Canning

Growing up, my mom did a lot of canning--meats, spaghetti sauce, peaches (my favorite!). Now that I am cooking dinner so often, I'm realizing the convenience of this. My mom taught me and my sister how to can meat by ourselves this past summer, and we finally did it all almost all by ourselves! It really makes life so much easier.

Step 1: Buy jars and lids

Step 2: Fill the jars with 1/2 Tbsp of minced onion and 1/2 tsp of salt. Cut up the meat you want to can (we just did chicken this time), and stuff it in the jars.

Step 4: Fill up the pressure canner with a couple quarts of water, put the jars in and watch the temperature, making sure it stays where it needs to be.

Step 5: About an hour and a half later, wala! You have cooked chicken that is totally sealed off and will stay good for a very, very long time. Each jar is about one pound of chicken, so it lasts quite a while.

I dreaded helping my mom with canning when I was growing up. Especially doing peaches--pitting them was  always the worst job. But a little bit of work all at once makes for a lot less work later on. Thanks for forcing us to learn this stuff mama!