How to Seal Food in Mylar Bags for Long-Term Storage
Rice and beans are the food staples of many cultures. Rice and beans are also calorically dense and store well. However rice stored in a plastic bag risks contamination from rodent pests, moisture, and oxygen degradation. To prevent rodents like mice or rats from getting into your food supply, store in hard plastic or glass […]
How to Peel Tomatoes for Smooth Pasta Sauce
Peeling tomatoes to make into pasta sauce can be messy business. Last year I peeled and stewed over 150 lbs of tomatoes from my garden into tomato sauce. Some of those tomatoes went into pasta sauce, others I made into salsa or left as diced tomatoes. I have experimented with removing the skins and will […]
6 Jam Recipes and 1 Cute Wedding Present
Weddings a great time of joy and celebration. They are also a time for gift giving. I recently had a friend get engaged and decided I wanted to give the new couple some of my jam, as I know they both enjoyed my Christmas gift of jam. So I set about to raise my jam […]
Dandelion Jelly – Tastes Like Sugar
If you have viewed the “Garden” section of Pinterest you will have no doubt come across someone touting the great “honey” like taste of dandelion jelly. I, like a few others, actually really like dandelions. I do not consider them a weed, I think they are a joyful yellow flower that dots the landscape of […]
6 Steps to Pressure Can Amazing Pulled Pork
Raw meat in a can, then boiled at a high temperature for 1.5 hrs. Sounds gross, doesn’t it? And it also don’t look nearly as attractive as pretty jam and tomatoes. But don’t throw out the idea yet! I have successfully cooked meat in my 22-quart pressure canner and it tasted amazing! (Boyfriend approved too!) […]
The Real Difference Between Regular and Wide-Mouth Canning Jars
When I first started to learn to can I always wondered about why there were two different types of canning jars. There regular mouthed jars like these that have “shoulders” and a smaller diameter opening. There are also wide-mouth jars like these that have no shoulders and a larger opening. Some sites will say regular […]
3 Ways to Cook Beans (No Soaking Required)
Tim and I (Lauren) love beans. Black beans, baked beans, chickpeas, pinto beans, white beans: we love them all. About a year ago, we made the switch from canned beans to cooking our own dried beans and never looked back. We had a few reasons to make the switch: Dry beans are healthier than canned […]
Taking the Fear out of Pressure Canning
Basic Canning Tools Metal Spacer Rack at Bottom of Canner Quick Reference Guide to Canning Available through Kindle Chapter 1 Deciding between a Water-bath or Pressure Canner Chapter 2 How to use a Water-bath Canner Chapter 3 How to use a Pressure Canner Chapter 4 Common Canning Mistakes Chapter 5 Canner Specifications Chapter 6 Additional […]
Simple Guide to Water Bath Canning
For many people canning is a fun and safe way to preserve garden produce. Canning provides a way to make food shelf stable without risking it going bad before you can eat it. It also provides food security if the power goes out and food spoils in the fridge, at least your cans are safe […]