Weekends Are For Canning

There are tomatoes waiting to be turned into sauce and canned tomatoes. They bring an abundance of flavor to winter time stews, pizzas, and spaghetti sauce. Canning tomato sauce is a time consuming endeavor, but well worth the effort in the end.

The peppers are finally making their way to our table. Jalapeno peppers are also waiting their turn in the canner. We love these little gems served with our Mexican dishes or next to a nice pot of dried beans in the winter. My pantry would not be complete without our canned jalapenos.

Peach jam is also a necessity when stocking up for winter. It is a lively taste of summer during the cold winter mornings. I also cut up peaches and put sugar on them. Once the sugar has turned to syrup, I then package these treasures in ziploc freezer bags and freeze. These are the base for our Christmas morning fruit salad, peach cobblers, or as a topping for our winter time Angel Food cake.

Weekends make the best time to can green beans or tomatoes. I will be filling our last canner load of beans today. We only hit the 50 quart mark, but it should be enough if I use them carefully throughout the winter. Our plants are still producing enough to make a pot of green beans upon occasion. This will help keep us from tapping into our winter storage of beans.

This weekend has been very productive in the canning department. I went to bed last night around 11:00 p.m. exhausted with the days work, and knowing full well there was much more to can over the next few days. Happy Canning to You and Yours!

grace and peace,

julie