Cold Weather Potato Soup

1 3/4 cup instant mashed potatoes
1 1/2 cup nonfat dry milk
2 teaspoon chicken granules
2 teaspoon dried onion
1/2 teaspoons thyme
2 teaspoon parsley
1/4 teaspoon ground pepper

Combine all ingredients, mixing well. Mix several batches and put into quart jars to give as gifts.

For canning, I clean and cube some of the meat. I also slice some fresh garlic...I fill hot sterilized pint jars with the venison cubes, leaving one inch of headspace. (the meat will expand).
Then to each jar I add a sliver of garlic.
Adding  no liquid to the jars of meat, it will make it's own juice.
Wipe the rim of the filled jar and place a hot lid on top, then screw the band on tight. Following Ball blue book I pressure cook the meat.

Rice Mix

1 cup long-grain rice

2 tsp bouillon granules (I use 2 cubes)

3 teaspoons dried herbs

1/4 tsp salt

Combine all ingredients and cap tightly until needed. For my family, I double this for one meal. As long as you use the entire jar for one meal, you will have an even ratio of rice to flavor.

No bouillon? How about powdering the dehydrated veggies of your choice: I use tomato, onion, green pepper, nettle , mixed in equal parts with Nutritional yeast, and substitute it for the bouillon. I omit the salt because the bouillon is salty enough.

more food storage

Last night Aaron and I canned 21 qts of venison in the pressure canner. The kids were amazed and loved the fresh tenderloin. Aaron took them out to see the deer before we started processing it. Cam helped Aaron with the butchering while I cleaned the meat,cut and canned it. Then they came inside to help me because I was taking to long cutting it into chunks. We ran out of jars and Aaron had to make a run to the store. I need to really hunt the garage sales again this next summer for canning jars. How is this homeschooling. Well meat doesn't really come from plastic wrappers at the store. Enough said.

I am thankful for...

1. God's unconditional love.
2. Aaron and how he is the glue in my life.
3. My kids no matter how far away or how grown up
4. My job and how wonderful it is.
5. My full pantry of home canned foods

I couldn't log on my computer was being stubborn. We have been doing alot around here again. Pitty-pat has been working in her workbook. Tippy toe too. Little man and Daddy have been studying his colors and all the kids are working on spelling and recognizing the words for the colors.

Yesterday Pitty-pat and I canned 27 pints of Carrots. Little-man washed them. Pitty-pat peeled them all. I cut and packed them for the pressure canner .(Tippy-toe wasn't left out he cored apples for apple butter.)

Spicy Pickled Carrots 
 (I found this recipe here ) I can't wait to try it so I copied it so I can't loose it. Plus it is a small batch recipe, so if we don't like it we aren't stuck with so many jars of the stuff.
Ingredients:
This recipe makes four pints of pickled carrots, and scales up easily

• 2 1/2 lbs carrots, cleaned, trimmed, and sliced 1/4" thick
• 5 1/2 cups vinegar (white or cider)
• 1 cup water
• 2 cups sugar
• 2 tbsp canning salt
• 2 Jalapeno or Serrano peppers
• 4 cloves garlic, peeled and crushed
• 4 bay leaves
• 20 peppercorns
• 4 tsp salt

 1. Prep the ingredients: Trim the carrots, then slice into 1/4" thick slices.  Put the canning pot on the stove and fill it with enough water to cover the jars when they are added. Cover the pot, and bring to a simmer.
2. Simmer the carrots: Meanwhile, put the carrots, vinegar, water, sugar and 2 tbsp canning salt in a large saucepan or dutch oven,
 3. Fill the jars: In each pint jar, put 1/2 a jalapeno pepper, 1 bay leaf, 5 peppercorns, and 1 tsp salt. Using a slotted spoon, fill each jar with carrots, leaving 1/2" of head space at the top of each jar. Ladle enough brine into each jar to cover the carrots, again leaving 1/2" of head space. If you are doing refrigerator pickles, you're done - cover the jars and skip to the "rest for at least a week" step. If you're canning the pickles, read on...and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat, and simmer the carrots for 15 minutes.
 4. Process the jars: Wipe the rims of the jars and apply the lids. Lower the jars into the canning pot, and make sure they are covered with 1" of water. Cover the pot with its lid, bring the water to a rolling boil, then process in the hot water bath for 15 minutes. Remove the jars from the pot, and let rest for 12 to 24 hours before testing the seal on the lids.