Dinner, Level 1, Levels 2 And Above, Lunch, Recipe, Soups

Chicken Soup and Canned Chicken Broth

I did not grow up eating many root vegetables, so when I found a recipe for chicken soup that included parsnips and turnips I was highly skeptical. After I made it, I was hooked! There can be no chicken soup (or broth) without them! In this video, I am not only making soup but am canning broth. For the specifics on the equipment (and tools) you will need, please read my Home Canned Meat post. I am not including a nutritional analysis with this recipe. This recipe is so variable and I have no way of knowing how many carbohydrates are in the strained broth.

Chicken Soup and Canned Chicken Broth Recipe

For the broth:

  • 2 to 3 pounds of chicken (either whole pieces or leftover chicken carcass)
  • 2 parsnips, roughly chopped
  • 3 to 4 turnips, roughly chopped
  • 2 to 4 carrots, roughly chopped
  • 2 to 4 celery stalks, roughly chopped
  • 1 yellow onion, roughly chopped
  • 2 garlic cloves , roughly chopped (optional)
  • 1 to 2 teaspoons salt, or to taste
  • 1 teaspoon pepper, or to taste
  • Water, to cover

For the soup:

  • 2 to 3 pounds chicken meat (either from the broth or fresh)
  • 2 to 4 carrots, peeled and sliced
  • 2 to 4 celery stalks, sliced
  • 1/2 to 1 yellow onion, peeled and diced
  • 1 to 2 garlic cloves, peeled and minced (optional) 1 to 2 teaspoons salt, or to taste
  • 1 teaspoon black pepper, or to taste
  • Water, to cover
  • Optional ingredients for soup: 2 to 3 zucchini, spiralized 3 Yukon Gold potatoes, diced or 1 to 2 cups of dry rice or 1 to 2 cups of dry pasta (bow ties, rotini, egg noodles, etc.) or 1 to 2 cups of chopped greens (spinach, beet greens, kale, etc.) or Matzo balls or 1 to 2 teaspoons fresh dill, minced 1/2 teaspoon lemon juice

Place all of the ingredients for the broth in a large pot (or slow cooker, electric roaster, or pressure cooker). Bring to a boil, then turn the heat down to medium or medium low (you want it at a slight boil). Depending on your cooking method, let cook for 4 to 12 hours (you want everything cooked to absolute mush). Strain the broth from the solids, making sure to remove all bones.

Place the broth back in the pot. If you used whole pieces of chicken, separate the meat from the bones (once cooled enough to touch).

If you are going to can your chicken broth, you can evenly distribute your chicken meat between all of your jars and top with broth or just leave the meat out. Process in a pressure canner for the recommended pressure (and time) per your elevation. Remember that this broth can be used just like store-bought chicken broth. You do not want to over-season the broth prior to canning it to allow you the flexibility to use the broth however you wish.

Now, if you aren’t canning your broth, throw the rest of the ingredients in the broth, bring to a boil, then turn down to medium. Let it boil until everything is cooked. BAM! You have soup for days! 🙂

Canning, Dinner, Food Storage, Lunch, Preserving, Pressure, Recipe

Home Canned Meat

Canning meat at home is one of the easiest canning you will ever do! The only special items you need are a pressure canner (not a pressure cooker), jars and pickling salt. If you want to keep canning after you try this, I would also suggest a tool set. I will be including links to these items on Amazon but, aside from the pressure canner, you can get most of these at a local store. This is the picture I took at Ace Hardware. LOOK AT ALL OF THESE GOODIES! I have never seen so many canning supplies in person! There were so many I ended up buying more than I intended (they had 1/2 gallon jars!!!!).

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This is my pressure canner.

Presto Canner
It’s a Presto 16-quart pressure canner and holds 7 quart jars (16 quarts is the total liquid the pot holds). There are times I wish I had a bigger one but it would make it too heavy to move around if I did have a bigger one (which means, maybe, I should get a second one). Now, even though mine isn’t the largest, it IS heavy. You cannot use canners on glass top stoves! If that’s what you have, you could use them on a stable/secured turkey fryer base (you don’t want it tipping over), a propane grill, or a tabletop electric burner (as long as it can handle the weight). You need your heat source to be easily adjustable, so wood or charcoal would be much more difficult.

Pickling Salt
Pickling salt: why do you need this? Well, table salt has iodine and anti-caking agents (which can change the color of the foods and leave liquids cloudy), whereas pickling salt is just that: salt. Officially, this is the only salt you can use for canning. Unofficially, I have used kosher salt and never had any issues.

Now, you will need jars. For meats, I like to use pint or 12-ounce jelly jars. They are perfect for a meal (or adding just a little meat to a dish). Every grocery store I have been to in my area has canning jars but if your stores don’t, here’s a link to the best deal I found on Amazon. You don’t need anything fancy. How many jars will you need? It depends on how much meat you want to can. Roughly 1 pound of raw meat will fit in a pint jar.

Home Canned Meats

Notes

Home Canned Meats
Ingredients
Meat: beef, game, chicken, pork, fish
Pickling salt: 1/2 – 1 teaspoon per quart jar
White Vinegar
For wiping jar rims
Instructions
Wash jars and lids.
Cut meat into cubes. Place in a clean jar, packing the meat down to ensure there are no air pockets. Continue to fill, leaving 1 inch of space between the meat and the rim of the jar.
Pour 1/2 – 1 teaspoon of pickling salt on top of meat (amount of salt depends on your tastes).
Pour some vinegar on a paper towel and wipe the rim of the jar (this is to ensure there is no residual fat or liquids from the meat). Place lid on top of the jar, then screw on the ring. Do not over tighten the ring or it will be virtually impossible to remove later.
Process in your pressure canner for the amount of time required (I am at sea level, so I process at roughly 12-15 pounds pressure for 90 minutes). Turn off heat and allow the natural release of pressure (let sit until the pressure gauge is at 0).
Remove jars from canner, placing them on a towel. Let them cool (and seal).
Remove the rings, wash the jars with soapy water, write the contents and date on the lid, then store in a cool, dark place.
As long as the seals hold, these should last for at least a year.
Canning, Dinner, Food Storage, Low Carb, Lunch, Preserving, Pressure, Recipe, Supplies

Homemade Corned Beef

I can’t believe I didn’t post about this!  I made homemade corned beef last year, leaving out the sugar and the pink salt, and it was fantastic!  I thought, well, I could make this, then can it so I know exactly where it came from and what was in it.  I haven’t gotten around to canning this because it usually doesn’t last that long!

Anyway, if you are interested (I wanted to see if I could and I did), here is how I did it:

http://www.amazingribs.com/recipes/beef/home_made_corned_beef.html

And here is how to can it (ever since I canned that chicken, I prefer raw canning meats):

http://canninggranny.blogspot.com/2011/05/canning-corned-beef-brisket.html

There you go!  Give it a shot (even if you only do one).  It really wasn’t as difficult as my brain said it would be!

Preserving, Recipe, Weeds

Candied Orange Peel And Other Goodies

I know this isn’t what I have posted for quite some time but I made Candied Orange Peels for the first time.  They were not labor intensive, just time consuming.  They were well worth it!  My goal is to have enough candied fruit to eventually make my own Panettone.  At the bottom of this page are recipes for other candied goodies!

I decided to make candied orange peels because I bought a five pound bag of oranges and no one was eating them (and eventually I want to have enough candied fruit to make panettone).

So, I pulled out the old trusty Joy of Cooking and got busy!

Candied Citrus Peel

Notes

Candied Citrus Peel
  • Peel of 3 oranges, 2 grapefruits, or 6 lemons, removed in large strips
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 3 tablespoons light corn syrup (I used honey)
  • 3/4 cup water
  • 1 cup sugar
Wash the oranges, then peel them (I used the meat of the oranges for marmalade).
Add water to cover and simmer for 30 minutes. Drain, cover with fresh cold water, and simmer until tender.
Drain, refresh under cold water, and remove any remaining pulp or pith by scraping it away with a spoon (now, I tried this with one of our “good” spoons and the edge wasn’t sharp enough. So, I pulled out one of the spoons I set aside for my husband to put in his lunch box).
Cut the peel into 2 X 1/4-inch strips. Combine 1 cup sugar, 3 tablespoons light corn syrup (honey) and 3/4 cup water. Stir over low heat until the sugar is dissolved. Add the fruit peel and cook very gently over low heat until most of the syrup is absorbed (if your stock pot isn’t the best, like mine, place it on top of a cast iron griddle. This works great and have never had any scorching).
After about 12 hours the orange peels absorbed most of the sugar/water mixture. I drained the peels into another pot, thinking I could use the orange syrup for something (not sure what though).
To dry the peels, I propped up an old window screen I use for drying. I lined the screen with wax paper, poured the second 1 cup of sugar on the paper, scattered the drained orange peels on the sugar, and tossed them to ensure even coverage.
I put more wax paper over the top and weighed it down. It took about a week for them to get dry enough (the recipe says to let dry one hour then place in the refrigerator. I didn’t like that, so let them completely dry).

I ended up with about a gallon and a half of candied orange peels (1 1/2 gallon sized Ziploc freezer bags). I’m storing them in the freezer (just to be safe). I reserved the orange sugar, thinking I could use it for something! 🙂 You know those orange slices by Brachs? These taste just like those, just a bit more tart. My step-daughter loves them!

Candied Ginger

Notes

Candied Ginger
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 1/2 water
  • 1 piece fresh ginger, sliced or julienne
Peel, cut into coins or make long strips (julienne). Immerse in simple syrup (1 part sugar to 1 part water). Cook 15 minutes or till translucent. Dry on cake rack over paper until almost dry. Roll in sugar and place on parchment paper to dry.

Cactus Candy

Notes

Cactus Candy
Yield: 6 servings
From: Arizona Cookbook
  • 3 c Granulated sugar
  • 1 c Water
  • 2 tb Orange juice
  • 1 tb Lemon juice
Select prickly pear cactus (or small barrel cactus if you own this type of cactus, since it’s illegal to remove it from the desert). Remove spines and outside layer with large knife. Cut pulp across in slices one-inch thick. Soak overnight in cold water. Remove from water, cut in one-inch cubes and cook in boiling water til tender. Drain. Cook slowly in the following syrup until nearly all the syrup is absorbed. Do not scorch!
SYRUP for 2 QUARTS of CACTUS CUBES
Heat all ingredients until sugar is dissolved. Then add cactus. Remove cactus from syrup, drain and roll in granulated or powdered sugar. For colored cactus candy, any vegetable food coloring may be added to the syrup.

Coltsfoot Candy

Notes

Coltsfoot Candy
“An enjoyable way to soothe a cough”
Yield: 4 Servings
  • 1 liter Coltsfoot (Tussilago farfara) leaves
  • 600 ml Water
  • 450 g Sugar
  • 450 g Golden syrup
  • 50 g Butter
  • 2 1/2 g Baking soda
Boil the washed coltsfoot leaves in the water, and drain off the liquid. Put the sugar, golden syrup and butter in a pan and add the liquid. Bring to the boil, stirring, then continue to boil until a little of the candy turns brittle when dropped into a bowl of cold water. Take off the heat and add the soda Beat the mixture very well until it is almost stiff, then pour into a shallow, oiled baking tray. Allow to set, then break up into pieces and store in a jar.
Avril Rodway’s ‘Food From The Countryside’

Peppermint Candy

Notes

Peppermint Candy
  • 4 egg whites
  • 1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
  • 1 1/2 cups confectioners sugar
  • 1/4 cup minced fresh peppermint leaves
  • green food coloring (optional)
Beat the egg whites and cream of tartar until very stiff. Add the confectioners sugar and beat until very thick. Gently fold in the peppermint. Drop by spoonfuls onto a cookie sheet and bake at 250F for approx. 35 minutes or until dry. Allow to cool. Keep stored in airtight containers.
Canning, Food Storage, Potatoes

Canning Potatoes

Yesterday, I canned my first batch of potatoes. I will be canning both red potatoes and sweet potatoes. I purchased two 10 pound bags of red potatoes (I figured this was the best choice, since the only other option was russet potatoes) and two 10 pound boxes of sweet potatoes.

This was one of the easiest things to do! I left the skins on, cut them in half or quarters (depending on their size), and followed the directions here: http://jordansfarm.wordpress.com/2008/08/23/canning-potatoes/. They all sealed beautifully and only two sucked up some of the water (the jars are about half full of water) so those will be used first (miss paranoid here).

The 20 pounds of red potatoes filled 19 quart jars (with a few left over so I could enjoy them with dinner) and 20 pounds of sweet potatoes filled 14 jars (actually 16 but I did not want to pressure can 2 jars so mashed sweet potatoes were for lunch and dinner the next day).

Further down on the web page above page is instructions for canning sweet potatoes. That is how I will be doing the sweet potatoes tonight:

Sweet Potatoes canned:

Boil first for about 5 min. so as the skins will rub off.

Leave small ones whole/ or cut,

Pack into jars

Fill with water or med. syrup (med. syrup: 3 1/4 cup sugar and 5 cups water= 7 cups syrup)

Leave 1 inch head space, remove air bubbles

Pressure can 10 pounds for:

Pints: 1 hour 5 minutes
Quarts: 1 hour and 30 minutes

I packed in syrup but a light syrup instead. I went looking around for light syrup recipes that would allow me to incorporate honey. I found this page (http://www.pickyourown.org/sugarsolution.htm), and it turns out you can replace half the sugar with honey! That’s what I did!

I love fresh sweet potatoes but after seeing how the red potatoes bleached out (no longer red) I am afraid of blah, bland sweet potatoes. I have not tried the sweet potatoes yet but last night we had corned beef hash with the canned red potatoes. I cubed them, put plenty of oil in the pan, let it brown without moving it around much, then removed them from the pan. We added them back right before the eggs were set. They tasted wonderful! They did not have that canned potato smell when we opened up the jar, and tasted just like boiled potatoes right out of the jar!

Canning, Food Storage, Preserving, Recipe

Miss Parloa’s New Cookbook 1882

One of the biggest treasures I have found online is from Michigan State University. It’s a site called Feeding America and features over 70 American cookbooks from the late 18th to early 20th century. I really can’t begin to tell you how much computer space I have in old cookbooks. If only I could have physical copies of them ALL.

Here’s one of the first I found (and tried recipes from). Please consider investigating the old cookbooks that are out there still. They can be invaluable, especially since they teach us so many things we have lost over the generations.

Miss Parloa’s New Cookbook: A Guide to Marketing and Cooking. New York:
C.T. Dillingham, 1882, c. 1880.

Here are just some of the recipes, which are fantastic!

Pickles and Ketchup

Pickled Beets

Notes

Pickled Beets
Cut boiled beets in slices. Lay these in a large glass jar or earthen pot. For every beet, put in one slice of onion, on tablespoonful of grated horseradish, six cloves, and vinegar enough to cover. The beets will be ready to use in ten or twelve hours. They will not keep more than a week.

Pickled Blueberries

Notes

Pickled Blueberries
Nearly fill a jar with ripe berries, and fill up with good molasses. Cover, and set away. In a few weeks they will be ready to use.

Sweet Melons

Notes

Sweet Melons
Use ripe citron melons. Pare them, cut them in slices and remove the seeds. To five pounds of melon allow two an one-half pounds of sugar and one quart of vinegar. The vinegar and sugar must be heated to the boiling point and poured over the fruit six times, or once on each of six successive days. In the last boiling of the syrup add half an ounce of stick cinnamon, half an ounce of white ginger root and a few cloves. When the syrup boils, put in the melon, and boil ten minutes; then put in jars. Skim the syrup clear and pour it over the melon.

Peaches, Pears and Sweet Apples

Notes

Peaches, Pears and Sweet Apples
For six pounds of fruit use three of sugar, about five dozen cloves and a pint of vinegar. Into each apple, pear or peach, stick two cloves. Have the syrup hot, and cook until tender.

Sweet Tomato Pickle

Notes

Sweet Tomato Pickle
One peck of green tomatoes and six large onions, sliced. Sprinkle with one cupful of salt, and let them stand over night. In the morning, drain. Add to the tomatoes two quarts of water and one quart of vinegar. Boil fifteen minutes; then drain again, and throw this vinegar and water away. Add to the pickle two pounds of sugar, two quarts of vinegar, two tablespoonfuls of clove, two of allspice, two of ginger, two of mustard, two of cinnamon, and one teaspoonful of cayenne, and boil fifteen minutes.

Spiced Currants

Notes

Spiced Currants
Make a syrup of three pounds of sugar, one pint of vinegar, two tablespoonfuls of cinnamon, two tablespoonfuls of clove, and half a teaspoonful of salt. Add six pounds of currants, and boil half an hour.

Spiced Plums

Notes

Spiced Plums
Make a syrup, allowing one pound of sugar to one of plums, and to every three pounds of sugar, a scant pint of vinegar. Allow one ounce each of ground cinnamon, cloves, mace and allspice, to a peck of plums. Prick the plums. Add the spices to the syrup, and pour, boiling, over the plums. Let these stand three days; then skim them out and boil down the syrup until it is quite thick, and pour hot over the plums in the jar in which they are to be kept.

Pickled Cucumbers

Notes

Pickled Cucumbers
Six hundred small cucumbers, two quarts of peppers, two quarts of small onions. Make enough brine to cover the pickles, allowing one pint of salt to four quarts of water, and pour it, boiling, over the pickles. Let them stand until the next morning; then pour off the brine, throw it away, make a new one, and scald again. The third morning scald this same brine and pour it over again. The fourth morning rinse the pickles well in cold water, and cover them with boiling vinegar. Add a little piece of alum and two tablespoonfuls each of whole cloves and allspice, tied in a bit of muslin, if you like the spice.

Pickled Cucumbers, No. 2

Notes

Pickled Cucumbers, No. 2
Wash and wipe six hundred small cucumbers and two quarts of peppers. Put them In a tub with one and a half cupfuls of salt and a piece of alum as large as an egg. Heat to the boiling point three gallons of cider vinegar and three pints of water. Add a quarter of a pound each of whole cloves, whole allspice and stick cinnamon, and two ounces of white mustard seed, and pour over pickles. Cover with cabbage leaves.

Stuffed Peppers

Notes

Stuffed Peppers
Get large bell peppers. Cut around the stem, remove it, and take out all the seeds. For the stuffing use two quarts of chopped cabbage, a cupful of white mustard seed, three tablespoonfuls of celery seed, two tablespoonfuls of salt, half a cupful of grated horseradish. Fill each pepper with part of this mixture, and into each one put a small onion and a little cucumber. Tie the stem on again, put the peppers in a jar, and cover with cold vinegar.

Chopped Pickle

Notes

Chopped Pickle
One peck of green tomatoes, two quarts of onions and two of peppers. Chop all fine, separately, and mix, adding three cupfuls of salt. Let them stand over night, and in the morning drain well. Add half a pound of mustard seed, two tablespoonfuls of ground allspice, two of ground cloves and one cupful of grated horseradish. Pour over it three quarts of boiling vinegar.

Pickled Tomato

Notes

Pickled Tomato
One peck of green tomatoes, a dozen onions, sliced thin; two cupfuls of salt, a small (quarter of a pound) box of mustard, one quarter of a pound of mustard seed, one ounce each of ground allspice, clove and pepper. Cut the tomatoes in thin slices, sprinkle with the salt, and let them stand two days; then drain them. Mix the spices. Put layers of tomato, onion and spice in the kettle, and cover with vinegar. Cook slowly until the tomato looks clear–about half an hour.

Pickled Cauliflowers

Notes

Pickled Cauliflowers
Two cauliflowers, cut up; one pint of small onions, three medium-sized red peppers. Dissolve half a pint of salt in water enough to cover the vegetables, and let these stand over night. In the morning drain them. Heat two quarts of vinegar with four tablespoonfuls of mustard, until it boils. Add the vegetables, and boil for about fifteen minutes, or until a fork can be thrust through the cauliflower.

Tomato Ketchup

Notes

Tomato Ketchup
Twelve ripe tomatoes, peeled; two large onions, four green peppers, chopped fine; two tablespoonfuls of salt, two of brown sugar, two of ginger, one of cinnamon, one of mustard, a nutmeg, grated; four cupfuls of vinegar. Boil all together till thoroughly cooked (about three hours), stirring frequently. Bottle while hot.

Tomato Ketchup, No. 2

Notes

Tomato Ketchup, No. 2
Skin the tomatoes, and cook them well. Press them through a sieve, and to each five pints add three pints of good cider vinegar. Boil slowly a long while (about two hours), until it begins to thicken; then add one tablespoonful of ground clove, one of allspice, one of cinnamon and one of pepper, and three grated nutmegs. Boil until very thick (between six and eight hours), and add two tablespoonfuls of fine salt. When thoroughly cold, bottle, cork and seal it.

Barberry Ketchup

Notes

Barberry Ketchup
Three quarts of barberries, stewed and strained; four quarts of cranberries, one cupful of raisins, a large quince and four small onions, all stewed with a quart of water, and strained. Mix these ingredients with the barberries, and add half a cupful of vinegar, three-fourths of a cupful of salt, two cupfuls of sugar, one dessert-spoonful of ground clove and one of ground allspice, two tablespoonfuls of black pepper, two of celery seed, and one of ground mustard, one teaspoonful of cayenne, one of cinnamon and one of ginger, and a nutmeg. Let the whole boil one minute. If too thick, add vinegar or water. With the quantities given, about three quarts of ketchup can be made.

Salt Fish Recipes

To Cook Salt Codfish

Notes

To Cook Salt Codfish:
The fish should be thoroughly washed, and soaked in cold water over night. In the morning change the water, and put on to cook. As soon as the water comes to the boiling point set back where it will keep hot, but will not boil. From four to six hours will cook a very dry, hard fish, and there are kinds which will cook in half an hour.

Salt Fish with Dropped Eggs

Notes

Salt Fish with Dropped Eggs:
1 pint of cooked salt fish
1 pint of milk or cream
2 tablespoonfuls of flour
1 tablespoonfuls of butter
6 eggs
6 slices of bread, toasted
Pepper
Put milk on to boil, keeping half a cupful of it to mix the flour. When it boils, stir in the flour, which has been mixed smooth with the milk; then add the fish, which has been flaked. Season, and cook ten minutes. Have six slices of toasted bread on a platter. Drop six eggs into boiling water, being careful to keep the shape. Turn the fish and
cream on to the toast. Lift the eggs carefully from the water, as soon as the whites are set, and place very gently on the fish. Garnish the dish with points of toast and parsley.

Salt Codfish, in Puree of Potatoes

Notes

Salt Codfish, in Puree of Potatoes
6 large potatoes
1 pint and one cupful of milk
2 tablespoonfuls of butter
1 small slice of onion (about the size of a silver quarter)
1 pint of cooked salt codfish
Salt
Pepper
1 large tablespoonful of flour
Pare the potatoes and boil half an hour; then drain off the water, and mash them light and fine. Add the salt, pepper, one tablespoonful of butter, and the cupful of milk, which has been allowed to come to a boil. Beat very thoroughly, and spread a thin layer of the potatoes on the centre of a hot platter. Heap the remainder around the edge, making a wall to keep in the cream and fish, which should then be poured in. Garnish the border with parsley, and serve.
To prepare the fish: Put the pint of milk on to boil with the onion. Mix flour and butter together, and when well mixed, add two tablespoonfuls of the hot milk. Stir all into the boiling milk, skim out the onion , add the fish and cook ten minutes. Season with pepper, and if not salt enough, with salt. This is a nice dish for breakfast, lunch or dinner.

Salt Fish Souffle

Notes

Salt Fish Souffle
1 pint of finely chopped cooked salt fish
8 good sized potatoes
3/4 cupful of milk or cream
4 eggs
Salt
Pepper
2 generous tablespoonfuls of butter
Pare the potatoes and boil thirty minutes. Drain the water from them, and mash very fine; then mix thoroughly with the fish. Add butter, seasoning and the hot milk. Have two of the eggs beaten, which stir into the mixture, and heap this in the dish in which it is to be served. Place in the oven for ten minutes. Beat the whites of the two remaining eggs to a stiff froth, and add a quarter of a teaspoonful of salt; then add yolks. Spread this over the dish of fish; return to the oven to brown, and serve.