Sustainable Saturday - Gardening with Children: A Series Documenting our Garden 2010 - Making Your Garden Last

As Fall is now here, I wanted to share my first attempt canning from several weeks ago.  This past week we actually ended up eating what we canned! 

Unfortunately even with a basket full of tomatoes, I ended up with only two small jars of San Marzano Tomato Sauce.  We ended up eating it over Spaghetti Squash which was absolutely delicious! 

Preserving by Oded Schwart is the book that I referenced in my first canning adventure.  I borrowed the book from a friend and in addition the friend gave me two large shopping bags full of canning jars that she no longer needed.

I followed the following guidelines for canning tomato sauce:

• I placed the tomatoes in boiling water for a few minutes to peel off the skins.
• I peeled the tomatoes, cut into pieces and cooked down with onions, garlic and fresh spices.
• Meanwhile, I boiled a large pot of boiling water and sterilized the jars, lids and seals.
• Once the sauce was finished, I placed the sauce in the jars and sealed them.
• Then, I once again placed the jars filled with sauce back into the large pot of boiling water to seal them for storage.

It is important to note that other than the canning jars themselves, I used no special canning equipment. I have two large stock pots which served as the place to cook the sauce and boil the jars.  I did find that the jars rattled at the bottom of the pot and would find it useful to have a metal rack for the bottom of the stockpot.

The heat processing process is time consuming, however I really wanted to experience the canning process this year for future reference. 

Spaghetti Squash Marinara with Italian Sausage and Garlic Bread


This recipe is super easy to make, the spaghetti squash roasts and peels from the skin VERY easily.  I did not use Italian Sausage in the version I made simply because I wanted to fully taste the homemade sauce that we had canned the week before.