Canning Pizza Sauce Fail

Not an epic fail but still a fail. 

I peeled and chopped the tomatoes, added an onion, a bunch of garlic, some spices, and some red wine vinegar. I let it simmer for three hours. I even used the submersion blender to get a nice even consistency. It tasted great. It was going to be pure awesomeness. I got everything sterilized and ready to go. I had enough sauce for seven half pint jars. (I figured a half pint was the perfect amount for one pizza. That way there would be no extra sauce hanging in the fridge growing green and white fuzz)
 I was cautious when I arranged the jars on the canning rack and filled in the open spaces with empty jars. I submerged everything for the fifteen minute water bath. 

When the timer buzzed and I lifted the lid. Not good. One of the jars tipped. And no, not one of the empty ones. It had to be one with the sauce. Sauce all up in my water. When I pulled up the rack three of my jars pinged, they sealed ok. The other three didn't. I knew even if I let them sit over night they wouldn't. When the other tipped it knocked them off balance, and they were angled in the pot.

At least none of the canning water got in them. They were still savable. I could refrigerate until use, but they would only last a few weeks in the fridge. I like pizza, but not that much. 

I consulted my mother-in-law, the woman who taught me the basics. We devised a plan to save the three unsealed jars. The next day I reheated the sauce and put in sterile jars. I used new lids and gave them another water bath. They sealed perfectly.

It wasn't a complete loss. It was just extra work.

We can't be canning goddesses all the time.

So what we learned form this:

• You can re-can stuff (new lids are a must, the seals on the old ones are shot. I would also wait until the next day and let everything cool down and reheat it.)
• You want a nice rolling boil for your water bath, but not too violent. (I'm positive that's why my jar tipped. Those of you with a gas stove have it good, much easier to bring the temp down)
• If I had a cuss jar in my kitchen, a quarter a cuss, I would be able to take that beach vacation in no time.

An Undisclosed Location

This picture appeared on Face book yesterday. It is Mr. B's brother and a bonfire he built. He is 6'7", so that fire is probably over 13 feet tall.

We did take that family vacation a month ago and I vaguely remember Mr. B saying some thing about his brother stopping by to burn some stuff.

He says he cannot confirm or deny his location at the time of the photo, but it suspiciously resembles my back yard.

Clean Up

Two nights ago we had a storm pass through. Nothing world ending, no major damage. Standing on the porch watching the front move in, feeling the temp drop, and hearing the wind pick up was rather eerie. Not that I'm afraid of storms, I'm just not particularly fond of them. 

We haven't had a good storm in quite a while with that heavy of winds. We have a trees. We have allot of trees, BIG trees. We don't call it Shady Acres for nothing. 

The day after the storm cleared we had a bit of pick up to do. No trees fell, but lots of branches. Here is the pile we collected. We shall have a nice fire soon. 

The birds weathered out the storm in the coop. 

No worse for the wear. 

Gus hung out in the house with Mr. B and I. I'm glad he isn't afraid of storms. He's my nice brave boy.  

Then and Now

I was going through the photos and came across this. 

Our bathroom when we first moved in. 

Yes that is really carpeting, no shower, and one very blue bathroom, tube included. 

This is our bathroom now. 

It's still blue, but a less intense blue. We now have a shower and there is no carpeting.

Much better. 

Introducing Bertha

I would like you to meet Bertha.

No not the beautiful lady, the pepper. Bertha is a ginormous pepper that we grew in our garden.  The beautiful lady happens to be my sista. She was kind enough to help model Bertha.

Check out how big she is compared to the Fresca. She an all-natural pepper, no chemicals on this lady.

Mud Room Progress

This year the big project around the Acres has been gutting and redoing the room off the back of the kitchen. We want to turn this space into a "mudroom". The main entrance to the house. A place to take off coats and shoes and some extra storage. 

When we started this spring it looked like this. 

The room was not insulated. Because it wasn't insulated it would freeze up in the winter and thaw, then freeze again, then thaw. There was allot of moisture in the room. We had a slight mold problem. See the right hand side of the picture, that's not a bad paint job, that would be mold. Yup it had to go. 

So at the beginning of the spring it was all torn out. The moldy fiber board the crappy "wood" linoleum flooring. It all went bye-bye. It sat empty for a few months. Nothing but the sub floor and the studs. 

A few weeks ago my parents came down and helped with the wiring. Since then Mr. B has been quite the handy man.  

He insulated and installed the vapor barrier.

His brother came over and helped hang dry wall. 

He laid plywood over the floor to create an even surface for new flooring. 

I think he made some major progress these past two weeks. 

He also wore a tool belt. 

Ralph

For some reason Mr. B calls all spiders Ralph. Don't ask me, I don't understand how his mind works some times. But check out this Ralph that built his home by the living room window.