Huge Summer Bounty!

This year I was gifted with 25 pounds of beautiful tomatoes. I accepted them quickly without thinking about my lack of canning supplies. We are on a tight budget this year so I asked several people if they had anything that could get me on the right track and ended up empty handed. Determined to not let this gift go to waste I began researching. Freezing seemed like the right solution. We eat a lot of pizza, spaghetti and other pastas so I chose to make spaghetti sauce. As I began cooking I kept adding things from my garden. Here is what I came up with...

Garden Spaghetti Sauce (for freezing)
30 medium size tomatoes, quartered with skins
2 large onions, diced
4 large carrots, diced
1 small pepper, diced (I used green, since that is what I grew this year)
6 cloves of garlic, chopped
10 leaves fresh basil, chopped
2 T Dried Parsley
2 T Sugar
4 T Salt
2 t pepper

Place tomatoes, onions, carrots and pepper in large stock pot (I split it up into 2 pots since I don't have a large enough pot.) Cook on medium high with lid until boiling. Add rest of ingredients. Bring to boil. Reduce to simmer, keep covered. Let simmer for about an hour. Let cool. Put about 3 cups at a time into the blender. Whirl on high for 30 seconds. Split into 4 gallon size bags. Freeze laying flat.

I am so excited with how this turned out. I cannot wait to use this throughout the winter. 4 meals ready, using mostly fresh, garden vegetables! Also, I still have about 15 tomatoes left. So stay tuned!