BBQ Tofu, Bruschetta in a Jar, and a Stupid Move

Hot Lemon Peppers in the lower left corner and Tabasco Peppers in the right half of the picture

My pepper plants are still producing.  Actually, I haven't picked any of the Tabasco peppers yet.  I have harvested some of the hot lemon peppers and two habanero peppers.  I've been waiting for the rest of the habanero peppers to turn a deep orange, but it's slow going. :)

Habanero Peppers

This week, I made a great dish.  I made BBQ Tofu Cubes from VegWeb.com.  The tofu was absolutely fantastic!  I ate part of it the night I made it.  I put it on a high fiber (12 gr.) tomato basil tortilla with some romaine lettuce.  Wow!  I took the rest of it to work to have on another tortilla for lunch.  I definitely recommend this recipe if you like BBQ.

Later in the week, I had a meatloaf burger from The Best Veggie Burgers on the Planet by Joni Marie Newman. I made the burgers earlier this summer and threw a couple in my freezer.  I put some of my Bread and Butter Jalapenos on the burger and MAN OH MAN!  It was one good burger.  I think my Bread and Butter Jalapenos are a complete success.  Thank you, Darlene!!!  (My canning mentor!)  They are a bit spicy, but not too hot and oh so yummy!  I'll be making these every year.

I finally ventured over to the Homewood Farmer's Market yesterday in the POURING rain.  I'm so glad I did, too, as I found many delightful veggies.  I bought 4 pounds of tomatoes, 3 heads of garlic, a red onion, cauliflower, and some mushrooms.  I already had 2½ pounds of Roma tomatoes from my CSA box, but I needed a bit more to make some Bruschetta in a Jar. The link is to the basic recipe, but the directions I followed (via Darlene, of course) are a bit different.  Just before I made this, another poster in our Yahoo! canning group said that one of her jars broke in the hot water bath.  Darlene thought it was because she didn't use hot tomatoes, but packed the jars with room temperature tomatoes.  Needless to say, I followed Darlene's recipe.

Bruschetta in a Jar 

Makes about 7 half pint jars (8 ounces)

5 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 cup dry white wine
1 cup white wine vinegar (I used red wine vinegar)
1/2 cup water
2 tbsp granulated sugar
2 tbsp dried basil  (I used about 1/4 cup of fresh basil, chopped)
2 tbsp dried oregano (I used 2 tbsp fresh oregano chopped, and 1 tbsp dried oregano)
2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
9 cups chopped cored plum tomatoes 

Combine all ingredients, except tomatoes, in a non reactive pan.  Bring to a boil.  Add tomatoes.  Bring to a boil and then simmer for 5 minutes.

Using a slotted spoon, pack tomatoes into hot jars leaving a generous 3/4 inch headspace. Ladle hot vinegar mixture into jar to cover tomatoes, leaving 1/2 inch headspace. Remove air bubbles and adjust headspace, if necessary, by adding hot liquid. Wipe rim. Center lid on jar. Screw band down tightly until resistance is met, then increase to fingertip tight.  Process 20 minutes in a BWB. 

I got exactly 7 half pint jars from my batch. 

So are you wondering what my stupid move was this week?  I inadvertently deleted my blog.  :::gasp:::  I was trying to consolidate a Google account, since I had to make one for my android phone.  I deleted an old account not realizing that it controlled my blog.  So, when I deleted my Google account, I deleted my blog.  I think I did that on Thursday, maybe Wednesday.  I discovered it yesterday.  Yes, it did send me into a panic, but luckily, I was able to restore both my account and my blog.  :::whew!!!:::  Needless to say, I'll be a bit more careful in the future.  :::shakin' mah head:::

Kobe, looking disgusted but tolerant

My oldest son loves to torment the big girls.  He picks up their 70 pound behinds, twirls them around, and then sets them back down.  I got pictures of their faces as proof that they do NOT enjoy this exercise.  HA!

Jordan, equally distressed, but also tolerant

Finally, I don't think I've posted many pictures of Skittles.  So, I'm posting one of her, too.  She was just groomed yesterday and thinks she is quite pretty.  Skits will be 13 on Halloween this year.  She's the matriarch of the brood. :)