Canning Pics, Feel free to post yours!

[Randal Oulton]

Sorry to hear that. Home canning can be a healthy part of a good diet to combat diabetes type 2 (all my canning is sugar and salt free, right down to the ketchups, pickles and relishes), but I'm sure as you say in your daily cooking you have a lot else to research, study and master first... Good luck with it.

[cheekysaver]

Sorry to hear that. Home canning can be a healthy part of a good diet to combat diabetes type 2 (all my canning is sugar and salt free, right down to the ketchups, pickles and relishes), but I'm sure as you say in your daily cooking you have a lot else to research, study and master first... Good luck with it.

Thanks! I am kicking it's butt med free. My sugars are slightly high at certain times of the day but within normal ranges. My blood pressure is fine, my heart rate is around 51-52 per min so what I am doing is working really well. Being able to coupon has been a issue. I will get there too once I get more of the foods down pat.

[Randal Oulton]

How is couponing an issue while fighting type 2 diabetes? (The answer could be a really useful and interesting separate thread for a whole lot of people, maybe.)

[walkonby]

How is couponing an issue while fighting type 2 diabetes? (The answer could be a really useful and interesting separate thread for a whole lot of people, maybe.)

perhaps she means that so many coupons are for unhealthy sugar/salt/fat laden things ( carbs ) or she could simply mean she is now spending more of her time researching healthy options for a diabetic diet and less time searching/clipping/collecting coupons.

[Randal Oulton]

/me nods. Yep, could be either, for sure, or both.

[scouponer]

My oh my, you all have been busy!!! My canning got sidetracked with a type 2 diabetes diagnosis. I tried the meds for a short time and uttered more cuss words than should be said. Horrible side effect. I decided I am kicking it's arse with diet alone and that means a vegan whole foods plant based diet It is working. I will be canning some beans and such to have on hand for fast cooking times, but for the most part everything is fresh and cooked in bulk then frozen to hold in vitamins as much as possible. So, my canning got side barred. There is just too much to learn to have canning be a priority atm.

Sorry to hear of your diagnosis. I have type 2 diabetes as well. Yep it sucks. I remember the diagnosis stage well. Afraid to eat anything. Get a referral to a dietician.. I don't know if they do this out west but I went to 3 1/2 day group sessions with diabetic educators/ dieticians. It helps a lot to determine how many carbs are in different foods. I was obsessed at the beginning, but you move past it and get on with your life. Losing even 10 or 15 lbs if you need to lose weight makes a difference. What meds did the put you on that caused so many problems? A piece of advice...avoid insulin if you can, if I knew then what I know now, I wouldn't have agreed to it. Don't obsess about individual blood sugars they don't matter as much as your A1C. If vegan diet is working and you think you can stick with it that is great. I was a vegetarian for about 8 years...ate way too many carbs and gained weight and ended up with diabetes. I do much better eating more paleo type of diet. But you have to do what works for you. Feel free to pm me re anything if you have a question or just need a supportive ear. My dad has lived with type 1 for 65 years so I have been around diabetes my whole life.

[cheekysaver]

perhaps she means that so many coupons are for unhealthy sugar/salt/fat laden things ( carbs ) or she could simply mean she is now spending more of her time researching healthy options for a diabetic diet and less time searching/clipping/collecting coupons.

There are some coupons for healthy items. Right now my primary focus is on lots of whole foods like veggies and legumes. I have allergies so all recipes need to be altered. I am really not following a strict diabetic diet. If I am hungry, I eat. I eat a lot too. Sometimes I will eat a lot of fruit in a day. When I was first diagnosed I had to fight hard to get every single point down... now if I have a sugar spike it is normal a hour later. Lots of studies by doctors show you can reverse diabetes by being on a low fat, sugar free, whole foods vegan diet. You do have to stick with the diet to maintain the results but it sure beats the diabetes complications and medications.

[scouponer]

Bought 2 weck jars at William Sonoma. So pretty. Doubt I will can with them, but had to have them. Wish they had the tall ones but just 3 sizes.

[Randal Oulton]

I know some people in Europe even using them for pressure canning. As long as you've got a hermetic seal, it should be fine. I note though that Weck wants you to use a new rubber ring every time you can with them.

[nicolthepickle]

I don't have pictures right now, but I canned 89 jars of Salsa, tomato sauce, picked Jalepenos and apple sauce this year.

[Randal Oulton]

You will be enjoying that all year long! What kind of salsa did you do?

[nicolthepickle]

You will be enjoying that all year long! What kind of salsa did you do?

Tomato Salsa with peppers, onions basil and oregano. It's pretty basic, but it's what my family likes best.

On the same subject has anyone made salsa with corn and/or beans in it?

[Randal Oulton]

Tomato Salsa with peppers, onions basil and oregano. It's pretty basic, but it's what my family likes best.

On the same subject has anyone made salsa with corn and/or beans in it?

I hear ya. I'd like to make fancier, and hotter, but you gotta take your "audience" into account eh? Or you'll be right back to buying it at the store, cause you'll be the only one eating it, lol.

I can my black beans separately, in various size jars -- one of the mods I'll often make to a home canned salsa is stirring in a 1/2 pint (drained) jar of home canned black beans upon serving.

Here is a tested recipe from Bernardin for a corn salsa: http://www.bernardin.ca/pages/recipe...51.php?pid=601

Here's a collection of information about home canning salsas in general: http://www.healthycanning.com/salsas/

Hope that helps a bit.

[thriftygranny]

I want to purchase a pressure canner, unfortunately we have a glass cooktop. I have been doing some reading about the Presto canners being safe for glass top. I found them at home hardware online.
Any tips or suggestions on other types?

[Randal Oulton]

I want to purchase a pressure canner, unfortunately we have a glass cooktop. I have been doing some reading about the Presto canners being safe for glass top. I found them at home hardware online.
Any tips or suggestions on other types?

Presto is the only pressure canner certified by its maker for glass stove tops; all the others in fact warn against it. That being said, take a minute to verify that the manufacturer of your stove in turn certifies it for home canning. I have a Maytag glass top, and Maytag actually certifies it for home canning (thankfully). Should say in the manual, and PDF manuals are available online usually.

Here's some information I compiled about canning on glass stove tops, that might be useful as grist for the mill in your thinking:
http://www.healthycanning.com/cannin...on-stove-tops/

The one that home hardware has is the 23 US quart ( they are being honest and saying 21.8 canadian quarts lol) for $145. That's a good price. It was $180 earlier in the year, i wonder why it has gone down, is it on sale? Oh wait, on amazon.ca, the price has gone back down, too: I'm seeing $132 and free shipping right now. (It had gone up earlier this year to $180 as well.)

I have three Presto Pressure Canners: (1) 23 US quart paid 129.00 and free shipping on Amazon; (2) 16 US quart paid $115 and free shipping on Amazon; (3) 23 US quart from home hardware in Toronto $135 on sale I think approx and picked up at store. I like having the smaller 16 quart one as well for smaller runs; heats up and cools down faster and uses less energy for small batch runs.

Oh one more thing, with the Presto you really have to get these two add-ons and you have to get them from Amazon. I've told Home Hardware that they really must carry these, but their customer service people know just enough about canning to be useless with their half-baked preconceptions, so they still don't stock them. Those two parts will add another $50 bucks Canadian to your purchase, sorry, but you really need them -- the adjustable weighted gauge, and, the second rack so you can stack the 1/2 litre jars in the 23 quart. UNLESS you live above 300 metres (1000 feet), in which case the 15 lb weight that ships by default is what you need, unless you want to pressure can some fruit products in which case you may will still want the adjustable weight.

Oh, you won't fit 10 jars in on each layer in the Presto -- that's only for American pint jars which are smaller than yours. You'll get 9 x 1/2 litre (500 ml) jars in each layer. So, 18 jars per load. Or, 7 x 1 litre jars per load.

For tested, guaranteed safe pressure canning recipes, get any of these USDA Complete Guide (2009), So Easy to Preserve (2014), Ball Blue Book (2014) or Bernardin Guide (2013). Those are the only recognized safe sources for pressure canning recipes (the Presto manual is safe as well, it just copies the USDA directions.) As far as pressure canning recipes, the Ball / Bernardin Complete book only repeats what's in the Ball and Bernardin, sadly: that was a bit of a let-down for me.

Hope that helps.... you won't regret the purchase. Pressure canners pay for themselves really really fast in terms of saving. It's a good time of year to get one, so you can practise over the winter with soups, baked beans, etc, and then you are up to speed for the madness that is August and September pressure canning as you lock in all the savings on produce. The savings are phenomenal; your grocery budget will collapse. I canned 14 x litre jars and 18 x 1/2 litre jars of turkey and ham soup tonight using leftovers from thanksgiving and it cost me 6 bucks and that's only because I cheated and bought some frozen mixed veg on sale as a time saver to throw in.