Its time to PARTY!

Ok,  so its a canning party, but hey, a party is a party and these days I will take what I can get.  ;) 

Ott, A from aLatte' with Ott, A and her partner in crime Jenn from Mess Hall to Bistro are hosting a Canning party this week.  Stop over and check out all the fun canning jar craft ideas, canning recipes, and canning tips.  I am linking today to their linky party, and I am sharing my canned BBQ Chicken adventure. 

This is my first official year where I feel I can wear the badge of "Canner".  I have been a gardener for quite a few years and this year decided to go all out.  Part of the reason I set out on my canning expedition was to simply find a healthier way to feed my family.  We are a part time family of 6, most of the time family of 3 and every other year a family of 2.  Feeding this many by buying organic is costly.  And up until this year, I thought buying organic was the only way to feed my family and be assured I was providing healthy foods for them.  But I found by canning my own foods, I know what is in each and every jar, and it puts a smile on my face. 

I must admit, I am still having a really hard time breaking even a single seal on a jar of my precious green beans.  A month or so ago, my neighbor and I decided it would be a great idea to each buy a bushel of green beans.  For those of you who don't know, that's about 33 pounds of green beans.  Mine yielded 18 quarts.  I gave away two, the rest are tucked away nicely in my cabinet. Where they will reside until I get really really hungry, have a recipe that calls for green beans.

Today, we are a family of 2.  My dear sweet husband, is deployed,and I found I am still buying those large packages of chicken breasts, because lets face it, its cheaper.  I decided to can most of them, with a little BBQ sauce. I found a recipe in the Ball Blue book and got busy. 

I decided to raw pack my jars.  I had 6 boneless skinless chicken breasts.  I sliced them up into thin slices that would be tasty on a sandwich.  I seasoned them with my favorite spices and prepared the BBQ sauce.  I thinned out a sauce that our family likes and heated it up on the stove. 

I packed the raw chicken in my jars, I used 2 quart jars.  I wished after this was done that I had started with more chicken, and made a few more jars.  After raw packing the chicken I poured the hot sauce over top.  Using a butter knife I swished the chicken around in the jars releasing as much trapped air as I could.  Leaving an inch head space on the jars.  Lids and seals were warmed, and jars were wiped cleaned, lids and rings were affixed and place in the pressure canner.

Everything I read said to process for an hour 30 minutes for quarts at 10 pounds pressure.  I followed the manufactures instructions for my pressure canner.  I was a little leery of canning meat, but it looks yummy and we cant wait to try it.  

I tried the little trick this time of adding vinegar to the water bath, I am reporting that it works.  Clean happy jars!

Here is my next item to hoard enjoy.  Come back tomorrow and I will show you how to dress these babies up for hoarding gift giving.  Later this week I will be canning meat sauce for spaghetti.  Yummy!  I welcome your comments, concerns, or questions ;)

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