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Thursday, January 24, 2013

Simple Chores...

Good Evening my dears... 
My.... We are having quite the cold weather here in New Brunswick.. 
Some schools to the north of the province have even been closed.. 
We do not do that much here in Canada as we Canadians are used to the cold and wind and snow... 
So... it must be cold.. grin... 

Dear son sent me this picture of his Charlie.. 
Dustin tagged the picture.. 
...even the poor dog is cold..
grin.. 

The other day when Terry and I went shopping we bought a lovely big bag of tomatoes as they were on special.. 

We love tomatoes.. 
Even in the Winter we think they are wonderful although they don't have the flavor of summer ones they are still good.. 
On sandwiches, in salads, pasta and such.. 

Anyway.. On with the story.. 

We brought all of the groceries in .. 
Or we thought we did until the next morning when we wanted one for breakfast and they could not be found.. 
Oh no.... 
We had left them in the truck.. 
Well...
 Later on Terry went out to get them and they were frozen solid.. (of course).. 
It was -21 degrees Celsius... 


This is after they had thawed out and you can see a few cracks.. 

Oh well..
 I am not throwing them out.. 
Would you? 

I made a lovely big bottle of Salad Dressing.. 

The dear man wanted me to turn all of the tomatoes into this but I thought this would do for now.. 

Here is the recipe for it... 
I was sure I had posted it before but I cannot find it..  

My No.1 House Dressing.. 
In a chopper or blender place 1 cup of good mayo
1/2 cup of tomatoes seeded and chopped.. 
1/3 cup of chopped onion
2 T. cider vinegar
2 T. oil
2 sprigs of parsley
Blend in blender until smooth.. 
This will keep in the fridge for quite a while.. 
It never lasts long enough for me to find out.. 
I usually double the batch.. 

And then there were still a few tomatoes left so I made something I had planned to make all Fall but did not get to it.. 
Homemade Ketchup.. 

Here is the recipe just in case you freeze a few tomatoes.. grin..

I halved the recipe as I wanted to know if we would like it.. 

Henry Ketchup.. 
In your slow cooker place 
4 pounds of fresh tomatoes
1/2 cup of chopped onions 
Place on high for 1 hour and then add... 

2/3 cup of apple cider vinegar
1/4 cup of brown sugar
2 tsp. fine sea salt

In a cheesecloth place.. 
1 cinnamon stick broken
1/2 tsp. each of..
whole allspice
whole cloves
black peppercorns
celery seeds
1 bay leaf
Add to mixture..
  
Turn your slow cooker down to low and cook for several hours with cover on sideways.. 
I did it all afternoon and then after supper I used my stick blender to blend it all up..
Or you could let it cool and then place in your blender.. 
I just used a recycled mayo bottle and put it in the fridge.. 


In my opinion I will not be eating Heinz again.. 
This taste like I am sure ketchup is supposed to taste like.. 
Although, my dear hubby will stick to Heinz.. grin.. 

That is all for today .. 
We are looking forward to our company tomorrow night for supper.. 
Hope to share some pics with you later.. 

I would like to welcome the new followers.. 
We love having you.. 

Thanks for taking time to visit.. I appreciate it so much.. 
And leaving your lovely notes are the icing on the cake.. 
Take care, dear hearts.. 


18 comments:

  1. Oh Faye, I am like you...tomatoes are good any time of the year! Like you, we are just as cold - well, maybe not as cold as New Brunswick, Canada ;D but quite close.

    Have a blessed evening!

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  2. Well...if you don't have to share that ketchup with Terry it'll last you longer :) Have a nice time with your company tomorrow....chat soon

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  3. Hi my dear friend. Enjoy ur company tomorrow night. Looking forward to pics. Miss u. Pam C.

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  4. I would definitely keep the frozen tomatoes! We froze some whole last year to use in sauces and things. Your dressing looks delicious and so does the ketchup. I've never made homemade ketchup, but I bet it is so much better than store bought. One of these days when I'm feeling adventurous I'll have to give it a go :)

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  5. Evening Faye,sorry that the tomatoes were frozen but it looks like they were still put to good use.LOL! Thanks so much for the recipes.Stay warm my friend.Charlie is adorable.Hugs,Jen

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  6. I actually froze tomatoes and they were fine. I love your recipe for salad dressing. Need to get some tomatoes and whip up a jar. Stay warm Faye! xo

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  7. I always enjoy reading your blog and seeing what you are cooking. The dressing sounds delicious. The homemade ketchup made me think of my father in law who recently passed away. He made a homemade ketchup similar to yours and it was delicious.

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  8. Mmmmm. Home made dressing and ketchup. I've never made either. Sounds delicious. Keep warm Faye. It might be warmer by next Wednesday. I hope.

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  9. I really want to try that dressing, we can not get good tomatoes here at all during the cold months, they are all bland and pretty tasteless. Maybe I can do the dressing in the summer, would love to try. Hope you enjoy dinner with your friends! Have a great weekend. Snow headed our way again tomorrow!

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  10. Thank you for the recipes, Faye. I make almost everything from scratch but have not tried ketchup. I'll have to try these. Stay warm!

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  11. A reader of my blog sent me your link thinking I might like you recipes and she was right! I've been wanting to make ketchup so I'll be trying your recipe. I have tomatoes from our summer garden in the freezer.

    Thanks!

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  12. Thanks for sharing these recipes. They both sound delicious. I will have to give them a try. Enjoy your day and God bless.

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  13. It all sounds delicious, will try the recipes as soon as I can get hold of any tomatoes that don't taste of nothing!! (double negative, but you know what I mean :) )
    That sweet doggie-in-a-sweater made my day. Awwwwwwww...
    Soon be Spring, Faye!
    xxx Alex

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  14. I just found your blog this morning. What a lovely place you have here. I make a ketchup using tomato paste. My kids like it better than the stuff from the store.

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  15. HI Faye;

    Your house dressing recipe sounds good - I am going to try it.

    It's been so cold that I have converted my old winter jacket into a coat for Lucy, our golden retriever. She looks cute, like Charlie in his picture, and it keeps her warm on our trips around the block.

    Laurie

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  16. Your son's poor dog looks miserable! It has warmed up just a smidgeon here, and it's supposed to snow again. We got four inches on Thursday, when will it stop? It was -40 something all week with wind chill. I have hardly stepped out of the house except to go to church. Thankfully I have had that.
    Thank you for the recipes, I will pin them.
    Hugs, Cindy

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  17. When the frost warnings began for me outside of Fredericton I stripped my tomato plants of all the ripe tomatoes. The ones that could not be eaten or cooked right away I tucked into the freezer.

    When I make chili or soups, I will throw a few frozen tomatoes and they add a lot of sweet summer flavour!

    Your dressings and ketchup look yumm yumm too!

    Just started reading your blog two weeks ago and can't wait to visit your shop this summer!


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