While the Hubby's away I play

Canned Ground Beef

Yesterday in the morning I ordered 15 pounds of choice, ground round from a new, local butcher shop.  Well, actually they have been here awhile, but I rarely drive by their locale (it is on the way to Reno) and have been out of town so much (almost a month in Georgia,  two trips to Salt Lake, a trip to San Pedro for a delightful wedding for a delightful cousin, a family camping trip near Beaver, Utah and a week at Disneyland (I think that is all))! I didn't realize or remember they were there.  But I digress.  On the way home from Reno I picked it up.  It was 5:00 pm and thought it was too late to start canning ground beef.  At 7:00 pm with no hubby at home, I thought it wasn't too late to can 15 pounds of ground beef.  Later I would realize I was wrong but.....

Since I like my canned meat with some flavor, I chopped up 6 onions and 8 celery stalks.  I cooked my ground meat in 2 1/2 pound increments using two frying pans. To each pan I added one chopped onion and a handful of chopped celery.

Notice the indispensable black tool.  This tool easily turns ground beef or sausage into just the right consistency of crumbles.  I purchased mine from Joyce L., my Pampered Chef consultant.  She lives in Southern Nevada if you want to buy this tool let me know, and I will give you her contact info.

 I cooked the meat until there was no more pink.  I moved the meat into a large roaster with my spider (this drained the fat and liquid I didn't want in my finished product) and kept it warm in the oven on very low heat.  This process took me about 45 minutes.

While the meat was cooking, I prepared my jars and lids and began heating the water in my pressure canner.  After the meat was cooked, I took my jars out of the dishwasher and placed them on a towel next to my stove.  I dropped one beef bouillon cube into each pint jar.  I filled each jar with the cooked ground beef.  I pushed the meat down but didn't pack it too tightly.  I filled each jar with boiling water leaving a generous 1 inch headspace.  I cleaned the jar tops with a paper towel wet with water then a paper towel wet with vinegar.  The tops need to be fat free to get a good seal.

I got 16 pints of meat canned and had another 7 pints that didn't fit into my canner so I just froze them.  This little project lasted until after 11:00 pm.  Too late in my book.  I won't start that late again!  But, oh joy, to awake to all those beautiful bottles of yummy canned meat.  I went to the butcher shop and ordered another 20 pounds of choice, ground round for $2.99  a pound.  This will be next Friday's grand adventure.

I canned the meat according to recommended times and pressure for my area.  Below are some links to canning meat websites.

http://nchfp.uga.edu/how/can_05/ground_chopped.html
http://www.gopresto.com/recipes/canning/meat.php

Volunteering at our Old Folks Home

Today was our Lyon County Republican Womens turn to host the monthly birthday celebration at our local Old Folks home.  Organizations and churches volunteer once a month to host this wonderful event.  We furnish the cake, ice cream and presents for all those having a birthday during the month.

An elderly gentleman in our town brings his keyboard and talent and shares music from the past with the party goers.  Sometimes it brings tears to the residents eyes as they remember good times, but mostly the music brings big smiles and happy finger and toe tapping to the beat.

Today was different than the past celebrations I have been at.  There were several children and a couple of spouses there to help their loved ones celebrate.  Usually this means helping their loved one eat their cake and ice cream because the loved one  can't feed themselves anymore.  It was great to see.

Before my mom passed away last December I loved doing this service, but now I feel sad as I visit and talk with the residents.  One of the first comments from most of the residents is, "I want to go home."  It makes me so sad for these individuals.  They feel lost and alone.  I do enjoy bringing a few minutes of joy into their lives by sitting and visiting with them, but it is very hard not to cry.  I miss my mom.  In January, our church, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, will be hosting the event.  I look forward to it.

On another note, today Theresa and I helped clean up a store front for Mitt Romney and other republicans running  for office.  We are excited to volunteer at the office to get information out about the various campaigns.  The energy is great and hope is in the air as we try to get our country back on track.

Beef Chunks that are out of this World

I wanted to share this recipe before I forget exactly what I did.  I purchased 5.23 lbs of beef ranch steak for a cost of  $15.64.  I trimmed off 11.5 oz of fat and grizzle.  Next time I will wait until another lean meat goes on sale so this will be more cost effective.  I used about 2 Tbsp of olive oil to saute my 2 large, diced onions and 2 tsp of minced garlic in  a large, electric non-stick wok.  I put the garlic in towards the end of sweating the onions so the garlic didn't burn.   I removed the onions and garlic, then in small batches I browned one side of the meat which I had cut into about 1 inch cubes.  Most recipes call for stuffing raw beef chunks into a jar and then processing, but I like to beef up the flavors of my canned goods as much as possible so I partially cook my meat before canning.  After browning one side of the meat, remove it to a bowl (keeping it as warm as possible while cooking the rest) and continue with the remainder of the meat - in batches.  When all the meat was cooked, I put 2 cups of beef stock/broth into the wok.  When it was hot, I added the beef and onions back in and turned the wok to low.  I quickly put the beef into hot jars leaving a generous 1 inch headspace.  Filled the jars with the hot stock.  Wiped off the rims with a paper towel wet with hot water-then a clean paper towel dipped in vinegar.  If there is any fat on the rim the jars will not seal.  Now is the time to mention that the beef should be very lean.  The fat in my jars is partially from the canola oil I cooked the onions in.  Process according recommended methods.  This produced 6 pints of delicious beef chunks.  I have provided several links to learn how to can beef.  My favorite is Frieda's.

http://www.friedalovesbread.com/2010/04/pressure-canning-beef-my-date-with.html

http://nchfp.uga.edu/how/can_05/strips_cubes_chunks.html

http://www.gopresto.com/recipes/canning/meat.php

Life is Abundant

This year we have been blessed with a garden and fruit trees that have produced beautifully.  Not only have we been able to share some of our produce with friends and family, but we have canned and frozen tons of food.  OK, not tons but sufficient for us.  We have frozen some of our sweet corn, raspberries and blackberries.  Our green beans, peaches, sweet peppers, jalapenos, cilantro, basil, tomatillos and tomatoes have ended up in tasty bottles of peach salsa, tomato sauce, spaghetti sauce, green sauce and chili.  We traded peaches for apples with another family in our ward and combined them with our apples and made applesauce and 12 quarts of apple pie filling.  Theresa doesn't think 12 quarts of apple pie filling are enough for the winter.  I pointed out that would be about 2 pies a month.  She is satisfied with  that amount because that still leaves two Sundays for chocolate chip cookies.  We aren't done canning yet.  I am going to can more beef chunks, grape jelly and more applesauce.  I am glad for a break right now though!

In the picture of canned green tomatillo sauce and apple pie filling, you will notice two things I can't live without for canning.  One is vinegar-keeps my jars from getting gucky on the outside.  The other is my digital scale.  Before I got this scale, I used to get on a scale take my measurement then get on with a sack of apples (or whatever).  To get the right amount of apples I would have to get on and off the scale.  The digital scale is wunderbare.  Simple to use and accurate, too.  I got mine at Costco.

I'll be sharing my new and improved recipes soon.