Monday was quite productive. Let me first explain my motivation for canning the sorts of things I show you. When prices started climbing a few years ago, I got miffed because the Pastorelli Pizza Sauce we used to purchase by the case had gone from $.99 a can to $1.79. We were already growing tomatoes, so canning our own pizza sauce was the first thing on my list.
Then, I looked in our pantry cupboards and assessed what sorts of things I regularly purchased at the grocery store, and what I might be able to do here myself. I'm talking about the things you usually find in the center of the store...not the things around the edges. I refer to the "edges" as produce, meat, dairy, but not the bakery area. I already handle that myself.
That's why you'll see many of the things I can are from the "center of the store"...jams, cake/muffin/brownie mixes; canned tomatoes and other tomato derivatives; spices; beans. You get the idea.
About the beans. I've been asked why I can beans when the dry beans last indefinitely. My reply is that in order to cook said beans, they're usually either quick cooked - which isn't really quick, or soaked overnight and then cooked. By pressure canning, I'm essentially cooking them as they're preserved, and I only need to crack open a jar and reheat them. Much simpler, don't you agree?
In the first photograph, I've canned chicken breasts (cubed). I found the Amish chicken breasts (no preservatives, no additives, no medicines in the meat) on sale, so I bought four and a half pounds. Three pints are seasoned with a taco seasoning, and the other two are plain, in their own broth.
I also canned half of an eight pound bag of pinto beans, which yielded eleven pints of finished beans. Are you getting the idea we like Mexican food? You'd be right.
The other bean I canned on Monday was a red kidney bean to which I added home mixed chili seasoning. When I want to make up a batch of chili, I chop onions and celery, brown them in a large pot, and then add my home canned beef, chili beans, and home canned tomatoes. I also add a bit of beef broth into the mix. I have a tender meat chili in less than an hour! The best part is that I know what's in every ingredient, and know I'm serving healthy food. I have sixteen pints to put on the shelf.
While the canning was going on, I took all the beef fat I'd trimmed over the past few months (that I'd frozen until I had a good batch) and cut it into 2" square pieces. Into an aluminum pan, and into a 350º oven. That roasted for the entire time I was canning, so I think that was close to four hours. At the end, I checked the temperature of the oil to be sure it was around 225º F, at which time I pulled the pan out of the oven.
I removed the remaining solids, and strained the liquid gold through a fine sieve, lined with multiple layers of cheese cloth. When that was done, I ended up with a full pint jar, plus half of a small one. I set it aside to solidify.
This is the end result. A beautiful, creamy tallow that I can use for pastries, baking, and even frying. When asked how to use it, my reply is wherever you would use Crisco, you can use tallow. Additionally, there are some who even use the tallow to make soaps and creams. I think I'll leave that to others, and use mine for the kitchen applications.
This is my last photograph for this post. I wanted to show you what's on these two shelves. On the upper shelf, you can see how I package all my mixes. Shown are my brownie mixes, corn muffin (Better than Jiffy!) mixes, and a basic muffin mix that I could add blueberries, or another fruit to. On my list is to package up my recipes for white cake, yellow cake, chocolate cake and spice cake to add to the shelf.
The second shelf has all my baking nuts from hickory, to pecan, walnut, pine nuts, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds and more.
To the left of the nutty assemblage are my home canned broths. I currently have turkey and vegetable, but I'll add chicken, and beef soon.
So there's a peek into our pantry cupboards. I'll share more contents after I add more this week. Today I'll be canning strawberry jam from the fruit I froze late last year. I'm also going to put up a number of bottles of hickory syrup. We've been using Dutch Honey lately (explanation
HERE), but it's time to go back to our favorite.
So you know the drill. If you're looking for me today, I'll be in the kitchen (again), making and preserving more "Goodness from the Farm". I think it's a great way to spend May Day!
Happy May Day, friend!
