Green Tomatillo Salsa - Canned

Tomatillos don't have to be peeled just cored and chopped.

I loved canning Green Tomatillo Salsa! Unlike the tomatoes that are used in Tomato Salsa, you don't have to peel tomatillos. You just have to chop them up and throw them in. This is a lot less work and the results are delicious.


I followed Ball's recipe for Tomatillo Salsa. Which can be found here. I have also included it below with a few changes that I made.

Simmering Tomatillo Salsa

 5-1/2 cups chopped cored husked tomatillos (about 2 lbs or 27 medium)
1 cup chopped onion (about 1 large)
1 cup chopped green chilies (I used a combination of Jalapenos and green peppers.)
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 Tbsp minced cilantro
2 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup vinegar
4 Tbsp lime juice
4 (8 oz) half pint glass preserving jars with lids and bands
I omitted the Red Pepper Flakes because I chose to use Jalapeno Peppers. 

Directions:

Combine all ingredients in a large saucepan and heat to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer for about 10 minutes or until salsa reaches desired thickness.
Ladle the hot salsa into prepared jars leaving 1/2 inch head space. Wipe rims and put hot lids and bands onto jars.
Process jars in a boiling water canner for 15 minutes, adjusting for altitude. Remove jars and cool. Check lids for seal after 24 hours.


Remember that it is not safe to change the ratio of tomatillos, peppers, onions, and garlic to the amount of acid used (vinegar and lime juice). The only thing that can safely be changed is the amount of spices you use. Always use an approved recipe when canning salsa.

Home Canned Tomatillo Salsa

You can also try my recipe for Roasted Tomatillo Salsa found here.

DIY: Frozen Spinach

Large bunch of Spinach harvested from our Garden.

As the days started to get warmer here in East Texas I knew that the days of being able to satisfy my spinach cravings were numbered. It made me a bit sad, because my spinach has been doing so well and we have all been loving it. As it started to bolt I decided to preserve a bunch of it by freezing.

Freezing is actually a really great way to preserve vegetables from your garden. Freezing allows you to preserve most of the nutrients and also helps to maintain the color and flavor.

Three bowl set up for freezing homegrown spinach.

For most vegetables blanching and cooling is a necessary step to properly preserve them. Blanching stops the enzyme action that helps vegetables to grow and mature. 

I used a three bowl set up to blanch and cool my spinach very quickly. It only took me about 20 minutes to do the whole batch.

Blanching Homegrown Spinach.

Cooling Spinach after blanching.

Draining water off of blanched and cooled spinach.

Of course the first step is to thoroughly wash the spinach, cut off thick stems and take out any bad leaves. Then you can start the blanching process.

The first bowl is for blanching. I have a large stock pot with a colander that fits inside, perfect for blanching. But you could also scoop it out with a slotted spoon.  Bring the water in your stock pot to a boil. Then add your spinach. I did several small batches because you want your spinach completely covered with water. Cover the pot and blanch for 3 minutes.
 

Remove your spinach promptly after 3 minutes and put it in a bowl full of ice water. I placed a colander inside a larger bowl of ice water for quick and easy transfer. Allow the spinach to cool for the same amount of time. If you are doing several batches be sure to change your water or add more ice to keep the water cold.





After cooling I transferred my spinach into another colander placed over a bowl to allow it to drain. After it drained for a bit I used my hands to squeeze out the remainder of the water.

Blanched, cooled, and drained spinach all ready for freezing.

After my spinach was blanched, cooled, and drained I placed it into Ziploc bags. Here they are all ready for the freezer. I got three quart sized bags of spinach from my garden that day. I was very excited. It was much easier than I thought and didn't take much time at all.





Remember that each type of vegetable has a different blanching time to prepare it for freezing. If you want to freeze other types of vegetables there are various places you can find time charts. Here is one from the Colorado State University Extension. Freezing is another way we can preserve some of that great garden harvest. Happy Freezing!

Also remember this great water conservation tip and use all that great spinach water to water you household plants and pots.

Mom's Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup

I am a bit slow at posting this, but as promised I wanted to show you what I did with what was leftover from the Whole Chicken that I roasted last week. I was pretty tired on Sunday night and I didn't want to deal with the rest of the chicken that night so I stuck the leftover meat in a bowl in the fridge and then I just took my chicken carcass and drippings and covered it with saran wrap and tossed it in the fridge for the night. This actually works well because in the morning it is very easy to skim off any unwanted fat. Mine didn't have a lot because I had removed most of the skin from the chicken before roasting it.

I dumped the whole carcass and drippings into a big stock pot along with everything else I had roasted my chicken with and then added enough water to cover my chicken well. You can add more carrots, celery, and onion if you like at this point and you may want to if you are going to freeze or can the stock, but I didn't because I planned to use it right away for soup.

Bring your stock to a boil and allow it to simmer for several hours. When it is done simmer strain out the chicken and other bits, leaving only the stock. I love using my stock pot that has the colander that fits inside of it for this because when it is done simmering I can simply lift it out of the stock.

When you are done simmering you should have something that looks like this. You know you have good stock when it has a rich yellow color to it. It should also smell and taste very chickeny.
Save your chicken carcass to the side and let it cool while you work on cutting up veggies for your soup.

My Mom's chicken soup always had carrots, celery, and potatoes in it. I loved it! It was my favorite meal that she made. One thing that I add to my soup is sweet potatoes. They really make it yummy! I don't really know amounts to tell you. I just chop and dump stuff in. But I had a large stock pot and pictured to the right is what I put into my soup.

About 5 large carrots, 4 stalks of celery, 5 medium sized red potatoes, and 2 medium sized sweet potatoes. Peel them, chop them, and drop them into your broth. Bring it all to a boil and then let it simmer until your veggies are tender.

While your veggies are cooking tackle your chicken. Take your cooled chicken carcass and remove any remaining chicken.

Mine didn't have much left, because I had removed most of it the night before. On the plate is what I removed from the carcass and in the bowl is what I had removed the night before.

Overall I ended up with quite a bit of chicken left over though. I dropped all of it into my yummy soup. But you could also make a smaller pot of soup and only use half of the chicken and use the other half in a casserole or enchiladas and then you get three meals out of one chicken. At this point it is really easy to stick the chicken in a freezer container to be used for later if you want.

Take your homemade noodles that you made earlier - find out how here- and drop them into your boiling soup. 

Let your noodles cook for about 20 to 25 minutes. You can see how they all float up to the top as they get cooked. At this point your soup is done and ready to enjoy!

Mom's Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup

Here it is hot and delicious! It really is my favorite winter time meal.

 Now just a few things I wanted to mention in case you want to make this delicious soup without using a whole chicken. Any type of chicken on the bone will work. But remember that it is the bone that makes the broth rich and delicious and imparts that wonderful chicken flavor. So boneless skinless breasts will not cut it. But you can use thighs, wings, drummies, breasts, or a combination. A whole cut up chicken works great. You don't need to roast the chicken ahead of time either you can just dump it into your stock pot and allow the chicken to cook in your stock water, and remove the meat from the bones later. I will often do it this way and then divide the cooked meat up into several freezer containers for future meals.

Even if you are not going to make soup this is a great way to cook your chicken for other meals, because you can make a stock by adding carrots, celery, and onion to the water you cook your chicken in and then you can can or freeze the stock to be used later. I use tons of chicken stock and it is very expensive to buy in the can and is loaded with salt and preservatives. Much healthy and yummier to make your own!

I promise to do future post on canning and freezing stock. I use several methods depending on what I want to use it for.

That is all for now, I hope you enjoy making and eating my favorite meal of all time! Thanks mom, for teaching me how and always making this for my birthday when I was a kid!

Canning 101: Pumpkin

Be sure to save your seeds for roasting or planting.

We can't go through pumpkin week without a post on canning pumpkin at home. Store bought pumpkin is so expensive and I love, love, love pumpkin dishes. I have been canning pumpkin for several years now and up until this year I always pureed my pumpkin for canning. Last year I came across some research from the National Center for Home Food Preservation stating that it is not recommended to mash or puree pumpkin for home canning. You can find out more about the science behind it here. So because we always want to do things as safely as possible this year I am canning my pumpkin in cubes. Here is the method I use.

Use an ice cream scoop to depulp your pumpkin.

First cut your pumpkin in half. Look at all the seeds this one had. I was very excited and since this was a farmer's market pie pumpkin I collected the seeds for my garden next year. Yay! Clean out the pumpkin pulp, an ice cream scoop works great for this.

Remove the rind from the pumpkin.

Peel your pumpkin, I just used a vegetable peeler to get all of the rind off.

Cut into 1 inch cubes.

Cut your pumpkin into cubes (about 1 inch in size). Put into a large saucepan.

Par Boil your pumpkin, for 2 minutes.

Fill your saucepan with water enough to cover the pumpkin. Bring to a boil and allow it to simmer for 2 minutes.

Put pumpkin along with cooking liquid into jars.

Fill your prepared jars (clean and sterile) with your pumpkin and cooking liquid, leaving about 1/2 inch head space. Wipe off rims and place prepared lids and rings onto each jar.

Process in a Pressure Cooker - Home Canned Pumpkin

Process your pumpkin in a pressure cooker (pints 55 minutes and quarts 90 minutes). Check here to find the appropriate amount of pressure to use for your altitude.

When you are ready to use your pumpkin simply drain off the canning liquid and mash or puree.

Pumpkin also freezes well so if you want to mash or puree your pumpkin you can and simply stick it into suitable freezer containers.

Whole Roasted Pumpkin Seeds

In the fall, freshly roasted pumpkin seeds provide a nutritious seasonal treat. Pumpkin Seeds have many health benefits. Pumpkin seeds are a highly concentrated source of energy,  so you should eat them in small amounts to avoid weight gain. They do offer heart-healthy fats, protein, fiber, zinc, potassium and iron. Eating pumpkin seed kernels can help you meet your requirements for these essential nutrients. One oz. of pumpkin seed kernels contains 8 g of protein, 4 g of total carbohydrate and 2 g of fiber, according to the USDA. Whole roasted pumpkin seeds provide more than twice the amount of fiber as the kernel alone, 5 g per oz. The fiber in pumpkin seeds can help regulate digestive activity and bowel function. Because they are an energy dense food and highly nutritious, pumpkin seeds would make a great addition to your food storage and would also be a great item for your 72 hour kits. 

Whole Roasted Pumpkin Seeds

 Whole Roasted Pumpkin Seeds
 

Scoop the seeds out of the pumpkin and soak in a mixture of about 1 cup water to ½  tsp. salt. This helps remove any leftover pulp. Rinse and dry off seeds. Toss seeds with olive oil and season as desired. We like ours salted, kosher salt is really good. Roast in a 400 degree oven until golden brown.

Drying Basil

Fresh Basil from the Garden

Our Basil is doing awesome right now. I have way more than I can use fresh and the bugs were starting to feast on it, so I thought I better cut a bunch for drying. I love basil. It smells amazing. I love to weed in that spot of my garden because it is just heavenly smelling. I harvested 4 large bunches last week and got to work getting it preserved for future use. 

Even though we were lucky enough to inherit our food dehydrator from Jacob's parents, I think a food dehydrator is a great investment. I use mine all of the time, for tons of stuff. It can save a lot of money in the long run. Drying your own herbs is a great money saver. I also dried tons of parsley this year.

Homegrown Dried Basil

It only takes about 4 or 5 hours to get your basil nice and dry. 

I keep my old spice containers once I empty them, clean them well and fill them up with my own dried herbs. 

Dried Stevia

If you don't have a food dehydrator yet, no worries. You can simply hang your herbs upside down for a few weeks and allow them to dry naturally. That is what I did with this Stevia that is pictured at the right.

Shaun-ta's Bottled Salsa

One thing that we really love at our house is salsa. We eat a lot of it, especially when we bottle our own, because it is good! Last year we didn't get enough tomatoes to can salsa, but this year with our garden expanded and our tomatoes rocking, I went on a mission to replenish our supply of salsa.  This is my own recipe that I came up with as I played around with and experimented with a few recipes. Several years ago, as I was learning more about canning, I wondered why I couldn't just can the fresh salsa that I always made and loved. You might have the same question and here is a good resource for you to go to learn more about safe canning methods and the reason why you can't just can some of your favorite family recipes. When you are canning it is important that you follow recipes that have been properly researched and tested for safety.

The only changes you can safely make in these salsa recipes are to substitute bottled lemon or lime juice for 
vinegar and to change the amount of spices and herbs. You should never alter the proportions of vegetables to acid and tomatoes because it might make the salsa unsafe. With that being said, it was using this method that I developed my salsa recipe and I would encourage you to do the same. Choose an approved recipe and make it your own by adding the spices and herbs that your family enjoys. There are lots of approved recipes out there, here are a few places you can get them:
http://cru.cahe.wsu.edu/CEPublications/pnw0395/pnw0395.pdf
http://learningstore.uwex.edu/assets/pdfs/b3570.pdf
http://nchfp.uga.edu/

I haven't been able to find the approved recipe that I developed my recipe from, it has been such a long time, and I have been using my recipe for years. So I will share with you the recipe that I use and the method I use for canning my salsa. It might give you some ideas of how to develop your own recipe.

Shaun-ta's Bottled Salsa

8 Cups Tomatoes, peeled and chopped
2 & 1/2 Cups Chopped Onion
1 & 1/2 Cups Green Pepper, chopped
1 Cup Jalapeno, chopped
6 Cloves Garlic, finely chopped
Cilantro, fresh or dried to taste
2 tsp. Cumin
2 tsp.  Black Pepper
1/8 Cup Salt
1/3 Cup Sugar
1/3 Cup Vinegar

The first step is to prep your tomatoes. I do a three bowl set up. You start by placed your tomatoes in boiling water to loosen the skins.

You will know when your tomatoes are ready because the skins will begin to split.

The skins on your tomatoes will peel right off at this point. Some people dip their hot tomatoes into ice water immediately after the boiling water, but I skip this step because I feel it is unnecessary. I just place them into my second bowl and let them cool for a second before coring and peeling them.

Next I dice my tomatoes and when I am making salsa I do this into a colander with a bowl underneath to catch the extra juice. Straining off the excess juice helps you to get a nice thick salsa that you don't have to cook forever.

I bottle the extra juice separately to use for chili or soups ( it wouldn't be good for drinking.) To bottle your juice follow my recipe for bottling diced tomatoes for the correct amounts of salt and lemon juice to add. Process the juice the same as you would your diced tomatoes.

Next chop up all of your veggies. You may or may not want to pull the seeds out of your jalapenos, it just depends on how spicy you want your salsa. I usually remove mine. I use the end of a spoon to remove them. You can wear gloves if you want, they can burn your skin and make sure not to touch your eyes.

Dump everything into a large pot. The larger the pot the faster your salsa will cook up and get nice and thick. I inherited this pan from my Grandmother. It is one of my cherished possessions and I use it for many things. Bring everything to a boil and then reduce your heat and let it simmer for 20 to 30 minutes or until you reach your desired thickness.

Here is the finished product. Nice and thick, just how we like it.

Pour your hot salsa into clean jars.  I did both pints and quarts, a few of each.

Clean jar rims and put on lids. Process your salsa in a boiling water bath for 10 minutes and you have your own homemade bottled salsa, yum.

Canning 101: Diced or Whole Tomatoes

We have been very blessed to have a bountiful harvest of tomatoes this year. It has been wonderful to eat so many fresh tomatoes. We have also been canning a lot of them for future use. Here is the method I use to can whole or diced tomatoes.

The first step is to dip your tomatoes in water that has come to a boil for 30 seconds to 1 minute.

You will know when the tomatoes are ready to pull out because you will see the skin on the tomatoes split.

When this happens the skin will come right off the tomato. I remove them from the hot water and place them into a bowl to cool for a few minutes. Then peel and core each tomato.

Once the skin is removed and your tomato is cored you can cut them into whatever size you like. I usually do some that are diced for sauce and some that are cut into larger chunks for chili.

The easiest way to get your tomatoes into the bottle without making a huge mess is to use a canning funnel like the one pictured. It just makes the process a lot easier.

Fill your clean canning jars up with your peeled, diced tomatoes. Leave about 1/2 inch head space. There is no need to add any liquid to the jars. The juice from the tomatoes is sufficient.

Because Tomatoes are lower in acid than other fruits you do need to add some acid to make sure there is a safe level of acid in each jar. So for each quart add 1 tsp. lemon juice and for each pint add 1/2 tsp. lemon juice.

I also add some salt to each jar. For each quart add 1/2 tsp. salt and for each pint add 1/4 tsp. salt.

Clean the rims on your jars and place lids on each jar. Process in a boiling water bath for 35 minutes for pints and 45 minutes for quarts.


That is all there is to it, now you have home canned tomatoes ready to use for spaghetti sauce, soups, and other dishes.