I love to get up early before the household wakes.
Mornings are busy, there is always something that needs to be tended, laundry to hang on the line, breakfast to serve and clean up, and schooling to begin. In order to start the day properly, I have been waking up before everyone to have some quiet down downstairs alone. My body is now trained and it is easy to wake up at 5 a.m. or a smidge earlier. My incredible mother gets up every day at 3:30 a.m. She is crazy – 😉 but dedicated to her schedule. She has set a great example … I truly think getting up before your children is a great way to start your day. Yes, you need to go to bed earlier, if you can, in order to manage enough sleep, however, I do think we expect more sleep than we really need for our body.
However, that is another post for another time …. right now, I’m sitting in a quiet, oil-lamp-lit living room – the sun is just beginning to peek over the horizon. I have a hot cup of coffee to drink and a sermon to listen too. All is quiet except the hissing sound of the kettle on the warm wood stove and the gentle ticking of the cuckoo clock on the kitchen wall. I have started a batch of bread and it is raising in the warming drawer of the oven. Abby has just left to take our meat birds to the butcher (I always feel a little guilty when this day comes …. I still feel badly for the chickens!). Soon our freezer will be filled with 47 home-raised, organic chickens. What a wonderful addition to our food supply! I am so grateful.
In the kitchen, the canning has not stopped. There are jars and jars of canned foods ready to be stored in our Provision Room [which is a simple room in our 120 year old ‘basement’ where I have a dedicated space to store our canning and goods – I wish it was nice enough to take a picture to show you all the canning, but the room is, sadly, an ugly room. I have dreams of making it look nice as well as functional in the years to come].
   
{the traffic jam of freshly canned goods ready to go to the Provision Room}
Pressure canning soups is a fantastic way to preserve fresh vegetables that are in season, as well as to make your life easier in the long run. It may be time consuming to cut up all the vegetables and prepare the items for the soup-making, but it is truly worth it. Put on your favorite music, ask your children to help you if you wish, listen to a sermon or podcast and the time will go swiftly.
Here is another recipe I pressure canned this week. I am recording the recipes on the blog for my own personal use in the future, as well as to share to my lovely readers.
Homemade Beef, Vegetable & Tomato Soup
1 roast, cooked & chopped
roughly 10 diced potatoes
6 sticks of celery, diced
6-8 raw tomatoes, diced
6 raw onions, diced
peas (optional)
4 cups of beans
6 cups of corn
4 cups of green beans, optional
3 cups of carrots, diced
roughly one litre of tomato juice
3-4 litres of beef broth
salt to taste (I always find recipes are too salty)
1/2 cup sugar
3 tablespoons of parsley
2 tsp. pepper
Pre-cook your roast and have it ready and chopped.
You will only need to partially cook your vegetables.
Mix all your soup ingredients together, warm thoroughly. Prepare your canning jars and lade in your soup.
Pressure can for 60 minutes at 10 lbs pressure.
This recipe will make approximately 21 litres of delicious soup.
These types of soups are great for after church –
with little time to heat and serve a hot meal for your family. Simply add in a loaf of delicious bread or buttered biscuits
with some cheese and there you have it – a lovely meal for your family!
They also work well on homeschool busy days or when you have company over last minute.
[When pressure canning, be sure not to add your rice or pasta noodles.]
When you are ready to serve the soup, simply add it in then.
Do you have any {pressure canned} recipes to share?
P.S. I am sharing this sweet photo of the children on the first week of school … Lovelyn (5) is showing off her new smile, after losing her first tooth that week. The dresses are English school dresses – a gift from our dear friends in England. We love these dresses! They wear so well and look tidy if we need to go out on a “field trip” or such.
Linked up with Strangers & Pilgrims
by Gigi
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