Some Winter Canning

Tonight we popped open a jar of turkey and turkey broth that I had canned earlier this year. I cut up some veggies and we had soup. While I was cutting up the veggies, I decided that I should just keep going and can some. Here is what I ended up with. (I would have had 5 jars but broke one and had to throw out the vegetables too. I'll chalk that up to the learning curve . . .)

These jars contain carrots, beans, corn, potatoes, lentils, celery, and onions. I also added spices so that I could pop open a quart of these, add it to a pint of my canned turkey and broth, and have the same soup that we ate tonight. I really like the recipe and am excited to see how it tastes canned!

This is the first soup mix that I have canned. I am wanting to try more and would love suggestions of your favorites.

Here's the recipe that I used for our soup tonight:

TURKEY SOUP
* 1 quart turkey and broth (or 4 cups water, 3-4 chicken bouillon cubes, and cooked turkey)
* 4 cups water
* 1 medium onion - chopped
* 3 carrots - sliced
* 2 celery stalks - chopped
* 3 potatoes - diced
* 1 cup frozen beans
* 1 cup frozen corn
* 1/2 cup lentils
* 1 tsp salt
* 1/3 - 1/2 tsp pepper
* 1/2 tsp garlic salt
* 1 bay leaf (remove before serving)

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Tools of My Trade

This recipe must be pressure canned due to their low acidity in order to kill all bacteria that would cause dangerous food born illnesses. They can be safely canned by using the recommended times and pressures given for your altitude. I have a couple older Mirro pressure canners given to me that work wonderfully, and my mom has a newer one that she loves as well. If you do some asking around, you might find someone who has given up canning and has one available, or you can look for one like the one pictured below. It should hold around 9 pint jars or 7 quart jars.

I also have some canning tools that are invaluable. The wide funnel helps keep messes to a minimum when filling jars. When I heat my lids, I just drop them into the hot water of my canner and then lift them out with the magnetic wand. The jar lifters are great for getting those hot jars out of the canner as well. You can buy these tools separately at many stores, or you can purchase them in a kit which contains other useful canning tools, such as the one pictured below.