I Love Canning. For reals.

I have officially learned how to can thanks to my mom.  I've always wanted to do it but have never had a garden or thought to go buy some fresh veggies from the Farmers Market.  This year my mom planted a huge garden so in order to reap the benefits of it this winter we have been canning like crazy.  I am so in love with the whole process.  It will be a new obsession each summer.  It's almost therapeutic.  I'm not going to lie it's hard work though.  As in blood sweat and tears hard work(blood from the mosquito bites from picking the garden, sweat from the heat picking the garden and tears from chopping onions and peppers all day!)  It's very time consuming but so worth it in the end when you look at the final product all nicely canned away in jars.  So far we have canned around 12 jars of Salsa, 8 jars of Jalapeno peppers and 8 jars of tomatoes.  We have also froze several packages of squash, okra and corn.  I'm really looking forward to some fresh veggies this winter.

THE PROCESS:

We used salt and pepper to taste, 1/4 tbsp of Lemon Juice and 1/4 tsp of Garlic Powder for each batch.

 We diced some cilantro and onions. 3 tbsp of onion and 2 tbsp of cilantro.

 Then we chopped some jalapeno's and cayenne peppers.  Boy were these things hot.  My eyes were watering the whole time.  We separated them into batchs.  It came to 2 jalapeno's and a half of a cayenne for each batch.  Not pictured, we also added some can Green Chile's.

 Next we peeled and cored the tomatoes.  We used about 3 tomatoes for each batch.  After peeling them we ate them cut them into fourths and threw them in the blender.

 Everything altogether in the blender.  Just hit blend but we made sure not to blend it to much that way it still has some chunkiness to it.

 After it's blended just put it on the stove and get it boiling then simmer for about 10 to 15 minutes.

Your then ready to put it into your jars.  Make sure your jars are clean.  Have your rings and lids in hot boiling water and after filling a jar, clean the rim of your jar and pop a hot lid and ring onto it.  Seal very tight and turn the jar upside down.  I would say after about an hour or so your jars should seal (you should hear the pop).  They will seal after they have cooled down some.

That's all there is to it.  Very easy.  Just think you will have salsa for those cold winter months.  If you don't have a garden just hit up your local farmer's market or a stand at somebody's house.  Everyone is selling fresh veggies right now.  Trust me, you will thank me later.

I also, made some more fresh baby food for Emma this week.  Instead of putting it in jars to freeze, this time I used ice trays.  After it was frozen I popped the food out and threw it in freezer bags.  It was so much easier and the little food cubes are so cute!  This time I stocked the freezer up with Peas, Apples and Pears.  It really is so much cheaper to make her food.  I got a bag of frozen peas for A DOLLAR and it made six servings.  You can't beat that when jars of baby food are almost a dollar a piece.

I just really love fresh food lately.  Oh, and I love canning it, freezing it, cooking it, eating it...get it? got it? good! Thank you Lord for fresh vegetables and fruit that I can put on my family's table.  That is all, Amen.

Do you have a garden?

If so do you can and freeze your vegetables?

What is your favorite fresh vegetable?

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