Green Beans

I tried canning plain green beans this year. 

Cherry Pie Filling

Recipe from So Easy to Preserve

6 quarts fresh Cherries (I use bing), washed and pitted
7 cups sugar
1 3/4 cups clear gel
1 tsp. Cinnamon
9 1/3 cups water
1 tsp. Almond extract
1/2 cup lemon juice

Blanch cherries by putting 6 cups at a time in a boiling gallon of water.  Boil each batch for one minute after the water returns to a boil.  Remove fruits from blanch water and keep in a bowl, covered to keep warm while Clear Jel mixture is made.
Combine sugar, Clear Jel, and cinnamon in a large saucepan.  Add water and almond extract.  Stir mixture and cook over medium-high heat until mixture thickens and begins to bubble.  Add lemon juice and boil 1 minute, stirring constantly.
Fill jars with mixture without delay, leaving 1-inch head space.  Remove air bubbles.  Wipe jar rims.  Adjust lids and process immediately in a Boiling Water Bath.

Pints or Quarts: 40 minutes (original recipe 30 minutes, 10 added for altitude adjustment)

Pineapple

Pineapple was on sale last week for 99cents, so I finally took the plunge and canned my own pineapple, something I had wanted to try for some time, but just hadn't.  

Isn't it pretty!?

5 pineapples

4 cups water

1 cup sugar

Yields 5 pints (plus some extra pineapple got frozen)

Cut pineapples.  Place 4 cups of water and 1 cup of sugar in a large stainless steel pan.  Bring to a boil.  Warm the pineapple in the hot water for 1 minute, one layer at a time.  Use a slotted spoon to put warm pineapple into jars leaving a 1/2 inch head space.  Top pineapple with syrup used for warming pineapple leaving 1/2 inch headspace.  Wipe rim, add lid.  Process 25 minutes for pints.  

*Original recipe is 15 minutes, 10 minutes added for altitude.  

2015 Harvest

Just some notes for me....

36 pints TomatoSauce
7 pints Roasted Tomato Sauce
64 quarts Pears
23 quarts Vegetable Beef Soup
28 pints Chili
14 pints Salsa

Roasted Garlic Pasta Sauce

My mom gave me this awesome recipe this year, so I gave it a try.   

6 bulbs of garlic

3 T. olive oil

4 medium red, yellow and/or green bell peppers, halved and seeded
12 lbs peeled tomatoes
3 T. packed brown sugar
2 T. kosher salt
1 T. balsamic vinegar
1 t. ground pepper
2 cups snipped basil leaves
1 cup assorted fresh oregano, thyme, or flat leave parsley 
    (*I used 1/4 cup dried Italian Seasoning blend when I didn't have fresh)

*Bottled lemon juice

 Directions
 
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees (I used my grill and wrapped prepared

 peppers and garlic in foil and grilled 45 minutes) peel away the dry outer

 layer of the garlic bulbs. Cut top off and leave bulbs intact. Place cut side

 up on a casserole dish and drizzle with one tablespoon of oil. Cover casserole 
and arrange peppers cut side down on a foil lined baking sheet. Brush 
with remaining 2 tablespoons of oil.
 
Roast garlic and peppers 
for 40 -50 minutes or until the pepper skins are charred or the garlic 
cloves are soft. Cool garlic on a wire rack until cool enough to handle.
 Pull up foil to enclose the peppers. Let peppers stand for 15 to 20 
minutes or cool enough to handle.  Peel off skin and discard. Set aside 
peppers.
 
Remove garlic by squeezing the bottom of the bulbs. 
Place garlic cloves in a food processor and add cut peeled tomatoes into
 chunks. Add some of the chunks to the garlic in the food processor. 
Cover and process till chopped. Transfer chopped garlic and tomatoes to a
 7-8 quart stainless steel heavy pot.  Repeat chopping the remaining 
tomatoes in batches in the food processor. Add all the tomatoes to the 
pot.
 
Add brown sugar, salt, vinegar, and black pepper to the 
tomato mixture. Add chopped roasted peppers, basil and herbs to tomato mixture.

Bring to low boil and boil steady for 50 minutes stirring often.  Low boil 
for 10 to 20 minutes more or until mixture reaches desired consistency 

stirring occasionally. Spoon 1 tablespoon of bottled lemon juice into each 

of the hot sterilized pint jars. Ladle hot sauce into jars with lemon juice

 leaving a ½” headspace. Wipe jar rims, adjust  lids. 

Process jars for 35 minutes in a water bath at a full boil. Makes
 8 pints. (I can 7 to use later and use one for dinner)
 
 

Vegetable Beef Soup

This recipe has replaced my "stew" recipe.  While quite similar of a recipe, the tomatoes and seasonings in this recipe put that old recipe to shame.  I make two pots of this soup at the same time and can 6 quarts at a time.  (each batch makes 3 quarts or 6 pints)

• 1 1/3 pounds stew beef, cut into small cubes ( I used an inexpensive round steak)
• 4 cups beef broth (I used 4c water and 5 tsp better than bouillon beef soup base from Costco)
• 1 cup onion, chopped
• 3 carrots, peeled chopped
• 1 cup celery, chopped
• 2 large potatoes, peeled and cubed
• 28 ounces canned tomatoes (two pints home canned tomatoes) (I used 3 ½ c fresh puréed tomatoes from the garden)
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1 teaspoons salt, or to taste
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper.
• 1 ½ teaspoon Italian seasoning mix from Winco

 
 
Prepare 6 - 7 pint jars, lids, and rings (or 3 quarts). 

 
Cooking: 
In a stainless steel or enameled dutch oven brown meat quickly using a 
tiny bit of olive oil just so the meat won’t stick to the bottom of the 
pot. Add to the pot the rest of the ingredients and cook on medium high
for 10 minutes only just to combine the broth and spices! Turn off the 
heat. Ladle. 
 
Filling the jars: 
On a dishtowel place your hot jars in a semi circle leaving room for your pot that has your 
recipe.  Using your slotted spoon ladle the meat and veggies into the 
jar filling a little over half way then add the soup liquid into the 
jars leaving 1” headspace.  Remove air bubbles and refill to the proper 
headspace if necessary. 

Taking a clean papertowel, wipe the rims of the jars with white vinegar removing any food 
particles that would interfere with a good seal. Add lids and rings. 
 
Processing: 
Make sure your rack is on the bottom of the canner and place the jars in the pressure canner. 
 Lock the lid and turn up the heat bring the canner to a boil. Vent 
steam for 10 minutes, then close the vent by adding the weighted gauge . 

Process pints for 75 minutes at 14 lbs of pressure* and quarts at 90 
minutes.  
 
When complete turn off the heat and let pressure return to zero naturally. 

Wait two minutes longer and open vent. Remove
 canner lid. Wait 10 minutes then remove jars and place on dishtowel in a
 place that they will sit overnight to cool. Do not touch or move them 
till the next morning.
 

*Original recipe is 10 lbs pressure, 2 lb adjustment to altitude and 2 lb adjustment for my pressure cooker reading off.  
 
 
 

2012 Harvest

Pears                         72 Quarts
Salsa                         31 Pints
Beef "Stew"              10 Pints,  15 Quarts
Chicken Soup            4 Pints
Chili Con Carne        5 Pints
Chili                          9 Pints
Cubed Potatoes         14 Quarts, 14 Pints
Apple Pie Filling       23 Quarts