Showing posts with label Canning. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Canning. Show all posts

Thursday, September 12, 2013

Homemade Applesauce

My sister in law in all her awesomeness, brought me a box of apples from her neighbours yard this week. These apples are seriously delicious! They are soft enough that the girls will just grab one and eat them with the skins on them and everything, but not too soft!  As much as we all devour them daily, we simply had too may to finish before they would go bad, so I decided to make some applesauce with them.

Applesauce has got to be one of the easiest things to can! I have never done it before, but I chopped, boiled, and canned a whole box within an hour and a half using the tutorial on Food Arsenal. I left the skins on for more flavour, (and to be honest, save time), and it turned out great. If you like a smoother applesauce you can peel the apples before boiling them, but you might not even need to if your blender is good enough. 

Here's how you do it. Grab a big ol' box of apples
(Organic is best if leaving the skins on.)


Wash, peel if desired, and core the apples. Chop into halves or quarters. 
(I used my apple slicer to make things go even faster.) 


Throw them in the biggest pot you have. Add 1 inch of water to the bottom. Simmer the apples for 20-30 mins. As the water steams the apples, the juices will come out and the pot will keep filling up, softening the rest of them. This is a good time to get your jars and lids sterilized. 


After 20 mins, use a potato masher to mash the apples. If they are too hard still, cook them a little longer. 


Once they have reached your desired softness, place in a blender and puree them. Because I plan on using this applesauce to bake with, I didn't add any sugar or cinnamon, but if you want you can do that (to taste). My youngest had a big bowl of it and it was plenty sweet enough in her opinion. 

 Again, my blender isn't the best so you can see in this picture that it isn't the smoothest texture (because of the skins), but we don't mind that around here. If I were using this to feed a baby, then I would probably peel the apples. 


Then spoon into jars with 3/4 inch head space. Process in a hot water bath for 15 minutes. 
I am so excited to use this in my baking during the cold winter months!


Thursday, August 15, 2013

Homemade Raw Blueberry Jam


Last week I got a little blueberry happy and ended up buying way too many for my little family. They were about to go bad, so I turned to pinterest to find a good blueberry jam recipe to use them up.  I was so happy to find the easiest recipe ever from Step into my Green World. This jam takes 10 minutes to make (ok, 14 minutes but who's counting), is pectin free, sugar free and healthy for you! 


Ingredients

4 cups fresh blueberries
2 Tablespoons raw honey
2 Tablespoons chia seeds
4 Tablespoons water

Directions

Soak the chia seeds in 4 tablespoons of water for 10 mins. Mix all ingredients together for 3-4 mins in a blender. The chia seeds will gel giving the jam some texture. Pour into jars (makes about 4 cups), and devour!

That's it! 
So easy, fresh, and delicious.
 The jam will last up to 2 weeks in the refrigerator or 6 months in the freezer. 
Enjoy- Alex

Wednesday, July 24, 2013

Canned (Bottled) Salsa

This is the second year I have made this bottled salsa from Food.com and we seriously love it! Last year we didn't make nearly enough, and we were so addicted to it, it was gone within a month! I am going to try limiting myself to one or two a month so we can enjoy it all year this time! No more store bought for this family!



I made it with my friend Leslie who introduced me to the recipe. (I swear all my best recipes come from her!). This year we doubled it and it made about 27 500ml jars worth. One HUGE help if you plan on making salsa is get a Vidalia Chop Wizard. It will save you HOURS of work. We used the larger cutting tray for the tomatoes, and used the smaller one for everything else. Saved us so much time!


Here is the recipe. 

Ingredients (single batch worth)

8 quarts of Roma tomatoes
pickling salt
6 large onions
3 heads of garlic
1 lb jalapeno pepper
6 large mild bell peppers
2 1/2 cups minced cilantro
1/4 cup ground cumin
1 (5 1/2 ounce) can tomato paste
2 tablespoons lime juice per jar



1. Bring a large pot of water to a boil.

2. Blanch the tomatoes by placing in boiling water for 1 minute. You will need to do this in batches.

3. Transfer them to a large bowl of sink full of ice cold water.

4. Peel tomatoes. The skin should come off easily with a little pinch.





5. Chop them coarsely and sprinkle with pickling salt in layers as you go. 

6. Put them in a strainer and set in a cool place (but not in the fridge) to drain for several hours. Leslie and I only drained them for about an hour and it worked fine. The longer you drain them, the less runny your salsa will be.



7. When you are ready to proceed, put all the canning jars in a large canner full of water and cover by one inch. Bring to a boil. (You can prevent lime buildup on your jars by adding a shot of vinegar to the water before it boils, but I've never done it). 

8. Boil for 10 minutes.

9. Meanwhile, peel and chop the onions.

10. Peel and de-seed the peppers and chop them.  (Wear gloves for the jalapeno peppers!)

11. Peel and mince the garlic





12. Mix the tomato paste with a cup full of the tomatoes until it is lump free.

13. Mix all the ingredients (except the lime juice), in a large kettle or pot. 

14. Bring salsa to a boil.






15. Lift the sterilized jars from the boiling water bath and empty them into the sink.

16. Place jar lids in boiling water and boil for 5 minutes.

17.  Add 2 tbs lime juice to each jar

18.  Pack the salsa into the jars

19. Wipe rims and place lids and rings on top of jars.

20. Return bottled salsa to boiling water and process for 20 minutes. It may be necessary to do this in two batches. 

21. Remove, let cool and check seals. 

Enjoy your delicious salsa! The longer you let it sit, the better it tastes! - Alex




Here is the recipe again without the pictures. 

Ingredients

8 quarts of Roma tomatoes
pickling salt
6 large onions
3 heads of garlic
1 lb jalapeno pepper
6 large mild bell peppers
2 1/2 cups minced cilantro
1/4 cup ground cumin
1 (5 1/2 ounce) can tomato paste
2 tablespoons lime juice per jar (single or double batch)


1. Bring a large pot of water to a boil.

2. Blanch the tomatoes by placing in boiling water for 1 minute. You will need to do this in batches.

3. Transfer them to a large bowl of sink full of ice cold water.

4. Peel tomatoes. The skin should come off easily with a little pinch.

5. Chop them coarsely and sprinkle with pickling salt in layers as you go. 

6. Put them in a strainer and set in a cool place (but not in the fridge) to drain for several hours. Leslie and I only drained them for about an hour and it worked fine. The longer you drain them, the less runny your salsa will be.

7. When you are ready to proceed, put all the canning jars in a large canner full of water and cover by one inch. Bring to a boil. (You can prevent lime buildup on your jars by adding a shot of vinegar to the water before it boils, but I've never done it). 

8. Boil for 10 minutes.

9. Peel and chop the onions.

10. Peel and deseed the peppers and chop them.  (Wear gloves for the jalapeno peppers!)

11. Peel and mince the garlic.

12. Mix the tomato paste with a cup full of the tomatoes until it is lump free.

13. Mix all the ingredients (except the lime juice), in a large kettle or pot. 

14. Bring salsa to a boil.

15. Lift the sterilized jars from the boiling water bath and empty them into the sink.

16. Place jar lids in boiling water and boil for 5 minutes.

17.  Add 2 tbs lime juice to each jar.

18.  Pack the salsa into the jars.

19. Wipe rims and place lids and rings on top of jars.

20. Return bottled salsa to boiling water and process for 20 minutes. It may be necessary to do this in two batches. 

21. Remove, let cool and check seals. 

Enjoy your delicious salsa! 
The longer you let it sit, the better it tastes!
*This salsa is mild