Tomatos, Cucumbers, Zucchini, Oh My!!!

Baskets of tomatos, cucumbers, and zucchini sitting on the counter waiting to be frozen, grated, pickled, and sauced are familiar sights.  Sometimes too familiar!  (What am I going to DO with all of this?)  Growing up my Grandfather and my mother would be in a canning-freezing frenzy this time of year. 

A white enamel pan was the "pickler" along with stainless steel pots for blanching tomatos to take the skins off.  A huge black speckled enamel "canner" would bubble away with hot water and I always felt like one of the witches in Macbeth, as I would get to stand on a stool to watch for when it boiled.  "Boil, boil, toil and trouble, cauldron burn and cauldron bubble."  I would watch for the bubbles and then Mason jars of all shapes and sizes would go in to process and seal. The Ball Blue Book-An Easy Guide to Tasty Thrifty Canning and Freezing  never left the kitchen and was always open to the stained tomato page, even though my grandfather and mom knew the process by heart.

Bread and butter pickles, dill pickles, tomato sauce, and whole tomatos would cook away and when done would sit on the counter.  I loved to wait to hear the POP of the seal as they cooled.  Mom would snap the tops of the lids to make sure that there was no bubble in the center.

Zucchini was treated differently.  That was shredded (usually by hand, when I was a kid) and put in freezer bags.  Whole bowls of it would be turned into loaves of zucchini bread and what wasn't eaten was frozen.  There is nothing like that first taste of hot zucchini bread with melted butter.   By the end of august however, I usually had had enough of it, but that never stopped me from gorging on it when it was first made or diving into it in the middle of February.

I now have the Ball Blue Book, canner, and pickler.  The only differences in what I do, is I let my food processor do the job of  shredding the zucchini!  What a time and elbow saver that is!  However, if you want a good work out, I highly recommend grating zucchini by hand.  You'll end up with great arm muscles.   No one else in the family are big tomato eaters, but I have found that fresh salsa goes much quicker.  I keep a bowl going in the fridge and add to it as it gets empty.

Back to school  is coming quickly as well as Labor Day.  I head to work this week so I need to get myself planned and prepped.  All this week's menu will also include pickles, zucchini bread, and tomato salsa.  Anyone want some?

Sunday
Margahreta pizza
Margaritas

Monday
Easy Potato Corn Chowder
Melon slices
Zucchini bread

Tuesday
Shrimp scampi over Linguine
Sliced Cucumbers

Wednesday (Back to work for me!)
Nachos
Salsa

Thursday
Grilled Pork Chops
Couscous with baby Spinach and Pine Nuts
Applesauce

Friday
Grilled Beef k-bobs with mushrooms and apples
Rice
Raspberry mousse