Monday canning and pie crust making

Another busy Monday with the farm girls. I had some chores to do at home before leaving early this morning so I made sure I got my supplies ready the night before.

 

We canned pinto beans and made pies.

 

The beans were way easier than I thought and we canned them in the pressure canner (aka the beast).  I have to say I am getting better at not being so afraid (I have learned to tame the beast).  A big thank you to my friend Sunny for her patience in teaching me the ways of pressure canner.

 

We used quart jars.  First wash your jars  and dried beans .  Add one cup of dried beans to each jar. Fill the jar to the top line with hot water ( you can find this line close to the rounded edge).  Sterilize your lids and have your rings nearby.  Put the lids on and rings two at a time and put each in the canner.  Seven will fit perfectly .  We use 15 lbs of pressure at 70minutes. You will need to adjust depending on your altitude.  

 

Pressure canning can be intimidating to some of us but once you do it a few times you get excited to can more.  Take class or learn from someone but be sure to follow the directions.

 

It was amazing how beautiful they turned out – cooked and ready for the pantry!

 

Next up next were pies, well, mainly we learned about  the crust.  You may think you know everything about pie making (and you may)  but here are a few things I learned today.

 

·               Use lard and “cut” it into your flour into the consistency of corn meal.

·         A new way to measure lard – in a 4 cup measuring cup fill it with 2 cups of cold water add ¾ cup of lard by dropping lard into the water until it reaches 2 ¾  cups. Easy clean up too.

·               Always use very cold water. We had ice water standing by.

·               Do not knead the flour mixture, you are not making bread. The less you handle pie dough , the better it turns out.  Gently fold in the cold water.

·               Wrap in wax paper and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes. It rolls out beautiful

 

 

 

I ended up with chocolate bourbon pecan pie (well, I am from the South!). Other ladies of prairie made sweet potato pie  and  apple pie.  They turned out to be works of art.

 

Sadly, the next part of the day was the commute to the foothills and work.