Canning: You Can Do It. You Should Do It.

Lemonade Jelly, Peach-Pluot-Habanero Sauce, Salsa, Marinara Sauce, Prickly Pear Jelly, Stewed Tomatoes

Simply put, making your own food is the only way to know exactly what is in it. I certainly do not have time to make everything from scratch on a meal-by-meal basis. The answer to that problem is to cook in batches. It began with jam. Today it's tomato sauce, stewed tomatoes, and salsa.

Last summer we took the family to a pick-your-own orchard in the peak of peach season. When you tell four children they can pick as much as they want, you come home with a lot of peaches. I learned this the year before. This time, I was prepared.

A fellow stay-at-home mom of four brought us a half-pint jar of her homemade Indian Peach jam. Her sister had sent her a box of peaches from California, and as peaches go, they're seemingly either nowhere near ripe or overripe. When they're good and ripe, make jam. I figured, if this woman could do it, so could I.

I remember my mother making jam once and only once. We had an abundance of plums from our tree every year, and while she was known for her German Plum Cake, she gave the jam thing a go. The process was such a nightmare, all I remember was her description of awful it was and that she would never do it again. But this other mom of four did it like she does it all the time, and she delivered the little jar with a big smile.

I did some research and found a secret weapon: The Ball Automatic Jam Maker! It doesn't make the jam for you, per say, but it does the ingredient mixing and the constant stirring at a constant temperature without boiling over, scorching, getting everywhere - the part that will make or break your jam-making experience. I made a small investment in the machine, and then splurged on a tool set. I've learned over the years that everything can be made more difficult by using inappropriate tools, and some things are actually easier with the right tools. This was a worthwhile purchase. I make jams and jellies on a whim now, without hesitation.

Canning is messy, hot, and laborious, but well worth the effort. Start with the right tools, a clean kitchen, and a plan to minimize all of these things.

This is worth getting. A lot of the process involves putting things into and taking things out of boiling water.

• Clean your kitchen. Clear some space. You will need the largest burner on the stove for the processing pot. If you don't have a mixing/heating machine like mine, you will also need a burner free for mixing the food product. I only use the machine for jams and jellies. I use the stove for sauces and vegetables.
• The order of events is to prepare the food (clean and cut), then cook the food, pour the food into prepared jars, seal the jars, and then immerse the jars in a boiling water bath for processing. If you can lay out your workstations to work in this order, you're off to a great start. 
• I do the prep work at the kitchen island, next to the refrigerator and near the sink. While cooking the filling, I simmer the jars in the same water bath I will use for processing. I use a jar lifter to move hot (empty) jars to a cookie-cooling rack placed on a kitchen towel. The hot jars don't touch the counter and spill are easy to clean. Using a wide-mouth funnel and a ladle, I fill the jars, one at a time, seal them and place them back into the water bath for processing. While the jars are boiling (usually 15 - 35 minutes depending on the contents), I rinse off the prep tools, wipe down the counters, and get set up for the next batch. That's all there is to it. I can't stress enough, clean the kitchen like your mother-in-law is coming to visit before you get started and between batches.  
• When the jars are finished, use the jar lifter to move them back to the cooling rack and wait for the satisfying "POP" sound of a sealing lid. 

It really is that straightforward. However, there are a few tips worth sharing.

• Jars like to accumulate a white film on them when they're being boiled. Avoid this by adding a little white vinegar to the water bath. When the processed jars are completely cooled, wipe away any residue with a cloth wet with water and vinegar. I haven't had to wipe them down since I started adding vinegar to the boiling water.
• Don't pay too much for jars. They come boxed in sets. I recently found quart jars in sets of 12 for about $9. 
• Lastly, about jars, make sure they fit in your pot. The will need to boil in enough water to cover them by at least an inch. My nice stock pot works well for pint jars, but not for quart jars. Since I share most of my canned goods, I like the pint and half-pint jars best anyway. I don't want to buy a special pot for boiling water. 
• Pectin is the stuff that thickens jams and jellies. It's not cheap. Hunt around for the best price and figure out how much you will need before you get started. My only frustration with my jams was how much I had to spend on pectin, but I had a lot of fruit and canning it was better than throwing it away. In hindsight, I could have looked into canning them as slices or chunks instead of jams, but at the time I was in jam-mode. 
• Acidity, basically, makes vegetables shelf stable. In my latest Roma tomato endeavor I had to follow a specific recipe very carefully to ensure the safety of the food after processing. The process was daunting until I found little jars of citric acid. These, contrary to the pectin, are cheap. I didn't realize that I wouldn't be needing very much of it either, and snatched up 4 jars to prevent trips back to the market. For stewed tomatoes: blanch, peel, quarter, and simmer them for 5 minutes. Put 1/4 teaspoon citric acid into a pint jar, fill the jar leaving 1/2" space between the tomatoes and the rim. Remove air bubbles by gently squishing and mashing against the tomatoes, wipe the rim clean, place the lid, process the jar(s) in boiling water for 40 minutes.  Easy.
• Do not over-tighten the lids. They need to be finger-tightened before processing and then left alone until completely cooled. Trapped air needs to escape while the jars cool. Tighten the rings only after the jars are completely cooled.
• You can't just take some fruits or vegetables or soup and process them in jars and leave them on the shelves for later. But you can process almost anything following proper food-safety processes and have all of your favorites on hand all the time. Without allergens.  

Invest in at least one instructional book so that your food is prepared safely. Ball makes the Blue Book Guide to Preserving. I bought my copy at WalMart. It covers fruits, vegetables, meats, sauces, pickles, everything.

Comfort Food

A stomach bug is working through our family. A few days ago, I had it. Yesterday, my youngest son had it. Which of The Six will be next?

I stocked up on Gatorade and Goldfish crackers for the "regular" eaters in the house. When I'm sick, I can't have that. It was dried apple rings and coconut water for me. My husband usually goes out for applesauce for me. That's my magical food. We don't eat enough of it to keep it around. I may try making my own and storing it in little half-pint jars.

My son, at 2:37am, immediately required a bowl of mini pretzels and coconut water. My daughter swears by whole green olives. They soothe her stomach no matter what's wrong with it. My oldest wants Ramen noodles and iced tea. My husband requires ice-water and Popsicles. The other son always thinks he's dying, refuses any help, and fixates on "when will this be over?" I really hope it skips him.

Coconut water is always my go-to instead of sports drinks. It's just what I need when I'm sick, dehydrated (which happens easily in Tucson), or out cycling more than 20 miles. So, what's this I hear about Maple water?

Maple water about to challenge coconut water for super-drink supremacy

Honeydew Agua Fresca

This weekend, my husband and I went to Market on the Move. It's a produce market staged in various locations throughout the month, offering up to 60 pounds of produce per $10 buy-in. This week they had extra tomatoes so we also brought home 60 pounds of tomatoes per ticket. Faced with 120 pounds of ripe Roma tomatoes, I dedicated my weekend to canning. More on the tomatoes later. More urgent were the four ripe Honeydew melons. Looking for a shelf-stable jam or jelly recipe, I came across this Agua Fresca. It turned out to be extremely easy to make since my melons were almost overripe, and it tastes oh-so-good - like apple flavored Jolly Ranchers.

My four small melons made way more strained juice than the recipe called for, probably because of their ripeness. For my adaptation I used all of the juice and dissolved 1/2 cup regular granulated sugar in 3/4 cup warm water instead of buying superfine sugar. Alternately, you can run granulated sugar through a dry blender to make it superfine. The goal is to get the sugar fully dissolved in the liquid, otherwise you don't sweeten the juice properly and you end up with granulated sugar settled at the bottom of the pitcher.

Since I had extra juice and already used 3/4 cup water for the sugar, I added an even 3 cups of water to the batch and then separated it into two pitchers to keep in the refrigerator. What was left was divvied up to the husband and kids for taste-testing. They loved it! The recipe says it will keep for a couple of days. I won't be around that long.

Original Recipe from Martha Stewart: Honeydew Agua Fresca

Simple Awareness

In 1991 I began complaining of having something stuck in my throat. In 2001 I began complaining of stomach pains. In 2011 I became lethargic and I was constantly cold. In 2012 everything I ate hurt. It either hurt my mouth or my stomach, or both. By hurt, I mean felt like skin-searing acid. If my specialist would have known more about food allergies in 1991, I could have skipped 21 years of pain, suffering, medication, blood tests, and scans. I could have changed my diet. That's all I had to do. Please don't always require your child to eat something if they're complaining about it. Our bodies have built-in defense mechanisms, such as aversions to certain foods, food groups, and food textures. At the bottom of THIS PAGE is a list of ways a child might describe the sensation of an allergic reaction.

Life Savers

I think I need to take my allergies more seriously. "Duh," you say. I came into allergy awareness differently than most. I do not have a frightening food allergy story to tell, I have not had near emergencies, dangerous episodes, life threatening exposures to allergens. I have had a very manageable existence. I pull weeds, I get welts on my skin and I cough and sneeze, but it's all gone in about an hour. I bought gardening gloves that reach my elbows - problem (mostly) solved.  I eat peanuts until I get itchy, then I stop, and I survive the snack as if it never crossed my lips. I don't even know what soy does to me, but it tested as a higher risk than all of my other allergies. Papaya and avocado instantly put red splotches on my face, but they go away soon enough. I take my allergies for granted, I treat them like sniffles. They go away. But not really, they just hide. They went away last time. Next time, I might not be so lucky.

My focus has been on managing Celiac, taking for granted of course my other allergies. I was nearly doubled over at the grocery store this weekend, cursing gluten and my ever growing sensitivity to it. I thought my gut was supposed to heal after I went off gluten! My small intestine is so fabulously wrecked from a lifetime of consumption that even a trace from a contaminated almond butter jar puts me down. Celiac bonus: I am "fatigued" and suffer from cold flashes (think opposite of hot flashes) most of the day.

We assumed I had a malabsorption problem, but according to blood tests performed two weeks ago I am perfectly healthy. Even my doctor shakes his head at that. I am currently on a self-medicating regimen of digestive enzymes (sans papaya or soy) and probiotics, just to approach "normal" gut function. I also pop iron, B vitamins and a good multivitamin. My mornings start with a "bloodbuilder" smoothie adapted from the book, "Raw Energy":  1 1/2 cups orange juice, 10 dried apricots, 1/4 cup sunflower seeds kernels, 1 tbsp tahini, one scoop of protein powder and one scoop green powder. This combination gets me through the first half of the day just fine, but after lunch I'm feeling like a shell of myself again. My husband, my doctor and I are in the midst of brainstorming complications of Celiac and their relation to my symptoms, or whether I might have other allergies or worse, another illness. Consequently, my war with gluten overshadows my anaphylactic threats, although it shouldn't.

At the store I thought, of all of my offenders, gluten is the one taking me out right now? I might very well need emergency care sometime because of a gluten episode, and my EpiPen won't be any help. What would I do? What should I do?

For one thing, people need to know I have allergies. I have been hunting on and off for a good allergy bracelet. I am not a fan of the MedicAlert bracelets, although they are nice looking and likely the most appropriate choice, frankly, they clash with my wedding ring and my watch. I know, that's a dumb reason. I'm not saying I don't want a bracelet, I just don't want those. Consider too that I have several allergies to fit on mine! I found some good options on Etsy, but they are designed for simple phrases like "Peanut Allergy," or "Diabetic." I need a bracelet that can stand up to constant water exposure from excessive hand-washing and daily swimming, and something that won't get broken by or scratch my daycare kids. Leather, charms, various metals, and delicate chains are off the table.  Silicone bracelets are my best option, but I either have to wear a ton of them or get one custom made, and those bright orange bracelets don't exactly compliment my dinner dresses. One solution is to wear a silicone bracelet at work and at home, and then a more jewelry-type bracelet for when I leave the house.

Is it vain to care so much about what my potentially life-saving bracelet looks like? Consider how you dress when you go to Target versus Happy Hour? Do you want everyone around you to see instantly that you have allergies because of your 1-inch neon green bracelet, or do you just it identifiable in case of emergency? The way I see it, not every conversation needs to be about me and my allergies, so I try to keep a low profile. But, we have already established that I am too lax about the situation, so don't take any advice from me!

A trip to Joann's or Michaels is on the books for this weekend. If I can't find the right bracelet, I will make my own. Better safe than sorry, and the sooner the better. If you've got an idea for me, please share it!

I'm Freezing

Jeesh! Does anyone else have this problem? I can hear the resounding "YES!" already. It's a simple fact that many Celiacs suffer from the unfortunate condition of feeling cold even when everyone around them is perfectly comfortable. Two people in my family have been wearing shorts all day - remember we live in Tucson - but I've got chills and goosebumps, wearing two shirts, jeans and socks in my 74 degree home office. The only thing I can do to warm up is to take a long, hot shower. We leave the heat off at night because everyone complains they swelter while they sleep. I however, wear full pajama sets to bed and hog the electric blanket.

Back to the doctor I go. My Celiac test came back negative, but we know I have a gluten allergy/sensitivity. Consuming any gluten, even less than the food product labeling "acceptable amount" of 20 ppm, has me doubled over within moments. Do I go in for further testing, knowing that feeling cold is a symptom of Celiac Disease? How much does it matter if I just assume that I can never have gluten again and live a gluten-free lifestyle? Am I at risk for further illness or complications if I don't have a biopsy?

I  my food allergies/sensitivities very seriously, primarily because I've got some of the big ones that are in almost everything: peanuts, soy, gluten, papaya. Papaya doesn't seem like a big deal, until you start reading labels for papain, papaya's enzyme. It shows up in protein powders, digestive aids, and many supplements and skin care products. I had a heck of a time finding a shower cream that didn't have oatmeal, soy or papain in it. I also have a nasty reaction to salicylic acid and all of its family, which narrows my options considerably. Everything I do, from showering, washing my face and applying body cream, through breakfast, lunch, dinner and all my snacks, is prefaced with label scrutiny and examining contents for contamination (like breadcrumbs in my butter, or peanut butter in the jelly.) We can't mix the family's mashed potatoes with mine, because they like to use (soy) Country Crock. We are diligent.

So, do I need a biopsy?

Well, yes and no. First I have some other things to test more easily. My other complaints coincide with symptoms of hypothyroidism and/or low iron anemia. If tests for those come back normal, then I will have to pursue further Celiac testing. It could be that Celiac disease is causing low iron absorption, or general malabsorption, and would explain feeling cold and tired all the time.

I am grateful to have a knowledgeable doctor, and an appointment with him in three days. I hope to walk out of there with an order for excessive blood work, and then maybe we will get to the bottom of this. Alternately, I can look forward to triple digit heat just a few months away!

Figuring it out: My journey with food.

When I found out I had food allergies, I was relieved. I was glad to have finally found the answer to all of my ailments. It was difficult though, to process that my entire way of eating had to change. Since then I found a good amount of resources that have helped me understand more about food and how it affects my body, as well as how to get the most from my food. I also found plenty of cookbooks and online sites that have recipes for anything I'm craving, plus some new adventures that I share with my family. This month has been particularly huge in the development of my relationship with food, thanks to a great Christmas gift from my husband. I'll get back to that later.

In the beginning, my approach was to go without. I tried to eat whatever the family was having, minus foods to which I am allergic (gluten, soy, peanuts, papaya are the big ones). Next, I substituted and tried adding that in place of what the family was eating. If they had meatloaf (they like the way I make it with oatmeal and Worcestershire), I had a piece of chicken or fish instead. That was a reasonable approach and worked for a while. But then I decided I could do better. I could eat "cleaner" meals. We should all transition from packaged and processed foods anyway, to homemade meals and snacks and foods closer to their natural state. Several types of diets support this already, including the vegetarian and vegan lifestyles, the raw food diet, and the whole foods diet.

My youngest son, now 4, has never liked meat. For him, I have been a subscriber to Vegetarian Times for a few years now. I have found some amazing recipes in the magazines, and I just add meat for my carnivorous kin.  What has been extremely helpful though, in helping me understand how to nourish my body, has been their articles and blurbs about individual foods and nutrients. Last month I adapted a recipe I found for quinoa patties, using ground turkey instead. Vegetarian Times issues steered me onto the road toward better health. I highly recommend subscribing.

Not that I was becoming a vegetarian, I did add much more fruit, vegetables and whole grains to my diet. That's a good idea for anyone. I never leave home without an apple and a nut and seed bar in my bag so I won't be tempted to eat junk while I'm out. Some time in December, a link from a link from a blog landed me on a raw foods page. I was intrigued and researched it. Oh my, how we kill our food when we cook it! And, oh my, what clever ways those raw foodists have of making ultra-nutritious food that is gluten-free!

The raw food diet is very clean, as I like to call it. It's made from foods purchased primarily in their original natural state. Ingredients get processed and blended and chopped into countless drinks, meals and desserts that are hard to believe. I watched a video of the making of a raw chocolate mousse cake, for which the filling was made mainly from avocados and cocoa powder. Impressed, I added some raw food "cookbooks" to my Christmas wish list, which the in laws were kind enough to pick up for me. Hearing me go on and on about how I could blend up nuts and seeds and make my own crackers, my husband bought a lovely Breville blender for me. I ruined its Kitchen Aid predecessor trying to process dates into a paste to make my own Larabars. I ruined two appliances on that endeavor, actually. Finally I figured out to just pulse the dates until they break apart, and then mash them with your fingers into a paste. Thank you Tim, I'm back in the blending game!

For several days after Christmas, I abused my fantastic Breville 800 BLXL Die-Cast Hemisphere blender, with all sorts of veggies and (soaked) dried fruits. I knew it was time to slow down when my family cowered at the sight of a cup in my hand, accompanied by "just try it, you'll like it." But in a weird twist, I picked up momentum!

Several weeks ago I hurt my knee, so bad that I thought I fractured it. In the end, I required near bed rest for a few days. I stretched out on the most comfortable piece of furniture in the house for three days, watching documentaries on my laptop. I watched a few videos by raw foodists too and cruised Facebook to "like" a good number of health-minded pages. I landed on a page for Russel James, Raw Chef.  He had a post that mentioned a video now available for streaming on Netflix: Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead. I added that to my queue and moved on. Meanwhile...

Putting the ornaments away in the garage while my husband was gone (I should have been off my feet!), I remembered that about five years ago a woman from the vegetarian and sugar-free school where I worked had given me a juicer. We put it in the garage without ever looking at it. I remembered it to be extremely heavy the way she carried it to my car, and she said "you'll have to clean it up a bit but it works great." I pulled it out of the cabinet and it wasn't heavy at all! And it was clean. I rinsed off the parts, watched a quick YouTube video on how to assemble, use and clean my Champion Juicer. Wow this thing is amazing. I never cared for juicers, hearing they were a pain to setup and clean, and they were loud and messy. This juicer is none of those things. Another thing I highly recommend!

Back on the couch, I started watching Forks Over Knives on Netflix, with my husband next to me. He quickly became interested in the story. We watched it together and he immediately gave up meat. The next day we watched Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead, which supported what we learned the night before plus had us singing the praises of our new amazing blender and juicer combo in the kitchen.

In the end, or this new beginning I should say, because of my food allergies, my whole family is on its way to being truly healthy and learning how to avoid lifestyle related illnesses, like diabetes and heart disease. We firmly believe in the benefits of making fruits, vegetables and whole grains the main focus of our meals. Most important is to try to buy food as close to it's natural state as possible, meaning apples instead of applesauce or apple juice.

Some of us are still eating meat as we learn more about the vegetarian lifestyle. I picked out a food dehydrator to add to the lineup next week and then I will be able to expand our diet to a whole new level! I have to say, I'm lucky enough to have the space for all of these appliances. We have a handy pantry just off the kitchen where my juicer lives on a shelf so I can get to it easily, and my dehydrator will soon join it.

We are finally figuring it out:

• I don't have to go without, and what's better is that we can all eat the foods that I can eat.  
• Food is not just something you stuff in your mouth to get full. 
• You are what you eat.

Here is a list of my favorite resources. I'm sure you'll be surprised at what they have to offer. Take your time and check these out thoroughly!

Videos (available streaming on Netflix):

Forks Over Knives

Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead

Food Matters

Ingredients

Food, Inc. 

Websites and blogs:

Russel James, Raw Chef 

Choosing Raw

Zesty Cook

Sweetly Raw look around for her unbelievably decadent desserts!

The Green Smoothie Guy

Irresistibly Gluten-Free

Print:

Vegetarian Times

Artisanal Gluten-Free Cooking With an amazing brownie recipe! I used dark chocolate to avoid soy.

Raw Energy: 124 Raw Food Recipes for Energy Bars, Smoothies, and Other Snacks

Everyday Raw

Easy Raw Vegan Dehydrating 

Further, get onto Twitter and find people who share your concerns and goals. Follow their posts and collect the articles, recipes and websites they post.