The garden this year has been VERY productive! We don’t grow a huge variety of things but we focus on produce we will use. For vegetables that we want now and then, the Farmer’s Markets and the grocery store are adequate. Now that we are faced with an abundance of tomatoes, it was time to consider other ways to use them. We both like chili, but with limitations. Bert doesn’t care for sweet peppers and could do without beans. Our chili has to have lots of meat! I would like some kind of bean, so we agreed to use chick peas instead. So basically, we make a meat-heavy tomato sauce with chick peas. With the price of beef rising, it was a great way to keep beef in our diet without worrying that the price will continue to go up. We’ll have jars of chili on the shelf when we need a quick meal. Each jar can be stretched with additional fresh tomatoes (or a can of kidney beans…as long as Bert isn’t eating it!)
Many recipes include seasonings like chili powder, but when canning we cook the meat and onions with salt and pepper, and we add chili powder when we reheat it. It tastes much fresher.
Making Chili
We started with about 7+ pounds of ground beef (85/15) at almost $10/pound! Bert cooked it with two large onions (in several batches).
The cooked meat went into the refrigerator overnight. The next day I started on a pile of tomatoes…washing, cutting off tops, scoring the bottom with an X, boiling for 1 minute to loosen the skins, dropping into cold water and then peeling and cutting up the tomatoes. Long process, but necessary to remove skins…they are tough this time of the season.
The pile…
Tops cut off and the bottom scored with an X…
…dipped in boiling water for 1 minute…
Pulled out of ice water ready for peeling…
Tomatoes cooked until soft…
Cooked tomatoes run through the food processor, ready to assemble chili…
Assembling the chili…
Chili was packed into pint jars and pressure canned…1 hour 15 minutes at 10 pounds pressure!
We ended up with 17 jars of chili!
Each jar is a meal for the two of us! We often add extra fresh tomatoes and spices. I occasionally add kidney beans. So pretty!
Without the garden, I could have purchased tomatoes and onions at the Farmer’s Market. Gardens around the area are also abundant! Make use of what you have! Enjoy!
Please email me directly if you have comments or questions: maryjkisner@gmail.com