Too Many Tomatoes

I know its not baking related but I thought I would share my project for this weekend. We had entirely too many tomatoes on our 4 plants (and its only our first crop) so I had to do something with them. So, I canned them. I use lots of tomatoes in salsa and chili and other things, and what better way to save money and still have high quality than to can your own fresh tomatoes.
I peeled and roughly chopped the tomatoes and filled the jars, then water bath canned them. I got 9 pints of tomatoes, although one broke in the canner. I was so excited. I also have decided that I really want to can more stuff. I am not sure if it is just because it is something relatively new or if its the prospect of saving tons of money and still having what I need in the pantry. Now, all I need is more time to do all of my projects.

Independence Day

In honor of Independence Day I decided to make red, white and blue cupcakes. I made yellow cupcakes and then used Wilton's High Humidity Buttercream Icing recipe. I decided that I didn't want to chance the icing melting in the 50% humidity and 100+ degree weather that we have had here in Southern California. Then, I divided the icing into thirds and colored 1/3 red, 1/3 blue, and left the remaining 1/3 white. I used a large round piping tip (which I decided that I don't like on cupcakes) to do a red layer, white layer and blue layer. I was going to put silver sugar crystals on top but they wouldn't stick to the icing at all. Well, here is the final result...Have a Happy 4th of July and remember the service men and women who have protected our country.