seasons greetings

I really have negleccted this blog over the last 6 months or so,  not because I don't have recipes to share or shops to recommend, or  things to say... mostly because I keep forgetting about it!  I have some catching up to do, and hopefully I will get some of it done over the holiday season.

A fellow blogger shared this link - looks like a great book to order!Food in Jars cookbook

I have recently re-discovered my love of canning and preserves. I do small batch canning - which basically means I can 6 to 12 jars of something ( soup, stew, spagetti, gravy, etc etc) on a regular basis.  This fall I was doing a batch of preserves up once a week  an it worked out great for having a variety of ready to eat meals available for the family. I also offered our friends a trade of ingredients for finished products - to help cut the cost for everyone and share the deliciousness of fresh canned goods.

This last month though I haven't gotten anything actually INTO the jars - my family eats it all up with nothing left to can!  I will get back to the canning next month, any one who wants to get in on sharing the costs and the bounty, feel free to get in touch.

I love the immediacy of a can of soup or stew in the cupboard, and I am delighted that I know exactly what went into each item when I do it myself. I can offer my family the convience of canned, prepared food, without the mystery of store bought 'cans'. I also find that the food gets eaten more, enjoyed more and is easier to re-heat in a hurry than freezing in similar serving sizes did.

I started making extra large batches of gravy when we would have roast beef or chicken and when we did a turkey, then I canned the left over gravy. It has turned out to be FABULOUS to have that extra bit of gravy on hand when done a meal up quickly.

My oldest daughters and I have been working on compiling recipes for a family cook book, if I can find a decent interface to upload it online, I will happily share.