Ketchup Revisted, Make Your Own Homemade

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It's tomato season again. There's so many, so why not make ketchup again. It was so good last time, I could hardly stomach the bottled stuff when I ran out. So this time, I got serious. I check out what Cook's Illustrated had to say and then revised my recipe yet again. You can be a purist, but I wanted some something sweet and a bit tangy this time. Go ahead, be bold, make ketchup!

Ingredients:  (note: adjust quantities to your desire. This makes about 3 quarts of ketchup)

• 20 lbs tomatoes
• 2 large onions
• 8 cloves garlic
• 1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
• 1/3 cup coconut sugar (or other sweetener)
• 1 can tomato paste
• 5 tablespoons coconut oil (or other fat)
• 15 cloves
• 5 bay leaves
• 10 peppercorns
• 3 tablespoons celery seed
• 2 tablespoons allspice
• salt to taste

First things first. Get those tomatoes peeled. 

Boil a large pot of water. Core all your tomatoes. 

Using a slotted spoon, place tomatoes in water for up to a minute or until skins split.

Remove with spoon and immediately place in large bowl of ice water. 

Put next batch in boiling water. While waiting, remove skins for first batch. 

Go on like this until all tomatoes are peeled and happy. 

Now get ingredients up to garlic sauteing in half the oil until translucent. 

Add tomatoes and veggie mix to a food processor until desired consistency is attained. 

Return to pot and add vinegar, sugar, and paste.

Saute cloves in oil for 10 minutes to infuse. Remove cloves and add oil to sauce. 

Gather all your seasoning in a cheese cloth and tie with a string. Add to sauce. 

Cook sauce on simmer for a few hours until desired consistency. I simmered mine for 3 hours. Don't forget to stir occasionally. 

Ketchup can be stored in jar in fridge and frozen in zip lock bags. Enjoy ketchup all year round. 

Homemade Ketchup: a healthier version

I am never going back to buying ketchup. My family loves lots of ketchup and it often gets kind of pricey. Especially since my youngest decided he likes his carrots dipped in it too. After realizing how much sugar was in each tablespoonful of this lovely condiment, I decided it was time to make my own. And I feel much better about feeding this sauce to my family. And the taste is amazing! I swear you'll never go back. I made a double batch and wish I'd made more to freeze. 

Ingredients:

• 4 medium onions, chopped
• 5 garlic cloves, chopped
• 7 lbs whole tomatoes, skinned and chopped
• 1/2 cup coconut sugar
• 6 drops liquid stevia
• 1 cup cider vinegar
• 1 teaspoon whole cloves
• 1 teaspoon whole allspice, crushed
• 2 cinnamon sticks
• 1 teaspoon celery seed
• 2 teaspoons dry mustard
• 1 teaspoon paprika

optional: 1 teaspoon smoked paprika and/or 1/4 teaspoon cayenne (for a smokier and spicy version)

Directions:

Saute onions and garlic for about 10 minutes making sure not to burn. 

Now core your tomatoes and chop into large or medium sized chucks. 

When onions are translucent, add tomatoes and bring to a boil. 

Cool and then blend (food processor or blender works).

Now pour back into pot, add all other ingredients, and bring to a boil again.

Simmer for half an hour or until desired thickness.

You can can it at this point or put in fridge and freeze the extra.

I put mine in glass jars and used the plastic Ball jar tops to freeze them. 

Keeps in fridge about a month and freezes very well up to a year.

Yumm!

Note: If freezing glass Ball jars, I first place them in the fridge for a day, then place them in the freezer and they do just fine. A plastic Zip Lock freezer bag works well too. 

Make your Own Gluten-Free Flour MIxes, top 3 best!

It's time to give you all the low down on how to make your very own gluten-free flour mix. When I run out for some odd reason (usually laziness), I turn to Bob's Red Mill Gluten-free Flour Mix which does an excellent job as well.
But usually, I make a big batch of sweet rice flour blend that lasts me a month or two depending on how late I stay up to bake. This recipe is adapted from one of Carol Kininski's books (amazing flour chemist and baker!)
Of course I always leave out the xanthan gum (she recommends 4 tsp per batch) and substitute it with my flax/chia seed combo with great results.

I take a large gallon glass jar, put all the flours in, put the lid o tight, and shake, shake, shake! Store until needed.

• 4 1/2 cups white rice flour
• 2 cups potato starch (not flour!)
• 1 1/2 cups sweet rice flour
• 1 cup tapioca starch

Note: Add in flax/chia seed combo per recipe, not here.

The last of the great gluten-free flour mixes that I've found is by the wise Bette Hagman. She is one of the pioneers of gluten-free cooking. This mix is called the featherlight mix and bakes well. Again, I use a big jar, put all the flours in and just give it a good shake for a few minutes.

• 3 cups rice flour
• 3 cups tapioca flour
• 3 cups cornstarch (you may sub potato starch as well)
• 3 tablespoons potato flour (not starch! Sometimes i just leave this out and it's just fine)