tomatoes!

We are overrun with tomatoes.

Cherry tomatoes, romas, heirloom, beefsteak, plum... they have invited a fruit fly invasion into our kitchen, and even though I thought I'd never say this, we're getting a little tired of caprese salads and BLTs on the menu.
So Joel and I stayed up late the other night and canned them. The rows of sterilized jars and piles of blanched fruit always cause a wave of nostalgia to wash over me - many childhood days were spent putting food by with my mom and sister.

We used pickyourown.com for instructions

First we blanched the tomatoes and the skins really do slide off with ease. (For everyone who knows me well, you know that this was the hardest part for me - getting my bare hands covered with tomato juice and pulp...)
Then we packed the jars, added some lemon juice, and processed them for 40 minutes.

And voila! Twelve lovely jars of tomatoes to bring some summertime into the rainy winter months.