This weekend was cold and clear. On Saturday we went grocery shopping and after two heaping cart loads of groceries (thanks Aldi!) and loading the Challenger down so that she was squatting like a drag car we got home and unloaded and my cupboards are full to over flowing!
The Man went out to play with his Coronet (it's gutted again by the way, not a stitch of interior in it) and I set about making some vegetable soup. I ate the last jar of my Rabbit Vegetable Soup last week, so making and canning some more was a must.
Since we sold the rabbits, I've only got two left in the freezer and didn't want to use them for soup. I'm saving them to make bbq bunny for The Youngun. I did have two squirrells in the freezer so decided to pull them out to use in my soup. I tossed them in my pressure cooker with some seasonings and set them to cookin'. After about 35 minutes I'd gone from two frozen squirrels to a bowl of deboned meat. I got my soup goin' on the stove, added the squirrel, and let it simmer while I ran out to do chores.
 |
| Looks yummy no? |
Then I proceeded to can it up.
 |
| jars.......... |
 |
Cannin' tools......... |
You can pretty much can anything together, as long as you process your jars for the length of time of the longest item. I consulted my handy dandy canning book for processing times for each item in my soup. Oddly enough the item that required the longest processing time was spinich, so I processed my jars according to the canning regs for spinich which happened to be 70 minutes for pints at 11# pressure. You have to really watch your canner and keep adjusting your heat to maintain the pressure and not get so hot your canner kersplodes. What was I doing while watching my canners you ask?
I was sitting in front of the stove knitting of course!
So after a few hours work, I wound up with 16 pints of yummy homemade veggie soup! Nothing better on a cold day that a hot bowl of homemade soup and a smammich!
Hope you had a nice weekend as well!
God Bless...........................
Boy you were busy. I've never had squirrel. Have had rabbit, but wasn't crazy about it. Rabbit bbq sounds interesting. Maybe if I didn't know what was in the soup I wouldn't feel squeamish about eating squirrel. Bless your heart for all that you do in caring for your family.
ReplyDeleteHave a great week ~ FlowerLady
Ah! You call 'em tree rats too? My old dog, Roofus, HATED tree rats! He even dragged(drug?) my little sister across a park once chasing the little boogers.
ReplyDeleteI was tree rat hunting when I went into labor w/ The Preschooler, haha. Actually, I was playing bird dog, but all the same. . . The Hubby put him in the crockpot with barbeque sauce (he got a little overdone tho 'cause we had to go to the hospital).
If I could fit my loveseat in front of the oven and knit, I would definitely put forth more effort to cook! Haha. Keep it up girl!
Looks like good soup. I never thought about canning soup. I make a big batch and it's gone in a few days. Canning it sounds like a really good idea.
ReplyDeleteSounds like a nice weekend... Soup looks good, I like the idea of cannin my own soup, need to do that. I dont buy soup from the store so it would be great to have it ready to go for a quick dinner or lunch. I've never ate squirrel or rabbit... remember I use to be a city girl, lol Now I'm a country snop, hate going to the city!
ReplyDeleteSo whatcha knittin in the kitchen?
Thanks ladies! Ashley, that's too funny! I was deer hunting about 2 weeks before I went into labor with The Youngun! Brenda, The Paintiff and The Youngun aren't much on soup, so I like to can it up for me to eat for lunch. I could freeze it, but that takes to long to thaw and heat up. Jennifer, it is a time saver when you want somethin' hot and you've been workin' outside! I'm still knitting on that darn scarf. Almost done with it. We got the tv show Tour of Duty on dvd so that's interfering with my nighttime knitting. I actually want to watch it, so I don't knit while it's on. Usually I knit the whole evening away!
ReplyDeleteBack in the 70's( Energy crisis) my Dad raised rabbits for meat, so we've enjoyed many a rabbit but.... I can honestly say I've NEVER had tree rat, but would if I needed to!*wink* We certainly have plenty around here.
ReplyDeleteThe soup looks great, that job looks as rewarding as my cleaning the spare room and you multi task just like me :o) I wouldn't know what to do if I wasn't working on two or three things at once. This is where Cortney is such an angel, she helps me keep it all under control, LOL!!!!
Blessings and enjoy that soup I can almost smell it from here,
Kelle
Got the giggles reading this, as I have never had squirrel, but when camping we would hang our food up to keep the little buggers out, and lay sheets of corrogated tin on top. Little farts would climb down the ropes and try but slide off the tin.We would here them skidding off and yell Squirrel Stew!
ReplyDeleteI've never had squirrel and I'm not sure I could... although i did try turtle once... I had to not think about it though... LOL :)
ReplyDeleteWe have a frozen squirrel in our swimming pool. Apparently he looks like he's swimming... I haven't gone out to see him yet... LOL. And I know that was a little random/off subject but still ;)
I just had a bowl of leftover goat stew for lunch but I have never had Squirrel. I don't think they get big enough here to make it worthwhile.
ReplyDeleteLook at you girl! Knitting in the kitchen: )
ReplyDeleteWhat a great multi-tasker you are!
Never thought to put the tree rats in the soup! I bet that gives it a good flavor.
ReplyDelete@ Kelle, we like squirrel but I like it best in soup or chili. It's good bbq'd as well!
ReplyDeleteFernvalley, that is too funny! They are persistant little buggers!
Nicole, you are too funny! Get a pic of that swimmin' tree rat for the blog, come on sista! And turtle is gooood in soup!
GGF, they aren't big here but still yummy! I'm ready to try goat this fall when I've got some to butcher.
Trish, not a multitasker, just can't sit still! LOL
Kat, it sure does!
Thanks for all the comments!
Looks yummy. I'm trying to be much better this year with cooking. I tend to spend way too much for groceries when I have tons of stuff in the freezer and pantry. So I have put a budget on what I can spend. Plus cooking larger portions on the weekend for the husband and I to eat the rest of the week. So far so good. I'm gonna try to keep it up.
ReplyDeleteNever made squirrels into a soup before, but have saute'ed them and then poured a can of mushroom soup over them for a few hours...your soup looks very good! Does it have barley? I love barley!!!
ReplyDeleteNow if I can just get a hang of this darn breadman, next will be the canner we got a wedding present many moons ago!