Remember My Peaches? How About a Giveaway?

Hello Friends!

Do you remember my jars of peaches?   

The ones with the space on the bottom?

Do you have the same problem and want to know

why this happens?

Do you want your peaches to look like this?

Then visit Heather at one of my favorite blogs,

Mountain Home Quilts

You may find some answers to these

questions here.

Be sure to check out Heather's wonderful giveaway
as well.  Click here.

Thank you Heather!

Warm Country Blessings,

Christa

Canning Cherries and Peaches

Would you like to see what we've been

canning lately?

We started out with picking cherries a few weeks ago,

some of you may remember from a previous post.

We had so much fun.

 Aren't these gorgeous?

These happened to be sour cherries so we

took them home and made cherry pie

filling.

We then ordered sweet cherries from our

coop and canned more pie filling.

I love having homemade pie fillings on hand in

case I need to make a quick dessert.

Yesterday, I made my first pie from

SWEET cherries and I have to be honest with you

I like the sour cherries better in a pie.

Now on to the peaches!

Our peaches also came from our coop and

 were simply delicious.

Yum!

Some of them were eaten fresh and some, by my

son's request, were canned.

 I must admit, blanching and peeling are not
my favorite parts of the process.

 I like to heat mine up in a very light syrup.

 Packing peaches neatly in the jars can be an

art in itself.  Some ladies pride themselves on how

pretty they look after processing.

I don't think I'll be winning any blue ribbons at the

fair.

Into the water bath canner they go!

Here they are.

I just can't seem to get rid of that open space

at the bottom of the jars.

Do you have any little secrets on this?

I would sure like to know.

***

Warm Country Blessings,

Christa

What have I been up to lately?

I decided to do some canning.

Canned organic carrots on my pantry shelf is time saver when I need to throw a pot of soup together.

I cut up my carrots and hot packed them in pint jars.

 

I also like to use organic beans (middle) in my soups so I canned some of my dried organic pinto beans.  I'll keep canning those until they are gone.

You can't beat homemade canned chicken broth (two jars on the side).  We eat so much soup at this time of the year so it's nice to have these already on hand.

My chicken broth recipe:

Broth, Glorious Broth!

I had a large box full of fabric.  I didn't even know what I had until I pulled it out and organized it.  I don't have a before picture but here are pictures after I organized them according to color.

 Aren't these just wonderful fabrics!

 

Visit my son's blog to see what he's been up to lately.

 

I basted my heart quilt together thinking that I would start hand quilting.  After quilting one square, a sore back and neck, I contacted a Long-arm quilter in North Carolina to get a quote to have it quilted.  I'm still trying to decide what to do.  Bethany at Bethany Quilts does such beautiful work, I know she would do a great job on my quilt.  

Go to her blog and see for yourself how talented she is.

Bethany Quilts

~

We are getting snow today!

Oh how cozy.  I think I'll make a big pot of Tortellini Soup tonight.

Here's my Tortellini Soup Recipe:

Italian Tortellini Soup

~

Happy New Year my friends!

 

~ Christa ~

 

How About Them Apples?

Have you ever wanted to make apple butter?

I have two bushels of apples coming in a couple weeks and I'm going to try a great apple butter recipe from a great blog I just discovered.

Sneak on over to A Merry Heart Journal and find out her secret to great Crock Pot Apple Butter.

~ Christa ~

Broth, Glorious Broth!

It's been raining here in Middle Tennessee for quite some time now and my family is getting in the mood for those delicious soups.
I think I could live off of soup alone, I love it so much.

What makes a great pot of soup?
I think homemade chicken or beef broth can make or break a great bowl of soup .

During Fall, Winter and partly into Spring, making a big stock pot full of chicken broth is a weekly event at our house. Every Monday, our large pot, and the ingredients are set on the stove to simmer for at least 12 hours and sometimes 24 if I can make it work into our schedule.

This year, I have decided to do things a little different. I'm making multiple batches of broth and canning it. So the weeks that may be a challenge to make broth, such as weeks we are sick or whatever may come up, I can just pull out a couple jars of homemade chicken broth and make my soup or chicken pot pie.
If you are accustomed to buying your broth at the store, try a batch of homemade and see if you can tell the difference.

Here's how it's done my friends

Gather these ingredients together:

1 whole free-range chicken (any chicken is fine but free-range will give you a better broth)
Chicken feet (ok, this one is optional, but I do put these in mine because they are full of gelatin)
4 quarts of cold filtered water
2 Tablespoons of vinegar
1 large onion, coarsely chopped
2 carrots, peeled and coarsely chopped
3 celery sticks, coarsely chopped
1 bunch parsley

Follow these instructions:

Take your whole chicken and cut off the wings and legs and remove the neck, and gizzards from the cavity.
Place the chicken pieces, neck and gizzards in your stock pot with the water, vinegar and all the vegetables except the parsley.
Let it all stand for 30 minutes to an hour.
Bring to a boil, and remove scum that rises to the top.
Reduce heat, cover and simmer (as low as it can go) for 6 to 24 hours. The longer you cook the stock/broth, the richer and more flavorful it will be.
Add the Parsley about 10 minutes before finishing the broth. This will impart additional mineral ions to the broth.

Remove whole chicken, pieces and vegetables with a slotted spoon. Remove the meat from the carcass for other uses (I use mine for chicken pot pies or enchiladas).
Strain stock/broth into a large bowl and place in the refrigerator until the fat rises to the top and congeals.
I then skim off the fat and reserve the broth in 1/2 gallon canning jars in the refrigerator and use throughout the week.

Freezing:
If I know I will not use all the broth in one week, I store the broth in the freezer in freezer bags.

Canning:
Like I said earlier, I am canning most of my broth now. If this is something you would like to do, it's best to make a double batch so you have enough to load your canner with 7 quarts with a quart or two left over for the refrigerator or freezer.

Stay tuned for Soup and Chicken Pot Pie Recipes you can make with this broth.
In the mean time, cook up a batch of broth so it's ready for one of my soup recipes, coming soon.

Enjoy!

~ Christa ~

Peach Pit Jelly

We just finished canning our peaches and we saved our peach pits and skins for making Peach Pit Jelly. This recipe came from The New Harvest Homestead newsletter and it is so yummy. If it's too late for you to make some, save the recipe for next year. You will be glad you did.

Peach Pit Jelly

Save all pits and skins from a days canning of peaches

Cover with cold water and let stand overnight in the refrigerator

Next morning, bring to a boil and cook for ten minutes

Drain off the juice through a jelly bag

Add 1 package of pectin and 5 cups of sugar for every four cups of juice

Boil according to directions on pectin package

Seal

This is a clear, mild and pretty peach flavored jelly

Last year I didn't can peaches but we saved all of our pits in the freezer until I thought I had enough to make jelly. It turned out great!

Enjoy!

~ Christa ~