Canning/Preserving is a great way to hold on to food that might otherwise go bad. I frequently can and preserve the extra produce from our garden rather than let it go to waste! I also buy fruit and vegetables in bulk in order to save money, which means sometimes I buy more than we can use at one time. When that happens, I simply can or preserve the food!
Canning/Preserving also means you can eat locally all year round because you are able to “save for later” whatever bountiful harvest you collected! Check out my applesauce recipes for an example of this. Canning and preserving can be done with meat also by making things like homemade beef jerky!
I use both a water bath canner and a pressure cooker to do my canning. I usually do pickles in the water bath canner. The pressure cooker is great for canning meat and beans!
Do you have some pumpkin puree leftover from Thanksgiving? Try this pumpkin jam recipe! It’s very similar to Amish pumpkin butter, with canning instructions as well! This pumpkin jam is warm and comforting thanks to the cinnamon and spices, with a bit of bright citrus flavor from the orange Keep Reading
There is nothing better on hot biscuits on a holiday morning than this homemade cranberry jam recipe! It's a delicious spread that is easy to make, and pulls double duty in place of cranberry jelly at Thanksgiving dinner! I like to make a large batch to can and have on hand for breakfast Keep Reading
Are you growing jalapeños? Here’s how to make pickled jalapeños - it’s so easy! This year, we planted quite a few peppers and tomatoes, all in two rows. Sadly, one of those rows, not more than six feet from the second one, shriveled up and died. But fortunately, the jalapeño plants were all in the Keep Reading
If you’re looking for the perfect way to use all that summer squash in your garden, this summer squash pickles recipe is exactly it! This isn’t your grandma’s summer squash recipe! Not that I don’t love grandma’s summer squash casserole, and I especially love parmesan roasted summer vegetables, but Keep Reading
This Amish Pumpkin Butter recipe is easy enough to make large batches and can, delicious enough to eat on gluten-free bread sandwiches all fall and winter, and unique enough to hand out as hostess gifts at fall parties! My husband is a sweet potato and winter squash lover in the extreme, and every Keep Reading
Looking for something tasty to go with your gluten-free biscuits? This spiced crock pot pear butter recipe perfectly pears the sweetness of pears with the warmth of fall spices for the perfect spread. I grew up reading and idealizing books about the pioneers. Not the ones where they crossed the Keep Reading
Yes, you really can make sugar-free strawberry jam right in your own kitchen! And it’s not even hard. Back when I lived “at home”, meaning as a teenager with my parents, we used to grow and can a lot of our own food, and one of the things we used to make was jam and jelly. Especially strawberry jam Keep Reading
Do you want to make jerky, but don’t have a dehydrator? No problem! Just follow these tips for how to make jerky in the oven! When I was a kid, we had a giant wood cookstove right, smack in the middle of the small kitchen of our small, open floor plan house. That thing had no problem heating the Keep Reading
This simple, old-fashioned deer jerky recipe is really awesome. You don’t have to have anything fancy – not even a dehydrator! I love jerky. I mean, who doesn’t, right? And it's pretty much the biggest reason I look forward to hunting season every year, but the thing is, it’s kind of expensive, Keep Reading
This Home-canned apple pie filling recipe is so much tastier than anything you can buy - and it's surprisingly easy too! We use it to make the best gluten-free apple pie every fall. What can be more satisfying than seeing your pantry shelves filling up with food that you’ve canned with your own Keep Reading
