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Here's to a New Year! May your year be filled with blessings and happiness!

My biggest challenge is getting everything cleaned up, labeled and stored away. I can make batch after batch of something and those jars will sit on the counter for weeks before I get around to cleaning them up, printing and sticking on labels and placing them on the new fantastic shelves that Handsome built for me. I always remove the rings before storing jars. I want to clean the threads around the neck of the jar. Removing the rings prevents false seals from staying false. It also keeps the rings from rusting to the jar and not being able to get the damn things off. It doesn't matter what I make or how it was canned, I wash the jars the same way. (The scuzz on the outside of the jars is usually much worse when I've been pressure canning just due to siphoning and fat from the meat.) I lay out clean kitchen towels on the counter. 9 pints or 6 quarts fit into one side of my kitchen sink. This gives me a batch to work on without having so many they are falling onto the floor. I wet a dishrag with hot water and squirt a good amount of dish soap onto it. Then I hold a jar in my left hand, run the soapy rag all over the jar with my right hand. I focus scrubbing a few times around the threads and shoulder where there's stuck on food. Then I set the jar back into the sink and soap up the next jar and so on. I start the water running about half blast and warm. I run two jars at a time under the running water. I reach and set them onto the towels to let them dry. There's water standing on the lids so I hurry and soak that up. They dry fast and I can place the labels on them. I have sloppy handwriting; I don't write my jar labels. I will occasionally hand write when it's something simple like water and I only need the date. Most of my past jobs have been secretarial; those skills have stuck. These Avery labels** are my favorite to work with. I can print 2 jar labels onto each rectangle and then just cut them in half when I go to put the label on the lid. (This gives me 60 labels per page, pretty cheap.) With small item names like Chili and Salsa, I can print 3 labels on each one. Sticky labels on jars make me pissy, I label the lids. If the jar is up high, I can tip it to read the label. If it's down low I can see the top of the jar to see what product I'm searching for. **I have signed up with the Amazon Associates Program. You can click this link to purchase the item that’s suggested. I may earn a small commission, which helps support this website.

Cold Pack Hot Pack Dry Pack Wet Pack Cold/Cold/Cold Dry Canning Open Kettle Oven Canning There's terminology all over the place on how to fill jars and how to run canners. Let's go over the definition of each and why you would choose one over another. We are not going to discuss what is and isn't approved by the USDA, nor what you think is correct; Margaret. Everything heats to the proper temperature inside the canner anyway. Cold Pack - This is my method of choice. Anytime I can work with product that isn't scorching hot is a plus. I'm a natural born klutz and this keeps my toes and titties out of hot water; literally. Cold pack simply means that you're adding product to the jar that is room temperature or colder. Hot Pack - I use this method when doing jams/jellies and not much else. You're going to be dipping up and filling jars with hot, usually boiling product and you're probably going to get burned. Sometimes it's a necessary evil. Dry Pack - This is most useful for potatoes, par-cooked hamburger, ugly chicken; etc. This simply means that you pack the product into the jar and don't add any additional liquid. It can yield some exceptional results. Wet Pack - You add liquid when you're packing the jars. Sometimes it's in the form of a fully mixed up soup. Sometimes you pack a jar with fruit and pour syrup over. Cold/Cold/Cold - This means that you start with cold jars, cold product and a cold canner. I use this method alot. Again, everything has to heat to temp inside the canner before it can boil and/or come up to pressure. It's the heat that kills the germies; Margaret. Dry Canning - This refers to packing dry ingredients like pasta, beans, flour, etc. into jars, placing into the oven to heat and adding lids and rings for them to seal. (This process doesn't work for me, I'm too slow on the lids.) I also use this to describe vacuum sealing dry products in jars. Open Kettle - Refers to folks having hot jars, hot product, hot lids and rings; then filling the jars, capping right away and allowing the jar to seal. This is used commonly for pickles or jams/jellies. (This process also does not work for me, too slow to keep everything hot/hot/hot.) Oven Canning - Folks heat the jars full of product up inside the oven, add the hot lids and rings and allow the jars to seal. Some folks are even using this in place of items that really should be pressure canned. Some of these terms seem interchangable and it's sooo easy to mix them up. Hope this helps sort out some of the "clear as mud" recipes and comments you will see online.

You're probably wondering why I am so insistent on the 4x6 recipe cards.... I've got all my grandma's and my aunt's recipes and some of other people's grandma's recipes. I've got everything I find online. I've got pages marked with sticky notes in purchased recipe books. I've got whole legal pads full of notes and recipes I've scribbled in the heat of canning. I've tried keeping a recipe box. I've tried keeping all the recipe books I like handy on a shelf. I've tried keeping a binder of printed pages of recipes to try. I've even tried keeping folders of recipes in file cabinets. I even have a folder on my phone for screen shots of recipes I take. None of these things really work well for me. One day, years ago, I ordered a little recipe binder** that takes 4x6 cards** and holds 2 recipes per page. This was a game changer for me. I can add additional empty card pockets**. There are dividers** available that are customizable. Not only can I keep the recipes handy and organized, but they are right at my fingertips when I need them. I have 4 of them now and the recipes are divided into separate binders by category; meals & sides, baking, candy, and canning. Each binder is then divided inside by type/style of recipe; soups/stews, yeast breads, jams, cakes, side dishes, meats, etc. Most canning recipe books are organized by waterbath vs pressure canning. I did not choose to separate mine this way as both canning types are used often and I'm equally comfortable with wb vs pc. I did divide by bulk ingredient. Example: tomatoes, apples/pears, fruits. various meats... That way when I'm knee deep in tomato season, I can just go to that section of my canning binder for ideas. There also happens to be a slight addiction to collecting cute recipe cards**.... My handwriting is not great as my mind tends to work faster than my hand can keep up. The recipe cards you see on here usually take me 2 or 3 tries to get written legibly. I've tried going through and typing cards into the computer but the effect is not the same as writing the cards out by hand. If you ever have a question about anything written on the recipe cards, do not hesitate to ask! **I have signed up with the Amazon Associates Program. You can click this link to purchase the item that’s suggested. I may earn a small commission, which helps support this website.

Go get yourself a hot cup of something; this is a tale. This fall, whenever Handsome and I were traveling ANYWHERE; I kept seeing these 6 foot tall metal and colorfully painted roosters for sale or as decoration at people's houses and businesses. Of course, I had to make a joke that there were alot of big colorful c*cks around.... "Oh look honey! They've got a big colorful c*ck too!" Followed by maniacal laughing and fits of giggles. They were literally everywhere we went! Iowa, Nebraska, Missouri.... I figured Handsome just got tired of my joke because he quit laughing at it even though I was having a grand time every time I saw one. Of course, it never occured to me to stop and take a pic with one of them. "I want a big colorful c*ck!" More giggles. Last spring I hatched a clutch of eggs and ended up with 3 spare and very good looking roosters. They have their own coop; with signage, "Young C*cks Club". I'm a softy and can't bear to send them to freezer camp. (Although that one asshole with the curly tail really needs to go; the bruises on my legs say so. I take the broom with me when I go in there.) Recently, BRC (Big Red C*ck) was getting picked on by his brother in their flock. He is now guardian over the entire chicken area and lives happily with the barn cat. I do believe she torments him more than being a friend to him. As you can see, this has become a "thing".... Color me happy when Handsome shows up unannounced Christmas Day with my gift.... My very own metal rooster! I laughed so hard I cried. (I was still at home, trying to keep everyone warm.) Note: He also spent quite a bit of money getting me new insulated coveralls and boots for the cold weather; those expensive items just aren't as much fun to talk about as BCC. Please ignore the dust, I put him up high on a shelf. He is watching over my office (with an iron spur) and staying out of the way of the cat. Dust = real life.

Cooked Meat Mix saves the day once again! The convenience factor of opening a jar of already browned, ground meat is an incredible timesaver. During the storm, all the electrical circuits were taken up with extra heaters. I ate cold sandwiches. Once the weather broke and I could focus on making some hot food; it was so easy to open a jar and add the "hamburger helper" mix to the meat. I had a meal ready in minutes and it was hot which was the first obstacle. I've gotten 2 quick lunches out of that one 15 minute cook and it's such a blessing. I've tried canning sloppy joes and taco meat already seasoned and ready to go. The sloppy joe sauce scorched from the heat of the pressure canner. The taco meat gave me extra heartburn that I don't experience when I fix it fresh. Taking a jar of the CMM and adding the desired seasoning is so fast. I'm also not dirtying up as many dishes each time as the browning and draining of the meat is already done. I keep saying I'm going to keep canning more and more of it. I use it almost as fast as I get it canned up. I'm tellin' ya. Pressure canning will completely change how you fix your everyday meals.

Frosty came through the midwest with shuddering force. (I forget what "they" actually named this supposed cyclone-bomb storm.) The house seemed to be merely a windblock. Once the wind did quit, it took about 36 hours for the house to return to a more normal temperature; the heat just could not keep up. The weather people were saying gusts of up to 40 mph. The wind seemed stronger than that at times; almost tornado or straight-line wind style like we experience in the springtime. I didn't feel comfortable leaving the farm with all the animals hunkered down and the heat running full bore. I was able to get everyone into buildings and out of any direct wind before it hit. Everybody had soft bedding and they ate like kings! (I stayed bundled up in double layers of everything and tried to think warm thoughts!) It's gonna take a week to get all the extra bedding cleaned up, but knowing that everyone rode through the ordeal and was safe is worth it. The snow accumulation was very small, only a few inches. We've actually gotten more snow since the storm than what fell during the storm; it all blew away. The water lines froze Friday night and the sewer lines froze Saturday morning. I was able to move heaters around to get them opened back up in a couple hours. I'm thankful I was there to catch it in time. I pray for the folks that were north and west of us in Iowa, Nebraska, the Dakotas; I'm sure their experience was far worse. I bet God's ears were burning from all of us praying over the middle of our country while it was going on. How did ya'll fare in the storm?

Blessings to you and yours on this Merry Holiday!

Ran over to the local grocery for some ingredients the other day. These ingredients included 2 bottles of cheap $8 wine for the Beef & Barley Soup and some upcoming chicken recipes I want to try. I'm obviously old enough to purchase alcohol; the bitch wrinkle across my forehead more than tells the tale. The cashier was so nice, she didn't even ask; she just typed in my birth year as 1989. While I don't remember what 1989 was like, I was quite appreciative of being treated as though I was more than a decade younger than I actually am! Sure made my day. It's also time to re-up the driver's license now that all the C-bullshit has passed. Wish me luck!

(Stock photo I found. Can't get her to hold still long enough for a pic yet.) Handsome has been working alot of overtime and also picked up a side job. This left his dog Katy and I alone to our own devices. Katy is a little black and white doggie that he has had for a few years. She has just been lost without him home as much in the evenings; acting up and digging to China. So I offered for Katy to stay with me and my crew for awhile. Katy USED to be an outside only dog. She has discovered the comfort of a dog bed. Of course she chose the largest one in the house and kicked my big girl out of it. It's really quite funny, she smiles so big and is so proud of herself. I'll just go buy another one and set it in the other corner for my girl. Night before last, I got up at my usual 6am to find that my shoes, socks, pants and sweatshirt were missing from the bedside table. Hmmm.... I went hunting and found all the items strewn in several different places on their way to said dog bed. I haven't had a dog steal my things for quite some time so this was a shock. Katy just rolled over and wanted her belly rubbed, teeth bared in her little smile. She hasn't had any trouble fitting in. She sure is a wiggly little thing. I have a feeling that for as long as she does stay, it's going to be interesting and comical!

Dad would yell at me anytime I fell as a kid, "Did you fall down and go boom?!" And if it was really bad and I didn't calm down it was, "Do you need a bucket to catch the blood?!" Even if there was no blood. I'm headed over to visit Grandma today, she fell down and went boom this weekend. She was trying to do laundry and got tangled up in her own feet. She is ok, bruised and aching and her pride is a bit bruised. I stopped and got her some flowers in the hopes she will have something pretty to keep her mind off the pain. I'm hurting all over and avoiding my own work because I fell trying to get out of the truck last night. I'm ok, just achy and quite pissy. All I wanted to do was go out to dinner with Handsome..... Let's not make this an epidemic and ya'll stay up on your own 2 feet!

It's an odd thing, going from being scared of cooking and canning under pressure to being so comfortable with it, that there are 4 pressure cooker/canners going in your kitchen at once! The horror stories are rampant. So and so's Aunt, Cousin, 3rd Wife... blew up the canner and the kitchen. We never had a pressure canner when I was a kid because Mom and Dad both had been told how "dangerous" they were; waterbath was "good enough". I believed the stories. I've seen the pictures. I've seen kitchens having to be redone because of explosions. I've seen people badly burned from the canner and the contents. You have to know how the thing operates AND know your own skillset. During a time when I didn't have the $100 for a pressure canner**; I bought it anyway. I knew it was necessary to take my canning and cooking to the next step. I forced myself to use it. NO ONE was allowed into the kitchen with me. I was scared shitless. I stared the thing down the entire time. As usual, I had jumped in over my head with a batch of Chili. I had alot of unsealed jars and chili all over the canner. There were 2 jars that sealed, out of seven. I packaged all the unsealed product into containers and froze it. The whole thing pissed me off something terrible because I had followed the instructions that came with the damned thing. I put myself to bed. I knew I was missing something, but what? The canner is an inanimate object, it wasn't the fault of the canner. There's a learning curve to most everything in life. As I have gotten older, I've noticed that learning new things is more difficult than it used to be a couple decades ago. This constantly learning is key to becoming skilled at both cooking and canning. "They" say that when you stop learning you might as well go 6 feet under.... With some serious online research; I was able to pinpoint a few things to do differently with the canner and get a better result. See How to Run a Pressure Canner. The whole Instant Pot learning curve was even worse. When the Instant Pots first came out, I wanted one; people raved over them. I had never cooked anything under pressure in my life. First go round, as usual, was outside of my wheelhouse and I tried Gumbo. Took 45 minutes to heat up before it would even cook the food. I had no idea how to run the thing and the instruction book had already gone missing. The original Instant Pot sat on the shelf for 5 years, staring at me. Fast forward and I'm staying at a dear friends' house, clear across the country, and she has a Ninja Foodie. To take some of the weight of everyday crap off her, I cooked a few nights a week and did all the dishes. She would fire up the Foodie and pressure cook chicken breasts each week just to have on hand. So she taught me to run the thing and of course, I couldn't do something simple, I had to make a pork loin roast. And it was wonderful. Original Instant Pot was dragged off the shelf and thanks to Google, I fell into a rabbit hole of Instant Pot instructions, recipes, hints and tips. I went on marketplace and found another used one! I rely on these machines often now. Any time I have some large cooking project (like broth) or a piece of meat that is out of this world tough; Instant Pot**. They don't draw much electricity and I can run them both on the same outlet in the kitchen. This also keeps the stove free for other pots or canners. When I'm canning and the Instant Pots aren't being used for something else, I put one on slow cook and keep my lids and rings warm inside it. Now that I'm better educated about cooking and canning under pressure, it has been a game changer for me. It's not unusual to find me in the kichen with 2 canners on the stove and 2 Instant Pots running. Take the time, learn and get comfortable with cooking and canning under pressure. It's sooooo worth it. ** I'm an Amazon Associate. This means if you click on the link and possibly buy something linked on this website, I might get a little commission that helps support the cost of this blog.