Pressure canning time.

It's about time to write something again so here I go.  With the holidays coming, we are watching the food store ads for some good buys so that we can make use of the Stake pressure caner and add to our food storage.  The first week of November, Bashas had bone in chicken breasts for 77 cents per pound.  That also matched up with their first Wednesday of the month senior 10% discount.  We went down to Bashas and LouAnn bought two packages and I bought two packages.  Went back later that evening and we each bought two more packages each.  That worked out to be 69 cents per pound.  Through out the week, we went back and shopped and bought several more packages at the 77 cents a pound price and ended up with 14 packages.  They were mostly frozen so we would separate the breasts, wrap them separately in plastic wrap and freeze them in freezer style zip lock bags.  We went and got the Stake All American pressure caner and started canning chicken.  We thawed them, removed the meat from the bones and then cubed the meat and boiled the bones.  After packing the breast meat into the wide mouth quart Ball brand jars, we poured in the broth from the boiled bones and put the jars, seven quarts at a time into the pressure caner.  You have to let the caner vent steam for 10 minutes before adding the weight to the steam port and then once it comes up to pressure (10 pounds) we set the timer for 95 minutes (adjusting the time +5 minutes for our altitude) and waited.  When the timer went off, we turned off the gas to the cooker and waited for the pressure gauge to read zero.  I took off the weight and then loosened the clamps on the pressure caner lifting the lid up away from me so the steam would go away from me and not at me.  I then removed the jars from the caner and placed them on a cooling rack.  All the lids were sealed so all was good.  After taking them out, the next batch went in.  With the steam venting time, cooking time and then cooling down to be able to open the caner, it takes about two and a half hours to do one batch.  

The week before Thanksgiving, Frys and Bashas both had a sale on ten pound bags of Russet potatoes at 69 cents per bag.  We bought four bags.  The book says you can cut them length wise or cube them.  We decided to cube cut them.  After washing, peeling, rewashing them and cutting them up into about 1" square cubes, we boiled them for six minutes.  The Ball jars had been put through the dish washer and were lined up ready.  We loaded the potatoes into the jars to with in one inch of the top and then poured boiling water into the jar up to one inch below the top of the jar.  Next we used a knife to remove any air bubbles in the jar and then put the lid and screw ring on finger tight.  The jars were loaded into the pressure caner, fire turned up until the steam vented for 10 minutes and then put the 10 pound weight on.  When it got up to pressure, we started the timer for 45 minutes.  The rest was just like doing the chicken. Turn the fire off after 45 minutes, let the pressure go back to zero and then take the bottles out.  Easy Peasy.  I did the math and it came out to $1.35 per quart including the cost of the jars. That doesn't include the amount of personal satisfaction of knowing we did it ourselves. 

So, look for good deals and do it your selves.  If you need help, we have the best book titled Home Preserving that we can tell you all the recipes for anything you want to can.  

The Lord will bless you in your efforts to follow the council of his Prophets.

Bob and LouAnn

Bottling some Tomatoes

It has been a very busy last six months.  We have already been to Missouri and back and now, I am getting ready to go on the Stake Boy Scout Encampment as the camp medic.  As soon as I get back from that, literally within two hours, we leave to go back to Michigan for the 175th anniversary of the farm where my mother was born. 

We had an opportunity to get about 20 pounds of tomatoes that the food bank needed to get rid of.  We decided to bottle them for food storage so I took pictures of the steps.
  
These were vine ripened tomatoes so we needed to remove the vines.

We washed them very well.

We got out our large stainless steel pot and filled it about 2/3rds to the top and put it on the stove to boil.  When the water started to boil, we put six tomatoes at a time in the boiling water for about one minute.

After they boil for about one minute, you will see that the skin has split open.

Take them out and peel the skin off.  It comes off very easily.  It they have any black spots, they will pull right off with the skin.  We then used an apple corer and cored them.

After they were cored, we sliced them in half thru the removed core, laid them cut side down, slice them into three pieces and them turned them one half turn and cubed them.

Now is the time to get your jars and lids ready.  We put the one quart Ball jars in hot simmering water and the lids in another sauce pan with hot simmering water.  I use Ball jars because I have seen other brand lids rust but have never seen that with Ball lids.  I also got out our turkey fryer aluminum pot and put enough water in it to cover the jars with about three inches of water.  I then put the pot on the gas fryer. 

Take the jars out of the simmering water one at a time and pore out the hot water in it.  I used a pair of tongs.  Put your funnel into the jar and then start ladling in the tomatoes until it is within 1/2 inch of the top.  Use a plastic or metal rod and stick it into the tomatoes, pack them down and get all the air bubbles out.  Refill if you have to to leave 1/2 inch head space. 

Use a magnetic wand to get the lids out of the simmering water, put it on the jar and then put the ring on finger tight.  I put a wire wrack in the bottom of the pot to keep the jars off of the bottom of the pot.  The tomatoes filled almost six quarts.  I put hot water in the last quart to fill it up so it is about one half tomatoes and one half juice.  When all the jars are in the water, I turned the gas on high and once it started boiling, I set the timer for 45 minutes and turned the heat to medium.  I didn't get any pictures of that.

After 45 minutes, take the jars out of the boiling water.  We put them on a towel to let them cool.  Within a couple of minutes, the lids started making the sounds that you like to hear, popping.  Let them sit and cool before moving. 

Use a permanent marker and put the date on top of the lid and then keep to enjoy later.  We have done this before and have used them several years later.  They were always great.

With harvest time coming, now is the time to start stocking up on bottles while you can get them.

Have fun
Bob and LouAnn

Dreams and other people's dreams

I'm sorry that I haven't written much lately but since we were released from the calling of Stake Welfare Specialists, I have been pretty busy with my new calling.  I do want to share something that I have discovered, through my daughter Cyndi that I have probably have felt but didn't know it until now.  There have been several "firesides" in the Mesa area lately that have been attended by members in our Stake that have come to my attention.  They sound really interesting and most have been by members of the Church.  That always makes it more "REAL", right?  I have been made aware of these types of meetings or books before but there has almost always been something inside me saying "be careful".  We read the introduction of this particular one on Amazon.com as the author/speaker has two books out on her experience now.  The first one sounded interesting enough that we even downloaded it.  I stopped reading it about in the middle after having that feeling again.  It is about a real life story of a woman who had a near death experience and was "just now allowed to reveal it".  We told our daughter Cyndi about it and she downloaded it and read it.  She called me two weeks ago and said the author was coming to speak near her and she wanted to go but her husband was against it.  I told her that she needed to support her husband and if the author was coming back here in the future to speak, I would not go.  She agreed and that was that.  Today, she made two posts on Facebook.  Both were from President Joseph Fielding Smith.  I will share them here.

Joseph Fielding Smith noted that it was inappropriate to either publicize or seek out such dreams and revelations from rank-and-file members of the Church:
It seems that periodically it becomes necessary to call attention to the true order the Lord has given us in regard to revelation. During the past three or four months I have received a number of communications, coming from various parts of the Church, asking if certain purported revelations or dreams or purported visions are reliable and have the endorsement of the Authorities of the Church….

Now, the Lord will give revelations to this Church, and he will give commandments to this Church from time to time…but always in accordance with his own law; and we do not have to run around and invite individuals who are without authority to relate to us purported visions, or revelations or commandments, for the guidance of this people…."

"If a man comes among the Latter-day Saints, professing to have received a vision or a revelation or a remarkable dream, and the Lord has given him such, he should keep it to himself. It is all out of order, in this Church, for somebody to invite him into a sacrament service to relate that to the Church, because the Lord will give his revelations in the proper way, to the one who is appointed to receive and dispense the word of God to the members of the Church….
Now, these stories of revelation, that are being circulated around, are of no consequence, except for rumor and silly talk by persons who have no authority….When you know God’s truth, when you enter into God’s rest, you will not be hunting after revelations from Tom, Dick and Harry all over the world. You will not be following the will-o’-the-wisp of the vagaries of men and women who advance nonsense and their own ideas."-Joseph Fielding Smith-

I thank my Father in Heaven every day for the inspiration and blessings he gives to me and my family and in particular, today, for our daughter sharing that on Facebook.  We have a Prophet that leads us in the way we should go.  He will NEVER lead us astray.

Bob and LouAnn