Pumpkin Pie in a Jar

Here's a great recipe that I came across in my trusty 4H cook book. Now you can easily make pumpkin pie at any time of the year with fresh pumpkin. I always use up the carved pumpkins after Halloween because I feel bad just throwing away perfectly good pumpkins.


Pumpkin Pie in a Jar

Peel, remove seeds and cut pumpkin into small pieces. Bake, steam or boil in small amount of water until tender. Then put through a sieve. Measure the pumpkin pulp and any juice remaining. Then to each 3 cups of pumpkin add the following:

2 cups sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp cloves
1 tsp ginger
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1 tbsp molasses (optional)

Mix well together and bring to a boil, simmering until quite thick. Stir often to prevent sticking. Seal in hot sterile jars. May be put in hot water for 10 minutes to be sure that they seal.

TO MAKE PIE

2 eggs
1 cup milk
1 1/4 cups prepared pumpkin

Beat eggs well. Add milk and pumpkin, mix well together. Put into unbaked pie shell. Bake at 375F until golden brown.

Sometimes it takes something extreme to get ones butt in gear

...you know, like when your baby girl is just learning to crawl and you haven't put up a baby gate yet because you don't have one yet, and really she isn't moving that fast yet. Then one day while your back is turned she pulls herself over to the wooden, non-carpeted stairs, and takes a little tumble to the cement basement floor below. Thankfully she comes out of the ordeal with out a scratch or even a bruise. but the very next day you go and buy that baby gate.
Or more recently...like yesterday. We went down to Coutts for the community Remembrance Day Ceremony. After which, since Daniel had the day off work and the girls didn't have school, we decided to go for a little adventure. Daniel had grabbed our passports and the girls birth certificates, which we were keeping in a brown Government of Alberta envelope. I have been meaning to make a nice fabric passport and birth certificate holder for quite some time(since July to be exact when we got our passports). Daniel had also tossed in the envelope his wallet, which really isn't a wallet it is just big enough to hold his drivers license, credit and debit card and a very few other important cards. The plan was to take a little drive through Montana, have lunch, and maybe do a little shopping.
We first drove down to Shelby, where we stopped at the Town Pump(12:30pm) for some munchies and a potty break. While we were stopped I decided to get rid of some loose papers that were just on the floor of the van. One of the papers was brown paper wrapping from a package I had received recently and just had to open in the van before I got home. I collected up all the paper and what ever other garbage I could find and tossed it into the garbage can in front of the Town Pump Convenience store. Then we were on our way again, towards Cutbank where we would stop for lunch. The drive was beautiful. The sky was a beautiful blue and the rolling prairies were a gorgeous golden colour from the recent harvest.
After spending some time in Cutbank(leaving at about 2:30pm) we headed on our way to Browning and then headed up Highway 89 through the Hills where it was snowing steadily. The road was completely snow covered and the going was slow. Daniel kept his cool and you couldn't even tell that he was concerned. He later admitted it was a "hair raising" drive through the hills. It was pretty impressive how the snow just stopped when we descended down to St. Mary's lake. We then took the road from Babb to drive up close to Chief mountain to admire that impressive mountain.

Chief mountain

Daniel had wanted to climb it again this year but just didn't ever find the right time or the people to go with him. We admired, then made our way to the Carway border crossing to start our journey home. Just as we were coming up to the border crossing, Daniel reached down in between our seats to get the brown envelope with the passports and birth certificates, and it wasn't there. We frantically searched the van, but no envelope. As I sat and thought about what and where we had done and been that day. I realized with horror that the envelope must have got mixed up with the brown paper wrapping that I had thrown away way back at Shelby. When Daniel suggested we go for an adventure, I don't think this is what he had in mind. The girls and I stayed in the van and Daniel went into Customs to see if he could use the phone to call the Town Pump in Shelby to see if they would look in the garbage for our envelope. Kathryn started to panic that we would never get home and that we would have to live in a hotel, and that would cost a lot of money. I told her that it wasn't going to do any good to panic, the only thing that she could do right now was to pray and ask Heavenly Father to help us find our passports and birth certificates, and Daniels wallet. You may wonder why we didn't notice the wallet missing sooner, but you see, Daniel had taken his credit card out of his wallet and just had it in his back pocket. and that is what we had used to fill with gas and buy lunch. So we all prayed in the van while Daniel was on the phone inside customs. When I saw him hang up the phone, I could tell that he had not got good news. He came back to the van and we began our trek back to Shelby(5:00pm) to go look through the garbage ourselves. It wasn't an option. We had to have them. To avoid the hair raising drive through the hills on snow covered roads in the dark, we took the Duck Lake Road, which was clear, no snow to be seen anywhere.

I felt calm the entire drive back to Shelby. I knew that we would find them and things would be OK. On the drive I often heard Kathryn offering a prayer in a whispered voice. The return drive was relatively quick and uneventful. When we arrived(6:30pm) the cashier thought we were crazy to want to go through the garbage. But it wasn't an option. While I was getting some popcorn and juice for the girls to munch on, Daniel disappeared with the maintenance man to the trash compactor. After about 15 or 20 minutes later Daniel reappears with passports and Birth Certificates in hand. Thank you Lord for making that happen. Tansley happily announced that "Daddy save the day!" as we headed on our way to home sweet home. We were back home before 8:00pm. I got the kids something healthy to eat, on Kathryn's request, put them to bed and then I began planning the passport holder that I had been meaning to make. This morning I sewed it all together. I think that this will be less likely to get accidentally tossed in the trash...what do you think?

Passport holder (closed)

Passport holder (open)

They are too cute...I mean scary.

the cutest kids on the block

Right now the Witch, Vampire and Caterpillar have gone off with the giant hockey player to pillage the town for treats. Kymberly was so excited to go Trick or Treating. I don't know why, she has never gone before...so she doesn't really even know what it is all about. She started to get an idea when kids started showing up at our door saying trick or treat. She started coming to me with her bucket and saying "TREAT!" like the other kids had done. She also wanted her face painted too. I had already done Kathryn and Tansley and she came to me and said "my turn?"and then squinted up her face like she saw her sisters do. She was too cute and if my hands hadn't been covered in face paint I would have taken a picture. So I put a little green stuff on her face, after all she is a caterpillar, then she kept asking if she was scary. As they walked away you could hear Kymberly yelling "Trick or Treat" over and over again.

Homemade Salsa

There was once a day when I didn't have a lot of room for food storage. We lived in a small apartment with a tiny kitchen. I hadn't yet ventured into the world of canning, not for the lack of knowledge or experience (I've done it with my parents for as long as I can remember), but mostly for lack of space and tools. Then one day I came across a canner at a second hand store for just a few bucks. I had to have it. Then I found some other basic canning tools on sale at the SuperStore. I was now set for some simple canning. One of the first things I decided to make was Salsa. One of our favorite snacks is nachos and salsa. I used a recipe from my trusty 4-H club cookbook the best wedding gift ever...just in case I hadn't mentioned that yet). I bought a 20lb case of tomatoes and all the rest of the ingredients. This was before my days of being able to grow most of the ingredients myself. The salsa was to die for. The only problem was that I hadn't made enough and when we ran out and had to buy salsa from the store we were so disappointed, and I vowed to always make enough salsa to get us through until the next fall.

Since that day, we have never run out of salsa and often have enough to share with neighbours and good friends. We moved to Lethbridge the year after that. I had a small garden space and my neighbour let me use her space as well. With that I was able to plant tomatoes, onions and some peppers...my salsa garden. I started making salsa with a friend of mine who wanted to learn how to can. Together we tweaked the recipe from the 4-H cook book to create the recipe I use today, we called it Mandy and Toni's best salsa we ever made.

Here is the recipe for a 12 litre(3 gallon) stock pot

3/4 full stock pot of chopped peeled tomatoes(about 15lbs...I am totally guessing, I really have no idea because I don't buy my tomatoes I use the ones I grow in my garden)
3 red peppers (or orange or yellow I use whatever I have on hand)
2 green peppers
4 large onions
1 1/2 heads of garlic
6 stalks of celery
handful of cilantro
1 good sized zucchini, grated skin included(again this is garden grown)
5-7 jalapeno peppers with seeds
1/3 cup pickling salt
2 cups sugar
1/2 tbsp cayenne pepper(optional)
1 cup vinegar

To easily peel tomatoes, place in boiling water for about 60 seconds and then put in cold water. the peels will split and can then be easily removed. Hand chop tomatoes for chunkier salsa. Chop all other vegetables in a food processor or hand chopper if you have one to save time. Combine all vegetables in stock pot with salt, sugar, vinegar and cayenne pepper. Bring to a boil and simmer for at least an hour. Fill sterilized jars and process for 15 minutes.


For the past 4 years, I've been making salsa with friends. We have a day long salsa making party. We divy up the ingredients, bring your own bottles and we simply spend an afternoon chopping and chatting. Then we all go home to our husbands smelling like salsa with our jars of goodness. It's a grand time. This year we got together a couple of times, we'll see if we ended up with enough salsa to last until next fall.

Apple pie in a jar

I love apple pie and I love apple crisp even more. So I love this recipe to make the making of either apple pie or apple crisp quicker, simpler and just as tasty.

recipe

4 1/2 cups sugar
(variation 2 cups brown sugar and 2 1/2 cups white sugar)
1/4 tsp nutmeg
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp pickling salt
10 cups water
1 cup cornstarch
1/4 cup lemon juice
10 lbs apples
(variation 1 1/2 cups cranberries)

Makes 7 quart jars

mix sugar, spices, salt and cornstarch in a large pot. Add the water and cook on medium heat until thick and bubbly, stirring constantly. Add lemon juice. Peel and slice apples. Fill prepared jars with apples and ladle sauce over top to within 1 inch of top. Process for 20 minutes. When ready to use, dump into prepared pie crust, cover with top crust. Cut slits in tops of crust, brush melted butter on crust and sprinkle with sugar. Bake at 400F for 40 minutes.

Or you can put it in an 8x8 pan and put the apple crisp topping on top and bake as you would apple crisp.

The cranberries added a little different twist to an already delicious recipe. You should give this one a try, It is delicious!

If you have an apple peeler and an apple corer slicer(like the one from Pampered Chef) or an apple/peeler/slicer combo it makes this really easy and fast. I have a peeler and they work great. My mom has the combo which is also great.

Bring on winter!

My canning season has finally come to a close. I love canning season...not so much the mess of it, but I love filling all my jars. I filled all my jars this year and then some. I think that I had to run to the hardware store at least 5 different time to buy jars, not to mention all the ones that I would pick up randomly at the second hand stores. What this all means is that I filled a lot more jars than I did last year. I was given about 3 dozen empty jars last winter. I filled all of those this year plus of course all the ones we emptied over the year.
Here is the list of all that I did this year
2 pints and 10 half pints of Bumbleberry Jam
7 pints and 4 half pints of Raspberry Jam
12 pints and 1 half pint of Strawberry Jam
4 pints of Plum/blueberry/strawberry Jam
5 pints and 1 half pint of Peach Jam
2 pints and 1 half pint of Peach/Blueberry Jam
8 pints of Crab apple Jelly
5 pints of Pear Jam
13 Pints of Apple/Cranberry Jam
(do you think I'll have enough Jam?)
30 quarts of Peaches
26 quarts of Pears
23 quarts of apple sauce(with crab apples)
12 quarts and 4 pints of apple/pear sauce
14 quarts of crab apple cider
7 quarts of apple pie in a jar
20 pints sweet relish
12 pints Zucchini relish
12 4oz jars of various beet relishes
4 pints pickled beets
8 quarts salsa
11 quarts tomato sauce
about 40 3cup bags of corn were also frozen
and I have a cooler full of fresh garden carrots.
Sadly, no pickles this year...my cucumbers just didn't produce very much. I would have liked to do more tomato sauce, but I ran out of tomatoes. I didn't do as much salsa, but that is because I still had 5 jars left over from last year. It's possible that I may still do another batch of apple pie in a jar...maybe...we might just eat all the apples instead. I was in desperate need of jam, I only had I pint of each of peach, blueberry and crab apple jelly left in my storage room, I think I did a good job of remedying that problem. We'll have relish to eat for the next 5 or so years. All in all a good year. We'll see if we make it through till next summer and make adjustment were necessary. I always keep track of how much I put up so that I know if I need to do more or less of something the next year. With kids growing, we all know how that changes from year to year. I love looking in my storage room at all my pretty shelves. Next year I want to invest in a pressure canner and venture into that world...it could be fun.

Aren't they pretty?

Another step to replenishing food storage...Our little local grocery store was having a case lot sale, and since I have been neglecting that part of my food storage for quite some time in order to fund the previously mentioned food storage, I decided to go and take advantage. $245.66 later(and two shopping carts full) I had nearly restocked my mostly empty pantry. It is only a start of course, but now when I open the cupboard I don't feel like there is nothing to make supper out of...always a bonus. Now nobody can say that there isn't anything to eat in the house.

Crab apples

We have two large crab apple trees in our back yard. They look amazing in the spring, smell delightful in the summer and are full of colour in the fall.

The trick is to find enough things to do with them before they freeze and fall to the ground making a REALLY BIG mess. So this is what I do...

First I pick box after box full of beautiful red crab apples...Then I cook them...

With my steam juicer (that I found on ebay for an amazing $45 including shipping)I get this amazing coloured juice...

that I then make into delicious crab apple cider. I also froze to ice cream buckets full of crab apple slush.

I also make applesauce with them, they are pretty tart on their own so I mix them with a sweeter apple like a gala and make this beyond amazingly delicious apple sauce that comes through the food strainer (again I found on ebay for only $40 including shipping)in the same amazing pink colour.

My mom used to just can crab apples whole. She would make a heavy syrup and put a cinnamon stick and some whole cloves in the jar. They are delicious...it's like apple sauce on a stick.

If you are ever planning on making apple sauce or tomato sauce you really need to invest in a food strainer. It makes your job so much easier! It looks something like this...


The steam juicer is also amazing. A friend of mine told me about how much she loved hers last year. Ever since then I'd been looking for one and I am so glad that I found one.