Getting ready for winter.

Yesterday my wife did a volunteer shift at the local food co-op we belong to.  Of course, she couldn't not buy stuff while she was there...and one of the things she bought was a HUGE bundle of kale...WAY bigger than anything that came out of my spring container garden. 

Well, since she bought it, I had to do something with it...and with overnight lows dipping into the low 40's, it's starting to feel like soup weather, so, soup it is! 

However, due to some family obligations(soccer practice, craft night, the world famous Sausage Fest tomorrow in Richland)...we really didn't need soup for dinner, so, instead I broke out a few pounds of potatoes, a pound of sausage, and half a pound of bacon to make some Sausage Kale and Potato Soup for canning..  In the normal course of things, I would add pepper flakes and heavy cream to this and serve it up as faux Olive Garden Zuppa Tuscana, but the heavy cream...it doesn't can up so well. 

It actually tastes pretty good without the cream...but adding cream to the finished product while it's being reheated does effect the mouth feel. 

As always, the worst part of pressure canning is the waiting.  Getting up to pressure always takes longer than you think it will...and waiting for the canner to naturally cool back down to  it's 'vented' condition...uggg.  Last night, it was over 50 minutes from when I turned off the burner until I could open the canner and pull the jars...the only positive being I have no excuse to not have the mess I made cleaned up before saying I was 'done'.