Homemade Pizza Sauce

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Well, since I have been so very busy lately, this post is a little late in its usefulness, but if you don't have any late tomatoes hanging on yet, you can bookmark it for next year!

I have a great homemade pizza recipe and I like to can my own sauce for it. This is how I do a small batch- if I am doing a lot of tomatoes, I use different equipment and such.

I start out with some tomatoes from our garden and wash them off- Mom's scrubbies work so great for scrubbing those dried on leaves and dirt off of them without roughing them up! If I have Roma's, I just take off the tops and, if they are big, I cut them in half. Then I cook them until they are soft, adding only enough water that they don't stick to the bottom.
When they are ready, I use a big, strainy spoon to scoop them into my food mill which is placed over a pot.
Then, I crank that handle around and reverse and turn some more until just the skin and seeds are left. Kids also come in handy in this step!

This is what comes out the bottom!I cook that down for a loooooooong time until it is about halfway.Then I add, for every one cup of sauce I estimate is in the pot...

1 tsp .oregano
½ tsp. marjoram
½ tsp. basil
½ tsp. garlic salt

I use my canning funnel to ladle it over into clean jars, leaving about 1/2" head space.

Now, I skip a lot of official steps, but this one is a MUST- wipe the edges of the jars off! Otherwise you won't get a good seal.
Then attach the lids and bands.
And place in a water bath canner for about 30 minutes.See? Only 3 jars- this is a very small batch!

Take them out and let them cool on a towel on the counter. After about 24 hours, remove the bands and wipe them down.
Now, I skip some things like I said before. I don't keep my jars hot until I fill them, and I don't keep my lids in warm water until I am ready to put them on. But I do try to make sure that the filled jars and the water in the canner are close to the same temperature when I put them in. I have blown out the bottoms on many jars to learn this well. So, don't put cool sauce into boiling hot water or vice versa.

See? It is not that hard! Hard is this:

17 jars of salsa by myself in one day!

Ahhh... I did the last of my tomatoes up earlier this week. Some hot jelly today and then, when the Fuji apples are ready, applesauce and apple butter. Almost done!!!
We were blessed with a bountiful harvest from our garden this year. Did you grow anything?What foods do you like to preserve?