Chicken with Peaches

3 lbs chicken breasts cut up and lightly stir fried
5 large peaches peeled and sliced
1 can Peach nectar
1 package dried onion and mushroom soup
1/4 cup low salt soy sauce
2 cups water
1 can whole water chestnuts
1 tablespoon chopped ginger or to taste
2 teaspoons minced garlic or to taste
salt and pepper to taste

Stir fry the chicken lightly and divide among 5 jars
divide the sliced peaches and water chestnuts among the 5 jars

mix the rest of the ingredients and bring to a soft boil, taste and add any spices you desire.
Divide among the jars and add water if needed to the fill line.

PSI 11 lbs for 90 minutes.

Update:

This is good, I added a bit of cayenne pepper because it seemed to need an extra kick.

My Albondigas Soup

Meatballs:

2 lbs ground beef
1/2 cup cracker crumbs
2 eggs
1 tablespoon liquid smoke
1 tablespoon Lawry's Seasoned salt
1 tsp garlic
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper

mix well and roll into balls, mine were 1.5 inches in diameter

Soup:

7 Quarts water with beef powder or 7 quarts beef broth

1 can chopped tomatoes

1 can Rotel
1 huge onion chopped
1 pint corn
2 pints kidney beans (any type of bean will do)
2 cups chopped green chili
2 tablespoons red chili powder (or to taste)
1 tablespoon cumin (or to taste)
1 tablespoon Lawry's seasoned salt (or to taste)
2 teaspoons dried chipotle pieces (or to taste)

This was one of the 'season as I go along' recipes.

Bring the soup to a boil and drop in the meatballs a few at a time. Cook for about 10 minutes and then take a slotted spoon and pull out about 10 meatballs per jar. This made about 65 meatballs.
I made 6 quarts and had enough leftover for a jar of soup with no meatballs.

The traditional recipe call for celery and carrot chunks. I used what I had on hand.

What I liked:
The flavor of the soup and meatballs. This was easy to assemble.

What I did not like:
I used 80% ground beef and will use 90% next time. It created too much
oil and 2 jars sealed late so I used them right away. I never trust jars that do not seal quickly.

You could also broil or fry the meatballs and drain before adding them to the soup.

Roasted Green Chilis.

We used our grill to roast the chili's..When the 'skin' on the chili blisters, (you want the whole pepper blistered) we put them in plastic grocery bags for about 30 minutes. The chili's steam in the bag and loosens the skin. You then peel the skin off, cut the top of the chili off and slit it, scooping out the seeds. I then rinsed and cut the chili into bit sized hunks and left some as strips and put into pint jars and added about 2-3 inches of boiling water and 3/4 teaspoon salt. I pressure canned at 10PSI for 35 minutes.

It's finally cooling in California

I will be canning again soon. It was just too hot to can. We did use a lot of our canned foods so I will be making those again along with a few new recipes. I belong to many groups, among my favorites are the Yahoo groups. The people are friendly and reading about their experiences is what gave me the courage to start pressure canning. A client gave me a gift certificate to Amazon, I ordered my canner and started. I started this blog to share recipes and encourage people to can. I am a freak about TIME... I know exactly how long it takes to sweep my kitchen, how long it takes to vacuum and other chores. Canning in quarts takes approximately 2 hours and 30 minutes depending on the recipe. That includes the processing time. I get 7 quarts, or 14 meals in 2 hours and 30 minutes. Some recipes are even faster. I prefer to can meals rather than jams or jellies or pickling things. It saves time in the kitchen and as I said before I love having extra time to paint, read, and all kinds of fun stuff.

If any of you have favorite recipes and photos you would like to share, please send them to me at
cynthiak@hotmail.com , I would love to post them and share with others. Make sure you refer to the blogspot in your subject line or just the word 'recipe' so I do not accidently delete the mail as I get my share of spam mail. Thanks!

Green Chili for Burrito's

One of the hardest things about moving to California after having lived in Arizona most my life was the lack of comfort food. I missed green chili burritos. I played with this recipe so much and so many times and ways until finally, I think I have it right. I have made with with both pork and beef. Pork is more traditional. If you use canned green chili's you may want to add a pinch of cayenne to each jar. I rarely add salt until serving.

3 lbs cubed pork (bite sized)
2 cups green chili chopped
1 cup chopped onions
1 can Ro-Tel
2 tablespoons chili powder
2 tablespoons cumin
chicken broth approx 3 to 4 cups

I browned the cubed pork on med-high until browned, but not cooked.
I added the pork in each jar slightly over half, but less than 2/3 of the jar.
I then mixed the other ingredients except for the broth and evenly divided among the jars.
I then added the broth to the fill line and pressure canned at 11 lbs for 90 minutes.

When ready to use, I added corn starch to thicken although a flour roux is more traditional.
This is our new favorite.

We use a lot of green chili in cooking and plan to go to the Hatch Green Chili Festival in Sept and
buy lots of fresh chili to roast. I plan on canning some as well.

Spanish Rice

Before I post the recipe (I got out of a very, very old Kerr Canning Book) I want to say this recipe is not USDA approved. Can this recipe at your own risk.
I made this recipe and canned in pint jars on 7-15-09. I opened one jar a few days later and it was great. My son came to visit and opened several jars the next week and said it was really good. This morning I opened a jar and it all came out in a big sort of lump. I broke it part with a fork and the flavor was great. The rice was a bit gooey. The first week I could easily see liquid in the jars. I do not see any now. I may make this again using my own spanish rice recipe at a later date. We like ours a lot spicier. I also stir fried the rice in a bit of oil till golden brown before making this recipe in the hopes that the starch would not be bad, as I used cheap white rice.

4 cups rice
1 cup green pepper (I used canned green chili)
2 cups chopped onion
8 teaspoons salt
6 tablespoons chili powder
8 cups canned chopped tomatoes
2 garlic cloves chopped
8 cups boiling water

Add rice to boiling water. After water returns to boil cook 5 minutes. Add remaining ingredients.
Mix well and let mixture come to a boil. Pack into jars within 2 inches of the top of jar and add additional hot water to within 1/2 inch of the top of the jar. Put on cap and process at 10 lbs pressure for 60 minutes for pints and 60 minutes for quarts.

I also think this would be a great recipe with broth and onions. I do think it should be used within a month for the best possible quality.

I got a great comment from Vincent le canneux, he says I should try using parboiled rice the next time. I think that's a great idea and you should try it instead of the cheap white kind I used.

Home Again

We are back as of last night. We took a long trip to Illinois, Oklahoma, and New Mexico.
Seeing family was great. The women of Ricks' family are great cooks. His Mom is in her 80's and is a very busy, happy lady.

We also shopped and shopped and looked for hours in vain at secondhand
used stores and flea markets for an all american canner. I want a huge one so I can process
a lot of jars at once. I will keep looking and now have a few other family members looking too.

My son and grandson stayed at my home and took care of the parrots and dog. My son also put
new grass in the teeny backyard. It looks great.


He also ate one of my canning experiments and said it was really good, so I will be posting that soon. (spanish rice) My grandson loves the cherry jam, I added cocoa powder and coconut to 2 of the jars and he said it was yummy.

I visited an amazing garden in Illinois and will be posting photos of that, (I am so envious of that garden) and a family pickle shop we discovered by accident. The owner sold us some jars with one piece lids. It will be fun to try them out.

It's so good to be home. My grandson said "Grandma!" as I walked in the house and gave me a huge hug. My son is headed back to Az today and I get to keep the amazing Ethan (grandson) for a week or so.

Chicken and Veggie Pasta Soup

2 cups cooked chicken (you could use raw, I had this cooked in my freezer)
2 cups mixed frozen vegetables
2 cups chopped potatoes
1 cup mixed dried pasta (from left over packages)
5 cups chicken broth
1 tsp salt (if needed)

Mix all the above and ladle into 4 quart jars. You could easily make 5 quarts by only filling the
jar halfway with solids and increasing the chicken broth.

You are not supposed to can pasta, thats why I only used 1/4 cup per jar. It can thicken it too much. I used two types, some leftover colorful, twisted rotini, and some small shells.
I have canned pasta before and it usually comes out like the pasta in a soup can, very soggy.

Chicken Enchilada Soup

Chicken Enchilada Soup
makes 4 quarts
6 cups chicken broth
2 cups cooked chicken
1 cup chopped onion
2 cans tomato sauce
1 can Rotel
1 can stewed tomatoes
2 small cans green chili
2 tablespoons corn meal
3 tsp chili powder
2 tsp cumin
1 tsp seasoned salt (if the broth is not salty)
1 tsp garlic powder
Mix all, heat and pour into jars.
Cook 90 minutes at 11 lbs PSI or for your alititude.


You can play with this recipe quite a lot. Add veggies
and tweak the seasonings. I was tempted to add more corn meal
to thicken and next time may add two more tablespoons.

Cherry Jam

Barbeque Chicken

I bought two whole chickens on sale and put one in the crock pot, cooked and deboned it and did
the other the next day. I then took "Famous Daves' Sweet and Tangy" barbeque sauce and mixed it with "Famous Daves' Devils Spit" super spicy barbeque sauce and the chicken meat and canned it. It's great even though the meat was precooked. I can heat it right out of the jar (after draining a bit of the sauce) and use right on buns. This is a great meal to have on hand.

All meat raw or cooked needs to be processed for 90 minutes quarts, 75 minutes pints at
11 lbs PSI or the PSI for your altitude.

Beef Roll Ups

I created this because I get tired of the way meats look in a canning jar.
I went to a local mexican market, they had steak cut in large, thin (think thick sliced bacon),slices. I bought one pound to try this. The steak pieces were about the size of a salad plate. I took onions and cut them up and then took green chili strips and rolled them up in the steak the way you would a burrito, but left the ends open. I then packed into a quart jar (like canned tamales) and had enough left for one pint jar. This pound will feed four adults. I then took a small can of green enchilada sauce and poured 3/4 into the quart jar and 1/4 into the pint jar and added water to the fill line. I processed both for 90 minutes.
I could not tell the difference in texture or flavor, even though the pint jar was over processed.
We really like this recipe! It held it's shape well and tasted great.

1 lb steak cut into approximately 1/4 inch slices
1/2 onion chopped
4 green chili strips
1 small can green enchilada sauce
salt, garlic powder, pepper to taste.

Process 90 minutes for quarts at 11 lbs PSI

I want to try this with onions and carrots and cubed potatoes.
I also want to pound chicken breasts and roll up with a ham filling.

Meatloaf

This recipe has eggs and crackers in it and I do not think it has the USDA seal of approval.
The first time I made it, I used 90 % beef and it was better. I opened my last jar when it was about 10 months old and it was fine.

2 lbs ground beef (I used 85% lean, it was on sale)
2 small eggs
1 cup cracker crumbs ( I used leftovers that were stale)
1 cup catsup or tomato sauce
1/2 cup beef broth
1/2 cup chopped bell pepper
1/8 cup dehydrated chopped onions
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon Lawry's seasoned salt
4 squirts soy sauce

Mix well, I used my mixer. Pack into pint jars and PSI for 80 minutes at 11 lbs pressure.
The normal recipe for pints is 75 minutes, I add 5 minutes more. Make sure the jars tops
are wiped very clean, as the beef has fat in it and that can prevent the lids from sealing properly.

The meatloaf will shrink a bit and the jar sides will fill with the fat from the meat cooking, this makes it easy to microwave for a minute, loosening the loaf from the jar. You can then heat as desired.

Update: We had this tonight and it looks remarkably like dog food out of a round can. It tasted good. It does not hold together quite as firmly as a normal meatloaf would and is quite pink due to the catsup/tomato sauce. I think next time I will use 90% lean ground beef and maybe add 1/4 cup more crackers and or oatmeal. We liked it although my grandson looked terrified at the thought of eating it so he escaped. If I was going to serve this to kids, I would add catsup or cheese on top and disguise that canned dog food look.

Corn, Chicken, and Green Chili Chowder

This recipe tastes a lot better than it looks.

8 cups corn (I used frozen and 3 cups were fire roasted frozen corn from Trader Joes)
4 cups diced potato
4 cups chopped cooked chicken
2 cups diced green chili
2 cups chopped onion
10 sliced cooked bacon broken into small pieces
6 cups chicken broth

I put it all in a stock pot and brought it to a boil.
I did not add additional salt or seasonings.

PSI at 11 lbs pressure (for my altitude) for 90 minutes. (quarts)

Add milk or cream to serve. It's not a very spicy soup so you could
add a pinch of cayenne to each jar. We topped with grated cheese.

Busy

I will be posting soon, it has just been very busy with a new puppy and
a grandson visiting. I have several recipes ready to go.

Italian Sauce with Sausage

1.5 gallons tomatoes peeled and chopped
2 lbs italian sausage cut in chunks and lightly fried
3 cups mushrooms
2 cups chopped onions
2 cups chopped bell peppers
2 tablespoons chopped garlic
2 tablespoons spicy italian seasoning (from Sams Club)
2 tablespoons oregano
Seasoned Salt to taste

I brought to a quick boil and then put into quart jars, this made seven quarts
with a bit leftover. PSI 90 minutes at 11 lbs pressure or according to your altitude

This costs approximately $18 to make. $2.40 a jar so thats $1.20 a serving.

For a spicier sauce add just a bit of cayenne pepper

Tomatoes, $12.00 a case (about 60 cents per lb)

These tomatoes are keeping us busy.

We did not plan on buying them.

Salsa, Three Types

These are great salsa's, just not quite spicy enough, so I plan on using them for

casseroles and mixing with nacho cheese for snacking.

3/4 gallon of peeled diced tomatoes

3 jalapenos

1.5 tablespoons chopped garlic

1 cup roasted peeled green chili's

salt as desired

1 tablespoon lemon juice per jar

(pineapple, mangoes)

next time I would add a pinch of cayenne pepper

I brought to a boil and simmered 15 minutes then added 3 tablespoons

chopped mangoes in some jars, chopped pineapples in other and left a few plain.

I much prefer the plain. The others are just too sweet.

PSI for 20 minutes at 11 lbs pressure.