Make it yourself...Ketchup!



I "Heart" Heinz!

 

Happy Monday, Sisters!  I love ketchup.  I don't care if you call it ketchup or catsup...you can call it whatever you want as long as it's Heinz.  Store brand ketchup and other major brands just don't cut the mustard. =D  They are just too sweet.  Heinz has the perfect salty to spicy ratio that makes it the ideal accompaniment to french fries.  I found a blogspot that tells you everything you would ever want to know about ketchup:   nowthatsnifty.blogspot.com  I am going to share with you a few of the facts I learned.  

 

Some Random Facts About Ketchup

97% of American homes keep ketchup in their kitchens.

Each person consumes about 3 bottles per year.

A Tablespoon of ketchup has about 16 calories and no fat.

4 Tablespoons have the nutritional value of a ripe medium tomato.

Like fine wines there can be good and bad ketchup years depending on the quality of the harvest.

Heinz ketchup was introduced in 1876 as a "blessed relief for Mother..."

Heinz sells more than 50% of the ketchup sold in the U.S.    

The "catsup" spelling went out of popularity in 1981 after the Reagan Administration declared     "Ketchup" to be a vegetable that could be used in school lunches.

Public outcry caused a reversal of that ruling, so now ketchup is back as a condiment

Disclaimer:  Heinz does not pay me to "love" their ketchup. =D

 

 Homemade Tomato Ketchup
By now your gardens are probably starting to produce a good crop of tomatoes.  Mine are a bit slow to come on this year.  I still have a lot of salsa and chili sauce left from last fall, so I wanted to try something new.  My good friend, Lynette Chidester graciously allowed me to publish her tried and true recipe for ketchup.  She says she likes it better than store-bought.  I think it would be fun to try this out.  Grandma Zetta used to make a lot of her own condiments.



Lynette's Ketchup
Ingredients:
3 gallons plus 1 quart tomato juice
4 cups white sugar
3 cups white vinegar (could use part cider)
1/2 tsp. black pepper
1/3 cup salt
1/2 tsp. cayenne pepper or 1 teaspoon dried mustard
1/2 tsp. allspice
1/2 tsp. dried cloves
1 and 1/2 tsp. cinnamon

Carefully boil the juice, stirring frequently, until juice is reduced to about half.  Add 1/2 of the vinegar and all of the sugar and salt.  Cook an additional 30 minutes, stirring frequently, then add the rest of the vinegar.  Just before ladling it into the jars, add spices and mix well.  Until recently Lynette processed it in a boiling water bath.  But she warns that because of the lower acidity of today's tomatoes, it would probably be prudent to pressure process pints at 15 pounds (Highland, Utah altitude) for 15 minutes.

Hope you get a great tomato harvest this year,

 

Joy in Family History!

Joy in Family History

June Visiting Teaching Message

Many of our visiting teaching messages come from this book.

 

Sisters, I have a confession to make...one that I am not proud of...but until this morning I have not once opened my copy of Daughters in My Kingdom.  I have been full of good intentions, but today it has been on my mind.  Since my rainy...and all too brief...visit to Nauvoo a few weeks ago, I haven't been able to shake the feeling that Relief Society needs to play a more important role in my life.  After all...isn't that what the visiting teaching messages have been trying to tell us?  Each one has featured some aspect of the work of the Relief Society and our responsibilites as visiting teachers to help and uplift the sisters we watch over.  This month's message is a wonderful example..."Joy in Family History."

 

Our families are more than just names written on the family tree.

 

The Prophet Joseph Smith taught, "The greatest responsibility in this world that God has laid upon us is to seek after our dead."

 

President Boyd K. Packer said, "When we research our own lines, we become interested in more than just names...Our interest turns our hearts to our fathers--we seek to know them and to serve them."

 

We can serve as proxy in the temple for our deceased ancestors,

performing necessary ordinances for them.

 

In the visiting teaching message, a woman named Sally Randall of Nauvoo, Illinois, whose son died, found great comfort in the promise of eternal families.  After her husband was baptized for their son, she wrote to her realatives: "What a glorious thing it is that we...can be baptized for all of our dead [ancestors] and save them as far back as we can get any knowledge of them."  Then she asked her relatives to send her information on her ancestors, saying, "I intend to do what I can to save [our family]."

 

Daughters in My Kingdom

The story of Sally Randall was found on page 21 of Daughters in My Kingdom: The History and Work of Relief Society.  I am making myself the commitment to read this book.  I want to know more about the founding of this wonderful organization.

 

Public Notice...March 17, 1842

I was inspired to buy a copy of this notice, and frame it for my home.

What was that meeting like?

 

Emma Smith became the first president of the Relief Society.

 

Organizing the Relief Society 

On page 12 of Daughters in My Kingdom we read, "That next Thursday, on March 17, 1842, twenty women assembled on the upper floor of a building, often called 'the red brick store'...They met under the direction of Joseph Smith and two members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, Elders John Taylor and Willard Richards.

 

"Rather than pattern a Latter-day Saint women's organization after the women's societies that were prevalent and popular at that time, the Prophet Joseph Smith organized them in a divinely inspired and authorized manner."

 

 

The sisters were to encourage, "the brethren to good works in looking to the wants of the poor--searching after objects of charity, and in administering to their wants--to assist by correcting the morals and strengthening the virtues of the female community."

 

The Prophet chose Emma, his wife to serve as president and then encouraged her to chose counselors who, with her, would "preside over this society, in taking care of the poor--administering to their wants, and attending to the various affairs of this institution."



Re-enactors in Nauvoo.

 

I was so disappointed that my only chance to visit Nauvoo came on such a rainy day.  Would I ever have the chance again?  We didn't have much time to spend there at any rate...we had a long, long drive to get home before the end of the weekend.  Imagine...two days of driving would bring me back home!   My pioneer ancestors traveled weeks and months to get here and endured many trials along the way.  I think it's wonderful that our children are able to participate in Trek...I am sure it will help them to gain perspective and love for those Saints.

 

I didn't get to see any of the re-enactments while I was there, but my last memory of Nauvoo as we pulled away from the Visitor's Center was the sight of a dozen giggling Sister Missionaries dressed in their period dresses, trying to protect their hairdos as they ran through the rain. 

 

Have a lovely day!





 

 

 





 

Something Fun...Women's Hiking Group!

 Women's Hiking Group

Actual photo of today's group...lol!

Heidi Kennington passed on this information to our RS presidency: 

"Suzanne Palmer is sponsoring a women's hiking group. Here is what her handout says:

 

School is out... Hip, Hip Hooray,

Let's head for the hills to hike on Mondays!
Hiking club will begin on June 3rd
It'll be more fun than you've ever heard!
A different trail we'll try each week,
Because fitness and fun are what we seek.
And you'll find it at the Hiking Club
All summer long, except for rain and mud!
Meet at Suzanne's at 7 AM
For a potty break before we begin.

Suzanne:  801-362-4470
11088 North 5020 West in Highland ( just off the road that goes to AF canyon)

Everyone is welcome...spread the word.  Call Suzanne to find out about next week's hike.  Sounds like it could be a lot of fun.  I used to hike up the Timp Cave trail a couple of times a week just for the exercise...before we had to pay to use the canyon.  It was fun talking to people from out of state.  I would point out Highland from our high viewpoint and brag that "That's my town."

That's our town!

Highland in the distance

 

Just a short post today!