Can You Can Left-Overs? Yes You Can!

     We have all had that moment when we pack up the dinner left-overs, open the fridge door and realize that the refrigerator will not hold another thing. Grrrrr! It happened to me last night. At 5AM I began filling up jars for canning. Yes, you can can your left-overs. You have my permission. :)
     I filled up three pints with left -over chili from Saturday night, a quart full of pasta sauce with meat from my son-in-law to be, a quart of sliced chicken breast meat, and a bowl/pint of purchased chunky soup that my son opened but wouldn't eat because it had mushrooms in it. It was such an easy project that I decided to do this every week! I am so stoked! My inner tightwad is totally thrilled! Here's how I did it:

1. Always use clean, sterilized canning jars:
   
I wash my jars in hot, sudsy water, rinsed, then placed them in a large kettle filled with hot water. I allowed the kettle to come to a rolling boil. I t usually requires about 10-15 minutes to thoroughly sterilize the jars once the water is boiling. It is also good practice to have a smaller pot of water for the lids and bands. The water in this pot does not require boiling. We only need the rubber to soften up for a good seal. I usually allow it to heat up until there are bubbles forming around the lids.

It's Turnip Time Again!

      Our turnip patch really surprised us last year. After the long months of drought earlier in the growing season, we had almost decided to turn everything under and retire for the year. Our little turnip patch almost wasn't. But then the rain began again and our enthusiasm was off and running... just like our turnip greens. The patch sprang to life, and soon we had more greens than I could manage. One small patch was enough to supply our household, my mom's house, my husband's parents and his three brothers, as well as my aunt and my cousin and his family with turnips and turnip greens. On the verge of Winter, the patch was still spitting out turnips at such a rate that everyone was about tired of messing with them. In fact, my brother actually said that he would be glad when the patch dried up and died. What a horrible thing to wish upon such a hard working little vegetable patch. :)

Turnip Green patch growing out by the chicken pen. (OMG! We need a new chicken pen!