This post contains affiliate links.  If you make a purchase after clicking them, we will be compensated, but there is no additional cost to you.  All opinions expressed are our own.  Thank you for your support.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

      If you have followed the blog for very long, you know that I really enjoy canning.  I love the feeling of accomplishment it gives me and the peace of mind from knowing that I have food to give my family that I know exactly what is in it. This year I set a goal to get more canning done. I was able to work on that goal last week because I purchased a bunch of chicken at a really good price! 

Pressure Canning Meats
     Many people have canned fruits and vegetable for years, but canning meat frightens them.  But, there is actually no reason to be afraid of the process because it is much easier to do than you may think.

Supplies
     1 pressure canner:  There are various sizes and styles of pressure canners.  They come with directions about how to use them.  Mine is a 16 quart canner, but there are other sizes.  Actually, I could do an entire post about pressure canners, but they are pretty simple to use, and safe as long as you follow the directions. Here are a few options, click on them to find out about them: 

     Jars: I like to use wide mouth pint jars for meat, although I have use quarts and regular mouth. The reason I prefer pints is because sometimes that is all of the meat that you need and if you need more, you can just get another jar to use. Wide mouth jars make it easy to load the jars and to get the contents out when you are ready to. 
     Lids and rings:  Be sure to have the proper size for your jars.  If you purchased new jars, they will come with lids and rings.  You can reuse the rings after emptying the jar the first time, but you will have to replace the lids. You can buy them separately. 
     A canning tool Kit: This kit includes a jar lifter, a magnet, a funnel and other tools that make canning much easier! 

How to Begin

​1-Make sure your canner is ready by inspecting the gasket and the exhaust opening.
2-Clean and sterilize your jars.  Get your lids ready like you would for any other canning job.
3-When canning chicken, it is best to precook it slightly before filling your jars. Cut it into uniform chunks and saute and season the meat anyway you would like and cook until still slightly pink. I seasoned with pepper, garlic powder and onion powder.  I didn't add salt because I put canning salt in each jar. 
4-When the chicken is ready, start filling your jars with the chicken. Fill your jars with the chunks, not too tightly, and leave 1” headroom at the top.  You may add about ¼ tsp. of canning salt if desired.  
5-I used the drippings left from the chicken in the pan to make a broth to pour over the chicken in the jars.  I just added water and stirred.  Then, using a wide mouthed funnel, ladle the broth over the chicken chunks in each jar, still leaving the 1" headroom at the top.
6-Use a damp paper towel to wipe the rim of the jar.  Put on the lid and ring, fastening firmly, but not too tightly.
7-Place the jars in the pressure canner.  Follow the directions for your canner and process pints for 75 min. and quarts for 90 min.  When finished, let the pressure cooker cool down on its own before opening.  You will hear the jars sealing!  When the canner has cooled down properly, use the jar lifter to take the jars out of the canner.  Let them finish cooling, wash the jars off before storing them.  Don't forget to write what is in the jar and the date on the lid! 
If everything seals properly, your meat will store on the shelf for a year or longer.  

*​Check with the USDA website for all of the safeguards and recommendations. 

      You can use your canned chickens for many recipes and casseroles! Here are a couple to check out: 

• Chicken Enchilada Casserole in a Crock Pot
• Chicken Salad

      For more canning recipes and tips, click here for our canning category! 

This post contains affiliate links. I will be compensated for any purchases made through those links at no additional cost to you. Thank you for your support!

I am back with a new recipe, and I hope that you had a wonderful Thanksgiving! Are you gearing up for all the holiday festivities of Christmas? I really wanted to get the house decorated the day after Thanksgiving. It took a little longer that planned, and to be honest, our tree is still not completely decorated. I am so pregnant. Plus it was 90 degrees here the day after Thanksgiving. Actually, that whole weekend was hot. Who wants hot weather at Thanksgiving? NOBODY!

That is actually one reason why I love this recipe this week because making it made our house smell like fall!!!
Remember this post where my mom canned some of the apples that she and I bought? Well I decided with the leftover ones I was going to make apple butter and can it.

I have really enjoyed getting into canning this year. I hope to bring you more canning recipes. Canning is a great way to build your food storage! It is actually a lot of fun! This recipe is so simple. Once you peel and core the apples you leave them in the crock pot for a solid 8-10 hours. I did mine overnight and then I canned when I woke up in the morning. Your whole house will smell like apple pie. You're welcome. Here are a few tips:
1. I did not chop up the apples after I peeled and cored them. Also, I didn't worry about any little bits of skin left on the apples.
2. Speaking of peeling and coring, make sure you have a good apple peeler, it makes all the difference.
3. Really pack your apples in. I just peeled and sliced until my 6 quart crock pot was full, but after ten hours it cooks down. I ended up doing two batches and got three cans out of each. I think if I had done them all together I could have gotten seven jars of apple butter. So pack those apples in there because they'll reduce down while cooking.
4. I did a water bath for the canning. Now, here are some rules about canning that I didn't follow: you are not supposed to let your jars touch the bottom of your pot. You should use a canner to keep them in place and separate. I just stuck them in the pot. Luckily, they did not break. However, be wise, and use a canner so you can be assured that all of your cans will come out of the pot and you won't have any apple butter casualties (trust me, nobody wants that.)
5. Have plenty of snacks on hand to spread on your apple butter. It's really delicious. 
6. Enjoy it! Share it with your adorable 18 month old nephew who will inhale it like apple sauce. Be in love with his cute little apple butter covered face. That's what I did and I highly recommend it.

Crockpot Apple Butter

DON'T FORGET! If you're in the Phoenix area this Saturday come see us at the Ugly Sweater Express! We'll be selling our famous Hot Cocoa Bombs! You can try them out, sign up for our email, and much much more!!

This post contains affiliate links. I will be compensated for any purchases made through those links at no additional cost to you. Thank you for your support!

     With Thanksgiving on the way, it is definitely time to be ready for pie season.  By now, you know my love for pies and the love that goes into making them. We have posted a lot of pie recipes here. I gave you my Apple Pie Filling recipe on this post.  I often make enough pie filling for just the number of pies that I am going to make.  But, it is great to be able to can filling in advance and save myself some time when Thanksgiving actually arrives! 
     Lindsey was able to get a big box, or bushel of apples for a really good price.  I split the cost with her and decided to make pie filling and also another easy beautiful way of canning apples with my half.  Cinnamon Apple Rings! So, today, I am going to share both recipes with you.

     When processing a large amount of apples, one of the greatest tools ever is the spiral cutting peeler/corer.  Obviously, mine is old, as you can see.  But, here are a couple of options.

     This gadget makes it so much faster to peel and slice your apples.  The slices come out in round rings, so for the pie filling application, I just slice the entire stack in half after it is spiralized, and throw the slices into the pot.  

     I like to make nice deep dish 9" pies, so I usually use 1 and 1/2 jars to fill a pie. So, 3 jars will make 2 pies.  For an 8" pie, 1 jar is enough.

Canned Apple Pie Filling

     The 2nd thing I did with the apples is both beautiful and delicious.  You use cinnamon red hot candies in the syrup to make cinnamon apple slices.  When they are all finished, they look so beautiful in the jar! 

I still use the apple spiralizer, but this time I only cut through one side of the stack of rings in order to have pretty rings in the jars. Here is how you make them! 

Cinnamon Apple Rings

     Have I mentioned what a great feeling it is to can?  Now I feel a little bit closer to being prepared for the holidays and it is such a great feeling to have this food in my pantry.