Preserving the Good Life

Grandma’s have done this for years yet you won’t find this in any canning books.  Based on friends who have done this for years and the canning grannies out there, this can be stored for up to one year. (But let’s be real – how long do you really think these will stick around?)  Besides, they make great gifts!

Preheat the oven on 350°.  Grease 12 wide mouth pint jars (or 6 quarts) and set them aside.  I used Crisco to grease mine and if that’s not handy, you can use Baker’s Joy Spray.

I whipped up my mother’s “top secret” pound cake recipe and then spooned each jar 1/2 full, be careful not to get any on the edges of the jar.  This takes a little time and a steady hand.

For a more even bake, put the jars directly on the rack and bake until golden brown, in my oven, approximately 45 minutes.  The 1st batch I made, I put them on the cookie sheet, and you’ll be able to see the difference in the pictures below.

While baking, I laid out 12 new rings and lids – no need to boil, the heat from the jars will seal these babies in no time!  Once done, remove and quickly wipe the rims clean, place a lid and ring on them and tighten down, they will seal within 5 to 7 minutes.

Here’s the 1st batch I cooked on the cookie sheet.

Check out the difference on the second batch, it cooked much more evenly when you place them directly on the oven rack.  Yes, these are quarts ~ I’m thinking Sunday dinners…..

And you can’t have Vanilla without Chocolate……

Ok, so here’s my Mama’s “Top Secret” Pound Cake recipe.  (Mama, don’t shoot me, but I can’t share something this cool without the recipe to go along with it):

• 3 cups sugar
• 1 stick Crisco (1 cup)
• 2 sticks butter (Mama says “margarine”, I prefer real butter)

Blend together sugar, Crisco, butter until smooth.

• 6 medium eggs

Slowly add in one egg at a time, blending as you go.

• 4 cup plain flour
• 1 teaspoon of salt, added to flour
• 3/4 cup milk
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract, added to milk

Alternate adding milk then flour to the mixture, mixing as you go until mixed very well.  If you prefer Chocolate, add 1/2 cup of Cocoa Powder and 3/4 cup of mini chocolate chips.  Options are endless!

**We popped one open to sample, when my boys beg for more and say it’s PERFECT, I take that as a compliment….

H~A~P~P~Y   B~A~K~I~N~G!!!!

I love banana pepper rings in a salad or on a sandwich so when I was given a bunch of peppers last week I was excited to be able to can some for the winter. Everything that I can put into a jar is one less thing I have to buy processed!

Put your jars in the oven on 200° and start a water bath canner with boiling water before you start slicing the peppers.

Slice the peppers, then begin your brine. Slicing the peppers will take longer than you think and it won’t take the brine long to boil.  Once the peppers are sliced I put the lids on to boil and start the brine.

Brine:

• 5 cups white vinegar
• 1 cup water
• 4 teaspoons pickling salt
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 2 garlic cloves

After the brine has boiled 2 minutes remove the garlic cloves.

Pack the sliced peppers into hot jars leaving 1/2 inch head space.

At this point you can add 1/4 teaspoon of BALL “crisper granulates” to keep them from getting soggy.  I don’t, simply because it defeats the whole “no preservatives” concept.  Do we really know what that stuff is?  If I don’t know what it is, my body won’t either!

Pour the boiling brine over the sliced peppers,  leaving 1/2 inch head space. Wipe the rims good with a clean, damp cloth.   Place the hot lids and rings on the jars and tighten.  Don’t tighten too much or they will “buckle”, I’ve had that to happen.  Carefully place the jars in the water bath canner, making sure the jars are covered with water and water bath for 10 mins.

Wait one week before opening.  These will remind you of the peppers you can have added to your favorite sandwich at Subway.

Sweet, spicy, hot pepper jelly + cream cheese + Ritz crackers = YUM!  This quick and easy, addictive appetizer is ready in minutes!

I had an abundance of peppers on hand so I doubled the following recipe and ended up with 11 jelly jars of jelly.

• 1 1/2 lb red bell peppers, cut into 1 inch pieces
• 2 teaspoons dried hot red-pepper flakes
• 3 cups sugar
• 1 cup white-wine vinegar
• 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
• 3/4 teaspoon salt

Cut peppers into 1 inch pieces.

Add peppers and pepper flakes in a food processor or blender.

Pulse until finely chopped.  Depending on if you prefer a chunky jam or a not so chunky jelly will determine how much you chop your peppers.

Stir together pepper mixture, sugar, vinegar, butter and salt in a heavy pot.  Bring to a vigorous boil and boil for 20+ minutes, stirring frequently, until it begins to thicken.  The longer it cooks, the thicker it will be.  Once I start the cooking process, I put my jars in the oven on 200°, I start my water bath canner with water for water bathing and another pot of water for my lids.

Once the desired thickness is achieved, you are ready to begin filling jars.

Fill the jars, leaving 1/2 inch head space. Using a plastic spatula to get the air bubbles out by running the spatula down the inside edges of the jars.   Wipe the rims with a sterile cloth. Place the lid and ring in place and tighten.

Place the hot jars into the boiling water in the canner.  Make sure the jars are covered with water.  Water bath for 15 minutes.  Once done, place the jars on a towel and cover to let cool.

When produce shows up, I put it in a jar. So when Okra showed up at my house, it meant I had to find a way my boys would eat it……when in doubt, I pickle.  My boys devoured the 1st jar we opened!   It’s best to let the pickles sit 2 weeks before opening, I managed to hold my boys off 1 week and the pickles were delicious! We used the Ball Canning Recipe as a guide and tweaked it..  This recipe yields 4 pints.

• 3 1/2 lbs of small okra pods
• 1/3 cup picking salt
• 2 teaspoons dill seed
• 3 cups water
• 3 cups vinegar
• 4 cloves garlic (1 per jar)
• 2 small hot red peppers cut in half (or 1 per jar)

Was the okra really good, cut the stems off but don’t cut into the top of the pod.

I did stick the knife in the side of the pod to pierce it.  This allows the brine to soak into the okra and you don’t loose as much fluid over time as the jars sit and it slowly soaks.  Peel the garlic cloves, wash the peppers and sit aside.

Combine the salt, dill seed, water and vinegar in a large stock pot.  I added some dill weed to mine also.  Bring the brine to a boil.

Pack the okra into hot jars leaving 1/2-inch head space.  Add 1 clove of garlic and 1 pepper per jar.  Ladle hot liquid over the okra, leaving 1/2-in head space. Remove air bubbles.  Place lid and ring, tighten.

Water bath 15 minutes.

Let sit for 2 weeks before opening for the best pickling results.

When I discovered that I could jar up and preserve my favorite salsa recipe, you would have thought that I won the lottery!  By far this is my favorite salsa, it reminds you of that salsa most Mexican restaurants serve with the chip appetizer.  I love the Pioneer Woman and alot of her recipes, if you haven’t checked out her website, take a minute to do so.  www.thepioneerwoman.com

Since it’s tomato season I decided to use fresh tomatoes instead of the 28 oz can of tomatoes and two 10 oz cans of Rotel with chiles.  I did pick up some green chiles in the Mexican section of the grocery store to add to my recipe to replace the chiles in the Rotel. This recipe took some math. When I can, I can BIG.  For example, if I’m making salsa, I want to do it one time and move on to the next project.  So when I made this, I made 6 times the original recipe.  And since I was substituting fresh tomatoes for the canned tomatoes I had to calculate ounces into pounds.

Keep in mind, this picture represents 6 times the recipe listed below.  That’s almost one full bucket of canning tomatoes in that box.

Here’s the original recipe:

• 28 oz can tomatoes
• 2 – 10 oz cans of Rotel with green chiles

(If using fresh tomatoes, use 3 lbs of tomatoes and 1 tablespoon of green chiles to replace the 3 cans noted above)

• 1/4 cup diced onions
• 1 clove of garlic, minced
• 1 jalapeño, chopped, seeds removed
• 1/4 teaspoon sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon cumin
• 1/2 cup cilantro
• Juice from 1/2 of a lime

Wash the tomatoes and blanch them to remove the peels quickly.

Simply bring that water to a boil, drop the tomatoes in, as the peelings begin to split, pull them out and drop them in ice water. The peelings will slip right off and little effort will be needed to cut the cores out.  Once peeled and cored, I add my tomatoes to a blender along with the other ingredients and pulse until I get the consistency that I prefer.

While your blanching tomatoes,  put jars in the oven on 250°, jars need to be hot for processing.  And put on a water bath canner 1/2 full of water to begin boiling so it’s ready for processing once the salsa is jared up.

***Note – when I make such a large quantity,  like I did today, I add all of the spices to the stock pot and I blend all my peppers, onions, cilantro, chiles and juices with part of the tomatoes and add it to the stock pot.  I then add the sugar, salt, cumin, etc to the stock pot.  I stir every time I add more tomatoes.  I don’t make the recipe 6 times, I lose track of what I’ve added to the blender.  This way just works better for me.

Once all of the tomatoes are added to the stock pot, stir, stir, stir….sample it and add more spices per your liking.  Once the recipe is perfected, bring it to a boil and boil for 5 minutes.

While the salsa is boiling, I put a pot of water on to boil my lids.   Once the salsa has boiled, lids are ready and jars are hot, you’re ready to put the salsa in jars and process.  Jar the salsa up in pint jars, leaving 1/2 inch head space.  Wipe the rims with a sterile cloth, add lids and rings, tighten and waterbath for 15 minutes.