Last night I was at our homeschool group's curriculum night. It seems every year I get millions of questions about canning. This year I think I'm finally going to get around to having some canning classes. Canning is so easy, but the mere thought of it overwhelms so many. I love that people are wanting to know how to do this. There is nothing better than pulling a jar of your own soup off the shelf, or a jar of the tomatoes you grew in your garden to make sauce. In the above picture is the base for Pasta Fagioli(can't can the pasta with it), turkey broth and chicken soup.
These things are so wonderful. I can control what goes into our bodies. No risk of added HFCS, weird preservatives and other oddities in our food. Who needs to buy convenience foods, when I have these goodies waiting for us in the basement? This picture show strawberry jam, grape jelly from a friend and kidney beans. Yes, kidney beans. I buy the beans dry, because they're much cheaper. Then I can them up to use when I need some beans real fast and forgot to plan ahead.The jars all look so pretty sitting on the shelf, don't they? My family loves that I make them soups exactly the way they like them. If we don't like a particular veggie, we leave it out. Yummy!
There is something very comforting (and beautiful) about pantry shelves stocked with a variety of home canned items.
ReplyDeleteLike you, I always pressure can dried beans - at a minimum kidney and white beans - and sometimes black or pintos too. It's a great start to a fast prep dinner on busy work nights without resorting to commercially prepared foods.