I still had some tomatoes in the freezer from last year's garden so I decided to can tomato/veggie soup today to use them up! I used a recipe that I came up with a few years ago just for this purpose, to use up some of my frozen vegetables to make room for this years crop! I usually freeze quite a few green beans and carrots every year. And I freeze a lot of tomatoes as well if I don't have time to can them in the fall, and this recipe has been a great way to use some of these vegetables. Here is my basic recipe. I try to stick to this if I have all the ingredients on hand. I did make a change to the recipe today and didn't add the great northern beans. The main reason I omitted these was to make it a lower carb soup, but also I didn't have any! (If you are wondering about the carbs, I calculate about 26 carbs per jar of soup. So 13 per 1 cup serving, but this soup is so good I always eat the whole jar myself!) The last time I made this soup I didn't put them in either, and it was delicious! Just not as filling as with the beans. So... here's the process! First I removed the skins from the tomatoes. The best way to do this is to put the frozen tomatoes in a pan of hot water for about 10-20 seconds and you will be able to slip the skins right off! (Save the skins for making homemade tomato sauce!) If you are using fresh tomatoes you will need to use boiling water to get the skins off, but I've found that for frozen tomatoes hot water works great! I always core my tomatoes before I freeze them, makes this part of the process go so much easier. After the skins are off, I lay them out on a baking tray or on plates to let them start to thaw. The next step is to prep all the veggies. Most of these I usually just pull out of the freezer already chopped but today I chopped fresh celery and carrots. (I didn't have many carrots so this batch of soup was short about a cup of carrots but that's OK!) After I have all the veggies ready and measured, I put them in a large stock pot. Next I add the water, beef broth, and seasonings/spices and begin to warm it over medium heat. About this time I will start to get my jars ready. This recipe will yield around 20 pint jars. I put the jars and the rings in the dishwasher to sterilize them. After I have the jars going in the dishwasher, it is time to dice the tomatoes. By now they should be softened enough to cut but still slightly frozen. If they thaw too much they are hard to cut up, they just get mushy... The diced tomatoes and can of tomato juice go into the stockpot now. I let this come to a simmer and let it go for for and hour or so. Time to can! Remove bay leaves and add lemon juice. To get the lids ready I put them in water in a small sauce pan and let them come to a simmer. Meanwhile I fill the jars leaving an inch of headspace. After the jars are filled I always wipe the rim with a dish towel so they are clean and will seal well. Put on the lids and rings and into the pressure canner they go! I process this recipe for 75 minutes for pints and 90 for quarts. (Because the northern beans need this amount of time). Even though I didn't put beans in this time I didn't change up my canning time. Here is the full recipe: Ingredients: 24 c. diced tomatoes (I dice them while slightly frozen, using about 2 gallon freezer bags full) 1/2 lb. dried great northern beans (measure 3 c. after soaking) 4 c. diced celery (or frozen) 4 c. frozen green beans 3 c. frozen peas 2 c. frozen or fresh sliced carrots 1 c. frozen spinach (chopped fresh spinach would work!) 12 c. water 1 can beef broth (or about 2 cups) 2 bay leaves 3 T. salt 1 T. minced dried onion (or 1/4 c. fresh) 1 T. dried basil 1 T. dried parsley 1 T. dried oregano 2 T. Italian seasoning 1/4 t. black pepper 1 lg. can tomato juice (46 fl oz.) 1/4 c. lemon juice Instructions: Boil dried beans for 2 minutes, let soak covered for an hour. Meanwhile remove skins from frozen tomatoes. As tomatoes thaw a bit, put celery, green beans, peas, carrots, and spinach in a large stockpot with the water and beef broth and begin to warm. Dice the tomatoes as soon as they are thawed enough to cut, and add them to the pot. Add in seasonings and tomato juice. Continue to warm until the beans have soaked for an hour. Rinse and drain beans and then add 3 cups of them in. Taste test and adjust seasonings. (Don't worry about cooking the veggies all the way through, they will cook during the canning process!) Remove bay leaves, add lemon juice. Pressure can pints 75 minutes, quarts 90 minutes. Yield: about 20-22 pints. Let me know if you give this a try!
1 Comment
Melissa
6/1/2018 12:38:46 am
Yum!
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About me:I'm a married mom with 3 kids, ages 16,14 & 12. Things I like: canning, fishing, trying to get organized, antiques, gardening, saving money, camping, looking for new recipes, and funny stuff! Archives
August 2018
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