Monday 5 October 2020

Homemaking Mondays: Canning for the Pantry



Hello! 
A lovely fall day here 
and it is nice to know that we are almost 
ready for winter. 

I've been canning a bit more.
Using my pressure canner for more then just soup stock.
This year I've done carrots and chicken for the first time.
I thought I'd make some soup to can...
but then decided I'd focus more on ingredients 
so that I can make more of a variety.

Below is some cheeseburger soup that I made this week.
I added a bunch of summer greens that were in the freezer 
and that was just the right touch.


In this new house we are blessed with a walk in pantry. 
It has narrow shelves all around and an alley way space between.
The shelves will hold two quart jars deep and 
three pints with the last offset.
It's cooler then the rest of the house, 
but not that cold....yet! 
We have stored a lot of food down there
and it's nice to have it out of the kitchen 
and then just going down to get what we need for a meal. 
There are rubbermaid totes holding some dry goods.
Some bins for potatoes and onions. 
We didn't get a huge amount of potatoes,
and then we bought a few more. 
It's not that cool so they won't hold that long. 
But!  Long enough for us to eat them all. :) 
The pantry also hold other odds and ends
like extra cake savers, and 
my cake decorating toolbox.
As soon as I'm all done with my canning
all those supplies will get fitted in there as well.


It's fun to look at the shelves when I'm down there
and see the fun things that I've processed 
on the shelves. 
Jams, relish, salsa, tomato soup, carrots,
pears, oranges, broth, and chicken.
Little testaments to how I've spend some of my time.


One other space that I've been working on lately 
is the laundry room.
There is this "window" that is cut into the wall 
for heat distribution. 
I like to be able to sit things on the sill that it has
but things got knocked over.
So I added this bit of chicken wire
to keep things where they're put.
Then I added some small fun 
printouts with clothespins.


With the little window and a plant it 
makes for a quite cheerful space
to do the laundry in.


With fall all around us it has made me want to crochet again.
I was given a couple fun cakes of yarn 
and decided to make a small blanket with them.
A dear friend taught me to take the "cakes" apart
and then roll up the yarn in separate colours to make the sections bigger.
I decided to give it a try.
So....I've begun.
I'm going to change up the original order of the colours
primarily because now I have no idea 
what they originally were because my basket got bumped. 
HA! 
So it shall be a surprise how it all turns out in the end. 
This is a simple pattern of two alternating rows. 
I've used it before for baby blankets and it's
very pretty and simple to work up.
You can find it HERE if you want to try it.


What has fall got you thinking about?
Have you been squirrelling things away in  your pantry?
Have you settled down with some yarn?

Praying you have a beautiful day! 
Love and Prayers,
Jennifer












4 comments:

Margie said...

I flipped on the furnace and took out the duvet last weekend.

I've been squirreling lots of teas in my cupboard. LOL

Sister in the Mid-west said...

That chicken wire for hanging decorations is so neat! Good idea, I really like it!

Your pantry looks so nice! I love getting to see rows of jars, too. I didn't get to have a garden this year. So I haven't been squirreling away much.:(
But your rows of jars look quite impressive! :)

JES said...

A beautiful and big pantry space! What a blessing ♥️

Linda Shukri said...

Your pantry is so big! That's wonderful! I love hearing about all the stuff you are canning. Alas, the most canning I've done was a few years ago when I made pickles - my grandmother's recipe. They're my favorite. I need to get more canning equipment as I gave mine away when we moved two years ago.