Photo: Great grandparents at their farm in Blandinsville, IL, with five of their six children .. my grandpa was yet a twinkle in grandma's eye. Stable boy and governess also pictured. Hodges farm, circa 1903-4

Thursday, September 09, 2010

Home Preserving Tomatoes

This week and last have been spent busily in the kitchen canning various tomato recipes.  While I love to have tomatoes canned and on the shelf, it's nice to have some in the freezer too.  The recipe below is one that was handed down to me by a neighbor.  It had been given to her .. and I'm not sure of the origins.  I made it last year .. and was very happy with how easy it is to make ... it's slow cooking as I type.

Crock Pot Tomato Sauce:

2 tablespoons olive oil
2 cups onions, chopped
1-1/2 cups carrots, chopped
1 cup green pepper, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
8 cups tomatoes, peeled and diced
1 - six ounce can tomato paste
1 teaspoon sea salt
2 teaspoons oregano leaves
2 teaspoons basil leaves
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
2 tablespoon brown sugar

Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat.  Cook the onions, carrots, peppers and garlic until tender.  Place vegetable mixture and remaining ingredients in a 5 quart crock pot.  Cook on high for 8 hours.  When done, cool then divide into 2 cup portions and freeze.  Yields 11 cups.

You can puree it a bit if desired in a food processor after it's cooked and cooled.

11 comments:

meemsnyc said...

This sounds so amazing. I wish I had an overflow of tomatoes so I can try this recipe.

Unknown said...

First time to your blog.
I am enjoyikng reading your post.

WE didn't get to raise a garden this year, so I'm a little bummed.

Looking forward to next year for sure!

Kathryn said...

That sounds wonderful. :) Enjoy.

Felisol said...

Sounds tempting.
All these ingredients must taste heavenly together.
I just might try,- without the crock pot.

Rebecca said...

I made some applesauce in the crock pot a couple of weeks ago. It turned out wonderfully! I don't "do" tomatoes...but this sauce sounds wonderful! I'll be the house smelled SO good all day.

My sister brought a jar of homemade catsup when they visited us recently. It was the best c. I've ever tasted!

Mr. H. said...

Carrots? Now that's different, but I can see how it would work. I would have never thought to add carrots to tomato soup, very interesting.

Mrs. Mac said...

Felisol ... I forgot, NO crock pots in Norway .. just use a large pot and a very low heat setting after the sauce starts cooking.

Rebecca ... I'm looking for a good tomato ketchup recipe if you have one.

Mr. H. It's 'sauce' not soup .. I can't seem to get rid of the yellow recipe highlight so the title is hard to read. BTW .. a lot of Italian seasoned tomato sauce recipes call for carrots. It's a good way to get little ones to eat their veggies :)

Cindy .. thanks for stopping by.

meemsnyc .. I bought most of these tomatoes at the local farm (about 100 pounds over the last two weeks) our crop is so small this year and still green.

Kathryn .. I've stopped by your blog .. happy anniversary today!

Unknown said...

Sounds yummy. I don't know what I would do without my slow cooker really, especially these days. Plus it's cheaper to run than the stove or oven! ;)

MAYBELLINE said...

Do you freeze using jars or freezer bags?

Mrs. Mac said...

Mabelline: For this tomato sauce I used freezer jars. You can use wide mouth mason jars leaving 1-1/2 inch headspace. I have plastic freezer jars that I'm not replacing when they wear out as I prefer freezing in glass. If you use freezer bags, squeeze the air out and freeze flat on a cookie sheet, then stack in the deep freeze when frozen solid.

MAYBELLINE said...

Excellent!