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Thought I would share:
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Crushed Tomatoes Canning

So if you are like most people starting out a garden for the first time you planted WAY too many tomato plants (I hear this all the time). What do you do with all those flippin' tomatoes!!! 

Well can them of course! Here is a super easy way to can some crushed tomatoes. Then you can use them all year long or right away. The first batch I made I didn't even bother to can but turned it into spaghetti sauce and canned that. It makes life a little easier for me to have spaghetti sauce on hand. 

If you have never canned before go here (someday there will be a link here) to learn some basics.

Crushed Tomatoes

Step 1: Pick yourself some good tomaters! I like to pick them just before they are all the way red and let them finish up on the counter. Still good this way and then you don't have to worry about bugs getting to them first.

Step 2: Get a big pot of boiling water going and next to it have a ice bath (culinary word of the day! ice bath: cold water with ice in it...very technical I know)

Step 3: once you got your water boiling (and I mean a rolling boil) drop your maters in.

Step 4: It will take a minute or two but soon you will see the skin starting to peel. When this happens, ladle them out and put them immediately into the ice bath. 

Step 5: Once they are cool enough to handle, peel off the skin and dice or crush to your own choosing. you could even leave them whole if you want. I like a pretty fine dice, but that's just me. 

Like I said, the first batch I turned into spaghetti sauce, which you can find the recipe here (again maybe someday there will be a link here) so I used them like you would any old can of crushed tomatoes that you crack open then processed the spaghetti sauce. 

Aren't they Pretty!

Step 5: If you are going to straight 'can' the crushed tomatoes then move along to the next steps with me. First Ladle them into your jars, I used a pint and a half Ball mason jars with a wide mouth. IF I was just going to put them in the freezer (for example my cream of whatever soup I don't really care what jar I use but for canning I always use Ball Mason Jars) Make sure you wipe the rims before topping with your processed lids. (boiled in hot water then kept warm till needed)

Step 6: Here you can do what you will. Some people like to add some salt to the top, I don't. I do add a splash of Lemon juice (1Tb per jar) and some sugar (1 tsp per jar) now I didn't add this to the ones I used right away, in fact I have canned crushed tomatoes without adding anything to it and it turned out just fine. Yes, the salt, sugar, and lemon will help the canning and preserving process but not vital if you are against it. I have never tried Honey or Agava substitute for the sugar so I don't know if that is a possibility. 

Step 7: Process in a bath of Hot boiling water. You want at least 2in of water covering the jars. Leave Jars to process (boil) for 50mins checking to make sure that there is still 2in covering the jars from time to time. 

Step 8: remove the Jars from the pot of boiling water. If there is one canning tool I say is a MUST for canning, is this jar lifter to get the jars out of the water without burning yourself

Step 9: Place on a towel and let it come to room temperature. Don't be tempted to re-screw the lids on (sometimes they get loose during the canning process) until 24hrs after taking them out of the bath, this may mess up the sealing process. After about 12hrs your cans should be set but some may take the whole 24hrs. Mine usually seal within the first 2hrs. You will know they sealed if you push down on the center of the lid and it doesn't pop back up. If they don't set refrigerate and use within a week or put in ziplock bags and freeze.

Now you have this fabulous finished product. Now you may be thinking WHOLEY CRAP! I DID SOMETHING WRONG! THE TOMATOES SEPARATED FROM THE WATER! Don't panic! The reason mine separated is because I did the spaghetti one day then threw the rest of my crushed tomatoes in the fridge until I was ready to can them. I did have to warm up my crushed tomatoes before canning them and this cooling then reheating process broke down the tomatoes more then if it was just straight canned. Like I said no biggie it's still ok! just give it a shake when its cool and all will be well again :)

IF this is your first time canning there are a few items I recommend getting. 

1. A large pot, I use a Granite Ware Steel/Porcelain water bath canner with rack (its cheep and you don't need anything fancy for starting out and the rack will help to lower the jars in) Someday I would like a pressure cooker because it opens up a whole new door of canning that can't be done in a water bath but baby steps...
2. A canning Kit (I have a Norpro 6 piece canning set but I don't think it is too big of a deal what you get) This will have your Jar lifter, wide mouth funnel, lid tighter, air bubble scrapper, tongs, and a magnet lid lifter.
3. Ball Dissolvable labels (These things are awesome! pretty labels and they wash off in the dishwasher)
4. Ball Mason Jars the size needed for what you are making

Crushed Tomatoes

aprox 3lb tomatoes peeled and crushed

1Tb lemon juice per pint and a half jar

1 tsp sugar per pint and a half jar

1 tsp salt (if desired)

Process in canner for 50-60minutes.