Superbowl...er...canning day.

We got invited to a Superbowl party today. I don't remember the last time that happened. We were going to go for about, oh, 5 minutes, hubby wanted to...but the kids have been under the weather and I was just feeling OUT OF IT! Also when you have 6 kids to take with you I can't imagine our hosts and other friends would have tons of fun watching a game will a billion-and-six children running around screaming in their not huge house.

The other catch is that I put beans to soak last night for canning today and soaked another pot of chick peas to cook to make a boat load of hummus to prep for Lent and just to have on hand 'cause it's so good and cheap to make. The gigantic pot of chili I made last night also needed to be taken care of. I opted not to can the chili as it looses flavor and God gave us a nice frozen back porch so we don't have to even pay any electricity to freeze them. Once they are frozen they'll go in the freezer. More yummy food in the freezer for days I don't want to cook don't have time to cook.

they don't look pretty, but will taste good later on

Reality is, the beans won. Hubby went to town with the girls and picked out some sub-sandwiches and Doritos and all the wonderful junk food that husbands buy and you pretend to be "mad" about but really you love eating them just as much... I even saw him sneak some "flowers" for me into the freezer (A few years ago I decided I'd rather get Ben & Jerry's Vanilla Caramel Fudge ice cream rather than flowers, so that's what he's gotten me ever since) I had a few more cups of coffee, some food, cleaned up the kitchen and lo-and-behold, I felt fine. I know Sunday is my day "off" but during the week I don't really have time to sew or can and this year the sewing bug has not bitten, but the food storage OBSESSION certainly has. 

gotta love a good dose of junk food while cooking "healthy"

*Rabbit trail* I just read on Granny Miller today how to simply use the Food Saver (that we own), along with a jar sealer attachment (that I want to buy) to vacuum seal tons of stuff in jars including: nuts, noodles, chocolate chips, probably marshmallows! (I just thought of that), extra candy, and  basically anything that might go stale or rancid sitting on the shelf otherwise. Need. More. Jars.

At the moment my beans are cooking in the caner nicely on our new cook stove.

*Rabbit trail* Since most of the people who read this blog are either friends in RL or FB friends and I have blabbed plenty about the new cook stove...but I say again, I got a cook stove for last year's and this year's Christmas present. It's AMAZING and beautiful and all that I dreamed and more. Now I just want more counter space next to it to make it more functional. I've been baking and cooking on it when it's "on" but it gets so hot in the house we have to open windows if we keep the fire up for long.

Today is one of those hot days because it's my first time attempting to can on the stove, so far it's working perfectly...oops went under the 10 pounds pressure, got it back up above and re-set the timer. Here are some photos of getting them there and the recipe.

Easy canned beans:

1c beans per quart-soak overnight

rinse and put back in jar

1/2 t salt pour over boiling water

adjust 2 piece lids

Pressure cook for 90 minutes at 10 pounds pressure

adding the water

attaching lids

ready to go

gee, what was I doing when this was getting so hot? or right writing the blog

it seems happy at 12 psi, the chick peas are cooking along side

too cute

and, they're done...
notice the Veginaise jar?? it has a regular size top, score on the "free" jar, after processing the label even came off

Onto the hummus. Chick peas are cooked, we now have 8x the ammt for the recipe. This is a food that has grown on both of us and some of the kids are just now starting to like it also. I think my husband likes this recipe because it tastes lemony and he's a fan of lemon, I also leave out the green onions as he typically is not a fan of green things in food. The recipe was submitted to a church cookbook that I use all the time by a friend of ours, thanks Laura T!

Humus:

2 c cooked chick peas/garbanzo beans (either a can from the store or about 3/4 dry cups soaked and cooked.

1/3 c lemon juice

1/4 c tahini

2 minced green onions (not us)

1 clove minced garlic

1/2 t paprika

1/4 t salt

2 T water (this is usually the bean "juice" and sometimes I use more, just depends)

2 T olive oil

Blend in a blender or food processor (I use my hand blender in the pot, love that thing). Pure until smooth. Put in fridge overnight or days for best flavor. Serve with pita bread and kalamata olives, yum!

ingredients assembled

let the blending begin, I had to get some skins out of the blender 2 times

gigantic pot of hummus

Now what do you do with a huge pot (about 1 1/2 gallons) of hummus? Check the internet and see how to can it! Yes I did. Found a Backwoods Home post about it and she recommends 10pounds pressure for 35 minutes. She said that even with the oil you can can this, that it's just very important to have clean rims because oil can prevent the lids from sealing, so check carefully when done.

they are so pretty!

ready to roll

At this moment they have 17 minutes left and are at 13pounds pressure. I'm going to wrap this up here and go spend some time with my man when all is said and done.

Thanks to Granny Miller for the kick in the pants, to my Backwoods Home magazine for the other kick in the pants and my sister and bro-in-law who got us the subscription for Christmas.

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