Piccalilli (Green Tomatoe Relish)

Oh, goodness, I took a picture last week of the pints of Piccalilli we made and it's nowhere to be found on the camera.  Well, nothing I can do about that. 
My neighbor told me to go pick all of her and her son's green tomatoes out of their gardens.  She was tired of canning and was done with the garden this year.  I happily spent an entire afternoon picking green tomatoes!  As the sun shone on my back I couldn't help but think how truly blessed I am to have such giving, friendly neighbors.  I savored my surroundings that day, as where I live is truly beautiful.  It's a humble, blue-collar, small town; quiet except for the birds chirping and an occasional car passing by in the distance.  It was a gift not only of tomatoes, but also of an enjoyable afternoon.
I had to leave the two laundry baskets of tomatoes right where I picked them as I couldn't pick them up.  Each weighed about 50 lbs, my husband told me.  I asked him to pick them up on the way home as he passed their garden.  He didn't realize how much there was!  Yes, he weighed them!
So what to do with all those green tomatoes.  Green tomatoe relish, of course!  We made 3 times the recipe and still had some tomatoes left over, but it made a dent just the same.  I got this recipe from another woman that lives in town; a farmer's wife.  She told me the recipe was delicious and she didn't let me down.  Here it is:

Green Tomatoe Relish
22 green tomatoes, quartered
2 small onions or 1 large, quartered
6 green peppers, quartered
6 sweet red peppers, quartered
1-1/2 qts vinegar
3-1/2 cups sugar
1/4 cup salt
1-1/2 tsp allspice
1-1/2 tsp cinnamon
4 tsp clery seeds
1/2 cup mustard seeds

Wash veggies put through food chopper, usng medium blade. Drain. Place veggies in pot, add 1 quart vinegar.  Boil 30 min, stirring now and then.  Drain and discard liquid. Return veggies to kettle and add remaining vinegar, sugar, salt and spices. Simmer 3 minutes.  Keep mixture simmering while packing jars. 
Pack into one hot, sterilized jar at a time.  Fill to within 1/8" of jar top.  Seal each jar at once.  Process in boiling water bath (212) for 5 minutes. Makes 6-7 pints.


          

A Simple Living Exercise

I never do two posts in one day, but I had to share this. I'm taking part and thought you might be interested, too, so if so, take a click and visit Rhonda's blog. Plan on staying for awhile; there's a lot of great information there.

Read the Meter

Rhonda, over at Down---to---Earth blog (see sidebar) has a challenge going to lower our usage and utility costs. I've decided to join her in an effort to lower our electricity usage and costs. If you pay for water, then you can do that, too. We have a well, so we won't be doing that portion. Anyway... we've read the meter for three mornings in a row and average about 40kwh, which comes to about $4.90/day. Now we are going to try to conserve. (Hear that, kiddoes, CONSERVE! which means to TURN OFF THE LIGHTS and SHUT DOWN THE COMPUTERS!) For some reason, my kiddoes, and yes, all of them, seem to know how to turn on the lights, but by golly, no one knows how to turn them off! And computers, YIKES! we've got four going all day and night. Three of us shut ours down before bed, but Kyle... leaves his on all the time even when he's gone for his 12 hour shifts! Anyway, we're going to conserve over here at Berkshire Cottage. I'll keep you posted as to how it goes. If you decide to join in, visit Rhonda's wonderful blog and leave her a comment. She'll be happy you joined!