Slow Cooker Cranberry Roast

After the holidays, I'm always left with a can or two of cranberries. I can pretty much be sure I will not touch these cans until next Thanksgiving and Christmas.

My sister-in-law recommend a great recipe from allrecipes.com, and it uses just a few ingredients along with those leftover cranberries and a slow cooker. What could be better?

 Slow Cooker Cranberry Roast

 1 envelope dry onion soup mix
1 (3 lb) beef chuck roast (my sister-in-law used a pork roast instead, and I did too)
1 can jellied cranberry sauce
2 Tablespoons butter
2 Tablespoons flour

 Put the dry soup mix in the bottom of your crock pot. Place the roast on top, and add the can of cranberry sauce. I sliced my cranberries up a bit so that I could get the lid on, but it melts as it cooks and you don't need to cut it up.

 

 Cover, cook for 8 hours on low or 4 hours on high.

Remove meat from crock pot and set aside.  Turn slow cooker to high and whisk in butter and flour until thickened. Serve sauce with roast.

This was so good--it has become an instant favorite at our house. It has a delicious tang to it, but you'd never guess the secret ingredient is cranberries!

Canning Chicken

Are you intimidated by pressure canning?  I know I am!  My little sister has recently been canning meat, though, and I'm starting to think maybe I can do it too.  One reason my sister likes to can meat is that they often have ice storms where she lives and they can be without power for a week or more at a time.  Canned meat won't go bad if your freezer defrosts!  Here's a link she posted to a YouTube video that makes it all look so easy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fINnsFJGyKU

My niece also recently posted a recipe on facebook that she uses to can pork.  She calls it Chili Verde.  She just opens a bottle and uses it as enchilada filling.  How cool is that?!?  Homemade taste, health benefits, and economy with store bought convenience! 

Chili Verde
3 lbs boneless pork – cubed
1 Tbsp oil
1 onion – chopped
6 cloves garlic –chopped
1 Tbsp fresh oregano
2 jalapeños – chopped
8 oz whole green chilies – chopped (I have used up to 4 whole chilies per batch)
3 c beef stock

Sautee onion, garlic, and jalapeños in the oil till onion melts. In a stock pot brown the pork with a splash of oil. Once it is browned on all sides add sautéed mixture. Add green chilies and beef stock. Bring to boil. Reduce to lowest setting and simmer, partially covered for 2 ½ hours. Add water if needed as it evaporates. Simmer till it reduces and pork easily breaks apart.

Process jars in small pints at 15 pounds of pressure for 1 hour and 15 min or 1 hour 30 min for quarts. When ready, open the jar and use as filling for tamales, enchiladas, tacos, salad, quesadillas or serve with beans and rice on the side. Amazing!

WHEN TO PRESSURE CAN
You should use a pressure canner whenever what you're preserving is low in acid.  Fruit and tomatoes are high in acid and so can be done in a water bath canner.  Always be sure to add all acid (lemon juice or vinegar) your recipe calls for.  You can do vegetables in a water bath canner if they are pickled. 

Things you can do in a pressuer canner:
Beans (legumes)
Meat
All vegetables

SAFETY FIRST!
You should take your pressure canner lid (they only need the lid) down to the County Extension Office once a year to have the pressure guage tested.  You can also pick up charts of processing times for your elevation.  They're phone number is 256-2828.

Here's a link to the chart on their website: (scroll down to pages 3 & 4 for processing times and elevation by county seat for Montana)

http://msuextension.org/publications/HomeHealthandFamily/MT200905HR.pdf

Here's a good one on canning meat, fish, and poultry:

http://msuextension.org/publications/HomeHealthandFamily/MT200903HR.pdf

Here's their page that has tons of useful home canning links:

http://www.msuextension.org/nutrition/Food%20Pres.html

Happy canning!!