Tuesday, January 29, 2013

My Canning and Conveinent Mixes

I am so glad that last year I canned a lot of convenient types of items and made up some convenient mixes.  Yesterday I made a pot of Vegetable Beef Soup and used a jar of the soup veggies and a jar of tomatoes.  Since I retired we eat a bigger variety of meals because I have all the stuff ready to use.  If you remember in December I made up some stuffing mix so we could have stuffing through the year and not just at holiday times.  We've used 2 bags so far and when I get down to the last bag I will for sure be making more.  I didn't have a recipe but came up with my own and I have to say I did an excellent job.  There is nothing I will do different the next time I make it.  Both times I just poured the bag of stuffing in a baking dish, added a quart of turkey broth, mix it well and then put some butterfly pork chops on top.  I cover this with foil for the first hour and a half and then remove the foil for the last 20 minutes or so. You could also do this with chicken but Ron likes it better with chops.  Another thing that I canned was new potatoes and we use those all the time too.  The other night I poured the liquid off of a jar of potatoes, put them in a baking dish, drizzled some olive oil on them and then sprinkled them with garlic powder, salt and pepper and baked them for about an hour.  Oh so good and easy.   My favorite is the potatoes and carrot mixture, I use when we have roast or when I make stew.  All you have to do is cook the meat in the crock pot and about 2 hours before you eat add the jar of potatoes and carrots.  Before I canned these things we ate a lot of meat and very few veggies with them.

4 comments:

  1. Hope you're feeling better, I worked food pantry all month and only have a few days left, another church takes over and we don't have it again until May. Know what your saying about the convenients of the canned foods, I can make a meal in minutes, I've started drying our leftovers for another time, I love it, take care, stay warm and love to all, G.

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  2. PS: I bought another pressure canner, it's a Presto 23 qt, it was on sale for $35.00 off, free shipping and I had points built up to apply, so got it cheap!!! G.

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  3. That is a great idea! I canned beans for use like that and we just tried the first jar of sweet potatoes from our canning. They made great candied yams.

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    1. For supper tonight we are having ham and beans that I canned last fall. All I have to do is open the jar, add a little water and simmer for 10 minutes. The canned ham and beans are so much better than ones I would cook up and eat the same day. The ham flavor gets really infused into the beans when they are canned. Most important is that you can have a wonderful meal in no time.

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