Blessed are the Speedmakers

For Family Home Evening this week, we read a message from President Eyring from a past issue of Friend magazine. The topic was being a peacemaker, which we thought was appropriate for our two boys, who lately have taken to pushing each other around. After Brandon read the message to us, we talked about what it means to be a peacemaker.

We played a little game - Brandon and I gave examples, and asked the boys to give a thumbs-up if it was a good example of being a peacemaker or a thumbs-down if it wasn't. We used real-life situations for them, such as "a big brother takes turns with his little brother" or "a little brother bites his big brother because he is frustrated."

While we were playing our little game, Mason and Danny were standing at the couch looking at a page out of the Friend. Before long, Danny started pushing against Mason, trying to knock him out of the way. Mason called out, "Danny's fighting! Thumbs DOWN!" Brandon and I couldn't help but laugh.

Later, while they were enjoying their snack (graham crackers with Nutella - yum!), I tried to get them to repeat the scripture with me - "Blessed are the peacemakers." My little Dan, who still struggles with the letter S, couldn't quite get the word out. He kept saying "blessed are the speedmakers." So cute! They were far more interested in running their Matchbox cars around a gameboard layout included in that issue of the Friend:


At bedtime, the boys and I read out of our scripture stories, as we do every evening:


Sidenote: we count this as our family scripture study, and it is really going so well! Usually it's all we can do to get Danny to sit down for the stories, but at least we're starting the habit. And Mason is always interested in any story that involves fighting and weapons. Go figure.

Anyway, as I left to put Danny in bed, I suggested to Mason that he say a personal prayer while I was taking care of Danny. Truthfully, I didn't expect him to do it - after all, I've never seen him say a prayer on his own before and usually he protests whenever we ask him to offer the prayer. But you know, this time he didn't even question it. I looked back as I left the room and I watched him kneel by the side of his bed, fold his arms, and begin to pray out loud. You can't imagine how my heart swelled. This is the same little boy who, just months ago, flat-out refused to say prayers. I am just so pleased with the progress he's making.

It's definitely hard to know sometimes whether the things we do are sinking in, and it's easy to become discouraged. We've spent many a Family Home Evening chasing these guys down and dragging them back into the living room. As a friend of mine remarked once, sometimes it seems like Family Home Evening is the only argument that starts and ends with a prayer! But tonight I felt such a sense of peace as I watched my four-year-old son pray on his own. We must be doing something right.

Pass the tomatoes, please

Well, as previously discussed, we have an abundance of fresh tomatoes right now. I thought I'd share some things I've made lately using our own produce.

Have you ever bought these?


They are frozen lightly breaded chicken tenderloins. They're delicious! We eat them all the time, and this is one of my favorite iterations. It's a fresh tossed salad, with sliced chicken on top and Caesar dressing. I like to shred my own cheddar cheese, which I think adds to the yumminess. Delicious!


Tonight, we had pasta with homemade tomato sauce and tossed salad. This is one of those meals I can actually count on the kids eating.


Mason won't touch the sauce, though. He must come by it honestly - when I was little, I would never eat spaghetti sauce. My mom always made me plain buttered noodles. Like mother, like son!



You could make this healthier with whole wheat pasta, I suppose. But isn't it pretty?


We've also had BLTs, tomato and cucumber salad, tomato and cheese sandwiches, and just plain tomatoes. And the vines are still loaded. I am open to your tomato suggestions...

Just call me Suzie

Suzie Homemaker, that is. Today, I canned homegrown tomatoes.

Given our abundance of tomatoes, I figured I'd better learn to can tomatoes fast, or else start giving them away to everyone I know. So, I borrowed my parents' pressure canner and prepared for the big event.

Luckily, I already had jars and lids on hand, thanks to my mother-in-law, who gave me several boxes of canning supplies when they moved a few years ago. My dad supplied the citric acid and the canner, and I was all set!

Look out, tomatoes. You're mine!


Now, it should be mentioned that this pressure canner is the same one my parents used when I was growing up to can produce from our garden. Check it out:


I especially love the "Modern Guide to Pressure Canning." It was published in the year of my birth! I feel so modern. I also admire the lovely yellow color. I believe it's called "goldenrod."

Whenever I partake in the traditional domestic arts, I like to look the part. Accordingly, I donned my grandma Odene's favorite apron, which, if I am not mistaken, also hails from the decade of my birth. Mason took this picture. It took about 5 tries for him to take one that included my head:


Before getting started, I earnestly studied the directions. In a way, I felt like I was back in the lab again, carrying out an experiment. My greatest fears were (1) scalding someone, and (2) blowing something up. Thankfully, I managed to avoid both.

Here are the original instructions, which came with the 1974 Presto Canner:


I got to work prepping the tomatoes and the jars. I boiled the jars to sterilize and heat them up while I worked on the tomatoes.


First, I cut the stem and tough part out of the tomatoes, then plunged them into boiling water for about 30 seconds. Then I pulled them out and ran them under cold water to easily remove the skins.
Next, I cut the tomatoes into smaller pieces and threw them in the pot. I heated everything up for 10 minutes or so, then started filling the jars.


I filled the jars, leaving about a 1/2 inch of headspace at the top. I added 1 teaspoon of Kosher salt and 1/2 teaspoon of citric acid to each jar, then stirred it gently with a rubber spatula to get rid of any air bubbles. Then I put the lids and rings on and placed my precious jars into the canner. Then I said a quick prayer that I wouldn't blow anything up.


I should say at this point that my little helpers were far more interested in playing with the jar lifters. Here's Danny, lifting his teddy bear. They thought this was great fun.



I followed the Presto instructions and set up the canner, carefully exhausting all the air and then adjusting the pressure to 5 pounds. Look! It's working!

I processed my precious cargo for 8 minutes, as prescribed by the Presto, then removed from the heat and allowed the pressure to return to zero. I cautiously removed the lid and used the jar-lifters to place my beautiful jars onto the towel. One by one, I heard the much longed-for "ping!" It worked!


In the interest of full disclosure, I had to re-process one of the jars several times. Three times, to be precise. I finally figured out that I wasn't tightening the ring enough prior to processing. Once I corrected that, it worked like a charm. Presto!

Look at me! I can! I'm a canner! I can!

I am so proud of myself. I called my dad at work just to tell him I canned tomatoes and managed to do so without any major catastrophe. I updated my Facebook status to reflect the same. Exciting stuff!

It's kind of fun to learn something new and add another skill to the mix. I feel so... retro. Seriously, though, it's something I've always wanted to learn. I'm glad I gave it a shot. And come winter, it will be nice to have garden tomatoes for chili and soup and lasagna. At the rate our tomato plants are going, there'll be plenty more to can before the season is over.