Canned Chili

 

 Of the 20 lbs of hamburger I bought this week I took 10 pounds and made chili to can. I used dried red beans which I cooked in the slow cooker before make the chili, onions, green peppers, chili powder, cumin, garlic, a little cocoa powder ( yep I said cocoa powder), canned diced tomatoes and tomato sauce. When the chili was done I took enough out of the pot for us to have for dinner that night and the rest went in to quarts jars and then into the pressure canner. I got 12 beautiful jars of chili (one of our favorite cold weather meals) plus one meal from the 10 pounds of hamburger and 4 pounds of dried red beans.  We eat chili at least 3 times a month. :)

The cocoa powder may sound funny in chili but it just adds this special little touch to chili. You don't add a lot. I added 2 tablespoons to the big pot I made. So really that is not much. :)

Here is my 12 lovely quarts of chili all ready to go back in the box and in to the pantry. These will come in really handy when hubby or son needs to cook a meal. :)

Because hubby and I are both disabled ( he is in worse shape than I am ) I try to keep quite a few fast, easy fix meals on hand for times when I am really busy or not feeling well enough to put a meal together from scratch. We do not eat out much so these jars meals up a lot. Even on the budget since I only can things that I grow myself or can buy at a really good price.

But I have more reasons why I can. I remember eating all the delicious foods my grandma canned all the time and seeing all those pretty jars lined up so nice and neat in her pantry. There never was a time you could go into the pantry and not find some thing good to eat. Since my grandma is gone now I can always open a jar of my own home canned foods and the memories of her and all that food come flooding back. Sweet memories that I never want to forget. :)

Canning Hamburger

Our local store had ground  hamburger on sale this week for $1.99 a pound so I bought 20 pounds to can. I used less than 10 pounds which I fried along with some fresh chopped onions, salt and pepper. When the hamburger was cooked I drained it all through a mesh strainer and then rinse it with hot water to remove as much grease as I could. Packed the meat into jars, covered with some beef broth, wipe the rims, added lids and rings and processed in a pressure canner for 1 hour and 15 minutes. It came out great. I had used some of the hamburger from the 10 pounds to fix hubby and I hamburgers that day for lunch so I only got 8 -12 oz jars and 8 pints of hamburger canned up. These will come in handy for busy days when I want a fast fix meal. I can open one of these and make spaghetti, sloppy joe's, lasanga, home made hamburger helper, quick pot of hamburger soup or any other dish that uses precooked hamburger in it. I love have fast fix meals on hand and an extra bounus is that hubby or son can put together a nice meal if I am sick with just a little help from me. :)

BTW one jar is missing because it didn't seal so its sitting in the ref. for tomorrow's dinner. Waste not want not my grandma always taught me! :)

Chocolate Gravy, YUCK!!

Hubby is a true southern boy and I am a true Yankee girl. Our kids were born Yankees but you would think they were born and raised southern with the way they love Chocolate gravy. I am the only member of the family that hates the stuff yet I am the only one that cooks it. How in the heck did that happen?? LOL

Anyway the other day hubby wanted Chocolate gravy and biscuits for breakfast so I got roped in to fixing him some. Here is the results.

As you can tell by the steam rising off them they are good and hot. Now if only I could figure out the health benefits of eating them. I have been trying to figure that out for over 35 years and still no closer to knowing then the first time I learned to make them. Hubby's dad taught me how to make them.

What is surprising is that I am a chocoholic and I can't stand Chocolate gravy. Could it be the creamyness of the milk that I am missing since Chocolate gravy is made with water instead of milk? One may never know but as long as it makes hubby happy to have his Chocolate gravy and biscuits who and I to argure. :)

Canning fresh caught Salmon

Hubby and his brother went salmon fishing on Thursday. Here is a couple of pictures of their catch. They were really proud of their catch of the day. :)

The biggest one was a female and she was loaded with eggs. The smaller one is a male. The guys cleaned and filleted the fish so all I had to do was can it. First I soaked the fish in a brine of one gallon cold water mixed with a cup of canning salt. Then drained it for 10 minutes. I then cut it up into jar size pieces and packed it in half pints jars really tight leaving a one inch headspace. I processed them for an hour and 40 minutes at 10 lbs pressure. Here is a couple of pictures of the finished product.

Looks pretty good doesn't it? And think of the savings! A 6 oz. can of skinless, boneless salmon costs around $2.49 where I live. After I factored in the cost of the salt, water, lids and gas for the stove I figure it cost me around $6 to can it and I got 13- 8 oz jars of skinless, boneless salmon. Not a bad deal is it?

I didn't factor in the cost of gas for them to go fishing, the cost of their fishing license or the cost of bait because they were going go fishing even if they didn't catch anything. LOL They are going back in a few days to see if they can catch some more. I am hoping for 4 more to can.  I can see a lot of nice salmon patties in our future. :)

Hot Roast Beef Sammies-YUM!

We love hot roast beef sammies with mashed potatoes and gravy. Its one of our favorite comfort meals on a cool fall night or cold winter evening. Add some hot maple glazed carrots and a side salad and you have got yourself one nice tummy warming meal.

I made the roast beef sammies and gravy from a jar of rump roast that I sliced and canned in beef broth last year. A quart jar of the meat will feed 4 adults unless you gave got one 6ft 4 inch hallow from the legs up, son in the house. Then you are lucky is there is enough for 3 adults. LOL

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To can the rump roast, I sliced in half from one side to the other because it was too thick as is. Trimmed off what little fat was on them then sliced each half in to 1/4 thick strips. I browned them all in just a tiny amount of olive oil then drained the slices on paper towels to remove as much of the oil as I could. I had made up a beef broth earlier using low sodium beef soup base. I put the strips in quart jars then covered with the hot broth leaving a 1 inch head space. Wiped down the rims and placed the lids and rings on the jars. I then placed the jars in the hot water that was in the pressure canner, put the lid on and processed them for 90 minutes.  As you can see from the picture above what little oil and fat that remained floated to the top and semi hardened. It didn't hurt anything.

When I opened the jar to made the hot roast beef sammies I scooped out the fat and then just poured the broth into a skillet, added two cups water because the broth was a little to strong, brought it to a low boil and then added a slurry of cornstarch and water. Once it started to thicken I added the meat in carefully as I didn't want it to fall all apart. I let it simmer on low heat for 15 minutes. When I was ready to serve it I laid 2 pieces of bread on the plate and cut them in half, I removed the top slice, using a slotted spoon I place some of the meat on top of the first slice then added the top slice. Scooped the potatoes between the two halves and then ladle gravy over both. It was yummy and the family didn't leave any left overs. :)

This was my last jar of home canned rump roast so next time I catch rump roast on sale again I will have to buy 4 or 5 more to can. I love having home canned meals at the ready for those days I want and easy cook day. :)

Attack of the Poison Ivy Brigade

As you can tell by looking I was attacked by the Poison Ivy Brigade. They were sneaky devils! I have spent the last 40 years outsmarting them but finally this fall they got smart and sought revenge with a vengeance on the mean evil lady that has been ripping them out by her bare hands for as long as she can remember.

I guess they didn't like being evicted from their warm and cosy home at the back of our garage. It ticked them off to have their roots ripped out of the nice warm earth and their long reaching tendrils off the back of the garage. They must have really loved having their roots in up next to the coolness of the cement of the garage floor and the morning shade they had each morning and the warmth of the sun each after noon.

I don't blame them for loving their home. But you would think after being evicted every year for the last 17 years they would have given up and found a new home. But not these devils. They are bull headed and persistent. Quite like the meal old lady that keeps trying to evict them for good. She will not give up her fight with the poison ivy brigade and she has sworn to all who will listen that next year she will be back to fight again only this time she will bring more weapons to the battle. She will never way the white flag of surrender. She vows to keep battling the brigade until she renders on to them the ultimate defeat and they move on to greener pastures in some one else's yard.

In the mean time she is nursing her battle scars and taking notes on war strategy so that next year she is better armed to do battle once again the Poison Ivy Brigade. She may be covered from her head to her legs with her battle scars but she is stubborn and bull headed she will return to the battle and sooner or later she will triumph in the end. War may be hell but winning the battle is sweet!

Prepping for survival in a post SHTF world

I do not hide the fact that I belief that life as we know it will soon end on earth and we will be forced to live much like our ancestors did back in the 1800's. Even Hollywood seems to think that now with the rash of survival type shows that they are coming out with. Shows like Revolution, Last Resort and of course all the end of the world movies like 2012.

Personally I am not a believer of the Mayan calendar and a lot other far fetched ideas that some people have but I do believe that because of what is going on between nations today that things will happen that will shut down the world's power grid and force us all back into a world of darkness. Money will be worthless, cars will no longer run, stores will no longer be opened. There will be no way to buy what you need nor will you have a good chance at finding it since looters will be running rampant because they did not prepare.

But there is even more good reasons to do everything you can do to prepare for survival. Mother Nature is a prime example of why it is good to always be prepared for survival. Earthquakes, tornados, hurricanes, ice storms, blizzard and more can take out power for weeks, close stores and gas stations for weeks, Freeze water pipes, contaminate the local water supply, ruin crops and more. All which can result in unprepped people having next to nothing the way of resources to survive until things are back to normal. That is not something I want for my family. So I do what I can to prep for my family in hopes that they will be able to survive until the world returns to normal or a new normal sets in.

A big part of my prepping includes owning a prep/survival group so that I may gain and share knowledge with others that are like minded. We talk about everything to do with survival from learning how to cook over and open fire to how to raising our own meat animals, to gardening and perserving our harvest. If you are interested in learning more about prepping for survival or if you have knowledge that you would like to share I would like to invite you to join http://groups.yahoo.com/group/hardcorepreppers2/

Its a good group to join and you find lot of friendly people who are like minded when it comes to prepareing for a future that may be completely different than what we live in today. I hope to see you there.