Preserving the Good Life

If you like stewed squash, squash casserole or squash and onions, this is a canning recipe you don’t want to miss.  Some will say that they don’t recommend canning squash, but I will share with you what my family has done for generations and it works.  This squash is great in casseroles, by itself stewed and even stewed with onions.  When we can, we can big, there’s 25 lb of squash in each side of the sink.

Slice squash into thin slices.

Preheat the oven to 200° and heat the jars.  Begin a pot of boiling water to add to the jars.  Start a pressure canner with 2 quarts of water.  Start the water for your lids.  Once the lid water boils, drop the lids in and turn that water off. 

Pack squash into hot jars.  Add 1 teaspoon of canning salt per jar.

Fill each jar with boiling water and leave 1 inch of head space.  Remove the air bubbles from the jars.  You can carefully tap the jars on the counter and bubbles will rise to the top or you can insert a knife down the side.  Wipe each rim with a sterile cloth, place hot lids, seal with rings.  Don’t over tighten.

Place your jars in the pressure canner and put the lid on it.  Once it begins to steam, let it steam for 10 minutes then put the 10 lb pressure weight on and begin the timer.  Pressure can for 50 minutes.

We let our canners depressurize by themselves.  If you rush them, they will boil the water out of your jars.  I have left mine sitting over night before opening.

This project yielded 33 quarts.

This is something that we can year round, based on when we run out. Between my father raising cattle and my boys being deer hunters, we always have ground meat in the freezer.  We prefer to use home canned tomato sauce, but in a pinch we have bought gallon containers of tomato sauce to use as a base.  I really like knowing what I’m eating and feeding my family so we try to stay away from anything processed or loaded with preservatives.

This recipe is what we used to make 14 quarts which fills 2 pressure canners.

Put sterile jars in the oven and turn on 200°.

• 3 gallons of tomato sauce
• 6 lbs of ground meat
• 6 green peppers, diced
• 2 onions, diced
• 1 head of garlic, minced
• 2 T Basil
• 2 T Rosemary
• 1 bottle of Oregano 0.75 oz, as pictured
• 2 T Sugar
• 1 c Beef Broth
• Salt and Pepper to taste

I know what you’re thinking, sugar? Yes, sugar…it takes the bitter bite out of the tomato sauce.  We’ve played with this recipe alot, John’s one to say, add another garlic clove or two, throw in another tablespoon of Basil, or more Oregano.  We’ve added Bay Leaves before, but in this batch, we chose not to.  In the end, it’s delicious!

Dice the onions and peppers.  Cook the ground meat and drain any grease.  We use a big roasting pan to start cooking it, a stock pot works great too.

In a large pot or roaster, start heating the tomato sauce and spices.  Mix in the minced garlic, diced onions and diced green peppers.  Add the beef broth and ground meat. Simmer 30 minutes and allow all the spices to combine.  Taste test and add salt and pepper to your liking.

Begin the water for your lids.  And start filling hot sterile jars.  We like to use a ladle to ladle the sauce into jars.

Pressure can on 10 lbs of pressure for 90 minutes.  It contains meat, 90 minutes is a must.

Yields 14 qts.

Garlic Dill Pickles is probably one of my favorite kinds of pickles.  I’m not a fan of Mrs. Wages packs when it comes to Dill or Kosher pickles so I found a recipe that sounded similar to what I remember my grandmother making.

• 3 lbs Cucumbers – quartered
• Garlic, 1 lg clove per jar
• Fresh Dill, 1 sprig per jar
• Dill Seed
• 6 c Water
• 2 c White Vinegar
• 1/4 c Pickling Salt

Place the clean, sterile jars in the oven and turn it on 200°.  Start the water bath canner so it’s boiling when your ready.  *Remember if your jars are hot, your water bath needs to be hot or boiling before placing the jars in it.  If the jars are cold, place the jars in the water bath canner before turning it on.

Wash the cucumbers really good and quarter them into spears.  If you prefer them whole, cut the stem and blossom ends off and leave them whole.  Peel the garlic.

In a stock pot, bring to a boil water, vinegar and pickling salt, stirring until the salt is dissolved.  Boil for 5 minutes.

Start the water for the lids.

Pack cucumbers into jars, add 1 large or 2 small garlic cloves and 1 sprig of dill.  If you don’t have fresh dill on hand, you can use 1 tablespoon of dill seed per jar.

Sprinkle each jar with just a little bit of Dill Seed.

Fill each jar with vinegar mixture, leaving 1/2 inch head space.  Wipe the jar rims with a clean sterile cloth, place lids and rings on and tighten rings.  Water Bath for 10 minutes.  When water bathing, remember the jars must be submerged in the water.

Let sit 2 weeks before opening.

Most of our canning recipes are from scratch, but this is one where we do use a seasoning pack.  My husband says….”why mess up a good thing”…our family loves these pickles, so why change that recipe.  We do doctor the original recipe just a little bit.

• 10 lbs of thinly sliced cucumbers
• 6 3/4 c of white vinegar
• 7 c sugar
• 1 pouch of Mrs. Wages Bread and Butter Mix
• 1 onion thinly sliced
• 1 red bell pepper diced

Wash the cucumbers very well.  Thinly slice the cucumbers and onion and dice the red pepper.  We use a mandolin slicer for our cucumbers.

Place the clean, sterile jars in the oven and turn it on 200°.  Start the water bath canner so it’s boiling when your ready.  *Remember if your jars are hot, your water bath needs to be hot or boiling before placing the jars in it.  If the jars are cold, place the jars in the water bath canner before turning it on.

Here’s the Mrs. Wages seasoning that we use:

Bring to a boil the sugar, vinegar and spice pack until the sugar dissolves.   Stir often.

Begin the water for your lids.

Start packing the cucumbers,  onions and peppers into the hot jars. (This is a family affair).  We pack cucumbers to about half then add peppers and onions, then fill with cucumbers.  The red peppers make for a pretty jar of pickles….

PACK them good and tight or else when you add the liquid, they will float.  We have found it’s best to pack them tight, add some of the liquid, wait a minute or two, then add some more cucumbers. The hot liquid will cause the cucumbers to shrink just a little at first.

Once you have the jars packed and the liquid boiling, begin adding the liquid to the jars, evenly.  Leave 1/2 inch head space.  If you run out of liquid, you can top off the jars with hot vinegar.  Remove the air bubbles.  Wipe the rims with a sterile cloth, place lids, tighten rings and water bath for 15 minutes.

Once they’re done if they appear to float, no worries, all that means is they could have been packed just a little tighter, (we had some to do that).  Once they’re sealed, you can turn them over and shake them, they’ll break loose and make the jars look like they’re fuller.  These are ready to eat within 24 hrs.

We made 3 batches, used 3 packs of Mrs Wages and it made 21 qts.  We did have some of the liquid left over.  If you plan to make more pickles, the extra liquid can be stored in the refrigerator for up to one week and reheated for the next round of canning.  We do most of our canning on our back porch.  After water bathing, I place the canned goods on a towel and cover them with another towel to let them slowly cool and seal.  I love to hear them pop as they seal, it’s a sound of accomplishment after hours of hard work!