Canning Vegetable Soup

I have quite a lot of produce coming out of the garden right now, and I don't need to can any more green beans, corn or tomatoes, so I've decided to do other things.  Today was Vegetable Soup Day!

I did not follow an exact recipe, but I did look up basic guidelines in my canning book, So Easy to Preserve.  In order to can this soup, to which I added some meat, I had to process it in the pressure canner for 75 minutes.

Here is how I did it.  I just used what I have on hand, mostly from the garden, and some from the freezer. 

Equipment:

2, 2-gallon kettles
Pressure canner
14, 1-quart mason jars with new lids and the rings
Small pan for heating the lids

Ingredients:

2 pounds grass-fed ground beef, browned
3 onions
2 large garlic cloves
2 cups lentils, cooked for 20 minutes, drained
A few carrots, peeled and sliced
2 cups sliced celery
Fresh green beans, snapped
A few fresh tomatoes, blanched, peeled and cubed
Fresh tomato juice - about 1 quart
Kernels from 4 cobs of sweet corn
2 green peppers, seeded and diced
2 Jalapeno peppers, seeded and diced
1 quite small head of cabbage, chopped
1/4 cup chopped fresh basil
Several stems of thyme, tied together
Real Salt
Freshly ground pepper
5 quarts homemade chicken stock
1 gallon filtered water

Ok, so if you want to do this, just use what you have that you would like in soup!

I browned the ground beef in one of the kettles and then just filled it up with the other vegetables, fresh tomato juice,  1 quart of stock, and the lentils to near the top:

Add the thyme and basil.  Bring it to a boil, simmer for 5 minutes, being careful not to burn it or have it boil over, then remove the bundle of thyme.

In the meant time, be heating the other 4 quarts of stock and the gallon of water in the other kettle.  Prepare 14 jars, lids and rings. 

Place the canner on your stove in readiness (consult canning guide.)

Fill each jar half-full with the vegetable mixture and then fill it up to 1 inch from the top with chicken stock.  Add 1/2 teaspoon Real Salt and a crank of freshly ground pepper.

Wipe the rim squeaky clean with a damp wash rag and put on the lids and rings.  Place in canner (be Sure to consult a canning guide!!!)  Process at 11 pounds pressure for 75 minutes.  Turn off the heat and allow the pressure to come back down naturally.

Remove lid from canner and allow to cool 15 minutes.  Remove hot jars to a towel on the counter out of drafts.  Cool for 24 hours and then you may remove the rings if you wish.