Bean Soup

Canning Bean Soup

Our busiest canning "season" is during the summer and early autumn months while we are harvesting our garden vegetables.
During the winter months, we love lots of soups and stews.
Usually, when I cook meals or casseroles, I try to make enough for two meals to save time later.  Half we eat now, and half gets frozen or canned for a convenient meal later.  

For soup, I make a large stockpot full and have plenty left over to can.

Having jars of soup in the pantry, ready to just heat up is a huge time saver and works just wonderful for a cold winter day meal.  Just grab one or two jars from the shelf and heat.  Add a side salad or sandwich and you have an easy no-fuss meal! And one without the added sodium, additives or preservatives found in commercially canned soups.

Canning Tomatoes

Easy Home Canned Tomatoes
Tomatoes are one of the first things I canned well over 20 some years ago as a beginner canner.  I read it was one of the easiest things to learn as a newbie canner and they were right.

There is nothing better than a fresh tomato straight off the vine, but I think the second best thing is a jar of home canned tomatoes in the middle of winter!

I use canned tomatoes in chili, spaghetti sauce, soups and casseroles and many different recipes.  If I run out, I also make salsa or tomato juice from the tomatoes I canned. 

I can so I can preserve my garden harvest but also because I can control what's in my food.  I grew it and I grow organic. I know what's in each and every jar. 

Canning is the process in which foods are placed in jars and heated to a temperature that destroys microorganisms and inactivates enzymes. This heating and later cooling forms a vacuum seal. The vacuum seal prevents other microorganisms from recontaminating the food within the jar.

Sauerkraut In Mason Jars

Cabbage History

Cabbage is one of the oldest vegetables and is believed to have been grown in gardens as far back as 3000 years ago. 

The Roman writers Cato and Columella are the first to mention preserving cabbages and turnips with salt. 

It is believed to have been introduced to Europe in its present form 1,000 years later by Genghis Khan after invading China.

Sauerkraut (sour rout) is chopped cabbage that is salted and then fermented in its own juice. The word, which in German means "sour cabbage," was first mentioned in American English in 1776.  

The dish has long been associated with German communities in the United States.

How To Make Grape Juice

Ripe grapes in Michigan

Homemade Grape Juice

A few years ago my daughter's mother-in-law Julie gave us 2 cases of grapes.  I decided to come up with something to do with all those grapes besides just eating them and making grape jelly, so I made grape juice.

Recently I have been getting grapes from our neighbor’s vines for free but I noticed this spring they removed all their vines and the trellis they were hanging on.  My heart sank. 

To have our own supply I have planted 5 grape vines in the last 3 years. Three are doing very well; two are struggling, but hopefully we will have our own grape harvest.