Kitchen Helpers

This has not been my year with the garden.  Tomatoes are usually so easy but mine struggled--if they survived at all.  But one kind did manage to thrive, the Principe tomatoes.  I ordered the seed from Baker's Creek.  They churned out masses of small tomatoes.  How do you can a million teeny tiny tomatoes?

With a homesteading girl's dream tool.  A food strainer.  Mine is a Victorio.  Squeezo is another good one.  It's a miracle with a hand crank.  

Speaking of kitchen helpers, here's mine pushing the tomatoes in the hopper.

You simply put the whole tomatoes into the hopper, turn the crank and into one bowl goes the tomato sauce and into another fall all the skin and seeds.  

One bowl heads to the pot for spaghetti sauce, the other goes to the compost bin.  Zero waste.  You've got to love that.  And the whole thing is easy to assemble and disassemble for storage.  

A couple of other gizmos with gusto?

For just a few dollars this baby makes life so much better.  It cuts kernels off the cob or creams the corn in a matter of seconds just by sliding the corn down the blade.  

There's also my mandolin slicer, it makes pickles a snap.  I get beautiful, thin slices in no time.  None of these things need electricity to operate.  

I'm not trying to sell you anything, these are products I've had for years.  They are simply great products that make life easier.  And we can all use a little of that.