Winter Canning

Oops, I guess this post should have gone before yesterday's post, but that's what happens when your'e as behind as I am in sharing what's been going on around this little ol' homestead. We're just going to roll with it, and hopefully I'll get caught up sooner than later.

Since we've decided to go full on mega gardening season this year, we knew we had to free up some space in our deep freezers. We currently have two fridge/freezer combos and two upright deep freezers. We try to reserve freezer space for venison and produce that doesn't can very well. But, come August when we are all run ragged we often freeze the field peas and tomatoes instead of canning them. So, we often have a freezer full of those two items this time of year.

Now that we're hoping for a bountiful harvest this year, we are acutely aware that our freezer space is critical; so we commenced to have a couple winter canning days. First with our frozen tomatoes and second with our frozen field peas (Mississippi Pink Eye Purple Hull, to be exact). 

We don't do anything special to freeze our tomatoes or peas. Simply shell the peas and put them into freezer baggies, and then freeze. For the tomatoes: we quarter them, making sure all the bad spots are cut off and discarded, and then put them into freezer bags and into the freezer. If it's a cherry or grape tomato we put the entire tomatoes into the bag without cutting. 

To can the tomatoes and peas from frozen, we set them into large bowls to unthaw over night before we plan to can them. I especially like to use my frozen tomatoes to make rich, thick tomato sauce. The frozen tomatoes make a perfect sauce consistency for making pizza sauce, which is why I put these pureed tomatoes into pints. Typically, when I'm making pizza sauce a pint jar of tomato sauce is sufficient.

We had quite an abundance of peas stored in our freezers. I must admit I rarely pull peas from the freezer when I'm wanting to use them in a meal. It's just so much easier to use already canned peas when preparing a meal, because they're pretty much already cooked.

We ended up with 18 pints of tomato sauce and 29 quarts of field peas (one jar of peas is not pictured because we used it for dinner). Not bad for a winter canning session. We've been hugely intentional trying to eat what we have preserved, especially in regards to eating what is in our freezers. After all, we worked really hard to grow the food and to preserve it. Even with life being so uncertain these days, it's such a blessing that another season of gardening to grow our own food is upon is. Normalcy is definitely a positive ray of hope and for that I thank The Good Lord above. 

With Love &Hope,

Jennifer

Tomatoes for Days

This year's tomato harvest has been one for the books. We've canned a variety of different tomato based items including tomato sauce, spaghetti sauce, and salsa. Even with all that we've canned, which is pushing 200 jars, we've still not met our goals for the year. Sadly, there's just only so many hours in each day and we are plum tuckered out! 

Mashing tomatoes with mama's monster masher is a prize job for many of my little ones. When I am making tomato sauce or spaghetti sauce, I do not peal my tomatoes. I simply quarter my ripe tomatoes and throw them in a large pot. As the tomatoes cook down we mash them to help speed up the process.

I use my stick blender for EVERYTHING! It is truly one of the best investments I've ever made for our homesteading and homemaking adventures. Once the tomatoes are cooked down enough (usually about an hour of cooking down and mashing) We bring out my stick blender and puree the tomatoes. All of the skins do not get pulverized, but enough of them do that it doesn't bother us. If you really wanted to, you could strain them to remove the few little peelings left behind.

When it comes to deciding what to can and when to can, I always start off with tomato sauce because I can use that in more meals than anything else. I typically fill up about 50 pint jars for pizza sauce (and no I do not can pizza sauce, it's just way to easy to whip up when needed that I spend my summer canning season devoted to other canning needs). After I have my pint jars filled then I move on to quart jars of tomato sauce. The quart jars of tomato sauce is used in soups and stews, which we eat a lot of since they can fill a large family on a strict budget! After I've got my desired amount of tomato sauce in quart jars, I move on to spaghetti sauce or salsa. That changes every year, It depends on which one we've used the most of throughout the past year.

I love my big stainless steel stock pots. They have paid for themselves over and over again. I didn't even spend a whole lot for them. The first one I found on clearance at Target many moons ago for $40, and the other one I found on Amazon for around $35. I did not invest in any high dollar stockpots because these work just as fine. 

This year we've had quite a few jars to bust throughout the canning process. Of course this is heart breaking after you've worked so hard to get the produce to that point, but it is just part of the process. I feel like we've had an abnormal amount of jars to bust because we moved the jars 4 times in 12 months (insert groan and eye roll). It seems we continue to be 'bit in the bottom' over buying that money pit of a house. But, I'm trying to stay focused on looking at the bright side and just be thankful we have the jars to can and the produce to put in them ~ BUT most importantly we no longer live in that house! 

All of these pictures were taken at different times throughout the summer gardening season. I love to watch our larder fill up and to see our hard work from beginning to end, it really helps to fuel me on to the finish line. 

As I shared in my last post, we have had to quit picking the bulk of the garden and have given so much away. I'm trying not to feel guilty over this, but it's super hard. Admitting you're NOT super woman is hard, lol. Even though we're scheduled to begin our homeschool year on August the 5th, I am hoping to get in a few more canning sessions. Lord willing I will be able to process the 30 pumpkins littering my storage room, a batch of mild salsa, a batch of tomato sauce, and a large batch of applesauce. I keep trying to remind myself that there is a light at the end of the tunnel and we CAN do this! 

I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. 

Philippians 4:13 (NKJV)

With Love & Hope,

Jennifer

Salsa Canning Day

Well, it's that time of year again! Time to make up some salsa so we can savor the fresh taste of summer throughout the winter months. There's nothing quite like opening a fresh home-canned jar of salsa in the off-season to bring back the joys of fresh garden produce from the summer. Even though it's a ton of work to can salsa, it's a must on my canning list because we are a family that LOVES our salsa and chips ~ Oh and the hotter the better!

This year we kind of got in over our heads on accident, lol. Sometimes the harvest is so great that you have no other option accept to roll with it. So, this year with our bumper crop of tomatoes AND bell peppers we managed to put up 78 jars of salsa. Wow! I can't believe we did all that in one day, but we did, and it was a massive labor of love. Even if I did get the salsa just a tad bit too hot, lol.

This mega batch of salsa was an authentic batch of salsa complete with peeled tomatoes ~ which takes FOREVER y'all. Hence the all-day canning session and massive exhaustion the next day. But, when the harvest comes in you got to do what you got to do and now we will have an abundance of salsa to enjoy all winter long. Absolutely worth it, if you ask me. Now if only the tomatoes could slow down just a tad.

Looks like Christmas but tastes like summer. My favorite holiday and my favorite season all rolled up into one festive canning delight. 

I think salsa is so pretty. 

Look at all those pretty jars. I can't believe we did all that!

I debated on trying a new recipe this year, but decided against it and stuck with my tried and true recipe. I'm just kind of particular about my salsa and sorry y'all but salsa should NEVER have tomato paste or sugar in it ~ in my opinion, of course. But, I get it, just like everything else in this world, everyone has their preferences, and far be it for me to discredit any of them. I just know what we like and I concluded it was best not to mess with a classic family fav.

I'll go ahead and share our recipe just in case someone might be looking for one void of sugar and tomato paste. But, it's nothing fancy just a basic combinations of tomatoes, onions and bell pepper mixed with some apple cider vinegar and herbs. I find that simple and basic are my typical favorites in life. No sense in over thinking a recipe and making things unnecessarily complicated or harder to make. Go with authentic, natural ingredients and you will seldom fail. 

Zesty Salsa

Ingredients

• 10 cups chopped cored and peeled tomatoes
• 5 cups chopped green bell pepper
• 5 cups chopped onions
• 1 cup chopped hot peppers (I used 2 cups which made it way too hot for most folks)
• 1 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
• 3 cloves minced fresh garlic
• 2 tbsp finely chopped cilantro
• 1 tbsp salt

Directions

• Combine all ingredients in large stock pot. 
• Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer 10 minutes.
• Ladle into prepared pint jars
• Wipe clean, place lid and rim on jars
• Place jars in canners
• Process in a water bath canner for 15 minutes
• Remove lid canner and wait 5 minutes
• Remove jars from canner and let cool

Even though we've canned so many jars of salsa already, I'm thinking since they're so hot I'm going to do up another batch of a milder salsa. That way we can use it in more recipes and our little bitty ones can eat it. Might as well make the most of our surplus of tomatoes these days for who knows what next year may look like. While I'm beyond exhausted from the harvest of this gardening season ~ who knew we'd end up with nearly a bumper crop of everything ~ I'm super grateful for the bounty the Lord has blessed us with. And as long as it keeps coming in, I reckon I'll keep putting it up. 😊 

With Love & Hope,

Jennifer