoing our dining room table. The top never had much of a finish, so they sanded it and put many coats of polyurethane on it. They've become extremely protective of this renewed table. It's oak and well worth preserving.
Well, today I spent making new pattern pieces from a very ancient pattern. I traced the pieces with a pencil and than had the brilliant idea to outline the patterns with black permanent marker pen. That way, I thought, I could scan them and copy them for back-up pieces. Great, huh?
It never occurred to me the ink would bleed through the paper and permanently marked my gorgeous table, which it did.
I vaguely remembered something on the Web about removing permanent ink. I did the Google thing and yes, there were many choices. I happened to have some baking soda toothpaste but any toothpaste will do, and baking soda. Made a paste of both and using a plastic-no-damage-scrubber, the marks slowly disappear. Some were very dark. They're GONE!! Goody for me--I'm not in trouble.
Other suggestions were WD-40 but the toothpaste-baking soda idea seemed right.
So, if you're off doing crazy stuff like I did, you know you can Google for help. Or, just ask me!