I tried canning this year for the first time and decided it was very hot work indeed.:) Since I have a chest freezer that I never used, I decided to try that, and I have been making roasted tomato sauce in the oven and then freezing it. I can fit four pans in there, and I use all the different tomatoes I grow. Only one of them is a paste type. The stuff tastes incredibly good and makes the house smell good too. I do basically what molanic describes. I grew up eating homemade pasta sauce that slow cooked on top of the stove all day, and I think the roasted sauce is just as good and it's less work. Plus it is easy to freeze with no worries about modifying the recipe to suit canning rules. You get a lot more of a result when you process the skins along with the pulp also, and I do not find it causes any bitterness at all. I decided to confine my canning to low-risk stuff like fruit preserves. I do think it is a good point that canned foods last longer. I think freezing ends up embodying more energy, but to my mind, frozen food generally tastes better than canned. I don't like things too cooked. Except oven-roasted tomatoes! I had no idea that the electricity in Detroit was so undependable. When I lived in south Florida, it regularly would go out for the course of a day, but never for days at a time. I can't imagine what those poor folks in Galveston are going to do with no electricity for a MONTH.

We just replaced a basic 30" top freezer with a 33" SxS (i.e. very small narrow freezer), and are totally in love! At first we were looking for a French Door, but our cabinets were not high enough for them (unless we chose a 30" unit), a mistake we made when remodelling 5 years ago. We looked into the SxS since it gave us more options, and really liked the idea. Ice & water dispenser in the door (we love ice but I hate to make it, so I would just buy some packages of it every few weeks), easy access to fridge items, and some basic freezer stuff. Bear in mind that I have standalone manual defrost freezer in the basement where I keep most stuff anyways, so here go the frozen turkeys and most of that. Clearly a turkey wouldn't fit in the freezer part, but I can defrost it in the fridge part. We also kept the old fridge as an overflow, for big packs of beverages, and because we need more than just the space available with one unit: I buy tons of fresh produce every week, and pre-prepare meals on the week-end to reheat, so on Sundays my old fridge would be Tetris party, and it also meant some extra stop at the grocery at the end of the week for produce. Regarding the old concern, most platters & cookie sheet fit in my SxS, so I really have no issues with that either. The freezer access is indeed harder, most of all because of the bulky ice maker in the door, but we only store some ice cream, a bread loaf, ice packs, and some vodka & rum bottles in there. Lots of stuff is eye level now, doors are easy to open, fridge part is big, nice produce drawers, easy access to water & ice, we feel very happy with our purchase. We really thought that one out, and all the minus were OK for us. I guess there are many other in our situation.

If I am making a meat sauce, I start with some pork...like a chop or a small pork steak brown it in a little olive oil a Dutch oven, as its browning I chop a good big onion, or 2 smaller ones and a green pepper, Add the veggies to the pot along with 3 to 5 cloves of garlic, depending on how big the cloves are. When the onion has softened, add: 3 24 oz cans of good whole Italian plum tomatoes and 3 6 oz cans of Contadina tomato paste ( other brands are bitter!) Fill one of the tomato paste cans with a dry red wine and add to the pot, and fill the other 2 cans with water and add that to the pot. Add: A handful of fresh basil....about 1/4 cup chopped, and A handful of flat leaf parsley about 1/4 cup chopped, and 2 T fresh oregano leaves....and Fresh ground pepper, about 3/4 of a teaspoon....about 6 grinds of my Greek mill. And" 1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese. For this it really isn't necessary to use the "good stuff" because what you want from the cheese is the buffering the acidity of the tomatoes. Add the good stuff to each plate as you serve it. while the sauce is simmering...VERY slowly... make meatballs to put into it....I bake the meatballs and add them to the sauce pot, and simmer another hour. I also make a simple pomo d'oro sauce using fresh tomatoes. I sautee a big onion and half a green pepper in a couple of tablespoons of olive oil, add a couple of cloves of chopped garlic and about 2 quarts of peeled and cut up fresh tomatoes, a small handful of fresh basil and another of chopped parsley.....cook at a fairly fast boil until thick enough for you about 20 minutes. I use a big fry pan for this....salt to taste....it will take a fair amount as you have not used any canned products nor cheese. Linda C

If he does show up as an egg allergy double check if that's chicken only...I know more kids/people that have the "allergy" that can eat duck eggs or other fowl eggs just fine. Or limited..like 2-3 a week versus every day. Eggs are such a wonderful "protein & nutrients" of food..especially yard raised birds. ;) Get a few popsicle molds and make up those smoothies. The one my boys make is super simple. I pre freeze a chunked banana and a handful of organic or garden strawberries in baggies. They plunk that in the blender, blop in yogurt either plain or vanilla. If using plain they add a "pour" or squeeze of honey or agave. Then top it off with milk to the consistency they like. Some of the baggies have some blueberries in them too. They don't like peach or nectarine in them, but I do. They love raspberries or other "seedy" berries..but I don't. We don't put veg in them...but we didn't start this when they were babies. Oh and I really love Odwalla's Super Food Juice...it would be a great thing to use as the "liquid" too or freeze it in ice cubes and use it to "freeze" up milk and yogurt. And then there is the "pizza rolls" I make.. They LOVE them. I make Lou's Pizza Dough but... I've changed it up a bit. 1 c warm water 1 spoon of honey 2 1/4 t yeast pinch of Real Salt 1 T of EVOO 3 c flour I use 2 cup Organic AP and 1 c Organic WW Proof yeast in honey and water. Add in salt and oil..then stir in flour. knead until dough is smooth.. Let set while I get things together. My boys like it with homemade pizza sauce..simple as a can of tomato sauce, fresh minced garlic, fresh cracked pepper and a sprinkle of italian seasoning. Simmered for about 10 minutes to "Plump" the italian seasoning. Then nitrate free pepperoni or sausage and cheese. Usually a combo of mozz and cheddar..but really whatever might be in the fridge. Spread out dough like for a cinnamon roll in a rectangle..smear on pizza sauce, place on filling..and roll like a cinnamon roll..cut to desired thickness.. Bake in 400F oven until golden. They eat them hot and room temp. They get major oohs and ahhs when they take these in their lunch box or to the pool. I've also done Montery jack and taco "seasoned" meat and leftover broccoli and cheddar. For little fingers I'd divide the dough in half and do them up..makes "smaller" rolls. They freeze fine too. oh and I was looking for something else and the below blog popped up..I will steal a few of these for my "tween and teens" lunch boxes! Here is a link that might be useful: Toddler Tastes Blog