Pages

Friday, August 15, 2014

It's so easy being green- tomatoes, jars and salsa (with a giveaway!)


You already know that we are big fans of Ball® jars and food preservation products. We use them for everything. Drinking glasses with their new lids, canning!! making yogurt and more recently making chia pudding. 

Ball® sent me some really cool things to review, use and enjoy AND they are going to give away the same things to one lucky reader!

The Ball Blue Book® Guide is THE go to guide for food preservation. Between this book and a good extension service, you have a wealth of information ready to go for preserving your garden and summer market finds for the year. 

The Ball® Heritage Green Jars are my favorite. It's hard to choose, because the Elite jars are so stylish, and last year's blue jars are my daughter's favorite color- but green is my favorite. Look how pretty that color is! This year they come in two sizes- pints and quarts. 

The Herb Series
The  Ball® Dry Herb Jars are really nice. If you grow herbs (and you should, it's so easy and can be done in containers)- all you do is hang them to dry, then after they are completely dry, put them in the jars. I like the jars because they are nice, wide and easy to fill compared to using standard spice jars and a funnel. They also have shaker tops. Those are the jars with the black lids, the green flips up to reveal generously sized holes for shaking crushed herbs into your recipes. 

The  Ball® 5 Blade Herb Scissors are really helpful for fresh herbs. If you look on top of the sheath for them, you can see some chives that I've chopped into nice small rings. Already to go into all sorts of summer recipes, they also work fantastically well for leafy herbs like cilantro. 

At the end of this post, I'll tell you how you can win all these things, plus a Fresh Herb Keeper, and Ball® Frozen Herb Starters. The Ball® Fresh Herb Keeper is the ideal way to keep things like cilantro fresh in your fridge for a couple of days. Those leafy herbs that tend to wilt too quickly stay fresh and pretty enough to use for a garnish in the keeper, and the Frozen Herb Starters are silicone trays with lids that you can make frozen cubes that are ready for recipes. Put your favorite soup seasonings stock or water and freeze for fresh flavor that's ready to go, or you can use olive oil and other fats as well. 




Ball® Canning and International Can-It-Forward-Day

Tomorrow, August 16th, there will be events across the Ball® Canning social channels. They are pretty nifty. A live webcast canning demonstration by Chef  Hugh Acheson, a demonstration of how to make Pepper Jelly using the Ball® FreshTECH Automatic Jam and Jelly Maker (I have one, and love it, my daughter loves it even more), crafts, even more canning and recipes- check the link above for a complete schedule and follow Ball® on their social channels- 
@BallCanning on Twitter, Follow BallCanning on Pinterest, like on BallCanning on Facebook

 Did you see the little tomatoes in the photo above? 
I have 8 beautiful tomato plants, and so far have had 2 red tomatoes. There are a lot of flowers, and a lot of green tomatoes. A quick search on FreshPreserving.com yielded this recipe for a salsa verde that uses the Ball® FreshTECH Automatic Jam and Jelly Maker. So easy, we have the cilantro and tomatoes in our garden, the rest of the fresh ingredients can be gotten at a farmer's market, and it will look gorgeous in those green jars. 

So do you want to win everything I mentioned? 

  • Ball Blue Book® Guide 
  • Ball® Heritage Green Jars pint and quart size
  • Ball® Dry Herb Jars
  • Ball® 5 Blade Herb Scissors
  • Ball®Fresh Herb Keeper
  • Ball® Frozen Herb Starters
Leave a comment here or on my Facebook post 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

57 comments:

  1. I have my Blue Book and jars. Waiting on the tomatoes. :-) Cannot wait for my first canning experience!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hi Shala! I LOVE LOVE LOVE to can....as I type this, I have approximately 80 pounds of tomatoes waiting to be snuggled into jars. Busy busy!

    -Annette

    ReplyDelete
  3. I have tomatoes, tomatillo, and blackberries coming in like crazy right now, so I'm eager to learn about canning. Perfect timing for this giveaway :)

    ReplyDelete
  4. I'm a beginning canner who wants to learn.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I've done very little canning
    looking to learn more!!

    ReplyDelete
  6. My grape and cherry tomatoes are going gangbusters, but the Brandywines I planted because I heard their flavor was incredible? One was *almost* ripe the other day, then BAM. Mouse, I think.

    A mouse also discovered my first ripe cantaloupe before I did. Grrrrr.

    ReplyDelete
  7. My garden is the pits this year, but I keep finding cheap produce at roadside stands.

    ReplyDelete
  8. I'm a beginner, but I'm trying to grow more each year and can.

    ReplyDelete
  9. I am a beginner who wants to learn more about canning and preserving.

    ReplyDelete
  10. I am a beginner, but when I was little I canned all summer with my aunt. Excited to start my own

    ReplyDelete
  11. I'm a beginner, but my husband actually knows how to can!

    ReplyDelete
  12. I am a beginner wanting to learn more!

    ReplyDelete
  13. I am an enthused newbie to canning.

    ReplyDelete
  14. I am a beginning canner who would like to learn more!

    Nancy
    allibrary (at) aol (dot) com

    ReplyDelete
  15. Beginner who wants to learn more.

    ReplyDelete
  16. I'm a beginner that wants to learn more!

    ReplyDelete
  17. I'm a beginner canner, but definitely want to learn how. I want to learn how to make my own preserves.

    ReplyDelete
  18. I am very much a beginner so this would be a great start!

    ReplyDelete
  19. I'd say that I'm somewhere between beginner and experienced. I've done a little bit of canning over the past several years, but I'd sure like to learn a lot more!

    ReplyDelete
  20. I am a beginner that is enthusiastic about canning everything! Thankfully, I have several friends in church that are experienced & can help me.

    ReplyDelete
  21. I am a beginner canner. I am still learning !

    ReplyDelete
  22. no i want to win for my friend she cans

    ReplyDelete
  23. I am a beginner for myself. My grandmother canned every year and it is time I learned.
    Mary Beth Elderton

    ReplyDelete
  24. I am a beginner and would love to learn more!
    Marcia.goss@gmail.com

    ReplyDelete
  25. I am a beginner who wants to do and learn more about canning
    hrddiana556@gmail.com

    ReplyDelete
  26. I'm not a beginner, but I'm by no means an expert! There is always more to learn!

    ReplyDelete
  27. i HAVENT CANNED YET BUT WANT TO CAN BREAD AND BUTTER PICKLES

    ReplyDelete
  28. We canned for the first time last year. Still learning!!! Last year we canned lots of tomatoes. This year we are hoping to try making some preserves too

    ReplyDelete
  29. I am a total beginner, but I am eager to learn.

    ReplyDelete
  30. I am a beginner. I make jam, but am dying to expand my canning expertise!
    RC name: Mechele JOhnson

    ReplyDelete
  31. I am a beginning canner. Canning is something I have always wanted to learn how to do. I am looking forward to getting started, on this wonderful skill.

    ReplyDelete
  32. I am a very begining canner! i plan to can all throughout the fall for winter! i cannot wait!!

    Allyson Tice
    sunflowerally22@aim.com

    ReplyDelete
  33. I am a medium canner,I did it years ago,think I still know how :-)

    ReplyDelete
  34. I want to learn how to can like my mother and grandmothers did. Canned tomatoes are my favorite.

    ReplyDelete
  35. I would love to learn about canning bc I'm obsessed with homemade salsa

    ReplyDelete
  36. I have canned a few things before. I did a tomato compote once and accidentally put in way too much sugar (1st time making it), but it was delicious. Everyone I shared it with loved it and didn't believe it was tomatoes.

    ReplyDelete
  37. I'm a beginning canner!

    Deborah

    ReplyDelete
  38. I am a beginning canner who is enthused about learning. I used to watch my Granny and Mom do it, now I would love to learn.

    ReplyDelete
  39. We did our first bit of canning this summer when we canned some thimbleberry, raspberry, and blackberry jam. I would love to do more canning! Thank you for the wonderful giveaway! girlygirlugh at gmail dot com

    ReplyDelete
  40. I am a beginner canner & I can't wait to get started with the tomatoes in my garden!

    andysavi.mom@gmail.com

    ReplyDelete
  41. Yes, I would love to win everything that you have mentioned.

    ReplyDelete
  42. I am a beginner who would love to learn.

    ReplyDelete
  43. I've canned - jam and pickles. I wouldn't say I'm any where near experienced! I really need to learn more so I'm not as afraid to screw up perfectly good food!

    ReplyDelete
  44. I am a beginner canner. I do have some experience but I still have A LOT to learn!

    ReplyDelete
  45. An enthusiastic beginner! I've made applesauce and blueberry jam for a total of six jars and am looking forward to doing some spiced pears next.

    ReplyDelete
  46. I'm a newbie that would LOVE to learn all about it! It looks like so much fun and beneficial for stocking up!

    ReplyDelete
  47. I am an enthusiastic beginner. I've always wanted to learn how to can.

    ReplyDelete
  48. I don't have any experience about canning. I think I am a beginning canner who is enthused about learning :)
    Thank You for the chance

    Fiona N

    ReplyDelete
  49. I'm kinda in the middle, I've canned a couple things, like homemade salsa and homemade spaghetti sauce but that's about it. I really want to learn how to can some more things and I really like these heritage green jars, and the dry herb jars. I've been wanting to dry and put up some herbs so this would be the perfect opportunity to start that as well. Thanks for the chance to win this awesome giveaway. I'd definitely get many years of use from these jars and other products for my family!

    ReplyDelete
  50. I'm a beginner but excited to learn!

    ReplyDelete
  51. I am a beginner as of last summer. I love learning to can more things! So far, I have only canned tomatoes and pepper jelly. But it was so rewarding!

    ReplyDelete

Thank you for leaving a comment! Because of the high spam levels and still wanting the site to be friendly, I switched to moderating comments instead of a captcha. As long as you aren't a spammer or spambot this comment will show soon!