Canning Dilly Beans

Yes!  Another canning recipe.  I LOVE THESE!  A friend brought me a can of hers last year.  I had never tried them and I was really bummed she only brought me one jar.  We scarfed them down, or should I say, I scarfed them down...tee hee.  I asked her for the recipe this year, and she was nice enough to share it with me.  And now, I'm gonna share it with you.  Because these need to be shared.  They are so good.

Here's the recipe:
Prepare jars and lids
Wash and trim green beans
Stuff as many as you can into the size of jar you are wanting to use
Add a couple sprigs of dill
2-3 cloves of garlic
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
and some onion if you want

Heat-
2 c. Apple Cider Vinegar
2 c. Water
1/8 c. canning salt
Heat to boil until salt is dissolved
Pour over beans leaving 1/2 inch head space
Put on hot lids and hot pack for 30 minutes

This recipe is pretty easy and you can add more dill or more or less garlic.  You don't need to add the cayenne pepper either, if you don't like it spicy...But, who doesn't like a little spice in their life.  ;o)

My Auntie told me not to touch them til Thanksgiving, but I cheated and opened a jar and they were still pretty darn good a couple weeks after I did them.  Guess I'll wait til Thanksgiving for the others. 

P.S. Don't forget to enter our giveaway.  We'll be drawing a winner Thursday night.  It's a couple posts down.

Canning Pickled Beets

I used to be scared of canning.  I remember as a child watching my Grandma and Auntie can everything from their gardens.  And reading through Grandma's journals, she even canned deer meat and fish!  Nutso!  I don't think i'll try to can meat products.  Sounds disgusting.  Anyway...It always looked like such a long process, and hard work.  I didn't start doing it on my own til I married Jason.  His mom and sister invited me to help with canning homemade salsa.  It was A LOT of work, but when it was all done I felt so proud of all the cans we filled and adding to our food storage.  Now I do quite a bit of it by myself.  I've done tomatoes, dilly beans, applesauce, pickled jalepenos, and pickled beats.  Everything has tasted delicious so far, so I must be doing something right.  The feeling of accomplishment when your done is what keeps me doing it.  So this year was a first for pickled beets.  It took quite awhile, and was kind of messy, but well worth it.

The recipe I used for my first time was from this website.  I've done a few other recipes from their site, and loved the results.  I like that they have a chart of processing times too.  It's very informative and who doesn't love pictures of every step?!

 Aren't they pretty?!

If you have a favorite thing that you love to can please let me know.  I always like to try new things.  Email me at aerykat at gmail dot com.