Taking Stock for Dark Days

Below is a peek into what we managed to can & freeze which will assist us in eating locally for the Dark Days Challenge, which I posted about yesterday. Tomorrow I will be looking at some of the winter markets in my area.

homemade sauce. garlic, onions, some herbs, for seasoning, little else.

Here is a look at what we've got in the freezer as well as what we canned from our garden and local farms and farmers markets!
We have a small kitchen and limited storage space so we do the best we can. We also use some of the canned jams and relishes as gifts, because sharing is one of the best parts of canning all this wonderful stuff!
Canned & Refrigerated Goods:

corn relish. green bean/zucchini relish, pineapple salsa

Pasta Sauce 18 1/2 Quarts
Corn Relish 6 1/2 pints
Green Bean & Zucchini Relish 1 1/2 pints
Pineapple Salsa 4 1/2 pints
Blueberry Jam 1/2 pint & 4 oz jar
Peach Butter 1/2 pint
Apple Butter 1 1/2 pints
Triple Berry Jam 1 pint
Cranberry-Jalapeno Jam 1 3/4 pints
Beet Relish 5 pints
Cranberry-Apple Sauce 4 pints
Plum & Spiced Port Jam 4 1/2 pints
Ketchup Base 1 quart                                                                                   Horseradish (ground) 4 ounces                                                                                   Pickles 2 quarts

1 4 oz jar unlabeled jam. Based on color either Cran-Apple sauce or Plum & Port jam.

Frozen Goods:
Garlic Scape Pesto cubes
Basil Pesto cubes
2 1/2 lbs Frozen whole Tomatoes
cranberries, blueberries, strawberries, huckleberries
bacon, breakfast sausage, Italian beef sausage, hot Italian pork sausage, garlic and feta turkey sausage, beef kabob cubes, 1 whole turkey meatloaf, beef stew
frozen pepper strips, chives, & dill
chocolate zucchini muffins & bread, regular zucchini bread.
The meat comes from a variety of sources including Stillman's Farm, Bob's Turkey Farm, & River Rock Farm.

All this stuff, along with tomorrow's summary of some of the winter markets in my area is what we'll be relying on to make sure a portion of our food throughout the winter is from local sources!

Cranberry-Apple Sauce

Gail and I  also looking into incorporating jam or jelly into our wedding somehow, and I am currently looking for recipes with a certain color, in conjunction with thanksgiving on the horizon, means now is the perfect time to stock up on cranberries and try some new recipes. I've been on the hunt for a good Cranberry Sauce recipe and came across Marisa from Food in Jars awesome recipe for Apple-Cranberry Jam. The only alteration to the recipe was just a little bit of extra cranberries, not much at all though. 

I let it cook down to the consistency of a cranberry sauce instead of a jam and promptly processed it.

Cran-Apple Sauce

The result was a great tasting beautifully burgundy cranberry apple sauce that isn't overly tart or overly sweet. A perfect test batch with enough jars to share with friends and family before thanksgiving!