Monday, July 13, 2009

Beans and Tomato Salsa

DH and I have been canning again today. I found a recipe for pinto beans I wanted to try. I am SO GLAD I did to because it’s very good. We ate some for supper and were sitting there talking about how they would be good. We decided that some sausage with some cooked rice would be great with the beans. Then we also decided they would be good in a quesadilla with some cheese and some fried onions and bell peppers. We were very well pleased with the taste of them as you can tell.

We also wanted to can some more of that awesome Salsa we had canned a week or two back. We bought some gallon cans of tomatoes so we could make some more of it. It’s THAT good! I got 6 cups of the eight cups I needed for the salsa out of the first gallon can. That was so nice not having to peel them. lol And you know what, I can’t tell the difference in these than the home grown fresh tomato one we made.

We canned 18 pints of pinto beans today and 12 half pints of tomato salsa and 2 tall pints of tomato salsa. These aren’t as big around as pints but they’re taller than half pints so I don’t know what to call them. Then we also got 2 pints of the salsa as well. I added more tomato juice to the salsa this time and we like it much better. The other was too dry for us but we LOVVVVVE this salsa recipe! We have also decided this year that we love the taste of Cumin. I’ve never used it before and the tomato salsa called for it as well as the beans. I had probably 6-7 more pints of the beans when I got done and had only soaked 5 pounds of beans overnight. So I just took the others and made dinner out of some of them and put the others in the fridge for something else maybe tomorrow. I’ve got some flour tortillas I might use with them and some salsa. These beans are really good. Let me tell ya a funny! lol I found a recipe and it said 14 pounds of beans made 7 quarts I believe it was. So here I was buying bags and bags of beans. Guess what we will be canning lots of? Then I found this other recipe that had much less beans to have 7 quarts. When you soak them overnight they swell and then when you cook them they also swell so you have to only put about 3/4 full so they will have room to expand. Then you just finish filling the jar with water and just leave a 1” headspace in the jar. I pressure canned mine so they will be safe to eat as well. But anyway later on maybe toward the end of the week or the first of next week I need to can some more beans! lol

We have finally quit for the day because both of us are mega tired.

Pic of the Salsa.P7131079

Pix of the pinto beans. Aren’t they pretty in color? They have chili powder in them.

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I hope you’re all having the start of a great week!

Rose

3 comments:

carolyn@simple~primitive~devotion said...

Wow, I think you must have a small fortune invested in canning jars & lids! :D
But it's great that you are taking advantage of your garden and that kind of work is so rewarding. Good for you!
I hope the rest of your week is awesome!

Susan said...

Everything you have canned just looks soo pretty. I've never canned anything before. It sounds like a lot of work. I bet it's nice in the dead of winter to be eating on what you canned though :)

Rose1957 said...

Thank you Susan and Carolyn! Yeah lots of work but fun as well especially if you have someone helping you that's not complaining the whole time. lol
Carolyn I found a forum back a couple months ago and someone on it was talking about the Ball coupons and I was like huh? Never have heard of having coupons for canning jars! So then later someone said there was somebody on Ebay selling them and the date on them was good until something in the 10th month. So I won a bid on Ebay for 10 three dollar coupons and only had to pay 2 something for the 10 coupons. You buy 2 boxes of jars and get 3.00 off. I shared my coupons with a friend but I have used all of mine now which was 6 or 7. I had even thought about going on Ebay and bidding on some more of them. lol BUT the Golden Harvest jars are cheaper than the Ball ones so I figured for no more than I'll need now I'll just get those. I had a whole bunch saved up before I even bought all of these. My plans is to make some soup mix as well as some other stuff. Going to can some more of these good ole beans though! Not done yet! LOL PLUS in the Ball Blue Book there is a tomato recipe I want to try using different seasoning sauces for the tomatoes so that way you have Italian, Mexican, and one more that I can't think of right now. I have the tomatoes on hand now I think to do this one with.