Wednesday, November 19, 2008

canning chicken....

I finally canned chicken this past week and I'm so sold on it! I wasn't going to blog about it but my sister asked me if I would and because I'm such a fan of it now, I couldn't turn her down.

Reasons I think you need to can meat too:
1. It's so easy. Don't be intimidated, it's much easier than you think.
2. You will have chicken ready to put into recipes anytime.
3. It's cost effective. Buy a whole bunch of chicken when it goes on sale and can it all. I bought chicken tenders for only $1.77/pound at Sprouts last week. Each pint jar will hold one pound of chicken. Do the math...$1.77 for a jar of chicken ready to go.
4. You will have a 3 month supply of chicken sitting on your shelf in no time for super yummy dinners!!

The directions I followed came with my All American Pressure Cooker as well as advice from the food storage guru herself, Wendy Dewitt. She has a book out now and her blog is http://www.everythingunderthesunblog.blogspot.com/

And here is my little disclaimer....If you choose to follow my directions, I cannot be held responsible for any damage or accidents that may occur. I highly, highly recommend reading the instructions that come with your pressure cooker. There I said it...my husband{an attorney} would be so happy!

What you will need:
Raw chicken
Salt
Pint jars (one pound of chicken per jar)
All American Pressure Cooker(mine is model #921 and will hold 14 pint jars)

STEP 1: Put your raw chicken and ½ tsp of salt into a clean jar. Stuff it in there pretty tight to make sure you get a full pound in there. Fill jars to ½” from the rim. NO water is added to the chicken. The juices from the chicken will cook out of the chicken during the cooking process and your chicken will be covered with juice. STEP 2: Wipe the rim of the jars. If the rim is not clean it could cause the jars not to seal properly.
STEP 3: Place the clean lids and screw bands on the jar. Do not OVER tighten the screw band.


STEP 4: Fill the pressure cooker with about an inch and a half of water.

STEP 5: Put your jars into the pressure cooker. 7 on the bottom rack and 7 on the top rack. Stagger the jars.
STEP 6: Put the lid on the pressure cooker {without the weight}. Tighten two wing nut bolts down at a time on opposite sides of the pressure cooker.
STEP 7: Turn the heat on high and watch for steam and small drops of water to start coming out of the vent.
STEP 8: After about 7 minutes of steam coming out of the vent, put the weight on the pressure cooker and watch for the pressure gauge to reach 10 pounds. Once it has reached 10 pounds of pressure and the weight is jiggling and sputtering several times a minute then begin timing your chicken for 75 minutes.
STEP 9: Once the 75 minutes is over, turn the heat off and leave your pressure cooker alone. Let it cool!! The pressure will slowly drop to zero. It is VERY important to NOT open the pressure cooker until it is cooled and the pressure has completely dropped. I learned my lesson the hard way on that one!!


{voila, here is the finished pruduct. I never said it was going to be beautiful. It looks like cooked chicken in a bottle!}
STEP 10: Remove the chicken from the pressure cooker and sit it on a towel on the counter. Let it continue to cool and check your seal to make sure the top are all on properly. Then you can rinse the bottles and then they are ready to be stored. I remove the screw bands to wash them and store them so that you don't end up with chicken broth under the band.
I've read that chicken can stay on the shelve for up to 3 years but that for taste and nutritional benefits a shorter shelf life is recommended. I personally won't let my sit for more than a few months. I will use it and replenish it when chicken goes on sale.

Thursday, November 13, 2008

brenna...

I'm learning how to use photoshop. What do you think? Compare it to the pictures below it and let me know what you think. I WANT feedback...don't be shy!



Fun taking pictures....

People say Brenna looks like me...now I believe them!
How funny is Charlie all sneaking in this picture! I thought it was perfect.
ohhhh! So handsome!



eliza...


Wednesday, November 12, 2008

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

soccer....

Eliza has taken a soccer class at the Rec center for the last couple of months and she LOVES it. Everyday she wants to know if she gets to go to preschool, dance, or soccer. She just likes being busy. I have no idea where she gets that quality!
She was the only girl in the class and it didn't bother her one bit.

The greatest thing about 4 year old soccer....just pick a ball....any ball!


Monday, November 10, 2008

halloween parade at school...

Emma Grace with her teacher, Ms. Brycen.
Emma Grace with Anika. These two are inseperable! They are so funny together and seem to have the exact same sense of humor. They never stop laughing!! As soon as they see each other they start getting goofy.
Emma Grace with Sheridan. These two will alllwwwwaayyyys be friends. When they started talking, I think their first words were each others names.


Emma Grace and Courtney. Emma Grace adores Courtney. Peace out dude for good friends!



friends over for breakfast...

Occasionally a few friends show up for breakfast around here! Apparently Eliza thought these friends would enjoy some "Oh's" cereal. I had to take a picture of all of them hanging onto her bowl.
This is the morning after Halloween and these are the cute little friends that the "Great Pumpkin" left for Eliza in place of her halloween candy.

Thursday, November 6, 2008

halloween fun!

Here are all of the cute trick or treaters on their way out to harrass the neighbors. On the left are two of our cute neighbor friends. I was hoping to get a picture of more of the kids on our street, but I was too late. Lauren and Rachel are the pirates. Eliza{witch}, Emma Grace{cowgirl}, Brenna{home depot employee}, Charlie{vampire}.
Eliza was way too excited to look at the camera or wear her witch hat for that matter. Why is it that we even bother buying hats to go with costumes...they don't wear them.

The Gallman family in our neighborhood have a cotton candy machine every Halloween. They live in one of the cul-de-sacs. Needless to say it ends up being a party over there.
After some trick-or-treating, we went to the Stapley's for a little more Halloween partying. Todd tried on one of the teenagers wigs and Charlie thought it was pretty cool.
Because Halloween really is all about eating more sugar than you really should in an entire year, we enjoyed yummy homemade donuts from Lori.
I hope Lori doesn't mind if I share the easy trick....you just use canned biscuits, cut a hole in the middle, fry them and dip them in powdered sugar or cinnamon/sugar. Brenna and Madison were in charge of the sugar part!
I've never tried them before and unfortunately they are really good. So now I'm having a harder time passing by the canned biscuit section of the grocery store. Maybe it will have to be a FHE treat someday soon.
And then Brenna's annual tradition of sorting into very specific piles begins. Madison came over to help. Madison is missing part of her costume in this picture but she is a spider web. She had a giant spider on her shoulder. It was so cute!

On the way home, Todd and Eliza got separated from the rest of us. Todd was feeling like a bit of a kid again I guess because they continued to trick or treat. Eliza sat in the stroller just like this and Todd wheeled her up to the door where people just dumped candy onto the pile. Todd and Eliza both were pretty proud of their accomplishment.