What are you cooking or baking today?

fwtxcitywoman said:
Reprocessed some blueberry jam that didn't set up like I thought it should. Just opened a cooled jar and put some on a butter biscuit. Perfect now. Made six pints.
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I make our own Jam as well and last summer was a horrible year for fruit and ….what apricots we got were tasteless
( I live in Australia ) so I’m hoping we get plenty this year ( the trees looking good at moment )
I made a very small batch of apricot jam…( last year ) …... 9 …3/4 cup ball mason size jars and it turned out like glue …so thick never had that happen before in my 45+ years of preserving / jam making .

Our fruits are ripe around December / January

@fwtxcitywoman


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Made a Rachel Ray recipe for red cabbage. There’s enough left for two meals. Not sure if I would make it again. I served it with a hamburger dish. Pork would have been better.

Recipe called for mustard seeds; not sure if this is the same thing as black mustard seeds - date purchased unknown. I need to do a total resort of my spice cupboard. There’s not too many things I don’t have.
 

PeppermintPatty said:
Today we made 16 cans of spaghetti sauce
It has tomatoes, peppers, green onions, cooking onions, mushrooms, olives, hot peppers, garlic, hamburger, chilli flakes, black pepper, salt.
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Today I had noodles with some of the above sauce.
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Have you ever tried canning in a microwave @PeppermintPatty yep sounds weird ….thats what I thought ….Ive got a friend in Victoria who cans fruit in a microwave ….i did 3 jars last year ,they looked nice ..no the lids didn't spark
i Used ..re cycled jars and gave them to my neighbours and they said the fruit was delicious

Ive got a book of instructions stashed somewhere
 
Kadee said:
Have you ever tried canning in a microwave @PeppermintPatty yep sounds weird ….thats what I thought ….Ive got a friend in Victoria who cans fruit in a microwave ….i did 3 jars last year ,they looked nice ..no the lids didn't spark
i Used ..re cycled jars and gave them to my neighbours and they said the fruit was delicious

Ive got a book of instructions stashed somewhere
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No I haven’t tried canning in the microwave @Kadee. What would you do with the metal lids? You can’t use metal lids in the microwave.
 
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Twostep said:
Awesome. I have not ventured into canning yet. Are you open to share a bit about it? My attempt at Cowboy Candy was a success but now a shelf in the fridge is full and there is more to come.
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Sure can. Get it ? Lol. Sure I can share about my canning ability. What would you like to know. We also can moose, beef and pork to add to our dogs kibble and they love it. There’s never a kibble left since we started.
Before we use to mix Caesars into their kibble but recently discovered that it has colouring in it which discolours their fur. They get dark patches under their eyes mouth, bum and *******ia area. Since switching it has gotten much better.
 
Kadee said:
I make our own Jam as well and last summer was a horrible year for fruit and ….what apricots we got were tasteless
( I live in Australia ) so I’m hoping we get plenty this year ( the trees looking good at moment )
I made a very small batch of apricot jam…( last year ) …... 9 …3/4 cup ball mason size jars and it turned out like glue …so thick never had that happen before in my 45+ years of preserving / jam making .

Our fruits are ripe around December / January

@fwtxcitywoman


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Try thinning it with a bit of brandy, slice a plain pound cake lengthwise, use it as filling and frost with sugar/brandy.
 
PeppermintPatty said:
Sure can. Get it ? Lol. Sure I can share about my canning ability. What would you like to know. We also can moose, beef and pork to add to our dogs kibble and they love it. There’s never a kibble left since we started.
Before we use to mix Caesars into their kibble but recently discovered that it has colouring in it which discolours their fur. They get dark patches under their eyes mouth, bum and *******ia area. Since switching it has gotten much better.
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No dogs but SO's pocket lion. A stray cat who found our bird feeder during a blizzard. Vet said she would not make it. She turned out to be a Maine Coon but never grew to breed size. Honey I shrunk the cat! As far as ego and fatigue goes she is a lion. Back to canning. Please let me read up on basics. I would like to have salsa, pasta sauces and such as pantry stable staples.
 
DD & her family are coming for a bagel bar brunch later. She's bringing the bagels and cream cheese.

I'll provide smoked salmon and Nova lox, vegan cream cheese, butter/vegan butter, capers, sliced red onion, sliced cucumbers, sliced tomatoes and lettuce.

The meal will be about assembling rather than cooking.
 
Twostep said:
No dogs but SO's pocket lion. A stray cat who found our bird feeder during a blizzard. Vet said she would not make it. She turned out to be a Maine Coon but never grew to breed size. Honey I shrunk the cat! As far as ego and fatigue goes she is a lion. Back to canning. Please let me read up on basics. I would like to have salsa, pasta sauces and such as pantry stable staples.
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You’ll need Mason jars with lids. We buy ours at Walmart since there are cheapest. You’ll need a bottling pot also. It’s basically a tall big cooking pot with an insert inside that stops the bottom of the jars from reaching the pot. bottom of the pot. Then you’ll need a bottle grabber which is device that allows you to grab each bottle one at a time just before adding the lid. All bottles need sterilizing first including the lids. You’ll need to read up on how to do that.

If you just want to bottle pasta sauces, you cook them before hand. We cook ours in a slow cooker for 8 hours and it only takes half an hour of extra time in the bottling pot before adding the lid. Once they have their lid, you let them cool and make sure the lid has popped to seal. A proper seal is essential on everything you cook. Meats are cooked right in the Mason jars and take about 3 to 4 hours of cooking time.

Canning takes a lot of time but in the end, it’s really worth it. We’ve been eating meats we cooked almost 4 years ago and stews. The flavours marinate and taste extra good. Someone else who bottles her own foods is @Kadee. You might want to start your own thread on cannng to get additional info. We do relishes, chutneys, baked beans, bbq sauces, tomato pasta sauce, beef stews etc. The next thing we are going to try canning is speckled trout. We are sending a generous care package to my in-laws this Christmas along with gingerbread cookies.

Good luck. Your cat sounds precious. We had a feral cat who lived for 17 years.
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I'm going to make something I haven't made in a while....what I call my faux Chinese meal. I'm stir frying frozen broccoli florets with imitation crab meat. The sauce is simply ketchup and water with a little ginger added. I will either microwave a package of bismati rice or make Knorr's chicken-brocoli flavored rice to go with it (that's done in a saucepan).

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PeppermintPatty said:
No I haven’t tried canning in the microwave @Kadee. What would you do with the metal lids? You can’t use metal lids in the microwave.
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They are fine …...not one spark ..it’s strange if you put anything metal in the microwave it will spark ….but the fruit was fine with metal lids …. I will find the book about microwave canning latter and post a photo of it
 
PeppermintPatty said:
You’ll need Mason jars with lids. We buy ours at Walmart since there are cheapest. You’ll need a bottling pot also. It’s basically a tall big cooking pot with an insert inside that stops the bottom of the jars from reaching the pot. bottom of the pot. Then you’ll need a bottle grabber which is device that allows you to grab each bottle one at a time just before adding the lid. All bottles need sterilizing first including the lids. You’ll need to read up on how to do that.

If you just want to bottle pasta sauces, you cook them before hand. We cook ours in a slow cooker for 8 hours and it only takes half an hour of extra time in the bottling pot before adding the lid. Once they have their lid, you let them cool and make sure the lid has popped to seal. A proper seal is essential on everything you cook. Meats are cooked right in the Mason jars and take about 3 to 4 hours of cooking time.

Canning takes a lot of time but in the end, it’s really worth it. We’ve been eating meats we cooked almost 4 years ago and stews. The flavours marinate and taste extra good. Someone else who bottles her own foods is @Kadee. You might want to start your own thread on cannng to get additional info. We do relishes, chutneys, baked beans, bbq sauces, tomato pasta sauce, beef stews etc. The next thing we are going to try canning is speckled trout. We are sending a generous care package to my in-laws this Christmas along with gingerbread cookies.

Good luck. Your cat sounds precious. We had a feral cat who lived for 17 years.
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Good idea about a canning …especially with my apricots getting larger everyday …..and just maybe. ? I’d be interested in adding ideas about fermenting veggies / kefir ..if Anyone’s interested .

I mainly make fermented veggies in warmer months @PeppermintPatty
 
I was made aware of the microwave canning on a crafty/ homemaking forum
it’s in the plans for me to make lemon butter / lemon spread this week so I may experiment at “canning it” in the microwave
 
Kadee said:
I make our own Jam as well and last summer was a horrible year for fruit and ….what apricots we got were tasteless
( I live in Australia ) so I’m hoping we get plenty this year ( the trees looking good at moment )
I made a very small batch of apricot jam…( last year ) …... 9 …3/4 cup ball mason size jars and it turned out like glue …so thick never had that happen before in my 45+ years of preserving / jam making .

Our fruits are ripe around December / January

@fwtxcitywoman


View attachment 376740
Click to expand...
I can quite a bit. Just the two of us so I'm not canning meats, soups or stew this year. Have to eat what we have. Blueberry jam turned out great after the second processing. Made golden plum jam from a tree my husband planted a couple years ago and it is sooo good, only made four pints.
 
Kadee said:
They are fine …...not one spark ..it’s strange if you put anything metal in the microwave it will spark ….but the fruit was fine with metal lids …. I will find the book about microwave canning latter and post a photo of it
Click to expand...
I‘m not sure about all the warnings. Once I accidentally left a fork in for two minutes. No sparks, no problems with the microwave.
 
Bought some boneless chicken breasts tonight.

Tomorrow I will dip them in olive oil...sprinkle on Graham Wafer Crumbs...pop them in the oven on 350 degrees for 50 minutes. A side of pasta...

Yum! :)
 

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