So every year, I have one canning project. In the past, I’ve tackled various jams and jellies as well as cucumber pickles. Remember this post about pickled beets last year?

……

Writing it down, it doesn’t sound like it’s oh-so difficult, and I don’t want anyone out there to think that it is. Pickling is a simple process. Canning is a simple process. Both are very rewarding. But six hours on a Saturday of canning, including:

• Nine wet/beet-colored kitchen towels
• Four stock-pot-sized pans to clean
• Fluorescent cuticles
• Several pounds of beet tops to throw away
• Most of my excess jars I keep around

Yeah, it felt like a lot. Mainly because I made a lot. A whole heckuva lot of pickled beets. And in case you don’t believe me, here’s the photographic proof.

Note to self: 12 bunches of beets is more beets than you think.

…..

And they’re all gone. They were gone months ago. Quite a hit around here.

This year, however, I went a different route. I canned tomatoes. Not so many tomatoes as beets, but enough to last me for quite a while. As I mentioned on Twitter: “Peeled, stewed tomatoes look like brains, smell like pizza and make my kitchen look like murder.”

Thankfully, I don’t have florescent cuticles this year. Sadly, there still were causalities, including my beloved kiwi-green spoon rest:

And they just discontinued kiwi. Arg! There were also the endless dishes:

Help me, Rhonda. Wait, Rhonda. Where are you going? Help!

Stay tuned this week for a more detailed post about the tomato-canning adventures of 2011.