HARVEST

This entry is an oldie that I ran across, I just forgot to post it.  Thought you might enjoy!!  Santa brought us Internet way out here in the woods.  I think i might finally be able to keep up with my blog!!  Stay tuned!

"For man, Autumn is a time for harvest, of gathering together.

For nature, it is a time of sowing, of scattering abroad."

~Edwin Way Teale

Our tomatoes decided to take their sweet time growing this year, so we ended up with an abundance of green tomatoes. What can you do with green tomatoes you ask? Well besides the obvious choice: fried green tomatoes there are other options. My mother-in-law made a big batch of salsa verde substituting the green tomatoes for the tomatillas. I did some research and found this recipe for mincemeat on Allrecipes.com. I love this website. I have found so many good recipes there. We adapted the recipe quite a bit using what we had on hand. It is so tasty!!!!!

                              

If you find yourself with a bunch of green tomatoes hanging around here is the recipe:

Green Tomato Mincemeat

make 15 pints

4 quarts of green tomatoes minced

4 quarts of apples minced

3 oranges

2 lemons

2 cups golden raisins

2 1/2 cups raisins

2 cups crystallized ginger

1/2 cup apple cider vinegar

1 stick butter sliced

1lb brown sugar

2 lbs turbinado sugar

2 tbs cinnamon

2 tbs cloves

1 tbsp cardamom

1 tbsp freshly ground nutmeg

Trim and de-seed the fruit (tomatoes are really a fruit!) leaving the peels on. Then cut them into quarters.

Grind quartered tomatoes, oranges, lemons and apples, in a food mill. (If you did not have a food mill you could whizz in a food processor or mince with a knife. )

Next grind the dried fruit.

Mix these together and add the rest of the ingredients in a large bowl. Pour into a roasting pan and cook at 300 degrees for 3 hours.

Ladle into sterilized jars leaving about 1/2 inch at the top. Wipe any drips off of the lip of the jar. Then screw on lids and rings.

Place jars in a canning rack. Fill a canner with enough water to cover your jars and heat water until hot but not boiling.

Slowly and carefully lower the rack with the jars into the canner.

Bring water to a boil and can for 10 minutes

As for uses for this said mince meat. Well you can make muffins, layer it between cookie bars, make a pie , add it to a curry, fill little tarlets with it, or spread it on some homemade bread toast. It is quite delicious.

I hope everyone has a lovely Thanksgiving weekend filled with great food, good conversation, family memories, and grateful thoughts.