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You've been running batches through the pressure canner all day... You're tired and on the last run. You walk through the living room on your way back from the potty and think, "I'll just sit down here for a few minutes before I check on things." Pretty soon, you open your eyes! You fell aslseep! There's a loud rattling sound coming from the kitchen.... What were you working on again?! Oh no! The pressure dial is maxed out, the weight is rocking madly and it sounds like the canner has run dry... The burner on the stove is still on high! Welp, you've gotten yourself into a problem now. If things have not blown up yet; here's what to do to fix it: DO NOT TOUCH THE CANNER. I repeat, DO NOT TOUCH THE CANNER. Take a deep breath. Carefully reach behind the canner and turn OFF the burner. Also turn off whatever timer you had set. Note if any processing time was remaining. Remove yourself, family members and pets from the kitchen. Go back to the comfy chair in the living room AWAY from the canner. Take everyone out to supper if that hasn't been done yet. Once you calm your racing heart, you can wait for things to calm down in the kitchen or put yourself to bed. If you stay up, wait until that dial gauge is down to zero and the nipple is down before opening the canner to see what kind of a mess you've got. Don't try to continue to work tonight; give yourself a break and try again another day. Many food items can be reprocessed or the product can be frozen to be used. It's most likely not a total loss. IF you were woken by the canner over-pressure plug or canner itself exploding: Make sure anything else that might cause burns has already blown up before proceeding. Turn off the burner. Go back to the chair or go out to supper. Allow everything to cool down before attempting to clean up the mess. Any jars that did not bust can be refrigerated or emptied and the contents frozen. You can remove alot of stains on countertops, walls, ceilings, with a paste of baking soda and water. Repair or replace anything damaged by the explosion. Try canning again! NEVER WALK AWAY FROM YOUR CANNER FOR ANY LENGTH OF TIME. You can take the time to go pee. Time loss is a real thing. Take a timer with you to the bathroom so you don't forget what you're doing. Or set a second timer in the kitchen to go off in 5 minutes so you are reminded to go back in there. This applies to the electric pressure canners as well. They aren't as "safe" as they seem. (This includes Instant Pots and Crock Pots. Our local church burnt down because of an unattended slow cooker. Always unplug your toaster!) Waterbath canning allows for a longer break but will still need to be monitored for water level and being topped off as time passes. Canning is not a walk away deal. Please keep this in mind while processing. Keep yourself and your family safe. Don't let this discourage you. Canning is so much fun and having all that yummy food on the shelf is satisfying. Just remember to keep yourself engaged in the process and if you need to leave during processing; make a contingency plan. Have someone educated on what to do ready to take over. Don't start processing until you have blocked off the time to finish the project.

Recently, I've started seeing people wanting to pressure can items that really shouldn't be pressure canned. Everything from tomatoes to jams to pickles! Let's start over with the basics. Waterbath canning processes are used for high acid content foods. Tomato products like basic sauce, diced, salsas are high acid. Jams, Jellies and Fruit Butters are high acid. Pickles are of course high acid from all the vinegar. Waterbathing gets your jars and product to 212 degrees Fahrenheit (sea level boiling point). This is enough to kill most germs and quite a few vitamins. The only thing germ-wise still remaining MIGHT be Clostridium Botulinum. (The germ that causes botulism illness.) The Big B won't survive in a high-acid environment. Waterbathing is considered safe for all these type items. Pressure canning builds steam inside the canner that elevates the temperature of the jars and product to 240 degrees Fahrenheit (sea level). That is enough oomph to kill off the Big B. Pressure canning is used for low acid foods that cannot keep the Big B from growing because their low acid content is friendly to it. Now your food is truly sterilized. Ever heard of an autoclave? That is how the hospitals sterilize surgery equipment to use on humans. You've basically just done this to your food and jars using your pressure canner. There are some vitamins that will survive this, but not many. NOW, you get into the discussions about all the different types of canning. Folks across the pond don't readily have access to pressure canners like the US does. Many of the Amish and Mennonite communities waterbath everything as well. There are many folks that cannot currently afford the cost of a pressure canner and waterbath works for them. Then you have the folks that are brave enough to open kettle can, steam can, or even oven can. I personally will waterbath low acid foods that already have a bbq style sauce on them like BBQ Pork, Taco Meat, Sloppy Joes; I have found in the pressure canner that the sauces scorch and the end product isn't very tasty. Otherwise, I choose to pressure can all low acid foods. You won't find me trying to pressure can items that don't need it. I don't know if folks have gotten it into their heads that pressure canning is "better" for you since it "kills everything" or what. Or maybe folks think they have spent this money for this canner that it needs to be used for absolutely everything. Or they only wanted to buy one type of canner, maybe? Pressure canning processes are not the be all, end all. You can waterbath can in most any tall stock pot. You can use a kitchen towel for a bottom rack in a pinch. I've used old canning jar rings for a rack before. You don't have to purchase a specific "canner" to use this process. Old granite ware canners can be found for cheap on marketplace too. You just have to have enough height in the "canner" for water to get to a rolling boil and stay that way an inch over the top of your tallest jar. I routinely waterbath can small jars (pints and half pints) in my pressure canners. (The p.c. aren't tall enough to w.b. quarts.) They heat up quick and I can run batches through fast. Timing is the kicker in any canning process; pressure or waterbath. The reason folks get so worked up about how long to process items is because the heat around the jars has to be high enough and kept there long enough to penetrate to the center of the product inside the jar. Even if the product is broth, it is still a bit thicker than plain water and you need to maintain that 240 degrees inside the pressure canner to get to the center of the fancy water inside the jar. When waterbathing, you don't start timing until the water gets to a rolling boil; that hard angry boil that will spill over the top of the pot if you're not careful. When pressure canning, you don't start timing until the gauge shows the 10 lbs (sea level) or the weight starts dancing. The start of the time means that your canner, water and jars are hot, but the length of time is what gets the heat to the center of the product. That is why beans and meats are 90 minutes inside the pressure canner; those are pretty dense. It makes no difference if your item is raw packed, hot packed or started off cold. You don't start timing until you get to these certain points and you time accurately to make sure you've killed the germs. There is a big myth that the "new" tomato varieties have the acidity bred out of them. The flavors have changed but the acidity is still there. I've read in a couple newer books that "they" are recommending pressure canning tomatoes and that just blows my mind. Along with a healthy dose of frustration. Why do "they" think we need to kill everything inside our food, including the good stuff? There has been just as much breeding done to apple varieties and "they" haven't started recommending that you pressure can those yet, have they? Correct me if I'm wrong. Fructose is a type of sugar found naturally in our fruits and veggies. Fructose starts to caramelize at 230 degrees Fahrenheit. (Thank you, Science of Cooking!) That is 10 degrees BELOW the temperature you're reaching inside the pressure canner. Why do you want to burn your food? I know fear mongering is a big part of it and I see scores of people online that are so scared of processing their own food that they clasp to the "rules" like a religion. AND like religion, they want to press those rules right over onto everyone else. If you understand what is happening to your food inside the jars and then inside the canners, you will become more comfortable with the entire process and be able to see around all the "recommendations". The whole point of home canning your food is to have healthy, wholesome food on the shelf that you know what is in it. It can save alot of money as well because you can buy bulk items and break them down into usable sizes. Home canning also provides a non-electrical source of long term food preservation. Foods like meats and potatoes wouldn't stay good for very long without electricity; UNLESS it's safely packed inside a jar and sealed. You have years before the food could go bad. I've seen 40 year old jars of green beans that looked as fresh as the day they were packed. That is a big longer than my personal threshold of edibility, but I am still using tomatoes from 2012 and green beans from 2017 that I personally did not can. (I purchased a pantry from a grandpa that was moving to the nursing home.) Give some thought to how much good stuff in your food that you want to kill along with the germs before you pull out the pressure canner to seal pickles....

Why is a crumb topping on a pie called "Dutch'? As in Dutch Apple Pie.... It merely means a crumb topping. How it got that name; seems a bit foggy with the details I could find online. I keep this little tidbit stuck in the back of my recipe book. I don't use it exclusively on apple pies either. It works great for any flavor of pie, or a coffee cake that needs a crunchy topping. This particular pie is a triple berry. I add a little cinnamon sometimes while I'm working up the crumbs. (The photo above is when it's just starting to bake.) This is not the time to try and substitute margarine... Margaret. You need the butter for flavor and as it melts the crumbs together, it soaks down into the pie to help create heavenly filling. Try this Pie Dutch on your next pie; save that extra bottom crust to make another pie tomorrow! Why am I pie happy lately? I've got a pile of beautiful fresh strawberries and nowhere to go with them.,.,,, So I keep pulling out my happy recipes for strawberry season! Yes... I know I could can them and make all the things. I would like to, but they are going to end up in the freezer first just due to time constraints. Today I'm hungry and the weather is crap and I thought today would be the day for one of my "famous" Ugly Triple Berry Pies. What are you making with strawberries right now?

You ever finally get something taken care of and you find out that you didn't realize how much it was actually bothering you? We remodeled the kitchen several years ago and the original faucet died in 2019. It was a spectacular failure of the thing falling apart in my hand and water spraying everywhere. There's a hardware store nearby and while they don't carry everything you could need, they did happen to have a kitchen faucet on hand that could get the sink back going that morning. (We live 45 minutes from the big box stores.) Handsome was able to get them switched out and all was good; functionally. I was thankful I had a working faucet. I HATED that faucet, but I was determined to use it up and wear it out. It was cheaply made, a funny shape and I couldn't fit large pots underneath the thing to fill them. It didn't take long for the thing to start to leak; 18 months or so... I was able to tighten up the fittings and kept it going (or so I thought) til last week. Water started spraying up from under the center neck. I couldn't tighten the fitting down anymore either. I'm good with a screwdriver or pliers but not much else. Handsome has to be the one to actually FIX things. I called Handsome.... With work, he wasn't able to get to it until Sunday and I didn't think much about it until I turned the damned thing on each time. Water everywhere. Thankfully, this time, I was ready with the new faucet I wanted on hand. (It's chrome and not brushed nickel. Brushed nickel was $20 more for the same damn faucet; who's gonna care, the dogs?) I wasn't feeling very well on Sunday morning and I woke up looking for Handsome and had to call him to find him. He was under the sink, replacing the faucet for me! YAY! I don't think he understands how appreciated his repair skills are. Of course, the new faucet worked perfectly the first time I turned it on. While I was so thankful it was fixed, the realization of how much this would benefit my everyday life hadn't hit me yet. I wasn't working in the kitchen on Sunday. Of course, I've now been in the kitchen everyday since. The sprayer sprays really well! The faucet swings back and forth freely without spraying water! And the taps shut off tightly and don't turn even further back than they should. I can fit big pots under the spout and not have to fight with it. AND the kicker, it isn't leaking underneath the sink like it apparently had been for quite some time. There is some damage in the cabinet underneath that I knew nothing about. I had no reason to be under there to check for drips. In the grand scheme of life, it doesn't seem like a crappy faucet should be that big of a concern. But isn't this the same for so many things in life? It's the small things that make the biggest difference. The "devil is in the details", so to speak. It takes the smallest amount of basil to change the flavor of my stir fry but it's necessary for it to taste "right". A single well-timed hug from someone you love can turn your whole outlook around. I was using that crappy faucet every single flipping day and it irritated me each and every time. What is the little irritating thing in your daily that needs to be switched out? If it's a simple fix, hop to it!

Even though Beef Stroganoff sounds like it's a Russian recipe; it really isn't. It's French! "Beef Stroganoff, dish of French origin by way of tsarist Russia that combines thinly sliced and lightly stewed beef and onions with sour cream and other ingredients. Beef Stroganoff is, in essence, the classic French fricassée de boeuf with the addition of equally classic Russian ingredients: onions and sour cream." Thank you, Encyclopedia Britannica! In Pete & Repeat, I promised a post about Beef Stroganoff. My version isn't as fancy as what's described above, but it is a satisfying weeknight meal that is perfect for this dreary weather we are having. I also wanted to try making a batch with my home canned items; which I hadn't done before. I had it in my head that I had to have made a roast before I could make stroganoff... Not anymore! A quart of beef or deer cubes and a pint of beef broth made the base of the dish. Then add in that staple cream of mushroom soup and some sour cream and mustard to finish the sauce. Make sure to use the mustard, it isn't the same without it and I'm not a mustard lover. Boil ya up some nice egg noodles, whatever kind is your favorite; I picked up a pound from the Mennonite store to use. (Plain pasta works in this dish but the flavor isn't there like it is with the egg noodles.) Since this was a double batch, I served it with a side salad one night and some canned peas a second night. (Mashed potatoes would be great with it too; like pictured above.) I then ate lunch twice before it was all gone. This reheats really well and if the sauce gets too thick, it's easy to add just a bit of milk to thin it back down. I imagine it would withstand freezing as well. Try this with some of your home-canned products or leftover roast. It was definitely a tummy pleaser here!

There just aren't very many things better than Strawberry Pie after a long, cold, dreary winter! Late February and March are strawberry season here just because they show up on trucks from Florida. It's really a great perk up for the psyche. The local FFA kids were selling flats of strawberries for their fundraiser this year. Since strawberries are Handsome's favorite in the whole wide world; I decided to get a flat. Bestie picked them up for me and they are such nice berries. I gave Handsome the choice between Strawberry Pie and shortcake. He chose pie so that's what he got for Pi Day! My personal preference is strawberry shortcake. It's what I was raised on. I didn't even know Strawberry Pie was a thing until I worked in an office where it was a thing and pies showed up. Not only were these surprise pies fantastic; I had no flipping clue how to make the goop that keeps the strawberries from going everywhere. I searched high and low and even tried the store bought goop that just didn't cut it on flavor. This recipe came from some obscure cookbook and I had written this recipe down on a now-worn-out sticky note. It is super easy and it works. You just have to plan enough in advance to get the pie to set up before dinner time! I just used a frozen 9 inch deep dish pie shell and baked it prior to filling. You can make a pie crust, use a rolled crust and set it in the pie plate and bake it, or even a graham cracker crust would be tasty with these berries. This pie shell used 2 quart of berries that I washed, stemmed and quartered. The entire recipe of goop was needed to fill in all the spaces around the berries. A shallow pie wouldn't need as many berries or as much goop. I've seen folks just trim the berries and place them stem side down in the pie shell and fill in all the rest of the areas with the goop. You can go as simple or as fancy as you like! We like Cool Whip for desserts around here, it's quick, easy and tasty. If you're a purist and want to whip cream, have at it. Even a spray can of whipped topping or cream would be great. It would be prettier than dollops of Cool Whip like I did. This was such a treat and so tasty.... next time, though, I'm making shortcake.....

Life is insane. We are all chasing our tail in one way or another. It's okay to slow down once in awhile. With canning, you're forced to. Food preservation takes time. Preparation of the product you're going to can, and the time it takes to do the processing. Canning is also something you cannot set and forget. You have to be close by and working with the equipment and product to keep things going safely. Wanna know how Grandma blew up her kitchen with the pressure canner? She walked away from it for too long. Even the new electric pressure canners need to be monitored closely than they seem or they throw an error code or set themselves on fire. I've seen so many posts on bookface from people, "I'm in a hurry... can I just do X?" NO! Freeze whatever you're working on and come back to it later. You still need proper processing times and termperatures; rebel canner or not. Haste truly does make waste. Don't try to fit in an entire processing session between work shifts. Canning while you're exhausted can also be dangerous just because of all the opportunities for burns and cuts. If I'm going to be canning; I need the entire day. I better not need to be running to the store or the bank in the middle of the work. Whatever else needs taken care of will have to be done another time. Even getting multiple phone calls while I'm canning can upset the whole apple cart because brain took a detour. Very often, I will set up canning weekends when Handsome has to work; then he can't show up and charm me and make me forget what I was doing. By setting aside the time to do the work; I can stay focused and get more done during the time I'm given. I can keep my mind working on the particular product I'm canning and not foul up the recipe. I wasn't blessed with littles. I don't have a reference point for managing little kids and trying to preserve food. If the teenagers are willing, I bet it's probably a big help to have their assistance. What are your strategies for creating time to preserve while juggling life?

Nah... I found myself in a discussion with a keyboard warrior the other day. This person was just sure that NEW jars were what they needed to use AND they thought they had to use name brand lids. (I'm sure they wouldn't even attempt to reuse a lid.) And that's OKAY! This person was also sure this was the ONLY way to can; new jars and name brand lids. If that is what you choose to do in your kitchen, more power to you. You will end up with the same results I have at a much larger hit to the wallet. (I personally prefer Dodge vehicles. I pay for that, sometimes dearly.) As we have discussed prior; I use any old jars that I can get my hands on. I use cheap Amazon lids**. I use the cheaper Presto pressure canners**. I've attached a picture from the EVP22 processing soirree and you can see all the different brands and shapes of quarts I was using. You can also see all the different colored lids and the rusty rings. (The Instant Pot** is there to keep my lids and rings warm while I'm working.) Many of these jars have been used, abused, and reused probably hundreds of times over. MOST of my jars are 1980s and older. I very rarely buy new jars. If I do, it's because I'm needing more of a particular style; like wide mouth pints. Some of the jars I'm using are closing in on 100 years old if they aren't already. I waterbath and pressure can in old blue quarts and pints that have a smooth lip. I will even use glass top jars when I have the rubber rings available. I don't check over the entire jar before canning. It gets a cursory glance. I do inspect the rim of the jar quite well. I want a good seal. I'm not worried about bubbles or manufacturing defects because they are usually sealed inside the glass; the jar wouldn't still be here if it wasn't. Occasionally, I do have a jar bust. It's a pain in the ass but it just happens. Eventually we are all going to get dinged up and finally crap out. Happens with jars too. If you have a new today-aged jar and an old one, hold them up, one in each hand. Feel how heavy that old jar is? There's far more higher quality glass in that old jar than the new one. I've seen some cases of new jars bust almost immediately upon canning. The name-brand companies have been sold out. They don't manufacture to a high quality anymore. It's how many jars they can get cranked out, how fast and how cheaply. Then they want to charge quite a bit for them. I would rather pay $1 for an old jar with no lid and no ring; than pay $1 for a new jar with a lid and ring included. Yes, sometimes you will come across some cute designs** and want to make jam for Christmas presents. Go right ahead; I will do it too! I'm saying for the everyday pantry, these old jars will do the job just as well as the new ones and still keep going. And let's face it, the rings multiply in the storage room while we aren't watching.... (Rings** can also be purchased in bulk lots, if needed.) Lids are also easy to buy in bulk. Hunt down grandma's old jars. Clean the jars out of a barn or a basement. Even jars with food still in them can be successfully cleaned up and used. I am going to bet they will outlast any of the jars you bought new. Happy Canning! **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.

Folks are really getting interested in canning/food preservation again and this makes me SO happy! I don't know if canning skipped one generation or two. Dad was raised during the depression. Mom was raised during WWII. I learned food preservation skills from both sides of the family. I feel for the the folks having to learn all this from scratch and not being raised with it as their everyday. At the same time, I'm extremely proud of them for learning all these new skills on the fly. I want to talk pressure canners today and the options that are out there. Canning equipment has changed since "then". I never did learn pressure canning as a kid; Mom was afraid of them and Dad always waterbathed everything anyway. So that's what I learned. In the US, we are at an advantage to have pressure canners readily available and it's easy to learn to use them! At the same time, there are alot of folks that are happy to continue to waterbath everything and if that's where you're at; rebel on! I see folks still using their grandma's pressure canners or digging old ones out of barns. This is not my personal choice but if you're comfortable with that; rebel on! I'm going to talk about buying "new" pressure canners here. First, let's talk about the electric automatic pressure canners that are fairly new to the market. Presto** makes one and Carey** makes one. They can be more expensive than a manual pressure canner but the guess work has been removed for you. I am hearing mixed reviews on them. Some folks are having a great experience with them and other folks are really having trouble and the food isn't turning out. The most common comment I see is that the cords are catching on fire? That's not cool. If you're in a situation where you can small batches regularly and are wanting to be able to walk away from your pressure canner while it's running, the electric p.c. might be for you. (For my kitchen, I will stick with the manual canners. They aren't going to set themselves on fire or toast the motherboard. They can hold small or large batches of food. They won't throw an error code and not work. All the parts are replaceable. I have control over how quickly they heat up and cool down. If there is a problem, all I have to do is turn off the burner.) Some folks are even canning with their Instant Pots; technically that isn't considered safe for long-term food storage at this time. While I am very comfortable with my Instant Pots, I am not personally choosing to can inside of them. There are various brands of manual pressure canners; All American, Presto, Mirro, Denali, I know there are more.... Bestie uses a Mirro every once in awhile but fights with it. I am personally set on my Presto's. I have witnessed an AA in action. The off brands are unknown to me. The mack-daddy of them all is All American**. They are extremely high quality and are made in the USA. The only part ever needing replacing at any time would be the gauge or if you lost the weight. There is no gasket, it is a metal to metal seal and there are six screw heads that complete the seal to create pressure. If you're going to do some heavy duty canning; this is the one to buy. They come in various sizes and run about twice to three times more expensive (or more) than the Presto canners. Some of the problems folks are experiencing are getting the lid set correctly to make the seal and being able to clamp down the screws at the same time and at the same rate of speed. If you drop the lid, you're screwed, they will warp out of shape and the seal won't connect. If you have the cash available, plan to can your heart out, and aren't a klutz like me; get the AA. Presto is my personal choice for a canner brand that I stick with. I have 2 Presto 16s** and 2 Presto 23s**. I like the canners with both the gauge and the weight. There is a 16 quart with just the weight available and it is cheaper. I want to see those numbers on the gauge. What does the 16 vs the 23 mean? The volume inside the canner. The 16 quart size will run 7 quart jars or 9 to 10 pint jars. The 23 quart size will run 7 quart jars or 18 to 20 pint jars because you can double stack pints in them. Why do I have 2 of each? Because I like to be able to run 2 batches at a time. I don't use the heavier 23 quart size on my glass top stove. I only use the 16s on the glass top due to the weight. Why do I like my Presto's so much? They aren't terribly expensive. If I need to replace parts, I can. AND I keep a set on hand. There is an over-pressure valve built in; just in case. They are reliable and easy to use. The lid is easy to turn onto the canner and off. IF I drop a lid, there is a good chance it will still be ok to use, but I might need to replace the gauge I just busted. IF I screw up and run a canner dry; I'm not out a huge cost to replace a canner. IF you're going to can on a gas stove OR outside on a propane burner, on a wood stove, or open fire; (regardless of canner brand) do yourself a favor and get a heat diffuser plate** to use under the canners. It can make the difference in your needing to replace an entire canner because of the flame. Most of these canners are made from aluminum and cannot handle the high heat of a constant flame without some support. The last thing you want to do is ruin your expensive canner. Let's talk about choosing a canner size. As you can tell, I use my 16s more often than anything else. Even if I'm just waterbathing half pints or pints and not quarts, I will still pull out the Presto 16 quart canners and use those over the big waterbath pot. I can fit 1 more pint inside the pressure canner than the waterbath pot due the racking AND they heat up faster than the big 'un. The 23 quart canner size take far longer to heat up inside. The longer it takes to heat up the canner the more electricity, gas or wood you have burnt to get the job done. The larger canner also takes longer to cool down and reduce pressure; this increases the chance of flat sour. I pull out the bigger canners when I'm doing large batches of things and don't need to be able to switch out finished vs un-canned jars as quickly. My Presto 16 quart canners are both looking a little rough. They are clean, but the stand pipe has turned black from all the use and the inside is dark from me adding vinegar to the water. I've seen folks choose to use other canning methods just because they don't want to get out the "big canner". Well if the thing cost $600 and just sits on a shelf, what good is it doing? I guess that is one way to get a canner to "last a lifetime". But really, that's about like those diamond earrings you got for graduation that you never wear. They are pretty but not doing you any good. Consider how often you want to can and how quickly you're going to turn batches out. A larger canner has a slower turn around between batches. Also think about what you're planning to can and if it's something you're going to do year round or just seasonally with the garden. Are you going to be running smaller batches or marathon canning? Figure up how much fuel it costs to can with and how much you pay per kwH for electricity vs gas/propane. Are you on or off-grid? How many kwH can your system provide? Is the wiring in your house new enough to handle multiple items going on the same circuit? Are you on a city gas connection? How much does the big house propane tank hold and cost to fill? Are you close to a place to fill or switch out a small propane tank for a reasonable price? A larger canner takes more fuel to heat up and run. Figure up the strength of the burners you plan to can on. Alot of the new electric stoves come with safety burners that will need to be replaced up front because they have a setting that doesn't allow them to heat continuously. The gas burner on your stove, does it have enough oomph to keep a canner going 1.5 hours? Is the outdoor burner you intend to use too strong and will it warp your canner? Is your stove induction? You will need an induction-compatible canner. Take a hard look at your personal strength and be honest about it. (I get frustrated with myself just feeding dogs and chickens because it is difficult for me to lift 50 pound feed bags.) If the canner is full of layers of full jars and water; that's going to weigh alot and you need to be able to lift it. I don't care if you think you're just going to turn the burner off; at some point, you're going to have to lift a canner full of jars, food and water. That is heavy. For me to move the Presto 16 full of quart jars of food off of the glass top burner; I have to lift the thing directly up a few inches to set it on thick towels so it will cool down quicker. That is weight directly in front of me with my arms stretched out lifting up and then stepping sideways a couple feet. I cannot even dream of moving the 23 quart canners around when double stacked , they have to sit where they are and wait til they cool down. Handsome has to move those around for me and he isn't always around when I need that done. Now start measuring. How tall is it from the top of the burner on your stove to the bottom of the microwave, fan, or cabinet above it? How tall is the canner you're looking at? Will it fit? Can you get the lid off and on without burning yourself? With mine, I have to set my feet back from the stove, reach forward, and turn the lid and pull the lid off straight up and then tilt the lid so the excess water drips into the canner. I wear flip flops almost exclusively, that means my toes need to be out of the way of boiling water drips. If you're canning outside, is the area sheltered from wind? Is the garage open enough that you won't poison yourself with carbon monoxide? I think you catch my drift. When you're considering what canner to purchase, take into account your style of canning, what equipment you have available to can with, where you're going to can, and how much you're willing to spend. There is an infinite combination of styles and types of canners and fuel sources that will all work well together. Just give it some thought ahead of time to save yourself from having problems early on. What combination did you decide on? I'm excited to hear! **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.

I miss my cows. Every year, there would be atleast one set of twins. If it was 2 bulls, they were named Pete and Repeat. I was thinking about what to make for supper the other night and it occurred to me that Pete and Repeat OR wash, rinse, repeat would be fitting for a post about recipes that we use alot. This is how my brain works. I made the Herbed Batter Bread again; just so I could make toast for breakfast! I'm making the Sausage Tortellini Soup again because I was given some spinach to use up. Then I got to thinking about all the canning recipes that I use over and over and over again. Cooked Meat Mix and all the things to make with it; Chili, Hamburger Veggie Soup, Spaghetti Meat Sauce, Goulash.... Then you have the yearly holiday have-to makes like Christmas Cheesecake or the obligatory Cinnamon Rolls. There's several things I haven't made in awhile that I want to have again; Beef Stroganoff is one right off the top of my head. It used to be that I had to have made a roast and have leftovers before I could make Stroganoff; not anymore. Now that I can beef and venison chunks regularly, it will be so simple. I think that might be what's for supper tonight. Been too long since I made it..... Watch for a post! What have you made recently that's a repeat?

Soooo..... I"m in the middle of a big-time jelly failure. I haven't had one of these for a very long time. The last round of this happened a couple years ago and I ended up with tomato syrup from trying to make tomato jam. It's gotta be an acid vs pectin issue..... I wanted to utilize all the flavor in the scraps of the apple peels and cores from making pie filling the other day. I cooked the trimmings in the leftover apple soaking water until I had a pretty pink apple "broth". (I use citric acid to keep apples and pears from browning.) Then the next day, I set about making jelly. I had enough broth to make 4 batches of jelly. I had intended to experiment with different spices and see which we enjoyed the most. I did a batch with added pumpkin pie spice, a batch with just cinnamon, a vanilla and cinnamon batch and a plain batch. The following day, none of the jelly had set. All the other jam I made had set up beautifully, but not this jelly. I measured all the pectin and sugar correctly. I used the thermometer** and boiled each batch to 220 degrees to get to the pectin gel point. I processed the jars 10 min in the waterbath canner. And I had ended up with syrup with little places of jelled jelly inside of it. I headed to Google to find out what I might have done wrong and if there was a way to fix it. Dr Google said that because the waterbath canner wasn't already boiling when I added the jars that the jelly was cooking too long waiting for the canner to heat up; this would make the pectin "break". Noted. Dr Google also said that I could fix the jelly by adding so much lemon juice, sugar, water, and pectin to each quart of jelly and reprocess. There were atleast 3 different versions of that process.... It didn't work. Now I've really got syrup, even the clumps of jelled jelly gave up after re-processing. And the flavor has changed. I tried 2 of the 4 batches to see what I would get from re-processing. I also wanted to see if the other 2 original batches went ahead and jelled with a little extra time. Nope. I've got 4 batches of various flavored and really pretty syrup. Apple syrup is just not something we are going to use. Time to pull out some big guns. I took my not-so-happy ass down to the Mennonite store yesterday and bought the biggest bag of Clear Jel** you ever did see. If I don't end up with a spreadable jelly product, I will atleast end up with goop for pie filling! The nice thing about canning flops and things like high-sugar high-acid products is that if it is a flop, it can literally stay sealed in the jars until you decide what to do about it and when you have time to fix it. This has already been going on almost a week! There will be an update to this! Happy Canning! What has been your latest flop in the kitchen? **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.

Nothing pisses me off faster than opening an expensive can of pie filling to find that it's mostly goop and not very much fruit! I've been known to buy a gallon can of peach pie filling and scoop out the fruit to make pies with and just add the amount of goop I want. (Extra goop makes excellent ham glaze.) Pie filling is sooooo easy to make! As you know, I'm not an all-natural or organic-ingredient-only type cook. I can't afford it and I can't stand to waste food. I cook as much food from scratch as possible just so we know what we are eating. I no longer trust food labels and what "they" say is in commercial products. I source ingredients where I am able and we grow quite a bit ourselves. That being said, TWO one-gallon cans of diced pears and a gallon can of sliced peaches ended up in my pantry. I stared at them and wondered what to do with them for quite some time. I simply cannot use up a gallon can of fruit for 2 people before it goes bad. Inspiration hit while I was avoiding doing paperwork over the weekend. Why couldn't I make pie filling using pre-canned fruit? I was determined to find out if it would work. I dug out my usual apple pie filling recipe. I didn't want to throw out the syrup that the fruit was packed in, there's flavor and sugar in that. Using the label on the back, I calculated how much sugar was approximately in the entire can. Then I used that syrup in place of the water and reduced the white sugar in the recipe by 1 cup to account for the sweet syrup. I opened the cans and drained the fruit, reserving the syrup. One batch of goop covered 2 gallons of diced pears perfectly. The can of peaches, I supplemented with some 15 oz cans I had on hand and made a second batch of goop to cover those using the peach syrup. Now you have a sticky mess on your hands. How to pack this in the jars and not end up with jars of just goop? I tried both ways. I placed a little bit of goop in the bottom of the jars, added some fruit and some goop and some fruit until the jar was full. It was easy to layer the diced pears into the jars and mix with the goop inside the jar. For the second batch, I mixed the fruit with the goop and then packed it into the jars. I ended up with more goop in the jars than I wanted but that might be me just being picky. The peach slices didn't really want to mix well inside the jars and benefitted from being pre-mixed with the goop before packing. This recipe can also be used to make goop for peeled, diced, raw pears or apples. The raw fruit floats in the goop during the canning process but the end product is very nice and makes great pie. Remember.... Don't Look! Let's talk about thickeners. Margaret says you can't use cornstarch in canning anymore.... Poo on that. Clear Jel and Therm Flo are both cornstarches! Using Clear Jel will give you a nice, commercial style product with no cloudiness. The measurement of how much Clear Jel to use is different than the cup of cornstarch listed in this recipe, follow the directions on your package of Clear Jel. I didn't have any Clear Jel. I went ahead and used the Therm Flo I had on hand and used the full 1 cup measure. It worked perfectly to thicken up the goop. Regular everyday cornstarch works just fine to thicken this pie filling. It ends up a bit cloudy, but honestly, does anyone check through your pie to see if the filling is cloudy? No they don't, they are excited about pie and eat it right up. Can away and use whichever cornstarch you have on hand. This goop is heavily seasoned. Adjust the seasonings however you would like. If you don't want a heavy flavored pie, just use some cinnamon. You could also make the goop without any seasonings at all. OR, you could make the goop using all white sugar and omit the brown sugar. This recipe would work fine for cherries with whatever seasonings you choose and some red food coloring.... I made some pear pie filling last year and added some vanilla; the pear crisp I made with it was fantastic! Use your imagination! LEAVE A HEALTHY ONE TO 1.5 INCH HEADSPACE. This shit grows while it cooks during the canning process! Jars of just leftover goop can also be canned using the same processing times. NOTE: It takes 1 quart and 1 pint of pie filling to fill a 9 inch pie. I suggest canning both pints and quarts (or all pints if you don't mind using the lids) just for this reason! Anyway.... If you have some canned fruit on the shelf and have no idea what to use it for, give it a whirl for pie filling and save the money on the commercial cans of goop. Happy Canning!