Canned meat and more !

We have been so busy with the garden, camping and, well, just life ! But I wanted to brag about our dinner last night!

We can meat ! Back in the day, this was used because there was not sufficient storage or refrigeration when farmers butchered. We, however, like the convenience of the canned meat for a nice dinner on the fly.

The canning does take a little time. We usually watch for roasts (pork or beef) on sale, and then can. It is so simple, just cut the meat into small pieces (or sometimes the butcher will do it for you). Sutff them into a jar as tightly as you can, add a little salt, and pressure can them. I have to admit, the meat does not look very pretty in the jar, but it does taste good !

So, dinner last night was a quick stroganoff. I just sauteed 2 cloves of garlic, one small chopped onion, about a cup of mushrooms, and a cup of red wine together. Stirred in a quart of canned beef, salt and pepper, and let it simmer until the sauce had thickened. Then, just stir in about a cup of sour cream at the end, and serve over buttered noodles. Dinner in half an hour !

So, camping last week, we discovered the joy of grilled pizza, and what a great way to use up some left overs! Our "leftovers" usually have a decidedly Italian slant anyway, so pizza isn't a big stretch. We had some left over spaghetti sauce, pesto, goat cheese, mushrooms, bruschetta, stuffed mushrooms. This all made for some excellent pizza. And it was so easy, we are going to do it again with some friends this weekend. Well, we won't make them eat leftovers :).

Chocolate chip cookies tonite. And peeling more tomatoes in preparation for the great salsa run in September !