Pressure canners: what are your favorites?

[freemotion]

I am having a ball (jar

) with my new pressure canner and would like to know what others have canned successfully. I am particularly interested in one-jar meals, but any ideas....and recipes....would be much appreciated!

so far I have done:

Catfood (the initial reason for the canner, as my freezer was too full and my cats are huge!)

Black beans (to learn to use the canner without risking expensive food or a lot of chopping and prep work.)

Then I got brave and did:

Chili Con Carne
Veggie Chili
Spaghetti sauce with ground beef and mushrooms
Pizza sauce
13-Bean soup with ham
Chicken soup with carrots and collards

Failure: Red peppers, onions, and mushrooms (a mixture DH likes with his omelet in the morning) Actually, he liked it, but it was very mushy. He likes his veggies mushy, and liked the convenience. But I will freeze this mix for him when the peppers are in season next year.

What have you pressure canned successfully? What have you tried that wasn't worth the trouble?

 

[moms_pantry]

I have a Presto canner. I have used it a lot with great success. I've canned tomatoes, and deer meat. I have also canned a creole chicken al a king. I combined two recipes from my Ball canning book and it taste really good. My oldest son came to visit after I finished canning and took a couple of jars home with him. He loves it.

 

[FLOWERPOT]

I like making salsa!
The kids eat it up.
I know its good for them, and I know what is in it.
I can lots of tomatos and they are alway all gone before summer comes around again.

 

[freemotion]

OK, gals, I want the chicken ala king recipe and the salsa recipe!

 

[moms_pantry]

Chicken A LA King

7-8 lbs stewing chickens, cut in pieces
2 stalks celery, quartered
1 onion, chopped
1 carrot, sliced thick
4 peppercorns
2 whole allspice
1 bay leaf
2 tsp. salt
1/4 c. butter
1/2 c. flour
5 c. chicken broth
salt and pepper to taste

To Prepare Chicken: Cook chicken in water to cover. Add celery and next 6 ingredients. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer 2-3 hrs or until chicken is tender. Remove vegetables for later. Allow chicken to cool in broth. Remove chicken; spoon off excess fat; strain broth. Remove skin and bones from meat. Cut meat into 1" pieces.

Melt butter; add flour and stir until smooth. Gradually add chicken broth and cook until thickened, stirring constantly. Add chicken and vegetables. Simmer 5 min. Pack into hot jars, leaving 1" head space. Remove air bubbles. Adjust caps. Process pints 1 hr. 5 min. and quarts 1 hr. 15 min. at 10 lbs. pressure.

Before I process it, I add the creole sauce to the pot and simmer for the 5 min. Then I put it in the hot jars.

Creole Sauce

3 quarts peeled, cored, chopped tomatoes (about 18 med.)
2 c. chopped onions (about 2 med.)
1 c. chopped sweet red peppers (aobut 2 med.)
1 clove garlic, minced
1 hot red pepper, finely chopped (I didn't add this)
1 Tbsp. chopped parsley
1 Tbsp. sugar
2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp marjoram
1/4 tsp. chili powder

Combine all ingredients in a large sauce pot. Cook slowly until thick, about 1 1/2 hrs. Stir frequently to prevent sticking.

This is when I add to the Chicken A LA King and simmer 5 min. before processing.

I hope you try it and enjoy it. We do.

 

[freemotion]

I thought you weren't supposed to pressure can recipes with flour??? Did you say this recipe came from your canning book? Must be ok......can anyone enlighten me?

I am not clear on why I've read you are not supposed to use flour, rice, pasta, etc, though.

 

[bulldog-girl]

Moms-pantry: How many cups of chicken meat do you end up with? I would like to do this with some of my leftover turkey and homemade turkey stock. Just want to get an idea of quantity to subsitute. Sound wonderful by the way. Can't wait to make this and can it. Do you serve this with noodles or rice?

 

[FLOWERPOT]

Lordee....
I haven't used a recipe for the salsa in years, But just kinda go by memory and how it went the year before.
Peel the tomatoes by dropping them into lightly boiling water for about a minute, dip them out and put them into the sink full of icey cold water, They peel really easy this way.

chop the peeled tomatoes, bell peppers, Jalapenos, onions, garlic.
fresh Cilantro is optional but really good in it
I mix it up in a large tub.
Add Apple cider vinegar to taste.
fill jars with the HOT mix
Water bath can them for 50 minutes

GOOOOD stuff!!!!

 

[moms_pantry]

Quote:
I don't know how many cups of chicken it made. I don't think that I even checked. I just put it all in. Sometimes I serve it with rice, but we like it better with noodles.

Freemotion: I just followed the recipe. It was in my Ball canning book. It called for flour and I used it. It came out great.

 

[JennsPeeps]

I am a (edited by Jenn stickler about recording my canning. In 2008 I canned:

Recipe Cost Quarts Pints Half Pints Method
Apple Pie Filling $0 3 Canned
Applesauce $0 6 Canned
Asparagus $9 4 Canned
Baked Beans $1 4 Canned
Beef in Wine Sauce $8 6 1 Canned
Blueberry Pie Filling $0 2 Canned
Brandied Cherries $4 2 Canned
Bruschetta in a Jar $0 2 Canned
Carrot Pepper Salsa $150 8 Canned
Cherries in Syrup $4 4 Canned
Cherry Crisp $4 2 Canned
Cherry-Almond Jam $4 3 Canned
Chicken Broth $0 12 Canned
Chili $0 2 Canned
Citrus Blueberry Conserves $0 3 Canned
Corn $0 7 4 Canned
Crushed Tomatoes $15 7 Canned
Curried Carrots $3 3 Canned
Deli Dill Pickles $0 9 4 Canned
Dilly Beans $0 5 Canned
Green Beans $0 8 Canned
Natural Blackberry Jam $0 2 3 Canned
Peach Salsa $0 8 Canned
Pears in Syrup $5 1 2 Canned
Pickled Roasted Red Peppers $5 5 1 Canned
Pickled Summer Squash $0 5 Canned
Pineapple $6 2 2 1 Canned
Plum Chutney $0 4 3 Canned
Plum Suace $0 5 Canned
Preserved Lemons $6 1 1 Canned
Pumpkin $0 5 Canned
Red Onion Marmalade $0 3 Canned
Sauerkraut $4 1 3 Canned
Spicy tomato salsa $4 10 2 Canned
Strawberry-Rhubarb Cobbler $9 1 1 Canned
Strawberry-Rhubarb Jam $9 3 Canned
Sweet Pickles $0 2 3 Canned
Tomato Sauce $15 12 2 Canned
Turkey Soup $0 12 Canned
Turkey Stock $0 5 2
Vanilla Peach Jam $0 5 1 Canned
Vegetable Soup $0 6 5 Canned
Bacon $2 1 Frozen
Blueberries (frozen) $0 5 Frozen
Cherries (frozen) $4 3 Frozen
Pesto (frozen) $5 1 Frozen
Red Bell Peppers (frozen) $6 2 Frozen
Strawberries (frozen) $17 5 Frozen
Yellow Squash (frozen) $0 4 Frozen
Lavender Sugar $0 1 Other
Lavender Syrup $0 1 Other
$299 122 129 13