Cool Beans...

Goddaughter #1, her son and daughter, and yours truly

They arrived by 10:00 Saturday morning, and we were off to the races. I had baked breakfast pizza that we all munched on while we worked. My eldest niece, Jen, her son, Liam, and her daughter came to learn and participate.

Great Aunt Donna and Liam

They made a special trip last weekend, just so this young man could deliver venison for his aunt and uncle. He harvested a beautiful ten-point buck during Minnesota archery season the previous weekend, and then froze about ten pounds of meat to share with us. As it was still hard frozen when delivered, we went to Plan B for the day.

Filling Jars

I had all the supplies to make a baked beans recipe (sans baking, as it's all done in the pot), so we got busy with that. Liam loves to cook and he wanted to learn how to process food with the pressure canner. 

Good to the last drop!

Liam's little sister sat across from us, watching the entire process as she did a little coloring with her mom. As we went through the process, I explained the whats and whys. 

First we made sure the jars were washed and clean with no chips along the rims. Then we placed them in the canner so they could warm up. Lids went into water and onto the stovetop so they'd be ready when we needed them. 

One pot held the navy beans, where they first boiled and sat for an hour. Then, they were rinsed and simmered for another thirty minutes to be ready to go into jars. While they were simmering, we measured out the tomato juice, tomato sauce, spices, chopped onion and vinegar, along with a bit of brown sugar. 

Liam - who loves all things culinary - was in charge of chopping up the raw onion, and stirring the combined ingredients until everything was ready to put into jars. Then, he did the heavy lifting to empty out the very last drop of sauce that topped the beans in each jar.

Our portion of the day's work

By the end of the day, we had processed a total of nineteen pints of beans. The recipe had an error, calling for 1-1/2 cups of beans for each quart, so the first batch of jars only had 3/4 cups of beans in each pint. I realized that we were going through a lot more tomato mixture than beans, but those jars were already in the canner. We adjusted for the second batch by putting the correct 1-1/2 cups per pint into the jars and ended up with leftover mix. I'll be doing more beans later this week to use up all the ingredients. Anyway, the second batch of jars processed perfectly and were brimming with beans as they should have been.

Handsome with Jen and Kids

Of course, we took lots of photographs before they left late day. We agreed to meet up on Sunday before they left Wisconsin because the beans were still too hot to jostle around in the car for them to go to my mum's house where they were spending the night.

Proud Aunty and Uncle

Jen was complaining about how she looked in the photographs, and after looking at them, I told her that she was gorgeous, but I looked like I'd been canning all day. lol

Then I shared another lesson with her. In the end, the only thing that matters is that you stand for the pictures. They're proof that you lived. These are memories of a wonderful day spent with family. Some day she and her children will look back on them and remember the time they spent with their aunt and uncle. Her mum - my sister - is gone now. All we have left are our photos and memories...and the love. That's what matters. Not that we weren't wearing makeup or it was just sunny enough so that we were squinting. Not that I'm wearing a comfy, old baggy pair of jeans and weigh more than I'd like right now. We lived, loved, and spent time together. These pictures are proof.

Jen with two of her three children

Here's my beautiful niece with two of her three children. The eldest doesn't come often. He has other things to do at his age, but he's always welcome. 

I met them all again at their stepdad's on Sunday to hand off a box of sealed and cooled jars of beans. I also sent them home with some of our previously canned venison, jams, relish, and other tasty treats. Liam was shopping in our pantry. I showed him how to save the empty, clean jars so they could come back here to refill later.

Jen had a very special gift for me, too, on Sunday which left me in a puddle of grateful tears. I'll tell you all about that tomorrow. This is a wonderful weekend, indeed.