 I have an actual recipe for this. See? It even has stains on it that show how much it has been used. My mom has been making this all my life I think. She got the recipe from my Aunt Lucille Goetz, so I consider it family heirloom recipe.
I made mini meatloafs and collard greens a few days ago, and am still enjoying them, but have been using store bought ketchup, since I ran out of the homemade kind. It just doesn’t do it for me — the store-bought kind, I mean. So…
 
 my crock pot is in use again tonight, making ketchup for the rest of my meatloaf. Hopefully, by morning this will all have reduced by one half, into the wonderful ketchup I love and enjoy so much. And hopefully I’ll be able to can a couple of extra jars this time so I won’t run out so fast. The last time I made it I had to cut the recipe in half because I didn’t have any empty jars to can the extra in, but now I just happen to have a couple or four, so I can make the full recipe.
Well, I call it the full recipe, but actually, mom cut down the full recipe to one gallon of tomato juice, instead of the five gallons we used to use back in the day. And since I can’t stand at the stove stirring the way I usta, I now stick it in the crock pot, so I don’t have to stir it at all, unless I want to. But since I make it at night now, I usually sleep thru it, and if I’m lucky I can smell it when I wake up in the morning. Life without a sense of smell kinda sucks at times, but I can live with it. We all have to live with some kind of stuff, so I guess we all learn to adapt. No matter what the problem, it could be a lot worse.
The ketchup reminded me of a Sunday dinner when I was a kid, and mom had fixed roast with all the trimmings. Something she made required ketchup, but I don’t remember what it was. Maybe she made meatloaf instead of the roast. Anyway, we had mashed potatoes with it, and my uncle was visiting for dinner. Since it was the homemade ketchup, mom had to find something to put it in instead of plopping the jar on the table, so she found a gravy boat that we seldom used. My uncle, thinking it was gravy, poured a huge amount over his mashed potatoes, before any of us could warn him that it was ketchup. Mom tried to talk him in to letting her get him another plate, but he insisted it was okay, he liked the ketchup. He then ate the entire helping of ketchup covered mashed potatoes, and told mom they were delicious. I have kinda wondered since then…..
 Since it’s Autumn, I just wanted to share this lovely photo of a local market where they have fall produce on display. I’m still hoping to get some pumpkins for all of the pumpkin recipes I’ve been downloading lately. Pumpkin is one of my favorite flavors, especially this time of year. I could eat my weight in pumpkin pie, but then I would have to just keep on eating as my weight kept increasing until I eventually just blew up. I guess it would be correct to say, I love pumpkin pie. And of course, my mom has the best recipe for that also. Since all of her recipes are handed down thru family members, I guess it would be safe to say that when I cook anything according to a recipe, I’m carrying on a Blandford or Goetz tradition. And even when I tweak one of the recipes because I don’t have all the ingredients called for, it’s still the same tradition.
It would be nice if I could say my daughter is carrying on that tradition, but she is a vegetarian, so out go all the meats, chicken and fish. She does eat cheese, so our mac and cheese is still almost safe, except for some of her additions. Gritty chickpeas, which I am not a fan of, tofu — ditto. She once told me I should become vegetarian, and I told her when she gets her dad to start eating tofu I would become vegan. She admitted defeat instantly, because we both know he will be a meat and potatoes man the rest of his life. I can go with veggies and meatless meals, and do quite often, but I could never completely give up meat. How can anyone from Daviess County live without burgoo? She grew up eating burgoo. Where did I go wrong? Unfortunately, I know what happened. We let her go to UK to college. When she left home she decided to stop eating meat. So, Mamas, Don’t Let Your Babies Grow Up To Be Vegetarians. Willie almost had it right.
A.
Angie's Place 
How right you are. Sorry it took so long to answer, but I finally found the dollars to get the computer fixed, so I got it back today and it is working like new. I have to admit I took my rubber mallet to it at one point, but nothing inside it broke, so I guess I didn’t really get too agressive with it. Anyway — I’M BACK!!!!! And I’ve been taking photos for a week and almost pulling the rest of my hair out just waiting til I can get to my email and start blogging again.
I’ve started hanging up on people who annoy me also. I just don’t need their shit on top of my own, so they can take it somewhere else, or I’ll tell them where to put it. Ya’ just might say I’m a bit more empowered, even if I still can’t stand on my own two feet without support, but hey, I can still get where I need to go one way or another. That is what counts for me.
I have always cared for other people before I cared for myself, but have lately learned that I have to come first, and if anything is left over, then I can give it to the rest of the world. Slow learner, but still learning.
AGW
Hey angie, labido comes and goes, with age it tends to tail off in my experience anyway, and that’s a positive thing as chasing women takes up too much time and energy anyway !
You did the right thing take care of your family and using money wisely is a very good lesson to learn, I wouldn’t call it mean, it’s using my brain in my book.
Relationships tend not to be permanent, I know this from my own experience. It’s the journey that matters and the end game of security often doesn’t work out how we expect. That’s life, been much the same for me. Make hay while the sun shines they say in england.
As for people taking their shit out on me, I don’t put up with it, family or no family doesn’t make any difference. I’m patient, but in the end, I just put the phone down and stop answering calls. People need to learn to deal with their own emotional problems, if they can’t then get help with them. Of course I care about people, probably a bit too much, but enough is enough, I need to make sure I’m ok.
TC
Cheers Don Charisma
Hey angie I’ve always liked ketchup, was a Heinz devotee for most of my life. Recently discovered Roza ketchup, which is better, think it has some other veggies in it that gives it and extra tang. Cheers Don Charisma dotorg & dotcom
Bet it’s still not as good as my homemade, passed down from my grandma. It can be made as tangy as you want, and as hot as wanted. And being a red hot mama, I love it hot. Extra vinegar and adding home dried jalepeno powder adds that little extra kick.
Angie, I bet it isn’t, your description has me salivating ! Tomatos are such an awesome vegatable (err, fruit), Pizza is my favourite, love the combination of Tomato and Basil, for me a match made in heaven:) Interesting fact about me, I don’t really like them raw since a kid. I can eat in small quantities, and do regularly try. Bit like my friend Danny the Olive-disliker, keeps on trying olives but can’t seem to get any passion going for them … Hope you are well, Don Charisma dotorg & dotcom
I’m not crazy about them raw either, but my homemade is definitely the best ever. I love pizza too, but would rather have lasagna. And darn, lasgna noodles were on my grocery list that I forgot to take with me today. Don’t know why I bother making the lists because I always forget them. I did make some really good tomato leather though, and eat some of it on occasion, but mostly cut off bits of it to put in other dihes. Just got thru fighting with my computer, and this time it almost won. I’m gonna borrow a gun from a guy down the hall and shoot it some day, if I can just figure out how to exlain the bullet hole to my insurance company. Might be better to drop it. I’m really good at dropping things.
LOL PMSL You’re funny Angie !
I’ve often pondered the claiming on insurance, but the conclusion I came to is that I’m not that good of a liar !
There are many ways to destroy a computer, but if you’re gonna claim on the insurance, suggest you decide which type of “accident” is the most plausible and effective in getting a new one, first 🙂
For me eating raw tomatoes is like eating raw potatoes (spell checked added the extra e on both tomato and potato)…Pizza=food of the gods (for me)…Also love baked tomatoes with olive oil maybe a bit of rosemary…not tried the leather, presumably similar to sun-dried toms which I love too. I cook my own pasta sauce, influenced by a visit to Modena in Italy, and my ex-gf’s mum’s cooking, awesome. My idea is to combine different tomato flavours, so I use concentrate (purée ?), pasata and fresh. The fresh take a long time to cook as you prob know, so tend to dice them, then nuke in microwave. Extra Virgin Olive oil, basil, perhaps some puree’ed onions/garlic. Additional veggie flavours gives extra dimensions. And maybe some chilli to arabiata’ise it. Trick I learned for making pasta&sauce “properly” was to cook the pasta till aldente (still a little firm to bite). Then kind of “fry” the sauce into the pasta. That is heat the sauce, very hot with a little oil, drop in the pasta and keep stirring constantly for a few minutes (I’ve seen Italians do this in frying pan, but can use boiling type pan same). The pasta changes colour to that of the sauce, and the pasta and sauce are no longer separate entities. Serve with very finely grated fresh regiano parmazan (others just won’t do). And a meal fit for a king!
I know you’re an accomplished chef’ette, so didn’t mean to teach my grandmother to suck eggs:)
Cheers
Don Charisma dotorg & dotcom
That method of “frying” the pasta in the sauce sounds good. Just might give it a try. I make my own sauce also, when my son doesn’t bring me jars of Ragu. He works as head of maintenance at the company that bottles it and sometimes they have some made up that the company that ordered it decides they don’t want, so the employees get it free. His wife and kids are tired of it, so he brings it to me. That’s what I used to make my tomato leather, because I prefer my homemade sauce to the bought stuff, but didn’t want it to go to waste. As far as cooking the tomatoes, invest in a pressure pan and cook them in it. Just takes a few minutes, and you won’t blow yourself up if you let the pressure out before you try to open the top.
My daughter says I don’t have a poker face, so it would be hard for me to lie my way out of any kind of “accident”, but at the same time, I do have a long history of dropping things. I’ve probably broken 10 sets of dishes, and one of them was before I washed them, so that one didn’t bother me as much as the ones I had washed and was putting awy when dropped. Now I use plastic or paper, although I’ve found that the plastic can break if it hits the floor just right. Broke my TV a couple of weeks ago, but I was taking it out to replace it anyway, so that was okay. Just dropped it on the floor and heard a lot of clinking sounds inside it.
Yeah, life sometimes sucks, and sometimes it sucks more than eggs. Someday I should tell you all about the origin of the word “crud”.
Hey Angie, You’ve inspired me to do a detailed post on my tomato paste cooking, so watch you inbox…
Things break in life, I’ve stopped getting so annoyed about it. My girlfriend broke a cup the other day, looked at me to find out if I was annoyed, not really, why I’m annoyed? She didn’t do it on purpose and things do break, and an inexpensive cup, no biggie. I suppose within that I usually try and use care and caution in order not to break things, but doesn’t always pay off !
Sometimes life sucks, you’re right. I reckon we just have to do our best to recover from life’s breakages and losses and be happy as we can. Nothing lasts for ever, not even marriages these days!
TC
Don Charisma dotorg & dotcom
Looking forward to reading about your tomato paste Don. And I know all about marriages breaking up. Mine lasted 30 years, then when we found out I have MS he was gone. Well, actually, I was kicked out, since he owned the place before we got married, but that was it for him. His loss. Funniest thing though, I’ve heard from his latest wife, a friend f mine actually, that he keeps telling her he wishes she would let me give her some cooking lessons. So I gave her lesson number one — if he complains about it, pick it up off the table and throw it out to the dog. I had to do that about six weeks into our marriage, when he told me I didn’t cook like his mom. After that I never heard another word about my cooking from him.
I don’t really sweat it when things break around here anymore. Had a really wild ride to the doctor’s office today so will probably be writing about that tonight. I’ve just learned to laugh it all off — most of the time. One day a year still breaks my heart, but nothing much will cure that, so I just ride it out, and let the rest of the year take care of itself. Having too much fun to care about the small stuff these days, unless you count this danged computer. But if I didn’t have it to fight with I’d have to go out and find another man, and just don’t want that much nonsense any more. Easier to take my rubber mallet to the computer than my cast iron skillet to a man’s head.
It’s an odd thing loyalty, my ex-wife told me she wanted to see us grow old together…anyway, I found someone else I love just as much so doesn’t really matter, and in some ways lucky I found out when I did.
I’ve only ever met one person with MS, my father doing some work for her when I was growing up. She was a lovely lady, just got a feeling of warmth from her. I think our own suffering can help us really appreciate the value of kindness.
My computer(s) frustrate me just as much, sometimes I win and sometimes I don’t. The trick is like you say don’t worry about the small stuff too much. Sometimes, just taking a break and coming back a bit later solves the problem:)
Yeah, last night I just shut it down and walked away Got a great night’s sleep, really didn’t want to get up this morning but my phone stated ringing early and then people started coming in so finally had to. Got signed up for therapy to try for balance adjustments. MS isn’t a lot of fun, but it can be funny when you start realizing you have to live with it or just curl up and wait to die. I’m not the curling up kind of person, unless I’m curling up with a good book and a bag of apples. Or just not wanting to get up on a cold rainy morning. I’ve had MS so long I wouldn’t know what it’s like not to have it. I’ve never actually wanted another guy. The first one soured me on all of them. He was all sweetness and love until after the ceremony was over, then abusive and mean as a snake after the honeymoon. And he couldn’t even remember our kids names, even though the older son is named afte him, and strangely enough, his name is Don. I think he has met his match with Kaye. She gives back more than he can put out, while I didn’t have the energy, what with keeping house, raising kids, cooking for the farm hands, taking care of the garden, canning and freezing everything I could get my hands on, making quilts, making clothes for the family, and so many other things I can’t remember them all now. I do remeber having to chase herds of stupid cows up and down the road several times a week, because he didn’t take the time to maintain the fences. When I finally told him the next time they got out I didn’t care where they went, I was not going to chase them again, he finally fixed the fence. Of course, that was after they got out in a neighbors cornfield and sorta mowed it all down and the neighbor called him and told him how much he owed for the corn crop, and that the next time they would all be hamburger. The only thing he ever listened to was anything that affected his pocketbook. I got the last laugh on that one also, but won’t tell how, in case the statute of limitations hasn’t run out on that one yet. See ya tomorrow.
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The therapy sounds like it could help and a positive direction. I don’t know much about MS, other than you suffer a lot.
For the male-female relationship dynamics, it’s such a minefield, I tend to stay out of it. I can appreciate people have had tough times with husband/wives, it’s no bed of roses on the male side. I’ve experienced the man’s side of that equation first hand, and it’s very challenging to be a perfect husband. I’ve received many of those criticisms myself first hand. I didn’t like them then, and now I don’t pay much heed to them, because I know I’m doing the right thing.
My general ethos was to make sure that we had enough money for the long haul, be gentle and kind as possible, whilst do my best to be strong through the storms that often erupt. But that relies on working together, both doing the same for each other. I used to work 16-18 hours a day, 7 days a week, whilst I’d come home find a dirty house and her lying on the sofa watching rubbish on TV, still have to cook my own meals, still have to clean the kitchen myself, and complaining that I hadn’t cleaned it. She was all sweetness and light at the beginning too. I made a lot of mistakes, but that’s life, learn from it and move on, plenty more fish – there’s usually another fish that wants me and a bit kinder than the last, and actually wants someone they love around them.
TC
DC
Yeah, I’m sure the therapy will help a lot. I’ve had it before, and it’s usually so much better than pills, which so many doctors try to give you for things you know they won’t help, so I’ve ditched most of the meds. There are a lot of men in my building looking for women, and I’ve had a lot of offers, but one of the sad facts of MS is that it just destroyes any kind of sex drive you ever had before. And as for my ex, I should have known when he and his brother left our wedding reception together to look over a house that was being built next door to the reception hall that his brother would always come first. If I had been smart I would have just gone back home and had it annulled immediately, instead of staying there and listening to his family teasing me about him running out on me already. He put all of his money into the farm, and I was expected to feed and clothe the family and feed the farm hands on $50 a week. That was why I had to do all the garden, canning, sewing, making quilts, and other things just to keep us all fed, clothed and warm. And after all that, I discovered in the end that all the nights he was out checking the fences, he was actually in the neighbor’s office with his wife, checking her. My only thought at that time was hoping he gave her the same STD’s he gave me. At least it’s all behind me now, and from what I’ve been hearing he’s in bad health and his present wife doesn’t like taking care of sick people. My profession, when I was allowed to work, was taking care of sick people, so what goes around really does come around. I’m happy now, probably for the first time in my life, find something to laugh about every day, and if I can’t laugh at it I can cuss at it, so it all comes out the same. And I really do have a large vocabulary of very choice words that I’m trying very hard not to use any more, since I inadvertantly used a few at my mom’s house one day. Don’t know why, but she can still make me feel like I’m 2 years old and guilty of some huge crime against humanity. And when she uses my full name, I know it’s time to get out of Dodge. Harder to leave her in mid-rant now that I can’t drive, but actally easier to crawl home than listen to another lecture from her. Take care, Angie
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