Using garden veggies – time & money saving tips

Home canned goods, fresh from the kitchen

Here’s a different twist to fried green tomatoes. When I was a child at home, mom would make us fried cucumbers. She would use the large – overgrown ones (probably as a way to use them up). Slice the cucumbers up into 1/8 to 1/4 ” slices removing any overly large seeds. Mom would roll them in flour, salt & pepper and fried them in hot oil in a skillet until they were golden brown. An alternative, if you want to use an egg-wash before flouring them. I haven’t had Moms cucumbers in years now, but they certainly were good.

For those who have or take the time to preserve pickles, tomatoes, etc, here is a more convenient way than the water bath method, the steam caner. It saves time, energy and water, plus the caner doubles as a stockpot and roaster. Steam canning is a quicker and easier way to process fruit, jams, applesauce, tomatoes and other high acid foods. It uses only 3 pints of water and cuts pre-heating time in half because there’s much less water to boil. Eliminates heavy lifting of racks, won’t boil over and helps to keep the kitchen cooler in the heat of the summer. Typically holds 7 qt or 9 pints.