Canning More than the Cat: Recipes to Use Your Pressure Canned Meat in:

   Well, we finally did it. We made it through the pressure canning meat mini-series this week, and had a ball doing it. What did you can up that you had never canned before? Did you read through the comments as I had so many people ask questions on how to do different items? Did you know that you can process hotdogs? Make meatballs and can those? yep. You gotta check the comments. :)

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   It has been a tough week around here with my mother in the hospital, our grandmother now unresponsive and placed in Hospice. Life still continues around you, but sometimes it is hard to keep up with all the things you normally fit into your day.

this is the picture people will see if they search for our blog

   I also purchased a couple domain names for my site, only to find out that someone who had been reading and following my blog for a few months purchased the main domain name I wanted, and then offered it to me for an exorbitant price. Really made me realize that there are greedy and unscrupulous people no matter where you go. So I changed the process by which people can find us, as long as they type in "thewelcominghouseblog" on a couple search engines. It should redirect them to where they can find us. And three years from now, when said person has not gotten a dime from me, she will probably drop the name. We will see where that is when we get to that point. :)




  Before I drop a bunch of recipes and links in here, I wanted really quickly to remind you of two BIG events here on the Welcoming House's schedule this weekend.

 BIG HUGE DEAL NUMBER ONE:

   I was invited by someone who runs an amazing radio program, one that last weekend covered the story of Freda Blakely, the woman who was featured in our series "Through Their Eyes" who lived through the derecho winds that devastated her home state of West Virginia. It was an amazing broadcast, and I was very honored to be mentioned, and also immediately afterwards, to be asked about being their next guest.

   I plan on sharing the heart of the Welcoming House Blog with you on there, talk about what I believe the Lord has laid on my heart for this generation, encourage you, strengthen you, and show you that there is hope, despite the darkness that just seems to grow outside our doors with all the different circumstances around us.
   I hope that you can come, listen, enter the live chat room and ask questions.
   It will be airing at 6 pm CST and we will be live.  Here is the link: (you can click this around 6pm CST to go right to the program and listen in, or listen to it anytime afterwards from hitting the ON DEMAND option.)

Blog Talk Radio with Heather from The Welcoming House Blog

BIG HUGE DEAL NUMBER TWO:

Ok, the second big thing is that we hit 400 NEW MEMBERS over at the 

Welcoming House FaceBook Page. 

That is an incredible thing, because it means that things are really starting to take off, all because of YOU. :) There is so much that I want to share with you, that page is a fun way to do it--ideas, links, recipes, pictures, etc. Right now we are celebrating the 400 mark by having a giveaway, so please, if you haven't done it already, head over there and join in the party!!! We will only have the giveaway running this weekend, which is fortunate because normally I run them about 12 hours, so make sure you make it over there by Monday morning at 7 am!

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For recipes for the meats, I want you to consider something. ANY WAY that you would use that meat with cooking it and then adding it to a meal, the meat can be used. Do you like tacos? Use the canned burger instead of thawing it out and cooking it. Soups, stews, casseroles, whatever, just grab a jar of that meat and use it instead of prepping another package of meat.

For the chicken and poultry, use it the same way. Do you love chicken salad in the summer when it gets hot and you dont want to cook? How about shredded chicken or pork sandwiches?

Tamales? 

Split pea soups?

Seriously, all it is is meat that has already be cooked and is ready to go.

I want to redirect you to the week that I shared six weeks worth of meal plans in six days. It is LOADED with recipes, you just have to scroll down to the bottom of the page to have them. Every day has umpteen recipes that can use canned meat, just remember to substitute your jars of meat for the recipe. 

Week one of recipes

Week two of recipes

Week three of recipes

week four of recipes

Week five of recipes 

Week six of recipes 

The most common ways that we use canned meat are the ones I listed above in my list. I use them for everything. We dont have a microwave for many reasons, and having the convenience of meat waiting to be used is something I turn to time and again.

Most often when I can burger we use it in taco meat, and in meatballs that I have already canned up for meatball subs, spaghetti, etc etc etc. I do have hamburger that I use in Green Bean Casserole, which is one of the recipes listed on the meals plans above. We use the chicken more than anything, and it gets thrown into soups, mac and cheese, pasta sauces, made into sandwiches or salads, whatever. Sausage gets made into breakfast patties or used in Sausage Spinach Quiche, (another one that can be found in the recipes listed above).

If you want to can meat up specifically for recipes, here are a couple of really good links to some of my favorites:

Sweet and Sour Chicken in a Jar (can substitute pork)

Beef Stroganoff in a Jar (love her blog too--browse for a while)

Or how about a video that shows a bunch of different home canned whole meals? Check this one out by David Blackburn of another Canning page on Facebook.

Layered Chicken Vegetable Soup

Sweet Potato and Ham Soup in a jar

Really folks, the sky is the limit. If you like something in a can at the grocery store, there is a good chance there is a recipe that makes it possible to can it at home. I personally, while canning up a few meals that are ready to eat like I shared above, tend to can the ingedients so that I can mix and match, and throw things together for different meals any time I want.

However, the convenience of having meals ready to go on the shelf can not be stressed enough. We ALL have those times of 10 minutes until dinner and nothing ready. This is a great way to get over that bump, head to your pantry and pull something off the shelf.

I hope that you have enjoyed this series, and I hope you share it with your friends. I have not quite decided what we will be covering this next week, but rest assured, I will be here Monday, with something new and fun for you to try. Canning season is in full force around here, and I am pretty sure we have put over 600 jars away in the last two weeks, so please bear with me!

Dont forget to listen in tonight and come chat with me! I would be doubly blessed to hear from some of you and be able to say thanks for all the wonderful support and encouragement you have been to me over the last 8 months!

Blessings to you and yours,
Heather