I FINALLY Tried it For Myself!!!

Even though I've been canning for a lot of years now, one thing I've always wanted to do, but never tried before was canning my own soups! WELL... I did some research both in my Blue Ball Canning Book as well as online and I came up with this recipe!! I have to tell you... it really wasn't hard at all! What took me so long to give this a try?

I cheated and used baby carrots in order to avoid the step of

peeling them all! I used my food processor and sent through

3 pounds of carrots in no time at all and I did the same

with the celery!

Here we go...  the veggies & chicken meat all ready for the assembly line!

I boiled down the chicken (I used 4 good sized hens) and

picked off all the meat and cut it up into bite sized pieces.

1/2 cup of chicken

1/2 cup diced celery

1/4 cup diced onions

1/2 cup diced potatoes

1 cup sliced carrots

1 TBsp. fresh chopped parsley

and chicken broth (cooked with salt in it)

Introducing the pressure canner....  I have NO idea

how old my beloved canner is, but it is at least

30 years old, since I've

had it for a minimum of 25 years now!!

Depending on where you live (altitude does make all

the difference) will determine how long you cook it

and at how many pounds of pressure.

For me, once it gets to 11 pounds we let it cook for

90 minutes for quarts! IF YOU HAVE NEVER

USED A PRESSURE CANNER... PLEASE

DO RESEARCH AND GET INPUT FROM

                                               OTHERS BEFORE YOU ATTEMPT THIS!

Here are 7 of the 14 quarts of chicken soup

that we made! Can't wait to try it!

P.S. The water bath method is safe for HIGH acid foods (tomatoes, jellies & jams which use sugar, pickles which generally calls for vinegar.) The pressure canner is for LOW acid foods... veggies, meats etc.

Read up on food preservation methods... it can be a wonderful family activity! :)

May Can-Jam "Rhubarb-Strawberry Pie Filling"

This month's Can-Jam has been alot of fun! We had the choice between rhubarb and asparagus! What a difficult decision! BOTH are amazing! I found a lot of FUN recipes ... 

But, the winner is:

"Strawberry-Rhubarb Pie Filling"

I wanted to can something on the practical side. I came up with lots of ideas, but decided on pie filling!

I asked my husband's 88 year old aunt what she thought about this idea and if she had any recipes that would make this work. She said she'd look through her cookbooks. (mind you, she has well over 200 of them!) The following day she sent over an index card with this recipe!

This recipe is excellent for cherries, raspberries, blueberries
and the likes. You may wish to can in pints rather then quarts,
as you can use your own home canned pie filling in place of
 the commercial cans called for in many recipes.

Strawberry - Rhubarb Pie Filling

9 1/2 cups water

4 1/2 cups sugar

1 cup cornstarch
Combine in a large saucepan. Cook until thickened, stirring constantly.

Stir 7 quarts of fruit (rhubarb cut into chunks & sliced
strawberries) into syrup and ladle into jars leaving 1 inch
of headspace. (If the jars are filled too full, the syrup
will spew out in processing) Seal with lids and process in
boiling water bath for 25 minutes.

I ended up with 9 pints and I can't wait to make pies or a crisp!!

And I can't wait to try this recipe with other fruits!

PS...  The next time I do this, I will lessen the water to adjust for the natural juices of the fruits!

PS again...  I learned something new!! I never knew that there was such a thing as 'green' rhubarb! Where have I been? After all these years of eating rhubarb, I just never knew?! I saw some of the Can-Jammers use green rhubarb and then Pete brought home a bunch of it from his mom's patch. It will be made up into sauce and jams, but oh, the mind game of eating GREEN rhubarb...  
Ha ha ha! I just never knew....  but now I do! (I wonder if there will be a different flavor?)

2nd & 3rd Choices ... STILL RHUBARB!!

Well the first entry is the one I'm standing by "Strawberry-Rhubarb Pie Filling" but I just couldn't resist sharing the couple of other recipes I had to try! But, before I do, I want to make a plea for asparagus! I LOVE THIS VEGGIE... it is among my favorites, but somehow, canning it just doesn't do too much for me! I wanted to use my dill pickle recipe with it, but I need the fresh grape leaves & fresh dill heads and they won't be available for a while! I can buy the asparagus in the store easier then I can get my hands on the other so, that will have to wait till later this summer!

Strawberry-Rhubarb Jam     

2 cups crushed strawberries

2 cups diced rhubarb (4+ stalks)

1 pkg. powdered pectin

1/4 cup lemon juice

5 1/2 cups sugar        

            

Combine strawberries, rhubarb, lemon and powdered pectin in a large saucepan. Bring to a boil over high heat.  Add sugar stirring until dissolved. Return to a rolling boil. Boil hard for 1 minute, stirring constantly. Remove from the heat. Skim off the foam if necessary.

Ladle hot jam into hot jars, leaving 1/4 inch of headspace. Adjust the two piece lids and process for 10 minutes in a boiling water bath. It was so yummy that I made two batches!! Hopefully, I will get my hands on more rhubarb and make a couple more batches! (Thank you Ball Blue Book 100th Anniversary Edition for this awesome recipe!)         

NOW.... the last recipe that I tried is RHUBARB KETCHUP!! Yes, you read that correctly! We made a grape ketchup years ago from an old recipe and it came out awesome...  Pete thought it would be good to try it with rhubarb too! So... I did some digging and actually found a recipe for it here. The recipe is similar to the one we used before .... but not the same! So, here goes....

RHUBARB KETCHUP

  

4 Cups diced rhubarb

3 medium onions, chopped

1 cup white vinegar

1 cup packed brown sugar

1 cup white sugar

1 (28oz) can diced tomatoes, undrained

2 teaspoons salt

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 tablespoon pickling spice

Directions:

In a large saucepan, combine all the ingredients. Cook for 1 hour or until thick. Cool. Refrigerate in covered containers.  OK, now that is the directions given in the recipe....  here's what I did to modify it!

I used all the same ingredients and simmered it for about 1 hour. I let it cool down and then put it in my blender to puree it. Afterwards, I put it back into a saucepan and brought it to a boil and put it into 2 pint jars and a 1/2 pint jar and water bathed them for 10 minutes.

 I guess the best way to describe it would be to make a comparison...  what apple butter is to apple sauce, this rhubarb ketsup is to rhubarb sauce! It has a spicey & tangy flavor....  

Here's What I Get To See FIVE DAYS A WEEK!

I just wanted to share a few of the amazing things I get to see EVERY week day! As you know (or maybe you don't!) I drive children to school and home again. The kids that I drive live in rural areas and I've been blessed to see some beautiful sites! This morning I remembered to bring my camera to take a few pictures to show you! I pass by two lakes, a river, a couple of streams plus mountains and fields. Check these out:

                                                    I love the scenery...

Just another wonderful part of my job!

After all, someone has to do it....