The run down on canning chicken

I am no pro, but I have been at this for a few years now and it has always worked.  I got my info from this lady, Wendy DeWitt.  You may have heard of her.  She's the pro on food storage and I can't get enough of her info.  She's so smart and straight forward.  The link I gave you is to her info on all things food storage.  Scroll down to Bottling Meat for detailed instructions on this process.  Here's a brief tutorial from the last time I canned chicken (just a few days ago).

My clean bottles.  They don't have to be sterilized.
And I love that I don't have to dry them after I wash them.

I cut up my chicken and filled the jars (1/2" from the rim), then added a 1/4 tsp of canning salt.
I use pint sized jars.  They hold about 1 pound of meat.  You can use quart sized jars also.  They hold 2 pounds and process 15 minutes longer.

This is the salt to use when canning.

Next I boil the lids for 2 minutes to soften the seals.

Using the magnetic tool on the left is great for getting the lids out without burning your fingers.
The tool on the right is used to take the jars out of the canner when they're done.

Taking the lids out and putting them on the jars.

Then add the rings and tighten them down.

Put about 3" of water in the canner and then add your jars.   I can fit 14 pint jars in my canner.

All canners are different, so make sure you read your instruction manual before you start.
Turn stove to high.  After the canner has shot steam out of the little valve for 10 minutes, put the weight on.

The pressure will begin to rise.

When the pressure reaches 10 pounds, turn the heat down to keep it at 10 pounds.  Begin your timer for 75 minutes.
You will be turning down the heat throughout the entire process, so don't leave your canner!
After 75 minutes you will be all the way down to low heat.  Turn off your stove.
Let the canner sit undisturbed while the pressure drops all the way back down to zero.
Now you can take the weight off.

Open the canner away from you, so the steam doesn't give you a facial, and take the jars out with that cool jar lifter outer I showed earlier.
I put mine on a dish towel on the counter top.  They will plink when they seal.  This happens soon after you take them out.  Make sure they all seal.
If they don't, refrigerate it and use it later, or redo the canning process for that jar, with a new lid.

That's it.  It really isn't hard, but it does take a good amount of dedicated time.  Do this when the kids are asleep or you have an extra set of hands to take care of them.  And of course, have something handy to do while you're sitting there waiting- a movie, book, craft, whatever.
Any questions?

Where we went next

After San Diego we went up to this place you might have heard of.  Ha ha.  It was so fun.  Grant loved wearing his Mickey Mouse ears.  He didn't even know who Mickey was, but ever since we went there, he points out Mickey whenever he sees him.  The Disney marketers would call that a success I'm sure.

Not much luck with the characters here either.  Here's Goofy hanging his head because Grant didn't like him.

Grant loved sitting in the cars that were here and there in Toon Town.

And one of his favorite rides was the race cars.  He really does love cars.

Tarzans house was pretty cool.

Grant loved pulling my hair (really hard) and trying on my sunglasses while we were waiting.

I think this was Grant's last ride.  He was so excited for it while we waited in line.  After this he fell asleep for the rest of the night.  He even slept through the loud fireworks and the Fantasmic show.

We headed home the next day and made it back just in time to unload the car and send Keith off to class.  It was so nice to get away for 5 whole days!

San Diego

We decided to take a last minute trip to Southern Cal for a long weekend before Keith started back up with school.  First we went to San Diego.  We had fun visiting Sea World.  Right now they have a pass for the rest of the year for the price of one day, so we will be going back again.

Mission Beach at Sunset.

The guys with Shamu.  Grant didn't really like being next to a fuzzy whale character.

Taking a break.  Churro and blue Icee.  Yum!

Hey Grant, there's a monkey on your back!

Finding something spectacular on the ground.  Again. 

More to come on where we headed to next.

I've been at it again

I started bottling chicken in the fall of 2008.  The first time I did this I was pregnant with Grant and it made me so sick (hot kitchen, cutting chicken, looking at the chicken, standing for too long, etc).  I've bottled a ton more since then but I didn't do any in 2010, even though I was using it in my cooking.  So my supply got really low.  Not good since this is part of our food storage.  

I know it looks like a science project.  But that's just because you can see through the jar.  It really is quite delicious.  I use it all of the time.  It works great in my chicken salad sandwiches, soup, enchiladas,  BBQ chicken sandwiches, an occasional casserole, or whatever.  Have you ever used the Costco canned chicken?  It's good... this is way better!

I've filled almost two boxes after bottling twice this week.  I can do 14 pint jars at a time. I do this when chicken is on sale.  Also, I have to have a time when I won't be distracted with other things because it's something that has to be tended to throughout the whole process.  So usually I'll do this at night or during nap time.  Last time I did this, I watched a movie and cut out all of my hearts for my Valentine garland while I sat at the countertop next to the stove.  

Interesting huh?  Do you want a tutorial.  I know my sister does.  I'll have to put one together soon.  It's not as hard or daunting as it may sound.

Heart Garland Tutorial

This was a VERY SIMPLE and FUN garland that I made this week for Valentine's Day.

I started by cutting out the hearts.  I used 2 sheets of pink, red, and white stiffened felt.  It has glitter on one side, which I thought was fun, but mostly I wanted the stiffness of the felt so it would be more sturdy.  I cut these out by hand (25 of each).  Oh boy, it took forever!  And my hand was so sore after all of the cutting.  I found out that the local scrapbook store has die-cutting machines that you can go in and pay to use.  I could have done this way faster and with less pain if I had gone there.  I will remember that for the future.

small hearts were 2 inches across, large hearts were 2 1/2 inches across

When I had all of my hearts ready, I laid them out in the order that I wanted to put them together in.

I sewed them together across their middles, one right after the other (no space in-between). 

After the sewing was complete, down came my Christmas cards, and up went my hearts!  I really like how they turned out.  Total length came to about 26 feet!  There might just have to be something like this in the works for Grant's birthday.  Hmmmm...that would be fun!  Have a great weekend!

We have loved having Dad home

It has been so nice to have Keith home a lot more lately.  One more week and then the busy school schedule gets added back into the mix.  We enjoyed this day riding the train at the park.

Then having some hot chocolate.

Here's that grit again.

And the boys favorite....golfing.  Yes, Grant has his own set of real clubs (Of course!  After all, who's son is he?).  Left handed, just like his daddy.  Here's Grant getting a little coaching, but when left on his own he hits the ball right on and it flies straighter than mine!  Keep an eye out for this kid!

Taking after his mom

Arizona really does have the best oranges hands down!  There is just this uniquely intense sweet flavor in them.  It probably has to do with the fact that we get to eat them fresh.  I'm so happy that Grant loves them too.  He loved them last year and then was silly this year and wouldn't touch them at first.  He seems to think that anything new I put in front of him must be icky.  He came around.  And now he eats them just like I do...the best way.

My favorite face

I love it when he gets excited and grits his teeth.  Just like he did here at the zoo this past weekend.

New do

I got a new do on Saturday.  It probably isn't to noticeable to most, but it is different.  There are a lot more layers in it, so now it will hold curls better (something I've been wanting to do with my hair for a while).  I love getting my hair done.  It is one of life's greatest pleasures for me.  And what a great way to freshen up after a busy December!

Okay, here's some Christmas

Geepers!  I meant to put these up a long time ago, but I couldn't figure out how to make a collage like I wanted on my new computer.  I have been learning a lot of new things on my Mac though.  Slowly (very slowly) but surely, I will get there!

We had such a nice time getting together with my family for Christmas.  We were all in town.  Christmas Eve we got together at my brother's house.  My Aunt and two of my cousins from Peoria were there too!  We had an appetizer dinner.  Tons of delicious and beautiful appetizers.  We ate 'till we were sick... well, I did.  I couldn't help it, it all tasted sooooo good!

I took some quick pictures inside our house on Christmas Eve after Santa Came.  Santa and one of his elves even set the table all pretty for Christmas breakfast.   

I had the idea of hanging our Christmas cards up this way, but wasn't sure how it would look.  So I googled some card display ideas and a picture from Pottery Barn kids came up with this same idea.  So I thought, "hey, that looks good!" and I did it too.  I love it!  It was so fun to add to as the cards arrived.  I LOVE getting Christmas cards from friends and family!

Our tree.  I was so excited to have a real tree this year.  It was beautiful and lush when we got it, but then it dried out within the week.  What a rotten deal!  It did smell good though, so that's a plus.  I was just scared that it would catch on fire if we turned the tree lights on for too long.  I got teased about that notion a lot, and so we did turn the lights on a lot the week of Christmas.  It really was way dry!

Santa brought Grant a big stuffed doggie.  Here it is waiting patiently all night for Grant to come around the corner and light up when he sees him.  And that's exactly what happened.

Our pretty table ready for Christmas breakfast.

Christmas Day was spent at our house, until dinner time when we went to my brother's house again and had a delicious turkey dinner.

Our sweet neighbor knitted these adorable puppets for Grant.  You can't see them too well here, but one is a skunk and the other is a tiger.  So cute!  

Gran'ts doggie backpack was a hit.  He doesn't like to wear it a lot, but he loves to look at it and pull treats out of it.  This is to replace the diaper bag.  Now he can carry his own diapers and goodies! 

Grant reading Mr. Salty's Ch Rish Mish Wish with Grandpa.  It was a special book written just for Grant starring his favorite, Mr. Salty (a salt shaker that my dad added a face to, like a year ago, that Grant just loves).  

Hugging his backpack.

Growing

Just last week he couldn't reach the doorbell by himself.

Today he reached up and got it!

He's very proud of himself.