My Last Day of Christmas Break

This summer, I purchased a pressure canner. It has become one of my favorite tools. I had wanted one for years, and after making too much corn on the cob for the 4th of July, I really wanted to can the leftovers because my freezer was full. I had used a water bath canner for years, but was excited to spread my wings challenge myself to canning meats, beans, vegetables, soup, etc.

I went and bought it, yes, I went that night and bought it! It was already 8:00pm by the time I got home.  I canned that corn until 1:00am, loving every minute of it. Yes, I am insane! Now, six months later, I have over 100 jars of food in my reorganized basement pantry. I have a variety of beans (kidney, garbanzo, and pinto,) corn, green beans, red cabbage, peaches, blueberries, barbecue sauce, pickles, potatoes, jams, chicken, pork, sloppy joes, and just a few days ago I canned chicken soup. I plan to can chili, more meat, and some more jam in the months to come.

But today is the last day of Christmas Break, and my family needs something yummy and healthy to eat. Enough with over-indulgence. We need to get back to the weight watchers meals and drop some more pounds! So I decided to make banana bread? Yes, I had 12 frozen bananas taking up too much space in my freezer, so I whipped up 3 large loaves of banana bread, using my new cast iron loaf pan for one. That loaf turned out the best!

The banana bread will be perfect for my little girls to eat for breakfast. And if we save up enough points during the day, we can also have a slice. I figured that each slice is about 6 – 8 points. Without butter. Yeah, it’s pricey, but ohh so good!

My official start time = 4:30pm

Zesty Peach Barbecued Chicken Breast 

I put 4 chicken thighs and 4 skinless chicken breasts in a baking tray and slathered on some of my homemade zesty peach barbecue sauce from the Ball Canning recipe. I covered the meat and baked it at 350 F for 30 minutes and then checked it. I slathered on some more sauce and baked it uncovered for 45 more minutes until the internal temperature was 165F.

Meanwhile, the banana bread also baked away in the oven. I made some rice in my rice cooker, and heated up my homemade canned green beans with mushrooms. This recipe is from my new Ball Canning Book.

 

When the chicken and rice were done, and the green beans were heated up, we sat down for a wonderful meal. We added even more of the zesty peach barbecue sauce, and served up some canned peaches to help take away from the heat of the sauce. Supper was wonderful.

Our goal is to stay around 15 smartpoints per meal. The sauce was 5 points per serving, the rice was 4 points, the chicken was 3 points, and the peaches were 4, for a total of 16 points. That was close enough to our goal of 15 to make us happy eaters! I cleaned up the table and baking supplies and returned my kitchen to normal.

My kitchen was closed at 7:17 pm

So, in less then three hours I had three loaves of yummy banana bread and a healthy meal of zesty peach barbecued chicken with rice, green beans and canned peaches. I also had all of the dishes in the dishwasher and the kitchen was returned to normal. I’d call that a pretty good night!

Now, back to work!