Canning

Growing up, it was always a summer "have to" in my house. Mom would can and freeze everything she had and more so that our family could make it through the winter. I can remember making trips to Utah and to the Bitter root valley just to get things to put up. We always ate what she had canned that day, and pancakes for dinner.. lol.. no matter what it was! I can remember cucumbers in the washer most of the summer.. lol.. and the time we had to take her to the hospital as she had cut the top of her thumb off with the corn slicer!
As an adult, I had only canned with mom a couple of times. Funny how things just don't seem as important as they should at the time. Mom use to make the best zucchini relish, salsa, fruit syrups and chili sauce. We decided to grow a garden together this last summer. Gardening always put my mom at ease and put a spark back into her eyes! Sure she had helped me put in a couple over the years when she would come to visit, but she hadn't had one in years! We got our graft paper out and went to town! I so wish she would have been here to help me can like we had planned but I decided to do my best to remember what mom had taught me and try my hand at it alone this year. I was able to get a lot out of just a small amount. Of course mom turned Tyler into a peach lover early in life so I also went looking for peach recipes! Ty helped me with them and he was so proud! I am so thankful mom taught me so that I could pass this on to my kids. Here are our family favorite recipes!

Peach Butter:








































http://www.pickyourown.org//peachbutter.htm

http://www.recipezaar.com/Banana-Butter-Canning-Recipe-69038

My banana butter, in the crock pot: (notice the different pretty dark pink color!)























My banana butter cooked on the stove.. so light pink and pretty!:














The banana butter was so easy, cheap, and yummy!! The first batch we did, I let it cook most of the day in the crock pot.. this made it such a pretty pink color. I had also followed the recipe with the sugar. Ty and I decided it was so yummy, that we had to make some for dinner so we hurried up and made some using the on the stove method as in the recipe. I cut down the sugar to only 2 cups and wow.. it was sweet enough!! I didn't worry about running them through the hot water bath as the jars didn't even last that long! Tommy was loving those banana butter and peanut butter sandwiches! And Ty just loved it over ice cream!
We made some of our yummies in 4 oz jars..they are going to become Christmas presents with a loaf of bread from a the last recipe mom gave me. I am planning on making some cute lil toppers for my jars and will post a picture when I am all finished! So note to all you 'non-canners' out there.. SUPER EASY!! Don't be afraid!!!