Our Little Piece of Heaven

"YOU DON'T HAVE A GARDEN JUST FOR YOURSELF. YOU HAVE IT TO SHARE." Augusta Carter







Monday, July 23, 2012

A CANNING FRENZY IN MY KITCHEN!

Wow are the veggies coming on or what??  I am having a great time harvesting all the veggies from my garden and then taking them in and deciding what creation I will come up with next!  I have been doing lots of research from books and online looking for unique and good canning recipes!  The internet is a wealth of information about canning and canning recipes!  My kitchen has been transformed into a "canning" kitchen!  I have everything set up to make the canning as efficient as possible! 

With my more in depth gardening expedition this year by starting almost all of my vegetables from seed, seeds which individually cost just pennies on the dollar, it has been even more rewarding harvesting my veggies this year!  I have really been motivated to do a lot of canning and spread those pennies even further!  I am finding online and in many books that canning for self-sustainment is really on an increase with the rising prices of food in the stores.  Canning allows you to know what has been added to your foods, as you are creating them yourself with no artifical additives.   If you have never canned before, I urge you to give it a try!  You do not have to fill your entire pantry with food, start off small with just a few small patches of different items, I bet you become hooked just like I did! 

Here is some more of my work:

Below is Mrs. Wages salsa mix.  This is a very easy mixture to work with, all you have to do is dice the tomatoes, combine the ingredient packet with the tomatoes and some vinegar, cook for ten minutes, place in sterilized jar and to the hot water bath canner for 40 minutes.  This is a very good salsa!


These are some pickles I created using some Ball Kosher Dill Pickle mix I purchased at lowes last fall when the marked down all of their canning items!  This was a great steal at 25 cents, regular $2.98.  I was able to get 4 of these for $1.00.  They are extremely easy to make as well and very good for the beginning canner who has cucumbers!

Happy Canning and Happy Gardening!
Mindy

4 comments:

  1. Wow Mindy that is so wonderful and so much work but it looks like fun. I have never done much canning as I have never grown enough that we don't eat. But as I continue to grow more veggies, I hope to begin to can. Looks yummy!

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    1. I will tell you that if you start, you will love it! I grew extra tomato plants (started from seeds) this year just so I could make some salsa and some canned tomatoes for the winter. You can even do "small batch" canning with the "canning basket" I talked about in my "National Can It Forward Day" segment! It is so very easy, very fun, and greatly rewarding! Happy Gardening! Mindy

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  2. Mindy, Your salsa and pickles look great! I am enjoying my tomatoes. Today I took two tomatoes, drizzled them with olive oil and added sea salt, and stirred them in to a cup of cooked pasta - topped with parmesan cheese. Now that was a tasty and healthy lunch! I have 15 tomato plants and that provides me way more tomatoes than we can eat. My joy is to share them with neighbors, friends, and coworkers.
    Hugs, Beth

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    1. Wow Beth, that recipe sounds really great and healthy too! I planted extra tomato plants also! I also enjoy cutting up a tomato, adding some canned chicken and some cottage cheese! Yum! I have several ladies I work with who live in the city and do not garden, they really enjoy me bringing in extras also! Thanks for sharing your recipe and happy gardening!

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