Sometimes I get the idea that folks think I can tons of food and stick it in a cave and wait for the Zombie Apocalypse. Not true! I do can a ton of food but we eat a ton of food.
Back in June, I canned 13 quarts of chicken/sausage gumbo.
Chicken/Sausage Gumbo
Before making more this weekend, I had only one quart left and the real gumbo eating season (cold weather) is just now beginning. Three or four quarts of the gumbo was taken to Chad and Nicole (and Chad won’t eat it because it has okra in it, despite the fact that if I hadn’t told him it was in there, he would have loved the gumbo). During the two months of dealing with kidney stones, some nights when I didn’t feel like cooking, we had gumbo. A couple of weeks ago, I found out on Saturday afternoon that we were having company for lunch on Sunday. Vince said “Do you need to go to the store?”and I said no . . I’ll grab 3 quarts of gumbo, make rice and salad and we’ll be good. And we were . . they loved the gumbo.
Another of my very favorite recipes for canning is Sweet & Sour Sauce. When I first canned that recipe, I put it in pints and realized that was too much for us to eat at one meal so I began putting it in half pints. One chicken breast is all that is needed, along with a pot of rice, either white or fried rice, and we have a yummy and quick meal.
Sweet & Sour Chicken
The chicken breast is sliced into thin pieces and for the batch I recently made, I seasoned the chicken with this yummy seasoned sea salt that a friend sent me.
Seasoned Sea Salt
Along with the rice, we had steamed asparagus. The steamer gets rinsed, the chicken dish was in one pot, the rice was actually leftover from a previous meal . . easy cleanup!
Dinner
Canning isn’t just for preppers. Canning is a great way to have ready to eat meals that are all homemade!
Katie Z. says
I completely agree! Our newborn is less than a month old, and the canning shelves and frozen cooked meat (because I ran out of time to can it) have saved dinner many an evening.
Sherrill says
What do you have on the asparagus–cheese sauce? I noticed that the last time as well. Sounds YUMMY!!
Penny in So CA says
Convenience is important! I also think a very important point of canning is that the “canner” is in control of everything about that canned jar including size or amount needed for their family. Always tries to use the best or quality ingredients & knows & controls what exactly is in each jar. Can accomodate special dietary needs re: sodium, sugar& food allergies or dislikes. Many foods that are seasonal can be canned & enjoyed year round. Truly someone that cans is doing something very special for their family.
Diana in RR,TX says
Have another big pot of bean soup simmering away right now. Seasoned it with some of Beau’s Tasso, cooked up some of their Cajun sausage and also added Urban
Accents Cajun Street powder. This is going in the freezer. Tonight I have chicken thighs with the mango Marsala seasoned salt, salad and not sure what else yet. I should stir fry some cabbage that needs to be used. I think I will be ordering more from Urban Accents and stopping at Beau’s Meat market real soon!
Diana says
I agree! We opened two pints of pulled pork for dinner tonight. So great to eat your own good food that you can.
Jo Anna says
Hi Judy,
Can you post your sweet and sour recipe?
Thanks,
Jo Anna
Judy Laquidara says
There’s a link in the blog post. Click on it and it will take you right to the recipe I used.
Susan says
Just curious what you have your chicken breast stored in. Doesn’t look like a freezer zip bag.
Sue S says
I used to enjoy canning — not for the hard work, because it IS hard work, but because at the end of the process I had jars of lovely things to put in my pantry that I knew would be delicious. I don’t do that much anymore but I still do some pickles and jams. I’m more likely to use my freezer (and pray there are no long power outages!) I guess if the grocery store wasn’t so convenient I might do more. Gumbo sounds pretty good right now…
Tricia says
Now I just need to figure out how to get MY mom to can and bring me delicious, ready-to-eat meals! Chad is one lucky boy!
barbara woods says
i can every year when my garden comes in, love it.