It's Tomato Season...Favorite Chili Sauce Recipe!

It's Tomato Season!

Cutest tomato label ever!

 

Have you ever noticed that when you plant tomatoes that there is either too few...or too many?  I have the sinking feeling that this is the year of "too many."  The weather has been perfect for tomatoes...hot and sunny.  Now the plants are full of quickly ripening tomatoes...and I am not exactly in the mood to spend days huddled over a steaming canner.  Lucky for me, my husband George loves the "scientific process" of canning.  He'll do all the peeling and chopping...which I hate...and I will prepare the bottles and get the water bath canner steaming.  Fair trade I think!  Last weekend we made the raspberry jalapeno jelly I posted about here.  It was a great success and I now have enough to last for at least a year.

 Of Course I Can!

She looks a tad shell-shocked if you ask me...lol!

 

Homemade Chili Sauce...

Yummy...better than store-bought!

 

George's Chili Sauce Recipe

Yield:  about six pint jars.

4 quarts peeled, cored, chopped tomatoes ( about 24 large)

2 cups chopped onions

2 cups chopped sweet red peppers (about 4 medium)

1 hot red pepper (we use the dried pepper flakes)

1 cup sugar

3 Tablespoons salt

3 Tablespoons mixed pickling spices

1 Tablespoon celery seed

1 Tablespoon mustard seed

2 1/2 cups vinegar

 

Combine tomatoes, onions, peppers, sugar and salt.  Simmer 45 minutes.  Tie spices in a cheesecloth bag; add to tomato mixture; cook until very thick, about 45 minutes, stirring frequently

 

Prepare home canning jars and lids according to manufacturers instructions.

 

Add vinegar to tomato mixture; cook to desired thickness. Remove spice bag.  Carefully pour hot sauce into hot jars, leaving 1/4 inch  head space.  Adjust caps.

 

Process 15 minutes in boiling water bath canner. 

 

 

Pretty...as well as delicious!

Use for crockpot meatballs...serve over rice!

Better than Manwich for sloppy joes...a favorite Halloween supper treat!

 

Random Acts of  Fall Crafting...

Repurposed bird cage.

Burlap and Sunflowers.

 

Dear little owl...

I love sunflowers this time of year...a preview to Fall.

Owls and crows show up in August around my house.

 

Happy Pre-Fall, Sisters!

 

 

 

 

Raspberry Days...my favorite recipe for canning!

August is Raspberry Month...
At least it is on my calendar...it is also sunflower month, but that's another story.  I am so looking forward to Fall.  It's been a long hot summer.  You probably didn't even notice that there were no posts in the month of July...I am sure I am not the only one to be swept away in the busy-ness and the heat.  I am an Autumn Woman...not only in the seasons of my life, but in my love of the golden waning of the year.  This week I have been taking down the red, white and blue in my home and replacing it with the reds of apples and the golds of sunflowers.  I am also getting ready for the tons of tomatoes that will soon be ready for canning.   Our garden is pretty limited this year...my husband's company has been busy with a complicated job that requires more of his attention than usual.  Tomatoes and Peppers...that's it!  We had planted green beans, but they didn't come up.  Which is okay by me...canning beans can be very tedious.  I'd rather do crafts!

Raspberry Jalapeno Jelly

 

Technically...it's a jam...but "jam" doesn't flow off the tongue like "jelly." A few years ago, after spending more than $6 for a small jar of raspberry jalapeno jelly at a craft boutique...and loving it...we decided to make our own.  After all, it should cost less than $36 to make six half-pints of sweet and spicy goodness.   This recipe quickly became a family favorite.  We use it on taquitos (flautas), pork chops, and with turkey...instead of cranberry sauce.  I love it with Swedish meatballs in place of the Lingonberry Jam they sell at Ikea.  You should try it on cornbread muffins...OMGoodness!

 

My first batch...2011.

 

I love how pretty the bright red jelly looks!  Since I was using Tattler Reusable Canning Jar Lids, from reusablecanninglids.com/ I didn't want to write the contents on the top, so I made some little tags, just to make them extra fun.  We found a great recipe at greensandjeans.com.  The only change we made was to use 5 jalapenos intead of 2.

Greens and Jeans Raspberry Pepper Jam

Makes 6 half-pint jars

Ingredients:

5 cups fresh raspberries

2 jalapeno peppers, (we used 5, 2 with seeds)

1 red or green bell pepper

4 cups sugar

1/2 cup apple cider vinegar

1 package powdered pectin.

Directions:

Wash and pick through raspberries.  Crush berries and place in a large pot.  Chop the bell peppers and jalapenos (wear gloves!)  Add the chopped peppers to the pot along with the sugar and vinegar.

Cook the mixture over medium heat, stirring often until the sugar dissolves. Simmer for 15 minutes.  At this point, stir in the pectin.  Bring to a rolling boil and boil for 1 to 2 minutes.  Ladel into hot half-pint jars and process in boiling water canner for 10 minutes. 

 

Some RS Announcements...

 

Summer Social

August 8 @ Dallas Harris' house

6:30 - 8:30 pm

 

more info. and invitations coming soon.

 

Birthday Breakfast

Celebrating all sisters who have a birthday in July and August

Saturday, August 3

 

9:00 am

Dallas Harris' home

 

HIGHLAND STAKE RELIEF SOCIETY TEMPLE SESSION

Saturday, August 24, 2013

7am session in the Timpanogos Temple

Since the Highland Stake Relief Society will be receiving tickets to the General Relief Society Broadcast on September 28th, (also can be viewed at the Stake Center), we won't be having our usual dinner and humanitarian hour before the broadcast. Instead there will be a stake Relief Society Temple Session.

 

 



Education Week August 19-23  Program booklets are being mailed out and can also be accessed online.  Registration and tickets to the evening performances can be purchased now. 

 

That's all for now, Sisters.

Have a lovely day!

 



 

 

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!



Old Nauvoo Angel...a Mystery!

The Nauvoo Angel

Hello, Sisters!  Sorry I haven't posted for a bit...I had a good excuse though! This past weekend I was able to take a quick trip to Nauvoo.  George and I were on a "road trip" to pick up an expensive and unwieldy piece of painting equipment in Davenport, Iowa.  I looked up Davenport on the map and found it was located on the Mississippi River and only about 100 miles from Nauvoo, Illinois.  I was so excited!  Nauvoo had always been on my "bucket list" of places I wanted to see in my lifetime.  Funny about buckets...it was raining buckets on Saturday, my only chance to go!  When life hands you Nauvoo...you make the best of it!

Beautiful Temple in the Rain.

I have long been fascinated by the history of the original Nauvoo Temple.  I always loved pictures of the temple so graceful on its hillside overlooking the Mississippi River.  I often marveled that the Saints were able to leave this lovely temple behind just as soon as it was completed.  A 1992 article written by Don F. Colvin in the Encyclopedia of Mormonism tells us...

"As most of the Saints left Nauvoo under threat of mob violence in early February 1846, a special crew stayed behind and completed the temple. Three months later the building was considered complete and was publicly dedicated on May 1, 1846. Dedication services were repeated over a three-day period and witnessed by thousands. Visitors paid a one-dollar admission fee, and the funds were used to help workmen move their families and join the main body of the Church on the plains to the west.

Tintype photo of completed temple.

"When most of the remaining Church members were driven from the city in September of 1846, the temple was temporarily abandoned. Mob forces desecrated and defiled the sacred structure. Some physical damage, though not extensive, was sustained. Attempts were later made to sell the temple, but these proved unsuccessful. The building was consumed by fire in October 1848, by the deliberate act of arson. Only the bare walls were left standing. A French Icarian community purchased the site and was preparing to reclaim the structure when it was struck by a tornado, which knocked down some of the walls and damaged others so severely that they had to be razed. Much of the structural stone was later reused in other Nauvoo buildings."

Damaged and Desecrated.

Doesn't this old photograph break your heart?  I know mine aches to think of it.  I picture one of my pioneer ancestors looking back across the wide expanse of the Mississippi for one last glance at the temple on the hill...perhaps catching the glint of sunlight on the gold leaf of the angel weather vane. Did she wipe away a tear as she turned away?   How I wish I had been there to see it in its glory!  So much had been suffered and sacrificed for that sacred building.  But thankfully, many Saints were able to receive the blessings of the temple before leaving...they would need that strength for the journey.

The First Angel...and a Mystery.

 

Old Print with Angel

 

The angel atop the old Nauvoo temple fascinates me.  I have always enjoyed the primitive folk-art of the 1800's...especially the figures carved as weather vanes.  The Nauvoo angel was part weather vane and lightning rod.  The Perrigrine Sessions Journal described it as a "representation of an angel in his priestly robes with a book of Mormon in one hand and trumpet in the other which [was] over laid with gold."  The angel, flying in a horizontal position, represented the "angel flying in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel." (D&C 133:36, Rev. 14:6)  If you want to know more about the symbolism of the weather vane, Nauvoo Temple Exterior Symbolism is a really interesting site.

 

30" Nauvoo Angel

I bought this at Zion's Mercantile in Nauvoo.

May be available from Deseret Book.

 

The Mystery at last!

What happened to the angel figure which crowned the Nauvoo Temple?  Many people assume that the statue was destroyed in either the fire or windstorm that brought the temple to ruin.  But is it possible that the original Angel Moroni from Nauvoo flew over the city of Cincinnati atop another church for 100 years?  Some people say "Yes!"  The story is from a Nov. 25, 1999 article on the KSL News Website.

 

In the late 1960's an LDS Stake President, John Taylor, who worked for Proctor and Gamble, would look out his window and see a "beautiful figure, shining in the sun, because it was covered with gold leaf."  A genealogist in the area told him that she had seen in the records of the Salem Evangelical Church that a delegation had gone from Cincinnati to Nauvoo.  They bought the figure from the destroyed temple, called it "Gabriel" and put it on their steeple.

 

One day a windstorm toppled the angel from it's steeple.  The Cincinnati church commissioned another one and gave the damaged one to John Taylor.  He called a man from Nauvoo to come in his pickup truck and carry the angel back to Nauvoo.  Before it left, President Taylor took pictures of the angel.

 

Unfortunately...a prominent Church historian looked at the pictures and told Taylor that although it was definitely folk art of the mid 1800s...he doubts that it was the angel on the Nauvoo Temple. He gives some of his reasons in the article.  But in the meantime...where is the angel that left for Nauvoo?  No one knows.  It may have been destroyed or is in someone's barn somewhere.  Many people to this day still believe that "Gabriel" is Moroni and that someday he (the angel figure) will return.  I sure hope so!  Until that day, I will enjoy my small copy hanging in my living room. 

 

Temple view from across the Mississippi.

The picture I would have taken if weren't raining cats and dogs!

Of course it wouldn't be autumn...sigh!

 

Hope you enjoyed this journey...

I hope to return some (sunny) day!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fun with Composition Books!

Young Women Camp Journals
Tuesday night the Young Women are going to be decorating the covers of those old faithful composition books to be journals for camp.  If your daughter is in YW could you please make sure she has what she needs...a list should have been given to her.  The books are being provided.

Ever since I was a young teen I have loved decorating  notebooks to be a kind of "smash book" for my dreams and ideas.  I wrote poetry, copied John Denver song lyrics...and designed bridesmaids dresses for my future wedding...lol!  They were also scrapbooks of pictures cut from magazines like Seventeen.  I still have these notebooks.  Looking through them is like a nostalgic trip through my adolescent dreamland.

A Few Examples... 

Two of the books I decorated for my granddaughters.

They were "back-to-school" gifts.

I bought a whole stack of the black and white books at Walmart

on clearance for 40 cents each.

The back of the books.

I used pictures found online and scrapbook paper.

I chose a Paris theme for some I made as gifts for my VT sisters.

"Moulin Rouge"

This is a small version I have had in my purse since 2007.

I have six years of Christmas lists in this little book...plus to-do lists and plans.

It's fun to mix colors and patterns.

The girls can use rick rack or ribbon for trims.

 

I have seen some decorated books on Pinterest that are works of art!  I think I am more of a "less is more" kind of girl.  What is important is that the girls have fun expressing their own tastes and personalities.  If desired...when the girls bring them home...a coat of mod podge brushed over the front and back will help seal and protect her journal.  Which is how my little pocket journal has lasted these many years!

 

On a related note...

Pinterest Pin of the Week!

 

Life Story Pages to Print

Becky Higgins Project Life Blog 

In Becky's blog she posted about a YW journaling activity...it was several years ago...but the pdf files are still there and active.  I thought these pages were great for getting started in writing one's personal history.  There are two versions...one for teens and one for adults.  I have downloaded them to my computer to print later.

By the way, the binders are “half pint” binders, or in other words, they hold papers that are 5 1/2″ x 8 1/2″ (which is half the standard size). If you can’t find them at your local office supply shop, look online. Just do a search for “5.5 x 8.5 binder”.

 

Becky's Young Women decorated their covers at the activity as well as beginning to "fill in the blanks."

 

Happy Spring!