One Hot Salmon Cannin' Momma

What do you do when you are babysitting a pressure canner?

Today it looks like I will be working on my blog, especially since I have been so scarce lately. What's up with that and what's a girl to do when the hours of the day are just so filled with life stuff, that finding time to blog has been a gianormous challenge.

 So here we go...

Today in the Toodlefetties household with the help of my sweet hubby it's all about

pressure canning 40+ lbs. of Salmon.

So far this is the second time we have fired up the trusty pressure canner in recent weeks to can up some pink, tasty, flaky goodness that will bring us much mealtime pleasure.

All of that glorious fish will be made into mouth watering edible morsels like Salmon Cakes, whipped into a sandwich spread, chopped up into a salad, or just munched right out of the jar.

and we're off!

This morning started bright and early 6 am-ish to be exact, and after the chores of feeding critters, sorting laundry, and eating breakfast it all began with loading about 4 dozen pint sized canning jars into the dishwasher for a quick hot wash, necessary to clean and sterilize them, while hubby loaded the smoker with the salmon that has been in the brine mixture since yesterday.

An hour or so later, out of the smoker and packed into hot jars the first batch went into the canner... and now for the long part...three hours or so...very long part...

Load the canner, bring it up to a gentle boil, vent steam, close vent, bring up to pressure, hang out and canner-sit, which means don't leave the kitchen, so what do I do in the mean time?

• Read a gardening book, (which I've read before)
• Wash a few dishes
• Do a load or two of laundry (laundry room is next to kitchen)
• Take a phone call or two
• BLOG (see I can do it)
• Troll Facebook (laptop and wireless internet) so still not leaving the kitchen
• Check in on other blogs I like to follow
• Visit with sis-in-law when she stops by
• Drink about a pot of coffee (not really, but seems like it)
• Watch HGTV, DIY or ??? (Kitchen, dining room and family room are one big area of the house so still not leaving the kitchen).

After nearly two hours, turn off heat to canner and wait for pressure to drop to ZERO, 

and then TUH-DUH, finally the first batch is ready to set out to cool, (love to hear that pop, pop, pop sound of the lids when they seal), with so many jars it almost sounds like popcorn popping.

All total about three hours

To quote my precocious 12-year-old daughter, "Three hours of my life I won't get back!"

and yes that statement usually includes that well known pre-teen eyeroll, gotta love kiddos.

Now for some good stuff...I thought I would share a family favorite Salmon Cake Recipe

Hot Momma Salmon Cakes 

1 large egg
1 tbsp. worcestershire sauce

1/8 tsp.hot pepper sauce (tabasco or tapatio)

1/4 tsp. pepper
2 tbsp. dried parsley

15 oz. salmon (canned)

1/2 c. fine bread crumbs

lemon juice

(Our home canned salmon is smoked, and then canned with salsa and jalapenos, so if you want to spice up store bought canned salmon you might try adding a little more hot pepper sauce for a little more heat...we love the heat, spicy heat that is!)

Combine ingredients and mix well, shape into patties and grill.
Serve with a splash of lemon juice on top, and if you are like my hubby don't forget some tartar sauce. Enjoy! (Makes about 5-6 salmon cakes)

 Just a side note this salsa is our salsa of choice for eating and canning our salmon.

It is made locally and we have enjoyed it for years at a local restaurant,
we are fortunate to be able to purchase it locally, but I have found a link to a retailer
that lists it as an item they sell so if you can I would encourage you to check it out.

centraloregonlocavore

Go to their SHOP and search for Honcho Villas Salsa

We are not paid to endorse this product, just a fan!

There you have a brief glimpse into my day of canning salmon, now off to put in the second batch...it's going to be a very long day, a 60 jar long day!

Thanks for stopping by for a visit, have a great day and please do leave comments, I enjoy hearing from you.

Have a great day!

Toodles

Pick, Wash, Peel, Chop, It's Canning Time!

Well, when the garden is ready for harvest...it is ready! Everything else gets planned around picking all those yummy veggies.

Today's harvest...

Green Beans, Carrots, Broccoli and Cucumbers. Potatoes are ready too, so we've been digging a few of those at a time for fresh fried taters for dinner. I'll be canning a bunch of those soon as well.

After a cooler than normal Spring and a slow start growing, I'm happy to say that the garden is finally ready for harvest.

A dozen and half jars of green beans today with more to come soon.

A dozen and a half jars of gorgeous carrots.

These are waiting their turn in the canner!

These gorgeous cukes will become a batch or two of Sweet Pickle Relish.

The recipe below is one of my favorites.

SWEET PICKLE RELISH

Yields a single batch of about 8 half-pints

1 quart chopped cucumbers (about 4 medium size)

2 cups chopped onions (about 2 medium size)

1 cup chopped sweet green pepper (about 1 medium size)

1 cup chopped sweet red pepper (about 1 medium size)

1/4 cup salt

3-1/2 cups sugar

1 tablespoon celery seed

1 tablespoon mustard seeds

2 cups cider vinegar

Combine cucumbers, onions, green and red peppers in a large bowl; sprinkle with salt and cover with cold water. Let stand 2 hours. Drain, rinse and drain again thoroughly. Combine sugar, spices and vinegar in a large sauce pot. Bring to a boil. Add drained vegetables; simmer 10 minutes. Pack hot relish into hot jars, leaving 1/4-inch head space. Remove air bubbles. Adjust two-piece caps. Process filled jars 10 minutes in a boiling-water bath canner.

...and last but not least these nice little heads of broccoli

will be part of dinner tonight.

There is something very satisfying about having a garden and going out to pick fresh veggies daily either for a meal or to preserve for use later.

I know everything about where these delicious morsels came from and how they have been handled. With the things you hear in the news about problems and recalls of foods available at the grocery store...I enjoy the piece of mind knowing my produce is safe and fresh.

And I'm all about making the least amount of trips to the grocery store as possible. Easier on the budget and there are more fun things to do!

How does gardening and food preserving benefit your family?

I would love to hear about it, please do share!

Have a great day!

Toodles

My New Pressure Canner Is Out Of The Box!

That's right...finally I had some time to use the shiny new pressure canner my hubby and daughter bought me for Christmas this past holiday season.

I have to admit I am no expert on canning, but thanks to my fabulous sister-in-law who is good at it, I am learning, and I see my pantry cupboards will be full of goodies this gardening season.

Last summer I scored big time at a yard sale when I bought ten large apple boxes full of canning jars for a whopping $10.00! Seriously that isn't a typo, I was only going to buy one or two boxes for that amount but she really wanted to get rid of them and asked me to take them all, well of course I couldn't say no and she really did take only ten bucks.

One thing about canning, is it takes time, patience and attention to detail. It ended up being a day well spent, not just learning how to can but a relaxing time of visiting and enjoying the company of my sister-in-law, my mother-in-law, and my niece with her 4 month old twin daughters. It was a good day of priceless family time, and...

Seven hours later, the payoff for all of our hard work....22 pints of canned elk meat headed for the pantry. That means many yummy meals of meat gravy over pasta or mashed taters and canned meat sandwiches for lunch, two very popular things in this family.

Have a favorite recipe from home canned goodies

that your family raves about?  Please share...

Have a great day!

~Teresa