What are you canning today? Part 8

[Jeepers]

Beautiful jars. Are you expecting an apple shortage personally or do you mean an apple shortage everywhere? 

I'd like some apple butter and some chunky applesauce stored up. 

[euphrasyne]

I'm expecting it everywhere, especially with all the stuff going on in Washington State.  There are only two good local places to get them and neither is inexpensive so I'm stocking up now.  

[kappydell]

Did 6 qts of sirloin steak chunks yesterday, trying out my new smaller canner.  Much easier to handle, though  7 qts max is its limit.  I am ordering a rack for stacking smaller jars (for fish....I am the only one who eats canned fish).  Today I prepped 10 lbs of chicken (half-roasted, then skinned and boned).  Tomorrow I reheat in broth then into jars it goes.  It is amusing that I got a higher volume of trimmings (bones & skin) than meat, but I will make broth in the crockpot.  I may can some of that up; lately my chicken broth has been pretty good and it does come in handy, adding depth to beans and other things cooked in it.  

 

My Kroger has a sale on jars. so I saved $3 a dozen on them.  (bought 4 doz to start with).  Nobody has them on the free recycling sites, and the only thrift shop I have been to had NO kitchen items at all, let alone caning jars.  Hafta go look in the next town over, its more rurally oriented, instead of a big city wanna-be.  

 

Between bouts chicken chunking, I took 2 bags of produce to my local pastor, looked for deer corn at Walmart (they were out) and baked some fresh bread to tickle CM.  Needless to say, dinner tonight was barbecued chicken on the grill, LOL.  

 

 

 

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Edited June 1, 2020 by kappydell

[Jeepers]

I think I have all the jars and lids I need for a good long time now. I kept buying boxes of lids forgetting that I have a big roll of wide mouth lids from Lehmans at the Indiana house. I will admit when I walked past those half pint jars I was tempted.

 

The best price for new jars I found, was Wal-Mart online. They shipped fast and had my Kerr jars that I like. 

[kappydell]

the chicken chunks I canned turned out really nice - I asked CM if she wanted bite sized, and the answer was yes.  It turned out very nice, canned in broth, and I have enough leftover broth to make 2 qts of stock as well.  I must admit, I was a little taken aback when 20 lbs of chicken fills 5 quarts, but the trimmings  (skin, bones) were considerable.  Tomorrow I will put away the canner and get out the large crock pot to cook up those trimmings into bone broth or stock or whatever you want to call it (chicken juice?).  Then I will boil it down to half volume after removing the fat.   The beef trimmings were also considerable, and I have enough for some very nice beef stock to go with the chunks I canned.  When I browned it in the electric frypan, I also saved the pan scrapings (mmmmm!) to add to the crock pot with the trimmings.  The house will smell SOOOO good!

[kappydell]

of course, i did have some help....Wingnut likes to be where the action is...

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Edited June 2, 2020 by kappydell

[Littlesister]

Very nice Kappy.  It looks great.  I really need to get to work on my canning. But with home health, and two different physical therapist coming in almost on a daily bases and then having no time on DH's surgery for the mitral valve, I can't seem to fit canning into my sch. Hoping after tomorrow when we have the conf. call with the surgeon, I can get it figured out. I want to can more chicken, and get the veggies that I want to can from the market.  They don't carry the Roma tomatoes, but will order a bushel for me, so not to be a problem. Also want to get more soups made and canned as well as other things I need to make and get done. Need to go out to garage and go through the freezer. It needs defrosting again and I need to get a turkey breast out of the bottom of it. Got a lot of meat on top of it. Going to see what all I do have that I can finish canning from the freezer as well.  I had started some canning from there before DH got sick. So need to finish that up and get the freezer emptied. Then I can restock with fresh meat. 

[kappydell]

Little Sis, that is also my plan - I am canning up the older meats in the freezer so when the new one comes we can restock.  My room mate (Chainsaw Mary or CM) likes canned meat but the commercial ones are pretty crummy AND say too salty for us two old biddies.  She liked the broth I did and would like some soups & stews too so I pretty much have the green light for canning, at least until I run out of jars.  With meat prices starting to rise we want to stock as soon as the freezer gets here - we are on our THIRD delay on that.  (Sears did not delay in taking the money for it though! Nor did the salesman on the phone "happen" to mention to CM that there were shipping delays.  No wonder they are closing stores with that kind of service!)

I hope you can get to the canning again - I found that getting a smaller canner helped a lot.  I have a huge one somewhere in storage,  but right now I am using one with an 8-quart jar capacity (instead of the old one which could take double stacked quarts....it was HUGE.  But I did get it at the resale shop for $20 so I used it!)

Does your therapist give you any info on whether you will have total rehab and how long it will take?  I am still doing exercises regularly, but my neuro doc said I could ditch the back brace permanently and am starting to be able to do more and more things like I used to.  But between the cancer surgery and the back surgery it was a long haul.  Now if I could just peel off a few pounds......

 

 

 

 

Edited June 3, 2020 by kappydell

[Ambergris]

A buddy of mine has been told all over Florida that no freezers will be delivered until July at least.

[kappydell]

Wjy does that not surprise me.  I just with they would come right out and SAY SO.  We got so mad at Sears that we cancelled the order and demanded our money back.

They kept telling us "two more weeks....two more weeks....two more weeks....;  

[Littlesister]

Ambergris, I can't believe that Sears would be like that. No excuse for not getting the freezer delivered in a timely manner. Glad you were able to get a full refund. You might could try Lowe's or a Home Depot if you have one. Here we have appliance stores also. You might have better luck with some of those. Our Best buy here used to sell appliances but not sure if they still do. I would like to get a small one for garage as well.  It would make it easier when I defrost the big one. That one is the biggest one they make and it is a chest freezer. Right now it is loaded to the brim as well as the one on bottom of fridge.  The canning will be on hold for a least another week or two. Getting close to DH having his surgery and then at least an over night stay in hosp. Not sure what after that but I am sure the nurses and physical therapist will be coming for another month. I am so tired of having to keep so much hidden. Don't want them seeing my stash of food and paper goods. Keeping the small bedroom door closed and locked. They have seen some of my canned goods, soups mostly as I keep a few on the kitchen counter as that is about all DH wants to eat for dinner sometimes. He can't handle a large meal and I am now feeding him 5 to 6 small meals a day. Trying to keep him from loosing anymore weight. That is starting to worry me a bit. He was down to 145 this morning.  Got him on Glucerna.  I am thinking of trying him on muscle milk. Will have to check the sugar content but at this time, I don't think I am going to worry about that as much as getting the weight back on him. He needs to gain at least 20 pounds back. I have snacks and ice cream for him to eat between meals as well. Just mainly having to watch the salt.  

[kappydell]

We found freezers on ETSY - new ones - with much better delivery dates (like 5 days.)  Mostly small ones, but some big ones, too.

[kappydell]

Yesterday and today I am making stock from my frozen trimmings.  I put them in the crock pot for 24 hrs, then strain, chill, remove fat & boil down to 50% volume.  I have almost enough for a canner full of pint jars.  I figure double strength stock will be diluted down with water when I use it, so pints should do nicely.  I cant believe what the stores are charging now for stock  

 

I also took a lot of steak package out of the freezer to cut up and can, mostly T-bones, porterhouse and NY strips.  Last July seems to have been a good year for meat.  We shall see what this year holds.  So far its not looking very auspicious.  But I am clearing out some wonderful freezer space as I go.  

 

 

Edited June 11, 2020 by kappydell

[Annarchy]

Made 9 pints of chicken bone broth.  Used frozen toasted chicken fingers, the last of the garden carrots, and celery growing in the house. Pressure cooked for several hours, then strained.

 

 

[Jeepers]

Lovely Annarchy!  

[Littlesister]

That looks great Annarchy,  I did that with the 2 turkeys I canned and made stock as well. That stock comes in handy for meals and yes the stores are like over $10.00 a quart in the stores here for bone broth. 

I need to get things together and get back to canning what is in my freezer as well. I really want that emptied before summer. I am finding some wide mouth pint jars at times but not many. Need more for canning what is in freezer. I have both chicken and beef and I want to make soups and stews with some of it and the rest just can the meat. I have a rack or two of ribs I want to cook for dinner on the grill when the weather warms up just a little. Don't think I can handle this 30 plus weather right now. Makes my bones hurt. But I think warmer weather is in the forecast. I will be watching that and cooking them then. I have pictures of the bone broth on my phone but have never tried to move the pictures to the computer to put on here. I am going to have to learn to do that. Just haven't had the time. 

 

Kappy, I don't know how I missed your post from last June.  But yes, Dh has been done with  therapy for at home, and was going to therapy for a while till he had the skin cancer removed. They didn't want him to do any therapy for a while after that. Then when he could go back he didn't want to go because it was so hard on him getting in and out of car. He is in stage 4 congestive heart failure. There is nothing more they can do for him. They clamped the mitral to stop the leaking , but his stomach it so swollen all the time and won't go down. And when I say swollen, I mean huge.  He can't wear his jeans and I had to buy pants that were to big just to get them under his stomach. We do what we have to. But he needs to be comfortable and not having pants that are to tight because of that. He sees the orthopedic doctor tomorrow and as much as I don't want therapist coming to house, at this point in time I will make sure everything is behind locked doors and let them come. It would be easier on both me and him.  And since it is Medicare they will only pay for 6 weeks of therapy unless the doctor comes up with a reason to keep them coming. Not sure if I want to start back on the canning or not with them here. But will figure out a plan if and when it comes to that point. 

[Homesteader]

We have a big snow storm coming tomorrow so will can burger and chicken. I like to dump them into veggie soups for added protein. I need to see the back of my freezer some day.  😂  I did make 3 to 4 different kinds of jams from the fruit freezer but filled up the space with veggies and baked breads. Our honeybees REALLY pollinate our gardens. I need to get mama to eat more.  😂. Now I am on the sourdough kick. It's fun but the pounds can creep up and the flour bin can look underweight.  😛

[snapshotmiki]

Tomorrow, I intend to dry can (pressure can) potatoes.  I have always added water but hear that the texture is better this way.  Will let you all know how it goes. I only have a 5 pound bag to play with, so I can't mess up too bad!

[kappydell]

4 hours ago, snapshotmiki said:

Tomorrow, I intend to dry can (pressure can) potatoes.  I have always added water but hear that the texture is better this way.  Will let you all know how it goes. I only have a 5 pound bag to play with, so I can't mess up too bad!

I just looked at some eommercially canned ones and they use calcium chloride to keep the texture nicer.  You know, the same stuff you get for pickles?  Maybe that would help...

[snapshotmiki]

2 hours ago, kappydell said:

I just looked at some eommercially canned ones and they use calcium chloride to keep the texture nicer.  You know, the same stuff you get for pickles?  Maybe that would help...

 

Thanks!  The texture isn't bad to start with, but I'll be glad to not rinse and dry them after removing from jar.  That's a good idea about the calcium chloride either way they are canned.  I'm doing this tomorrow pretty much as an experiment.  LOL

[Annarchy]

Started by toasting & peeling the green chili, on to peeling the harvested tomatillos ...

 

Chop, chop, chop... all...day....long....

 

Finally, cooking...  

 

 

Got 12 1/2 pint jars hot & ready, added the salsa, cleaned the rims, placed the lids, screwed the rings, set in the WB, set my timer... 3 minutes later....“tink”.     Salsa floating around in the water. 
 

Removed the first batch, inserted the second.... and... 3 minutes later...  “tink”....  more salsa swimming in the water....

 

9 1/2 pints of salsa....

 

 

“Tink”.....  the bottom of 2 jars popped off.    Thinking about it, when I carried the new box of jars in, it clinked harmonically...  maybe bad jars to begin with.

 

And.....  DH doesn’t like it.    My tomatillos were too sour for him.  

 

Tomatillo Green Salsa

• 5 cups chopped tomatillos
• 1-½ cups seeded, chopped long green chiles
• ½ cup seeded, finely chopped jalapeño peppers
• 4 cups chopped onions
• 1 cup bottled lemon or lime juice
• 6 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• 1 tablespoon ground cumin (optional)
• 3 tablespoons dried oregano leaves (optional)
• 1 tablespoon salt
• 1 teaspoon black pepper

 

[snapshotmiki]

Do you like it, Annarchy?  I hope so!  Sorry you lost a couple of jars, but glad most survived!

[Annarchy]

 

Just now, snapshotmiki said:

Do you like it, Annarchy? 

Lol, I’m not fond of any salsa...  it’s really sour & my garden jalapeños are spicy.

 

I will be shipping them to my baby brother in MT.  His wife is allergic to beef & all beef products, milk, cheese, wheat, etc.  Little Bro cooks with tomatillos, so maybe they will like it.  He promised to send my jars back. 

[euphrasyne]

You could always use it as an ingredient with something else to cut the sour.  Like in corn, enchiladas, soups, etc.

 

[Midnightmom]

7 hours ago, Annarchy said:

“Tink”.....  the bottom of 2 jars popped off.    

 

Look at the positive side..................... at least it didn't happen when you were pressure canning!