Rain ~ Taco Sauce ~ Shopping Tip

We have had a few days of stormy, rainy days, so I took the time to slow down.  For some reason, the busy summer days tend to zap my morning time too quickly. 

Oh, and we got hit by lightening (again).  This time I think the only thing it got was the cable box.  It sounded like a 22 shooting in the living room, and there was a flash of light.  We have a few lightning rods on the barns, but I think it's about time to get a few on the house....sigh...

Anyway, instead of rushing out to collect garden bounty, or to weed, or to hang laundry out on the line, I took the time to bake up a delicious garden breakfast.  I sliced a garden zucchini and red onion, and started to saute them.

And for the heck of it, I sliced up a few romas, and some home grown basil.

I whisked up some freshly collected eggs and topped my morning frittata with mozzarella cheese. 

I didn't have any homemade goat's milk ricotta or cream cheese on hand, but those top frittatas nicely too. 

After that wonderful breakfast, I decided to can taco sauce.  Although a risk with storms (and possible power outage), I did it anyway.

In all honesty, I should have gotten my veggies, for the taco sauce, on the stove first thing before breakfast.  I chop everything before I start chopping up the tomatoes.

Then I cook half the tomatoes, toss in the veggies and cumin, and then the other half.  I cook this for 1 1/2 hours until everything is soft, run it through the sauce maker and then back on the stove to thicken.  It's an almost all day process, so when Hubby asks if he if can bring home "taco stuff" I tell him no.  For pete's sake, doesn't he know that you gotta put it on the pantry shelf for a while, so you can look at your hard work?  And here he wants to pop it open the minute I can it.  

I did get 5 - 1/2 pints of delicious-ness.  

I learned something.  See that "9" at the beginning of the UPC number on organic label?  According to author Matthew Johnson (G.M.O. Free Diet), the "9" indicates the produce is organic.  If you see an "8" it means it's GMO.  I needed red bell peppers for my taco sauce (all green in the garden), and Hubby did good by bringing these home.