Antelope beanless chili

I tried making some of our antelope into chili.  This way I have meals ready to go, without having to store the ingredients to make it into something.  It also gave me a lot more jars for the amount of meat.  15 lbs of meat gave me 24 jars of chili.  This would work with ground beef too of course.  Note:  rather than peeling & blending tomatoes, I bought a #10 can of tomato puree at Costco for $2.60.  For all the work that saved me, it was a bargain!  There was about 10 cups of puree in the can.  This was pretty tasty!

5 lbs ground beef
2 cups chopped onions
1 clove minced garlic
6 cups canned tomatoes and juice
1/2 cup chili powder
1 1/2 tablespoons salt
1 hot red pepper, finely chopped
1 teaspoon ground cumin seed

In the bottom of a large stockpot, brown the ground beef, onions and garlic. Drain well any excess fat. This is an important step as high fat content foods don't keep as well canned; additionally the fat has a tendency to cause a higher proportion of jar seals to fail during processing.

Add the remaining ingredients and reduce heat to a simmer. Continue to cook about 20 minutes. Skim off any excess fat.

Put in jars & process pints 1 hr 15 min.

I'm told this is a recipe from the Blue Ball book of canning, but I'm not sure.  I also couldn't find a hot red pepper, so I used a jalapeno.  

Beef stew recipe for canning

I love beef stew!  I've tried this recipe, & it's delicious!  It's so wonderful to have the ease of opening a can of soup already made, but have it taste just like homemade, instead of that nasty stuff in cans at the store.  I'm canning some of this because of reports of beef prices going up later because of the drought.

Makes about 7 (32 oz) quarts or 14 (16 oz) pints

Traditional beef stew with potatoes, carrots, celery and more. Preserved in your pressure canner for when you want a homemade meal fast.

You will need:

4 to 5 lb beef stew meat, cut into 1 1/2-inch cubes
1 Tbsp vegetable oil
12 cups cubed and peeled potatoes (about 12 medium)
8 cups sliced carrots (about 16 small)
3 cups chopped celery (about 5 stalks)
3 cups chopped onion (about 4 small)
1-1/2 Tbsp salt
1 tsp thyme
1/2 tsp pepper
Water
7 (32 oz) quart or 14 (16 oz) pint glass preserving jars with lids and bands

Directions:

1.) PREPARE pressure canner. Heat jars and lids in simmering water until ready for use. Do not boil. Set bands aside.
2.) BROWN meat in oil in a large saucepot. Add vegetables and seasonings to browned meat. Cover with boiling water. Bring stew to a boil. Remove from heat.
3.) LADLE hot stew into hot jars leaving 1 inch headspace. Remove air bubbles. Wipe rim. Center hot lid on jar. Apply band and adjust until fit is fingertip tight.
4.) PROCESS filled jars in a pressure canner at 10 pounds pressure 1 hour and 15 minutes for pints and 1 hour and 30 minutes for quarts, adjusting for altitude. Remove jars and cool. Check lids for seal after 24 hours. Lid should not flex up and down when center is pressed.

Strawberry Peach jam

Sooo yummy!  Although next time I'm going to cut the sugar a bit.

• 2 cups sliced fresh strawberries
• 1-1/4 cups finely chopped peeled peaches
• 1 package (1-3/4 ounces) powdered fruit pectin
• 5 cups sugar

Directions

• In a large saucepan, combine the strawberries, peaches and pectin. Cook and stir until mixture comes to a full rolling boil. Stir in sugar; return to a full rolling boil. Boil and stir for 1 minute. Remove from the heat; skim off foam if necessary.
• Process in canner.

Canning corn

After I'd filled my dehydrator, I still had most of the corn left.  Corn gets less tasty the longer after it's picked.  So I didn't want to wait all week to get it dehydrated one day at a time.  So I looked up corn canning instructions.  I chose a raw pack method because it was less steps.  Again, I wished I had an electric knife!  But I did get it all cut off.  I put it in the jars, added salt (1/2 tsp for pints, 1 tsp for quarts), added hot water, & processed in the pressure canner.  You can find charts online, but for my altitude I did 15 lbs pressure, 85 min for quarts & 55 min for pints.  I had 7 quart jars and 15 pints (this was 50 lbs of corn, after filling 3 dehydrators & freezing about 8 cups).  This was pretty simple & looks wonderful!  I think it will taste like summer when we eat it this winter!
I have an excellent frozen corn recipe I posted last year.  You can see it here:
http://singlemompreparedness.blogspot.com/2011/07/corn-on-cob-in-solar-oven.html

Honey Lemon Apple Jam

http://www.foodinjars.com/2010/01/honey-lemon-apple-jam-recipe/
I got a super deal on some apples from a local orchard & tried this jam.  Super yummy!  I did put less sugar in, around 2 cups.  I also blended mine in the blender because my son doesn't like chunks.

no pectin jam

I just tried this recipe.  I loved it!  It has several advantages by not using pectin.  First of all, you could make it if you're out, it's not available, or to save money.  Using raspberries from my yard, jars I already have, the only cost then is the sugar!  Also, you don't have to have a certain amount of fruit to match the pectin.  You could make only 1 cup of jam if you wanted to!  This is a real benefit when using fruit from your yard, especially if you didn't have a way to freeze or save them for days.
I tried it with raspberries & it was delicious!  I've had other people tell me it works with other berries as well.

• 4 cups mashed raspberries
• 4 cups sugar

Directions:

1. 1
   Use a very large pot.
2. 2
   When the jam reaches a full rolling boil it will double in volume.
3. 3
   Heat mashed berries until they reach a full rolling boil.
4. 4
   Boil 2 minutes.
5. 5
   Add sugar.
6. 6
   Stir well.
7. 7
   Bring to a boil, stirring constantly, boil for 2 minutes.
8. 8
   Remove from heat.
9. 9
   Beat with rotary beater for 4 minutes
10. 10
    Pour in sterilized jars and seal.

Read more: http://www.food.com/recipe/raspberry-jam-35192#ixzz20K7ZzK2H

Jar boxes

http://www.jarbox.com/index.html
These look like a good way to help earthquake proof your canning jars.  But so expensive!  I'd never be able to afford enough of these for all my canning jars!

Free canning publications

Here's some free canning publications you can print!
http://www.pickyourown.org/canningpubs.htm

Dandelion Jam!

http://www.simplycanning.com/dandelion-jelly.html#axzz1t77aczfG
We were caught up in an odd urge to make dandelion jam the other day.  We followed the recipe on the above site.
It only took me & the 2 boys less than 10 min to pick enough.  Getting the green parts off, so I'd have just the yellow left is another matter.  That is tedious!  I was doing it by myself & it took me an hour to get the 4 cups necessary!
I was quite nervous about tasting it.  Honestly, I'm not a big vegetable lover.  But this stuff was GOOD.  It was kind of like honey, but with a bit of tart.  The word to that came to my mind is that it tasted like summer!  After the work was done & we tasted it, I thought it was worth all the work.  Probably even more so to open some of this on a cold winter day!
I love that I can make this with something that grows free all around.  Now I'm debating...I spend a lot of money every summer on weed-b-gone trying to get rid of the dandelions in the lawn.  But my rabbits love dandelions, & now we do too.  But am I quite ready to turn the lawn over to them?  I'm just not sure!
I did have one trouble with the recipe.  The jam didn't jell.  I've never had that happen before.  Looking online, it seems to be a common problem with dandelion jam.  I tried some online instructions for adding more pectin, & that didn't work either.  So I was left with tasty dandelion syrup (using recipe posted above).  I finally tried the instructions in the pectin for adding another box if it didn't set.  This worked, but it was a much smaller amount of jam than your usual recipe.  I'll try it again when I'm up to doing the dandelions again; I think I'll double the pectin in the recipe & see if that works.
For some reason I found making this to be hugely satisfying.  I'm so glad we did it & excited to share it!

Canning strawberries?

canning strawberries link
I tried these instructions for canning strawberries.  While I knew they wouldn't be like fresh, I was hoping to get something maybe similar to frozen.
First problem was that they didn't make near enough of their own syrup to fill the jars.  So I added a very light canning syrup.  The whole process was easy to do.  So then after a month I opened a jar to have over ice cream.  Yuck!  The strawberries were colorless & tasteless.  Not a success at all!  I guess I'll go back to drying my excess strawberries instead.  Those are yummy!

Strawberry-raspberry-lime jam

4 cups crushed strawberries
1 cup crushed raspberries
2 Tbs lime juice
package of pectin
4 cups sugar

Directions:
Mix strawberries, raspberries & lime juice.   Gradually
stir in pectin.   Bring to a full roiling boil that cannot be
stirred down over high heat, stirring constantly.
Add sugar, stirring to dissolve.   Return to full boil.   Boil
hard for a full minute stirring constantly.   Remove from
heat.   Ladle into jars & process in boiling water canner
for 15 min.

Strawberry-Lemon Jam

(The instructions don't say to, but I ran the lemon peels through the blender after simmering them because I didn't want chunks.)   You can cut lemon in half if you don't want it as tart.

Ingredients:
4 cups crushed or pureed strawberries
2 lemons, juice from both, & thin peels from both
6 cups sugar
1 box pectin

Directions:
Thinly peel lemon.   Just cover in water & simmer 5 min.   Drain & discard liquid.
Add lemon peel & juice to strawberries.   Gradually stir in pectin in large saucepot.   Add up to 1/2 tsp butter to reduce foaming if desired.   Bring mixture to full rolling boil that cannot be stirred down, over high heat, stirring constantly.   Add full measure of sugar, stirring to dissolve.   Return to full rolling boil.   Boil hard 1 min, stirring constantly.   Remove from heat & skim foam if necessary.   Process in canner.

Number Of Servings:7 (8 oz) half pints

Current price list for LDS cannery

http://www.providentliving.org/pfw/multimedia/files/pfw/pdf/123141_HSC_OrderFormUS_EngNov2011_pdf.pdf
The last time I checked prices at the LDS cannery was about 6 months ago.  This can be a great place to stock up as it's non-profit, & you don't have to be LDS to buy there.  (Although sometimes I can find an item cheaper at Costco).  But prices have definitely gone up since last August...some such as wheat & powdered milk have almost doubled.  That means half as much food for your money.  So if you don't have some essentials, don't wait while until this happens again!  With the droughts & other natural disaster in the last year, it's unlikely the prices will go down for some time.  There are still some things you can get very inexpensively.

Earthquake help for your canning jars

Here are the tips I learned for your canning jars at a recent earthquake safety class:
Put them on the bottom shelf.
Have the shelves secured to the wall.
Put cardboard in between all the jars.  The canning jars I used to get already that that, but I often threw those away.  My recent purchases don't have that anymore.  She said that having cardboard between will really help reduce jar breakage when they are shaking.  So I've started saving empty cereal boxes & cutting them up.  1 cereal box does 1 box of jars.  It's quite easy to put these in after the jars are cool.  But it's going to take me a while to get enough empty boxes to do all the jars I already have canned!  I'm going to work on this though.  Besides loosing the food, the clean up would be terrible!  Obviously, if this is a big enough quake to destroy your home, this won't help.  But smaller earthquakes, this can be a big help!

Solar Chocolate chip cookies in a jar

Based on the principle of canning bread in the solar oven, (see Sept post), I decided to try chocolate chip cookies as well.  I'd already cooked chocolate chip cookies in both my solar ovens (see July post).  This time I baked them in the jar.  Obviously I could have filled the jar more...I wasn't sure how much they would poof up.
They didn't slide out of the jar as easily as the french bread I did this way (Sept post).  But that may be because I didn't grease the jar well enough.  But these tasted GOOD.  As with most things I'd tried canning this way, a slight bit on the dry side.  But not enough to stop us eating them!  You could also let them warm in the sun for a while & get the chocolate chips melty again.  Even in normal times, it would be fun to have some of these already made for whenever you wanted cookies.  In a food storage situation, these would be heavenly!

Awesome canning funnel

I have one of these & I love it!  It works with wide or narrow mouth jars.  What's so great is it covers the lip of the jar, keeping it clean!  Cuts down on time wiping the jars clean before putting the lids, & also cuts down on jars that don't seal.  Great Christmas gift for anyone who cans!

Let the kids do the labor!

I know you're probably thinking, "I don't have time to do chickens, pick raspberries, dry fruit, can chicken, raise rabbits, etc".  That's what your kids are for!  And it's great for them too!  My son mows our lawn.  When we can chicken he puts the meat in the jars while I put the broth & lids (we can get 18 lbs in the canner in under 20 min).  He completely takes care of all our animals.  They're under his stewardship & he gets their food & water every day.  When we can or dry peaches he takes the peels off while I do other stuff.  He goes out & picks the raspberries & strawberries.  The work goes much faster than I could do by myself.  And imagine if I had more than 1 child!

Sure, you have to train them to help.  At first it might seem easier to do it yourself than hassle them into it.  But now my son is just used to helping as part of his daily routine.  (ok, he still complains sometimes about mowing the lawn, but he does it).  And he's only 8 years old.  Kids can usually do a lot more than we think.  He's been doing all the mowing since 7.  He started taking the peels off the peaches & tops off strawberries at 4.  Don't waste these great helpers you already have!  It's in their best interest too.  And they can take such pride in the peaches they helped can, fruit they helped dry, & "their" animals!

Canning the antelope

That is 108 jars of canned antelope!
Most of it I rawpacked.  We had all but one antelope processed into ground meat.  Well worth the cost!  I had 1 antelope I had to cut up myself, & did in chunks.  It took me an hour to cut it up & trim the fat!
I tried making chili with some of it, & my son LOVED it.  That gave me the idea, why not make some chili & sloppy joes & can that?  That way I don't have to worry about having the ingredients, & I have some ready made meals!  So I did.  8 batches of sloppy joes & 6 batches of chili later, I was wondering if I was insane.  That was a LOT more work than just rawpacking the meat!  So I settled for that much & did the rest the easy way.  Hopefully I'll be glad I made some into meals later; right now I'm just exhausted!  Even with 2 canners, it took a long time!  But how awesome is it to have that jars of meat in my storage?!  That's meat for a meal every 3 days for a year!  And since it's just my son & I, I figure I can get 2 meals from each can when put with something else (ie buns for sloppy joes).  My son said to tell everyone to try dipping my french bread recipe (see post in Sept) in antelope chili.  He was a fan!

Italian Herb Muffins

 

Mmmm these were good!  Just plain, or with butter, or with garlic butter.  Gread side dish!  And you can make them in your solar oven!

2 cups flour
2 TBS grated parmesan cheese
1 Tbs sugar
1 Tbs Italian Seasoning
3 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 egg
3/4 cup milk
1/2 cup oil

Combine flour, cheese, sugar, Italian seasoning, baking powder, & salt.  In another bowl combine egg, milk, oil.  Stir into dry ingredients just until moistened.
Fill greased or lined muffin cupts 3/4 full.  Bake at 400 for 1-20 min or until toothpick comes out clean.  Cool for 5 min before removing to wire rack.

I also tried "canning" some of these in the solar oven.  Here's what it looked like when I took it out of the jar a month later.  It still tasted good!  Definitely not like it was a month old!

French Bread in jar

After the first rise of the French Bread recipe (see previous post for recipe), I put some dough in the jar.  I filled the jar less than 1/2 full.  I let it raise in the jar until it was almost to the rim.  During cooking it went over the top. This wasn't a big deal; I tore off the top & ate it (yummy!), but next time I'll put less dough or stop raising when it's lower.  My solar oven was at about 300, & it took about 45-60 min for it to lightly brown on top.  I put one of my reusable canning lids on (see July post), & took it right in the house.  It sealed & I kept it in the jar for a month.

on the plate

french bread in jar

b

after taking it out of jar

So how did it taste?  Pretty dang good!  It was definitely dryer.  I've heard that when possible, use applesauce for canning breads, as it helps it stay moist.  So it was a bit more dry & crumbly.  But it smelled & tasted right.  Adding some butter made it tastier.  My son warmed his up & then added butter.  He liked that so much he ate most of the bread in a sitting that way.  If I can keep bread for over a month that's good enough for my son to eat it all up, I call that a success!  I'm way glad to know I could do this on a sunny day to save for a cloudy one!