No Bake Cheesecake, Home Canned Stew Beef & Ham

Well my husband is off to hunt camp and because I made a smaller lasagna and extra venison chili while preparing foods for his trip I didn't have to worry about cooking dinner over the weekend. I had and still have a lot of cooking plans except, yesterday morning I awoke feeling quite under the weather. So it has not been the cooking frenzy start I had planned. I made a no bake cheesecake, one of my kid's favourites yesterday. There's little to it but is a definite tried and true recipe, can't fail recipe. Then I decided to put the new to me All American pressure canner through its paces.

No Bake Cheesecake

Years ago my sister-in-law made a desert my husband and kids raved over. It appeared at every family get together and she was the only one who made it. It was a cheesecake that was rich and creamy topped with blueberries. I finally broke down and asked her for the recipe. It was a no bake recipe that was oh so simple there was no way of making a mistake. Now before you scoff at this, there is a very nice, upper end restaurant we frequent that has this very desert on their menu and it is one of their most requested desserts. I use home canned cherries or other fruit for a topping but honesty it still goes over nicely without any fruit topping.

No Bake Cheesecake

2 c graham cracker crumbs
4 tbsp melted butter
2 - 8 oz packages cream cheese, room temperature
1 c granulated sugar
2 c Cool Whip topping

Pour the graham cracker crumbs into a 9" x 9" x 2" baking dish. Melt the butter and drizzle over the graham cracker crumbs. Mix the butter into the crumbs until well blended. Pack down evenly. Refrigerate 1 hour or until firm. Place cream cheese and sugar in KitchenAid^® stand mixer bowl. Blend on speed 3 until well creamed. Blend in Cool Whip on speed 3. Remove bowl from stand mixer. Spoon mixture evenly over the graham cracker crumb crust. Chill 30 minutes. Spoon fruit filling over the cheese mixture. Chill well then cut into squares for serving.
Serves 9

Home Canned Stew Beef and Ham

Home canned meats are wonderful to have on the pantry shelf for quick meal starts. The meat is already cooked so only needs to be used as is as an ingredient for another dish or drained and added cold. As mentioned previously I do not can up a lot of meats but like to have a variety. I was taking my new to me All American pressure canner for its maiden run so decided to can up 5 - 500 ml jars of stew beef (1) and 2 - 500 ml jars of ham (2). Seven wide mouth 500 ml jars gave me a half canner load. The two jars of ham were a test run to see how I liked the results.

Method:
(1) Cut the stew beef into 1 - inch pieces. Place the stew beef along with 1 small chopped onion into a sauce pot. Cover with water. Bring to a boil and cook until the centres of the meat pieces are no longer pink. Spoon into wide mouth 500 ml jars leaving 1 - inch headspace. Add 1 tbsp Worcestershire Sauce and 1 tsp Montreal Steak Spice per jar. Pour cooking liquid over the beef leaving 1 - inch headspace. Wipe rims and adjust two piece lids. Place in pressure canner.
(2) Cut a ham slice 1 - inch thick. Cut across the slice to form 1 - inch cubes. Cover the cubes with water and bring to a boil. Spoon into wide mouth 500 ml jars leaving 1 - inch headspace. Pour cooking liquid over the beef leaving 1 - inch headspace. Wipe rims and adjust two piece lids. Place in pressure canner.
To Process: Process at 10 lb pressure for 75 minutes. Allow pressure canner to depressurize. Remove jars from canner and allow to cool. Check for seal. Wipe jars, label and store.