Andrea

Just took out a batch of kale and now have another batch of seasoned tomatoes drying. The verdict is still out on the "kale chips". I did them plain with no salt or olive oil and I think they'll be fine as a seasoning but not as a snack. I may reconstitute them in the morning when I soak mushrooms for scrambled eggs and see how they turn out in that. In any event, they'll work great as an added layer of flavor in soups and broths. I have a bit more kale to dehydrate, so I'll try that seasoned and see what the family thinks when the tomatoes come out.

AH - I also dehydrate my own mushrooms. They reconstitute easily and while they're a bit chewy if I haven't allowed enough time to let them soak, my family still eats them just fine. I use them in scrambled eggs, soups, and stir-frys. I don't steam them first, I just put them straight onto the dehydrator trays and let them go. It doesn't take long - usually only 6-8 hours on my Wal-Mart Nesco dehydrator.

Shame on us! How did we let this thread drop to page two? We all need to get busy! Just finished up a batch of spiced tomato slices - I'll be lucky if they make it to the end of the day though! Super yummy! I think I'll try another batch. Again, not for long-term storage but for short term munchies!

Okay, just finished up the salsa for the year. WOOOHOOOO! 60 pints sitting on my counter ready to be sharpied and put away in the cupboard! Sewandsew - stewed squash? How does that can up? I grew up on canned zucchini and coudn't stand the mush that would come out of the jars. *shudder* Do you have a recipe that keeps it firm? I've tried pickling it too, but again, it just mushes on me. I would love to find a decent way to preserve zucchini.

THANKS!

Open it and see if there are still ice crystals. If there are, it's safe but make sure to cook it all the way through. If there are no ice crystals, I would toss it. Better safe than sorry.

Was this recently or possibly years ago? If it could be old, open the bag and give it a sniff. You'll be able to smell if it's inedible or not. Do you buy more than one type flour? (i.e., bread and regular?) If so, you can't tell visually what type of flour it is. So, if it passes the sniff test, throw it in the bread machine! As you've probably already figured out from your question, you can use any type of flour to make bread but you can't use just any type of flour to make cookies. Bread flour, btw, will totally mess up your cookie recipe! Personally, I only buy two types of flour: whole wheat or white (with the occassional bit of rye for special purposes). Bread flour is a bit of a waste of money, imho.

LOL - I've been wondering about this myself. So, I did a google search and this is the first link! I should have looked at "home" before traipsing off to the www! This is good to know. I've been replacing the ground beef we eat with ground turkey and I was wondering about canning it using the seasoned gr. beef recipe from the Ball Book. This is one of my "fast food" meals but I would like to have the healthier alternative of turkey instead of beef. I think I'll give it a try!

Happy Day to both of you, Madison and Linda Lou! Hope you both slept in and ate lots of birthday cake!

THANK YOU!

If you are pressure canning the tomatoes, I don't see a problem with this but do check with Violet first!

Ghost - did you blanch it before dehydrating or just throw in in the dehydrator? I think I need to try this. The more I read about purslane, the more I'm intrigued by its health benefits. I try to throw a few leaves fresh into salads but the dh isn't a big fan.

Today, 12 pints of salsa. Last week, 15 1/2 pints of Violet's marinated mushrooms, 12 1/2 pints of pepper relish.

What Cat said! You can't go taunting us with cookies that always stay soft and not share the recipe!

Yep, just took my first 12 pints of salsa out of the canner today! I actually had enough leftover from pigging out on them fresh to eat! Thanks for the pickle crisp tip! I'm going to give that a try! I try to limit our salt and have been doing a bit more canning to accomodate our needs. I would love to can my own salt free tomatoes, but I hate the mush factor. Thanks!

I prefer to use a BWB with my salsa, but my recipe has lots of vinegar and lemon juice. I've tried to pressure can it but my family doesn't care for the texture as much.

LOL - they still sell that in grocery stores here, Gunplumber. I've been tempted to try it but I'm too cheap to pay almost $6.00 for one small can!

This is why pressure canning of tomatoes is now the recommended procedure. I have to ask, why are you re-canning commercially canned tomato products? If you are starting with commercial products anyway, why not just store the items you need for sauce separately and throw them together when you are cooking dinner? Or, why not make up a big pot and freeze the sauce in appropriately sized smaller containers? Why go to the expense and time to re-can something? Personally, I've found that I'm much more likely to use my home canned items if they are basic, multi-purpose foods, like ground beef or unseasoned chopped tomatoes.

drumrunner - BIG WAVE!!! Do you know how many times I refer people to your links?!? I am so glad to see you back to posting!

On the one hand, it really is eat less, move more. On the other hand, I eat a tremendous amount of greens and unprocessed foods and controlled amounts of low fat proteins (fish and foul). I lose weight on this diet. Essentially, I'm eating more, but they are higher quality calories and I'm back to losing weight and feeling better But, I really do believe that there is no ONE diet for every single person. Everyone is different.

LOL - those of us from California speak absolutely perfectly. We ain't got no accent!

Father's Day is this Sunday, so I'll be whipping up a few batches of these to give as gifts! Also, thought I'd bump this recipe to the top. It's too good to let it disappear!

You can definitely omit the pork products from your baked beans. They are more of a flavoring than a crucial aspect of the recipe. You might try the recipe found here: http://nchfp.uga.edu/publications/usda/GUIDE%204%20Home%20Can.pdf BEANS, DRY, WITH TOMATO OR MOLASSES SAUCE Quantity: An average of 5 pounds of beans is needed per canner load of 7 quarts; an average of 3-1/4 pounds is needed per canner load of 9 pints—an average of 3/4 pound per quart. Quality: Select mature, dry seeds. Sort out and discard discolored seeds. Procedure: Sort and wash dry beans. Add 3 cups of water for each cup of dried beans or peas. Boil 2 minutes, remove from heat and soak 1 hour and drain. Heat to boiling in fresh water, and save liquid for making sauce. Make your choice of the following sauces: Tomato Sauce—Either mix 1 quart tomato juice, 3 tablespoons sugar, 2 teaspoons salt, 1 tablespoon chopped onion, and 1/4 teaspoon each of ground cloves, allspice, mace, and cayenne pepper; or, mix 1 cup tomato ketchup with 3 cups of cooking liquid from beans. Heat to boiling.Beans or Peas Molasses Sauce—Mix 4 cups water or cooking liquid from beans, 3 tablespoons dark molasses, 1 tablespoon vinegar, 2 teaspoons salt, and 3/4 teaspoon powered dry mustard. Heat to boiling. Fill hot jars three-fourths full with hot beans. Add a 3/4-inch cube of pork, ham, or bacon to each jar, if desired. Fill jars with heated sauce, leaving 1-inch headspace. Remove air bubbles and adjust headspace if needed. Wipe rims of jars with a dampened clean paper towel. Adjust lids and process. ************************************************************** The bean recipes are found under vegetables in section 4.4 And this is where you'll find the charts to give you the processing times. The molasses sauce recipe is okay and probably the best out of the baked bean recipes I've canned. My best bet though has been to make baked beans in the oven and then freeze them. Good Luck! Let me know if you find "THE ONE" recipe - I'm still looking!

Your recipe calls for pickling it but it doesn't allow for processing it in a bwb. I would definitely refrigerate this recipe. Have you experimented with dehydrating it? Even if it doesn't rehydrate well, you could always powder it and sprinkle it into soups or salad dressings. I need to explore this a bit more myself. It's an extremely nutritious plant and it certainly grows well here! Annarchy - any special tips for freezing?

And here's the wiki link for stinging nettle: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stinging_nettle What a great herb to grow in your yard! 1) It has so many uses! 2) It practically grows and seeds itself! 3) It makes an excellent deterent for keeping people out!