The Fruits of Our Labor

I think that it is finally time to put my canners away and start enjoying the fruits of our labor.

Top to bottom, left to right: Zucchini pickles, sweet relish, zucchini salsa, pears, apple pie filling, cherries, potatoes, beans, carrots, applesauce, jams/jellies, tomatoes, and tomato sauce.  Along with the berries, corn, pork, and beef that are stuffed into the freezer, I think we are set for the winter!

This year, Sweetie was a good helper and I had fun teaching her some of the basics of canning.  She calls herself the canning princess.

This year I also discovered these great reusable lids from Tattler and am hoping to switch over to them for all my canning next year.

What did you get preserved this summer to enjoy in the coming winter?

Don't Throw Out Those Peels! {Fruit Peel Jelly}

A couple months ago, I read a post on Raising Homemakers about making peach jelly.  They showed how to use the peels and pits to make it and I thought that was a great idea since I usually can or freeze some peaches every year.  So I bookmarked it and was going to try remember to do it when it was time for peaches at the end of summer.  As I started working with some of my other fruits a couple months ago, I began to wonder if you could do that with more than just peaches.  So I gave it a try and it works great!  I didn't remember to take any pictures until I did my peaches this week, but I also tried cherry, apple, and pear jelly and I just used the same process for all of them.

While you are canning, freezing, drying, or just using a good amount of fruit, remember to save the peels and pits or cores in a large pot.  Then cover it with water.  You will need about 4 cups of juice, so add at least that much water for each batch you want to do.  Then bring it to a boil, reduce heat, cover and simmer for about 15 minutes.  After that let it cool a little.  You can continue on from there or let it sit for a while.  I usually did this right before bed and then let it sit all night because after a day of canning or freezing, I wasn't really too excited to start a batch of jelly too.

Then you will need to strain out the juice.  You could use cheesecloth or a jelly strainer, but I have quite a few birdseye cotton diapers that I have never used, so I usually use one of them and it works just as well.  Then you need to measure out 4 cups of the juice.  Put it in a large pot and slowly stir in a package of fruit pectin.  Bring that to a full rolling boil. While I am waiting for it to heat up, I usually get my jars and lids ready. Then add 5 1/2 cups of sugar quickly to the boiling juice.

Bring that back to a rolling boil and boil it for 1 minute.  Then ladle into your jars, wipe the rims, and add the lids.  Water bath the jars for 10 minutes, then let the jars sit on the counter for 24 hours.  (My pear jelly didn't set the first time, so I just followed the directions in my pectin box for what to do if that happens and then it set.)  Then admire your pretty jars of jelly and get excited about all the delicious toast and jelly you can eat this winter!

Tasty Tuesday ~ Zucchini Salsa

Is it weird that I love standing in my pantry staring at my slowly filling shelves, planning where the next canning project will get lined up?  Does anyone else do this? No? Well, I guess I am weird, but I love seeing my hard work lining the shelves and deciding where it should all go!  Last week I had fun trying out a new canning recipe for zucchini salsa and it is pretty tasty!  We always have loads of zucchini and so do most other people I know, making it hard to even give it away so I thought I would find something new to do with it this year.  I've also done zucchini bread and butter pickles for the first time this year and they turned out pretty good too.  Here is instructions for the salsa:
Ingredients

10 cups chopped zucchini (you can peel and/or shred it if you want, but really, who has time for that?)

4 chopped onions

2 chopped green peppers

2 chopped red peppers

8 chopped jalapeno peppers (I left the seeds in one and removed them from the rest and this produced a medium salsa, you can adjust according to your taste or leave out altogether)

1/4 cup pickling salt

1 tablespoon pickling salt

2 tablespoons dry mustard

1 tablespoon garlic powder 

1 tablespoon cumin

2 cups white vinegar 

1 cup brown sugar

2 tablespoons red pepper flakes

1 teaspoon nutmeg

1 teaspoon pepper

5 cups chopped tomatoes

2 tablespoons cornstarch 

12 ounces tomato paste

Directions: In a large bowl combine: Zucchini, onions, green pepper, red pepper, jalapenos and the  1/4 cup salt. Mix together cover and let stand over night.

The next day rinse, drain well and put into a large pot (or 2 if you don't have a really big one like me) then add mustard, garlic, cumin, vinegar, brown sugar, pepper flakes, remaining salt, cornstarch, nutmeg, pepper, tomatoes and tomato paste.

Bring to a boil and simmer for 15 minutes. 

Pour into sterilized jars, add lids and rings, and water bath jars for 15 minutes.  Remove from water and listen for that magic pop, pop, pop of sealing jars!

This makes about 12 pints, but I put a lot of mine in 1/2 pints because we don't eat that much at once.

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Easy Freezer Corn

I got all my corn froze a couple days ago. We prefer the taste of frozen over canned, so that is why I freeze it instead of can it. And I think freezing is easier, especially using a few tricks to make it all go quickly. I did a whole wheelbarrow full and it took me about 2 hours with a few breaks to get the kids lunch or help them with something. I thought I would share with you how I do it in case you might be interested in trying it.

After you have picked and peeled all your corn, you need to get some water boiling. I use 2 big pots to keep things moving. You need to boil the corn for 5 minutes.
Then you need to immediately put them in cold water to stop the cooking. I use my sink full of ice water (all the ice had melted by the time I took the picture).

Then comes the fun part, cutting off the kernels! I use a tube pan and my electric knife and this makes it quick and easy. Just hold the corn on the center tube, saw the kernels off, and let them fall into the pan.

You will be left with a nicely cleaned off cob and you will hardly waste any corn.

Then it is ready to be scooped into the freezer containers of your choice. I always use pint Ziploc bags and this is the perfect amount for most recipes or for our family to eat at one meal.

This year I got 24 pints from our garden, which is kind of a small year, but at least it is done before the baby is here!

So Much To Do...

...so little time (or energy)! All of a sudden it seems like our new little one will be here soon! I (almost) wish I had a couple more weeks since most of the stuff in the garden has decided to ripen all at once this week! Yesterday I got the potatoes dug and about half of them canned, but I am hoping to get the corn, pears, tomatoes, and maybe some more apples and peaches done before the baby arrives! With an induction date set for the 27th that doesn't leave me much time! And thankfully the monster kidney stone has been staying put and I haven't had any pain from that! If there is a lack of posts on the blog in the next couple weeks, hopefully you will understand!

Berries, Berries, Berries!

I was beginning to think my little berry patch wouldn't produce anything but mold this year, but the week before we went camping they all started to ripen up! This was my biggest picking, but I have been out there about twice a week and have gotten a ton of berries. It ended up being a good thing we had to post-pone our camping, otherwise they all would have ripened and been moldy by the time we got home. There's probably only about one more picking of my strawberries left, which is good because my freezer is getting really full! It is supposed to be really warm at the end of the week, which should ripen up the raspberries and it will be on to picking those for a few weeks!

Busy, Busy, Busy

If you all have been wondering what I've been so busy with lately, here you go:

At least I won't have to go the grocery store for quite some time!

This Week

Here's a little of what we have been working on this week:

I got 21 quarts of cherries canned. We headed out to my grandpa's to pick the cherries on Wed evening. Of course, as soon as we got there it decided to downpour. But had picked up pizza on the way and we ate that while waiting for the rain to pass. I forgot my camera, but the kids had a great time because the branches were hanging so low they could reach a lot of them. We got 5 buckets (old ice cream tubs) full of Bings, and one of pie cherries. I've never made cherry pie before, but I think it turned out pretty good!