Jars of Good Stuff

 Thanks to this being one of our larger apple harvests, this was also one of my largest canning of apples years. 18 quarts of applesauce, 7 quarts of apple pie filling, and 7 pints of apple pie filling. This was the first year I actually had to go buy more jars. And we went through over 5 pounds of lemons. After all the applesauce, I gave in and actually bought one of these:

It made things much easier. I realized after the first batch though that I needed to follow the advice on one of my canning Facebook pages and set the slicer blade down so that I could hand cut the slices thicker. It slices them very thin so they don't stand up very well to the cooking involved in canning. 

My water bath pot is only able to hold 4 quarts at a time so I still would have to do my canning over a week or two but it wouldn't mean quite as many hours a night peeling and preparing the apples for cooking. I'm definitely looking forward to using this next year.

Now on to canning the remaining pumpkins given us from my mother's house before they start getting too soft.

Our pantry is feeling very blessed this year! And full.

Canning Weekend

Want to see something that makes me happy?

See. I was a busy little girl this past weekend. I canned more beans, some peaches that Hubby's coworker brought him (in juice not syrup -- I love doing that) and some apples (a combination of the ones we managed to grow on our tree and one or two others I had).

While it doesn't look like a whole lot, I did it in between going to the community yard sale and baking a batch of brown sugar cupcakes with salted caramel frosting (don't worry -- I plan to share).

Every time I look into our pantry and see those jars lined up on the shelf, it makes me smile. I love having organic food that was inexpensive or free ready to eat (and whose exact ingredients I know). I love feeling prepared to make a meal or snack without killing myself.

I love knowing that I have learned the skills necessary to be able to do that.

So, even though I recognize how silly it probably is, all those home canned jars sitting in my pantry make me happy. Did you know that happiness comes in a jar? :)

I Did It Again!

I tried canning dried beans again but this time with kidney beans. I use them all the time for things like chili and taco soup so it's nice to have them all ready to go.

Another success. I'm loving the convenience of these!

Oh, Beans!

I was really excited to read a post the other day about canning dried beans. And I gave it a try last night.

You might wonder why it would excite me to can dried beans. There are a few reasons.

The first is simple enough -- expense. I can buy dried organic beans for a lot less from my health food store's bulk bin than I can get the equivalent amount of already canned organic beans if I can even find organic beans in cans.

Also, most canned goods come in cans with plastic liners. When you can them yourself in glass jars, you don't have to worry about what's in that plastic -- no BPA's or any other nasty chemicals.

 Last year, the nonprofit Consumers Union found it in 18 of 19 canned foods it tested: Progresso Vegetable Soup topped the list with 22 micrograms of BPA per serving—116 times Consumers Union's recommended daily limit, which is based on animal studies. more on that


The final reason and probably the most important is convenience. One of the problems I have run into with changing how we eat is my own planning. I may unintentionally set myself up as being someone who always has a plan and is terribly organized. But I'm not. And I really don't purposefully want to portray myself that way. I have my good, organized weeks. And then there are my not so good, organized weeks.

While dried beans are easier to store, they also require more time to cook. If we want to have beans with a meal (like in soup or chili or refried beans, etc.), that requires me to soak the beans for a day, then cook them the next day.

Unless they are canned. If they are canned, I just have to pull a jar out of the pantry. I admit they don't look real pretty but I imagine if we could see through those metal cans, they would probably look about the same so I'm okay with that.

And that's why I'm so excited that Little House Living shared how to do it. I used quart jars so I had to adjust the amounts I put in but she gives pretty clear instructions. You can check out her instructions and her video here.

That Little "Plink"

I had several apples in the bottom of the fridge that had been there a while. I mentioned to Rugrat that I might make some applesauce. She was pretty happy about that idea.

So last night, I did just that while watching tv. I ended up with almost 3 little jars. The one that wasn't full enough to water process, I just put in the fridge to be used first.

Canning has always sounded like a hot, unpleasant, all day long lot of work. And it can be.

But the truth is you can make small batches of something in a short amount of time. I peeled and cut my apples while watching a sitcom. Combining tasks like that with something that is unproductive but enjoyable/distracting can make things go quickly.

Obviously, water processing is much easier than pressure canning but, more often than not, if you're just using up things in the fridge (like I was), you will be water processing since it's usually fruits that get old more quickly.

I know that I could probably have just frozen the extra too. But my freezer stays pretty full. And, in case of a power outage, these will still be safely sitting in the pantry.

Besides, hearing that little "plink" noise they make as they seal was a pretty satisfying way to end my day. It still makes me grin every time I hear it.

Even if there aren't as many little "plink"-s to hear.