Homemade Taco Sauce

In my house we eat a ridiculous amount of Mexican food, in particular, tacos.  We have tacos at least once a week.  It's just easy & everyone eats them without complaining.  I am trying to cook from scratch & trying not to buy processed food. The most easiest way to start lessening my family's dependence on processed food is with making my own condiments. 

 

I haven't bought taco sauce in the past 2 years.  In my humble opinion, I like my sauce more than the store bought stuff.  That's saying a lot because I am picky about my food.  This recipe is similar to the previous post about making ketchup.  See the post here.  (Yes I am reusing the same pictures.)

Use as many or as little tomatoes you want.  I use about 6-8 quarts of tomatoes.  Peel tomatoes (lightly cut an X into the skin and drop them into boiling water.)  Leave them in the water for about 10 seconds and put them in cold water (ice water is preferred).  The skins will slide off.  Core & cut.  Leave pot uncovered.  Once soft run through food mill to remove seeds.  Unlike the picture, you don't need onions or red peppers.

 

 

 

 

Reduce the tomato mixture to desired thickness.  Cook on low for 4-8 hours stirring from time to time to prevent sticking.  I prefer my sauce a bit thick so when it covers the spoon & doesn't fall off too quickly I know it's done.  The only thing I add after reducing the tomato mixture is my homemade taco seasoning.  If you're using my recipe for taco seasoning, I used at least 4-5 tablespoons full.  I really don't know how much I just pour some seasoning in until I like the way it tastes.  I'm that kind of cook.  I usually can get 6-8 pints of taco from 6-8 quarts of tomatoes.  Have fun & let me know what you think.



 

 

Once you try it, you'll never buy it again: Homemade Ketchup

I have been making my own taco sauce for the past couple of years and it's pretty easy.  Cook down tomatoes, run through a food mill, add my homemade taco seasoning & water bath it.  This year I had so many volunteer tomato plants in my garden & they are producing tomatoes to the nth degree I decided to try to make ketchup.  Why?  We are trying to eat homemade food to help our children with their epilepsy.  Less chemical or man made products going into their body. 

 

My ketchup label says this:

 

"Tomato concentrate (water & tomato paste), high fructose corn syrup, corn syrup, vinegar, salt, onion powder, spice & natural flavoring."

 

Thank goodness for my Ball Blue Book of Preserving.  I found a wonderful recipe that I will use forever.

 

• 4 quarts of chopped, peeled, & cored tomatoes (abt 24 large)
• 1 cup chopped onion (1 med)
• 1/2 cup chopped sweet red pepper (1/2 medium)
• 1 1/2 teaspoon celery seed
• 1 teaspoon whole allspice
• 1 teaspoon mustard seed
• 1 stick cinnamon
• 1 c sugar
• 1 tablespoon salt
• 1 tablespoon paprika
• 1 1/2 cups vinegar

Combine tomatoes, onion & pepper in a large sauce pot.  Cook until tomatoes are tender.  Puree using a food processor or food mill.  Cook puree rapidly until thick and reduced by one-half.  Tie whole spices in a spice bag.  Add spice bag, sugar, salt & paprika to tomato mixture.  Simmer 25 minutes, stirring frequently to prevent sticking.  Remove spice bag,  Ladle hot ketchup into hot jars leaving 1/4 inch head space.  Adjust two piece caps.  Process 10 minutes in a boiling water canner.  Yields about 3 pints.

  

To peel tomatoes lightly cut an X into the skin and drop them into boiling water.  Leave them in the water for about 10 seconds and put them in cold water (ice water is preferred).  The skins will slide off.  Core & cut.  Leave pot uncovered.  Once soft run through food mill to remove seeds.

  

Once reduced add spice bag & other ingredients. 

 

*Remember to use iodine free salt or sea salt when canning.

The finish product.  This picture does not do it justice.  The color is vibrant.  It's a deep red-orange almost like the color of marinara sauce.  The flavor is AH-MAZING.

 In the water bath canner my pretties.

The finish product:

 

 

4 pints of tomato heaven.  While it is not a thick as store bought, probably because there is no corn syrup to thicken it, but it comes very close.  If you cooked it down a bit longer it would be more like store bought.  My has the consistency of taco sauce. 

 

NOTE: I don't know how many quarts of tomatoes I had.  I just used what tomatoes were ready, I probably used more. than the recipe calls for.  I did cook my sauce longer than it said and at a higher temperature.  I think from start to finish it took about 8-10 hours, mostly just waiting for the puree to cook down.

The Most Medicinal Weed in Your Garden

From time to time I head out to the countryside to go to a women's group called Titus 2.  This group of ladies are a wealth of knowledge.  They would rather find medicinal herbs in their yard than go to the store & buy it.  I thought it was weird to use weeds as medicine, but I started to think about it, this is how my great grandparents healed themselves.  After all, most over the counter medicine are derived from plants.

 

The first easily identifiable plant is Mullein.  This plant has soft furry leaves.  When mature mullein will have a long spear like stem with small yellow flowers.

 

It is widely used for herbal remedies with emollient and astringent properties. It is known to possess anti-inflammatory, anti-tumor, antiviral, anti-fungal, antibacterial, expectorant, and analgesic properties. It is especially recommended for coughs and related problems, but also used in topical applications against a variety of skin problems.  Because of its astringent properties it can be use on hemorrhoids & athlete's foot.  

 

 

 

 

The primary use for Mullein is to fight coughs.  Herbal teas are made for an expectorant, dry cough, bronchitis, & sore throat.  The combination of expectorant and emollient mucilage makes the plant particularly effective for cough. All preparations meant to be drunk have to be finely filtered to eliminate the irritating hairs.

About a week or so ago I found this little guy in my garden right in the middle of my spinach & carrots.  My OCD tendencies wanted to pull it, I didn't.  The leaves grew so nice & big in just a few days.  I cut the bigger ones & cut them into smaller pieces & dehydrated it.  It took only a few hours to dehydrate.  Friends have encouraged me to try it, they really says it works.  So I have a small jelly jar full of mullein ready to use when the cold season starts.  I will let you know how well it works.  I will have to add some sugar or homemade vanilla extract in the tea.