Tuesday, September 29, 2009

Canning Homemade Tomato Soup


It's canning season. I've been busy and have canned lots of tomato soup, stewed tomatos, and applesauce. So, I thought since many people ask for my canned homemade tomato soup recipe, I'd share it with you all here. :)

8 quarts of tomatos - leave peeling on, core stem out, cut into quarters
6 small onions - dice
1 stalk celery - dice

Cook in a kettle on stovetop together until soft - then put through colandar.

Take about 3 cups or so of the juice and add 1 cup of flour to the tomato juice, beating with a mixer, then add to the rest of the tomato juice. Doing so this way prevents it from getting clumpy.

Add to the tomato juice:
1/4 Cup canning salt
1 Cup white sugar
1 stick of butter

Bring to a boil, then add to your sterilized canning jars.

It is sooooooooo good! Everyone who's tried this soup raves about how good it tastes.

Saturday, September 26, 2009

Happy Birthday Abbie!!



My little girl turned 8 this week! Time sure flies.

Friday, September 11, 2009

~* Autumn Decor & Hustlerfest Fun *~

So I've begun my fall/halloween decorating. I should have moved my truck so it wasn't in the background before taking this photo - oh well . . . notice two of our kittens are peeking in through the window ~ hee hee.

Mike is always complaining that my decor is just too "cluttered" . . but ya know what? I don't care. I like how it comes together. Until I get a larger house, I want to have my favorite things on display, and since we don't have a lot of room to display my things right now, they'll have to be together as they are. If we had more space, I either would have things more spread out or . . just maybe . . who knows . . . I just might be compelled to buy more to fill up the space. LOL I love my prim goodies and I feel the more the merrier, the more homey the feel.

A couple of weeks ago was our local fest. Abbie was in the pie eating contest for the second year in a row, this year coming in third. She's in red in these photos. Next to her in the green top is her cousin, my niece, Kate. Good thing the pie is pumpkin; otherwise, Abbie would not have been in it, as that's the ONLY kind of pie she will eat.
And she also competed in the kids pedal pull. Last year she won her age group. This year, she couldn't really pedal the small tractor as she was too big for it. Imagine an adult trying to pedal a baby tricycle - it's pretty hard to do when it's simply too small for you. Sure enough, for the next age group they brought out a larger tractor that would have worked much better for her. I told her she'll have to try again next year and will probably have better luck.

Thursday, September 10, 2009

Vintage Halloween Costume Image Freebies



Yes, it's been awhile. I really must get a bunch of photos uploaded so I can get posting more regularly ~ I have bunches in my camera ready to share of various things. Hopefully I can make the time to do so tonight after I get the kids tucked into bed. So much to do, never enough time! Have a great evening everyone :)