Green Beans!

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     Green beans.. grown in our garden, hand picked by us, no pesticides, insecticides, or chemicals of any kind, and Pressure Canned by us! I feel like running around singing that Flashdance song, What a Feeling. (Seriously, especially after I looked it up!)
     Remember last week, when I found Zoey reading our canning cook book? Well, that night we took the plunge and finally opened the box to our Pressure Canner. I had gotten it for Christmas from my mom, and never opened it. I didn't want to can store bought produce but now we had finally picked enough of our home grown green beans to be able to can our very own. 

     First we washed, trimmed and cut our beans into the length we wanted. Then, we followed the easy steps in our pressure canning cookbook, The Organic Canner by Daisy Luther.  Daisy's cookbook is easy to follow and follows all of the technical guidelines, with out all the technical talk that intimidates most newbies. It reads as if a seasoned canner is talking to you and sharing their recipes. (The background story for her recipe "Renegade Taco Sauce" is pretty funny too!) This book covers her favorite recipes from fruits and veggies, to sauces, meats and meals in a jar. We love this book. :)

Okay, back to canning.. Here are some photos.

It took a lot longer to cut and prepare the beans than what we thought. 

Forgot to get photos of us filling the jars, but here is how they looked in our canner. 

We squealed a lot at this point.

Look how excited she is! We started this project around 7, but by the time we got everything prepped and ready, it was well after 11 p.m. She took a shower while we waited for the steam to build up in the canner. 

We only had enough green beans for 5 pint size jars. We used 2 water filled jars to fill the canner the rest of the way.  

All finished! What a beautiful sight! 

ISSUES:

     The only 'issue' we had with the recipe, (and really, it was not a big issue) was how much salt to add to the jars. Daisy says to add salt if you would like, but she didn't say how much. We did some online research for recipes, and decided to add 1 tsp. It made me nervous that we might have added too much. We would just have to wait until we ate a jar to find out. 

So How Did They Taste? 

     Oh my goodness! They were amazing. I think we will only add a 1/2 teaspoon of salt to them next time though. We like to add Lawry's Garlic Salt to our green beans and after we did, it was a bit too salty for my taste. Kids loved them though. Zoey and I have told everyone we know. WE CANNED OUR OWN GREEN BEANS! AND they tasted and looked like regular canned green beans! I know that is odd to say, but when you are raised on Green Giant green beans,  and rarely eat fresh.. you want your family to recognize them and want to eat what you canned! 

Will We Be Pressure Canning Again? Was it worth it? 

      Oh yes! AND YES! Actually, we have already pressure canned another of our garden goodies. I will show you that one later. The satisfaction and joy of taking a little seed, making it a home in your garden, watering it, watching it grow, mature and produce FOOD and then preserving that food for later use by your family, is one of the greatest feelings we have ever felt. Well worth it!

So excuse me while I end this post and go on singing... 

~Take your passion

And make it happen

Pictures come alive

Now I'm dancing through my life~

What a feeling...

Book Review Info: Daisy Luther sent me her book for a review but also, really so my daughter and I could learn to pressure can. I was not paid for this review and all of my opinions and statements are purely my own. We honestly love The Organic Canner. 

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