Finally! The pantry is filling up again!

We've been busy canning.  Every day I try to do at least 1 canner load of something.....but it depends on what is on sale.  Since we haven't harvested anything to can yet this year, our pantry was getting a bit thin.  So I am finding what we need on sale, buy what we need....and put it up.

Friday started the most grueling canning session there is.  Chicken noodle soup is one of the most difficult things I can......the only thing that compares would be tomato soup. 

Home canned chicken noodle soup is a real treat to have on the pantry shelf.  If I want some home made chicken soup, I usually make it fresh.  BUT....when you are sick, or if your kids are sick, or if the household is sick....or if you just don't have time to make a batch.  There is NOTHING better than walking into the pantry and grabbing a jar of your home made soup and having it ready in the time it takes to make the toast to go with it!  Forget that salt-laden stuff in a tin can.  Take a day or two and make a couple of batches.  14 quarts of soup IS two days work.....but it is worth it.

Here are a few snapshots of the day.....we start with split chicken breasts.  The skin and bones are removed for making stock.  First I roast them in the oven until they are very nicely browned, then add them to a stock pot with water, coarsely chopped onion, celery, carrots, a bit of garlic, and salt.

All of that yummy stuff goes into the pot....but it is strained so that you are left with a very nice rich broth.  The bones and veggies that we strain out go to the chickens (too many bones to go to pigs)...

Next we start cutting the meat into chunks.....and browning it in a pan until we see a beautiful golden brown color.  Then the next batch goes in.  I like to have about one split chicken breast per quart of soup.

While cooking the meat, I start the pasta.  I make it from scratch with semolina flour, fresh eggs, olive oil, a splash of water and salt......and work it over good so that we have an over-worked dough.  This will stand up to the rigors of home canning, and you will still have noodles when you open the jar.

Once the pasta and meat are all done, I distribute them amongst 7 sanitized quart jars per canner.  Top them with that luscious broth and process them in the pressure canner.  Now I have 13 jars in my pantry to get us through the winter.  Yum.
*Yes I said a canner load is 7 quarts....yet there are only 13 jars in my pantry.  One jar didn't seal.  Oh my.....guess what I am having for lunch today!

The whole process was so much fun, I invited a dear friend to come join in! 

So we started 2 more batches.

She had the bright idea to add twice the noodles.  She might be able to lift her forearms again by November.  

Random Shots of Goatness...

The days are cooling ever so slightly....so I get to spend more time outside with the goats....and the camera. 

First of course is the herd Queen, Faith.  She is the queen of everything....she packs, she pulls, she milks, and she makes fat babies...

So the next shot is of the little Princess herself.....Faith's daughter, Fiona.  Fiona had a rough day and had to tell me all about it while searching for treats....

Runner up for the Princess title would of course be Fame.  Aka Famey Amy.  She is Happy's grandaughter....and reminds me so much of Happy.

Here's another shot of her.....just because you can't see how wonderful she is from the first shot.  I am very pleased to announce that she is FINALLY fully weaned!  No bottle for over a week now.  YAY! 

The first barn princess ever here was Angel (Born in 2006).  Angel is the first daughter of Legacy and was a royal toot for a long time.  She's still in her own world, and this year she is attempting to grow a mohawk.  It's hard to tell from the picture but that whole white blaze on her face is attempting to stand on end.  Bizzare, yes...out of character for Angel, nope. 

The other two of the keeper kids from this year (not counting Angel's boy....Frodo...keeper kids, do you count a beautiful buckling that you have three generations of wonderful history, but since he's not registered but still breedworthy so he's still here) are sisters, Silly had triplets this year a buck (long gone) and these two lovely girls.  Filly....sweetheart, quiet lapgoat....

And her spicy sister (she takes after her grandma Legacy), Fennel.  Fennel's structure and head looks just like her daddy, Pete....and it looks like she may have his stature as well...She's a big girl.

Speaking of boys.....what do you do when a giant tree falls down into your pen?  Well, you spend hours rubbing your big stinky head on it that's what!  That's Manny way in the background rubbing his head on the fallen branch....while Pete rubs his head on the rub rope.  You can get a hint of Pete's size from the picture....that's a 48" cattle pannel he's next to....

I guess it was a good time for rubbing.....Lace took the opportunity to use the rough bark on an oak tree as a back scratcher...

Meanwhile her daughter Moon Pie was busy spreading rumors at the hay manger....

I hate it when the flash ruins their eyes......here's a better shot of Pie...aka moonie oonie apple pie....

Yes You Can Can Chicken

Been canning chicken breast...and I thought it might be a good time to pop in a little tutorial for anyone that would like to take the plunge and can meat.  I found boneless, skinless chicken breasts on sale for $1.99/lb and bought 4 packages to go with the 1 package I already had that needed to be put up.  In all it was about 18 pounds.

Step 1....You need a pressure canner that is in good working order.  This is not a boiling water bath project unless you are inviting unwanted guests to your pantry...and maybe have a good burial policy.  :)

Step 2.....Sanitize your jars.  I now do this with an actual DISHWASHER!  For the first time in our entire married life I actually have a working dishwasher.  By the way, I am in love with it. 

Step 3....gather your ingredients.  You need chicken, water (for the canner), and salt.  I use Kosher salt.....it is another new love of mine....

Step 4....Cut the meat into cubes.

Step 5....stuff your meat cubes into your jars...leave 1" of headroom, which means just fill them to the big rim.

Step 6....add salt.  Use 1/2 tsp salt per pint jar.

Step 7... Cap the jars and put them into the canner. You add no water or liquid to the jars....the chicken will do that.

Step 8.....You add water to your canner.  Follow your canner's instructions because each one is different.  Processing time is different as well, depending on where you live.

Step 9....process your jars.  This means that you heat the canner with an open steam valve....until you get a good steady steam.  Let the canner steam for 10 minutes then close the valve.  Once the valve is closed, you begin to build pressure.  For our geographic elevation, we process at 11 pounds.  Once the pressure has built start the timing...for pint jars it is 75 minutes.  Watch this closely, if it goes too high you can break jars or blow seals...which means all  your work is shot.  If it goes too low, you have to begin timing all over again.

Step 10...Once processing has finished, turn off the heat and allow the canner to come back to 0 pressure.  This will take a few hours for it to cool.  Once it is down to 0 open the valve and let it stand for 10 minutes, then open the canner and let it sit overnight to cool.

Step 11...Pull your jars from the canner, remove the rings, and wash the jars.  If the seal is good it will not be broken by washing the jars....

Step 12......Mark your jars with date and contents, and find a place in your pantry for them!

Queenacres Canning Rules:

1.  Always properly vent the canner.

2.  Keep the canner at appropriate pressure.

3.  Always process for the appropriate time.

4.  Always allow the canner to decompress on it's own.

5.  Remove the jar rings after processing.  Always.

6.  Never store jars with rings attached.  This can hide a seal failure.

7.  When in doubt, throw it out!

Properly canned and stored food will last for years!  We eat 4 year old canned meatloaf here and it is delicious AND safe!  Take the time, and be aware of important details.  Remember your family's health is at stake, you want to do it safely.

Progress in the Hut

If the great seedling start is any indication....we should have a nice little fall garden.  We have already moved pumpkin and corn starts to the garden bed.  Unfortunately the corn was obliterated on the first day.  In the first hour as a matter of fact.  I did reluctantly poke some more corn seeds directly into the garden yesterday, but I don't plan on actually having any survive.  I have been planting with our Thanksgiving meal in mind.  I LOVE home-grown Thanksgivings and it seems that we have much to be thankful for this year.  So far surviving in the garden is a few pumpkin sprouts.  If we get 2 or 3 pumpkins to harvest for seed I'll be thrilled.  We use pumpkin seed as a natural wormer for the poultry and goats.  We'll see if these little guys grow fast enough to develop before we get frosts....

As far as sprouting herbs, the only thing up so far is Thyme.....

I have several squash varieties coming up as well.....and yes, I was even hopeful enough to plant cucumbers!

The big bean pot is full of life.  I'm planning to just let them grow in the greenhut and see what we get....

And the beets are coming up like crazy!  I am the only one here that likes beets.....but that's okay.  I am growing them to can for later....and for making pickled eggs.

Of course the best pickled eggs are quail eggs.....and when I had the chance to buy some quail, I jumped at it.  They are still settling in, they've only been here about 10 days or so.  These are A&M Jumbo Quail and we got a dozen of them 2 males and 10 females.  No eggs yet, but I expect some within another week or 2. 

We are also expecting baby rabbits soon!  One of the females looks suspiciouly round....and has been really protective over their deflated box.....

Also very round is our Thanksgiving Dinner guest of honor, TBird.....looking handsomly delicious...

Yep, we have lots to be thankful for this year.  I can't wait for Rylan to enjoy his first Thanksgiving feast, and to teach him that every day is a gift. 



And the answer is........!!!

SUCCESS!  Canned corned beef does NOT have to smell or taste like dog food!!!  I opened a jar for lunch yesterday to make one of my favorite dishes, corned beef hash.  Just to make the judging fair I invited my mom and my niece to help guinea pig this idea.

Remember, this is by far the UGLIEST end product I've ever experienced in 25+ years canning.  And that includes the great corn fiasco of 1993.  Just to prove it's ugliness I will show you the picture again....

And let me tell you, it didn't get any prettier by opening the jar......

That big hunk of fat dangling in the top of the jar....not to mention the hunk stuck to the rim.  YUMNOT.

But the smell.  Oh my....it will make you forget all about the ugliness of it.  The smell is fresh, it is of fresh cured beef with that lovely hint of clove, mustard, bay......all in a briney mix that makes you drool in anticipation.  So I did the honorable thing.....I grabbed an onion and a couple potatoes.....and started chopping.  Olive oil into the skillet....some butter (because I am an American)... and started the process of making the most experimental corned beef hash I've ever attempted.

Once the onion and taters had some nice brown color on them......I carefully scooped out the pink globules of fat from the jars; usually difficult for me to do because I think fat is what makes the world run smoothly.....poured out half the packing juice.....and dumped the globs into the pan.  Using a big spatula I broke up the chunks of corned beef.  I used part of the packing juice so that I could put the lid on the pan and steam the potatoes until fully cooked (plus the salt from the juice would salt the onions and potatoes). 

Then I removed the lid and browned everything thoroughly.......

It is BEAUTIFUL!  We all agreed that it was FANTASTIC!  It was every bit as good...or better....than any corned beef hash we'd ever had.  An HANDS DOWN better than any corned beef hash from a can.

So there ya have it.  You can bet more corned beef will be stuffed into jars in my future. 

Potatoes are Done!

I am thrilled to have all of the potatoes canned!  For the record, we canned 110 of the 120 pounds that we bought.  That translated to 3 full days of canning....

1st day - 44 jars

2nd day - 21 jars

3rd day - 14 jars

Total = 79 jars of potatoes

And for the first time, I canned 4 jars of corned beef.  One thing about when you can meat, it's never pretty. ..But let me tell you, Corned beef is downright UGLY!  Sure hope that it tastes better than it looks.  We'll know today!

The Canning List...

We're moving along on the potatoes.....about 60# done on Monday turned out to be 44 jars....

We have another 30# in the canner right now....and will follow up with the last 30# tomorrow.  In the midst of all these potatoes, the corned beef has finished it's cure.  We cooked a big chunk of it for supper last night, accompanied by 1 and a half head of cabbage and a quart of these potatoes that didn't seal properly...Good stuff indeed!  This morning we vac sealed the remaining pieces of corned beef and got them into the freezer.  Except for 1.

I am saving a single chunk to can....which is something I've never done.  I am hoping that it maintains it's lovely flavor and that I will be able to turn it into a quick corned beef hash.  No way of knowing unless I take the plunge and do it....so that is on the canning adgenda for the week as well. 

I had to make a quick run to the store yesterday, and found 6 packages of baby Bella mushrooms marked down for quick sale.  I used to find these frequently, and can or dry them as soon as I bring them home....but it has been a long time since I have found them.  We LOVE mushrooms!  Not only are they very tasty, but they are a cancer inhibitor.  They are very good for you!  With these 6 pounds of baby bellas, first I washed them thoroughly to get the ick off....

Take a look at those fat beauties!  It seems a shame to not use them fresh.  Next I cut them into thick slabs.  Remember that mushrooms shrink considerably when canned, so you want nice thick slices....

Then they go into a boiling pot of soaking solution....1 capsule of Vit C in a big pot of water.  They need to boil for about 5 minutes.  This step keeps them from browning too bad, and keeps them from floating in the jars. 

I'm tellin ya....that is a pan of love! 

I use the boiling juice as the liquid in the jars....it saves me from having to open another C cap....but if you want clear liquid and pretty mushrooms make fresh soaking solution to add to the jars.  I was able to make 5 pints with the 6 packages of mushrooms....



The Head Honcho...

Today is Bob's birthday.  He is the love of my life and the father of my children.  I cannot imagine what my life would be without him.  God is first in my life, but Bob is second in command without a doubt.  I love You Baby and I cannot imagine my life without you.

Here's to the Head Honcho of the crazy ship Queenacres......  Hooo Rahhh!

Meat and Taters

It's been a bit hectic here....as usual.....which has kept me from updating the progress of the Corned Beef.  I have moved it into the fridge...each chunk in a zippy bag filled with brine.  Tomorrow I will cook a piece and see if it's done.....

This week potatoes are on sale at one of our local stores.  They were at my canning price of .29/lb so I bought 120# to put up.  Today we started the process.....I say we because I enlisted (drafted) my mom to help.  I really despise peeling potatoes....and lucky for me, she's glad to help any way she can.  (Thanks mom!).

Once she has them peeled, we put them in a soaking solution that prevents browning...

The soaking solution is just a 1000 mg capsule of Vitamin C mixed with up to a gallon of water.....

From there I cut them into large chunks and return them to the soak.  You can skip this step and put them straight into the jars, but during the canning process the starches will break down and the jars will be cloudy.  I'd rather cut them up and then scoop them into jars from the soaking solution.  Once the jar is full, I add boiling beef broth.  I don't use water and salt any more because I have found that using the beef broth eliminates some of that "canned" potato flavor. 

3 canners running now, these 2 on the stove...the 3rd is on my little single electric burner.  I sure do miss doing my canning outside, but I think we will be under a burn ban for months to come.

We got about 50# done today....will do 3 loads a day until they are all done.