I orignally wrote this December 13th. With everything going on, I am just now getting the recipes cards written up. So sorry for the delay!
As per usual, I thawed WAY too much meat to get put up in the time alotted.... This left me with 10 pounds of the cheap precooked beef strips AND about 25 pounds of deer meat waiting in the fridge. I am feeling better today and since I was given this box of pearled barley....
I've never tasted or made Beef and Barley Soup before. There are several highly rated recipes online for it. I decided to give it a go. I put the dry barley into the jars and did not cook it first. I figured the grain would disintegrate during canning if it was precooked. After going through some of the recipes and seeing what I had on hand, I ran to the local grocery store for some red wine and gravy mix packets. I did not sear the meat first as the recipes suggested; I didn't feel like it and just wanted to get jars packed.
Another product I wanted to have on the shelf was some stew. I love stew and never seem to get it made just because of the time constraint. Oven Stew has been a family favorite for years; I tweaked the amounts for canning. I'm gonna keep the name I think, just to screw with people.
There was enough deer meat leftover to pack up a few more jars with some beef broth. Three quarts of the beef strips were also left. Those are dry packed.
All this ontop of working on solving old job problems, getting more Christmas cards ready, throwing in a load of laundry, and washing/putting away 3 loads of dishes. Supper is ready for Handsome and I have even done chores. It's cold and raining buckets outside; I will run another batch in the pressure canners to finish up the meat. Then I'm heading to bed.