The Apartment Homestead

Homestyle Recipes

Garden Fresh Minestrone

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The ideal recipe for using up late summer and early fall garden harvests, this minestrone is loaded with perfectly in-season vegetables and herbs.

Garden fresh minestrone with zucchini and green beans.

After making variations on Kathryne Taylor’s fantastic recipe over at Cookie and Kate about a dozen times since February, I’ve finally discovered my dream minestrone. I’ve tweaked it quite a bit since then, but full credit to Kate for the aspects of this recipe that are similar. Be sure to check out her recipe blog (it’s one of the best out there!) and her cookbook, Love Real Food.

But I’ve ended up adapting a few ingredients and techniques in this recipe to my specific tastes and wanted to share this garden fresh version. Most importantly, I wanted this recipe to use fresh vegetables and herbs, straight from the summer and early fall garden.

Since many gardeners end up swimming in green beans and zucchini from July through September, minestrone is designed to use those up in the most delicious way possible. Unfortunately, I’m not lucky enough to have an overload of zucchini right now, since squash bugs have decimated my zucchini and winter squash plants this summer (though I’ve learned to tips to get rid of squash bugs organically next summer!). But I do have plenty of green beans straight from the garden).

I’ve also adjusted cooking times to preserve more of the original texture and color of the garden vegetables. In addition, I’ve amped up the flavor in a few spots, increased the quantity of vegetables (I like a hearty soup!), and included a special ingredient to add richness and depth to the minestrone. The result is absolutely luscious.

Storing Minestrone

Savory, bright, filling, and full of flavor, this minestrone is a meatless meal that even carnivores will love. Even better, it’s one of those magical dishes that tastes amazing as leftovers. In fact, I rarely eat it fresh! Instead I’ll make a big batch, divide it into individual servings in mason jars, let the flavors meld in the fridge overnight, and then eat it for lunch throughout the week.

Fortunately, minestrone also freezes well with a couple of tweaks. The pasta and potatoes will get mushy after freezing and reheating, so I recommend leaving them out, at least initially. You can either replace them with more beans and freezer friendly veggies, or you can make the soup without them and add in boiled potatoes and pasta after you’ve thawed the soup. 

Essential Supplies

Minestrone soup with zucchini and green beans summer vegetables from the garden

Helpful supplies

  • An herb stripper
  • Kitchen shears
  • A garlic peeler

Minestrone Prep

Before starting the recipe, do the following:

  1. Gather all ingredients and supplies.
  2. Dice the following:
    • Onion
    • Carrots
    • Celery
    • Potatoes
  3. Cut the zucchini in half lengthwise. Then slice it into bite-sized pieces.
  4. Snap the green beans into 1/2 inch pieces.
  5. Mince the garlic
  6. Open the tomato paste and diced tomatoes, but don’t drain them.
  7. Remove the stems from the rosemary, thyme, and basil.
    • An herb stripper can make that easier.
    • Chiffonade the basil by bedding the leaves on top of each other, rolling them up, and then chopping them into thin strips with kitchen shears.
  8. Open, drain, and rinse the beans.
  9. Cut the rind off the parmesan.
  10. Juice the lemon half.

Minestrone making tips

Minestrone with zucchini and green beans
  • Slice the carrots and celery and dice the potato into small piece to ensure that they cook thoroughly.
  • Leave the zucchini and green beans in large, but still bite-sized pieces. You’ll want these to be larger pieces than the other vegetables so that they don’t get too soft.
  • You can substitute other vegetables as desired in this recipe, depending on the season, but you’ll want to add different types of vegetables at different times in the cooking process.
    • Most veggies can be added when the instructions say to add the zucchini and green beans.
    • Hard root vegetables, like parsnips or rutabagas, should be added along with the carrot and celery.
    • Greens should only be added in the final few minutes of cooking
  • Pay attention to the color and texture of the vegetables and pasta as you near the recipe’s end. Take the soup off the heat if the veggies start to turn dull or overly mushy or the pasta gets too soft.
  • If you’d like to substitute dried herbs, use 1 teaspoon of each herb instead.
  • You can substitute vegetable or turkey broth for the chicken broth, but I don’t recommend beef broth unless you like a very meaty flavor.
  • Don’t be afraid to experiment! Minestrone’s one of the most flexible dishes out there.
Pinterest minestrone
Print Recipe
 Garden Fresh Minestrone
The ideal recipe for using up late summer and early fall garden harvests, this minestrone is loaded with perfectly in-season vegetables and herbs.
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 25 minutes
Servings
servings
Ingredients
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 25 minutes
Servings
servings
Ingredients
Instructions
  1. Heat oil over medium heat in a large pot or dutch oven. Add in the onion, carrots, celery, and tomato paste and stir until the onion is translucent and the vegetables have begun to soften, about ten minutes.
  2. Add the zucchini, potatoes, green beans, garlic, oregano, and thyme. Stir the ingredients together for about three minutes.
  3. Add the broth, parmesan rind, salt, bay leaves, red pepper, and black pepper. Bring to a boil over high heat, then cover and reduce heat to medium low. If the lid doesn’t have a vent for steam, leave a small portion of the pan uncovered. Simmer for over medium low heat for 20 minutes.
  4. Add the pasta and beans, and simmer for 10 more minutes until the vegetables are fork tender and the pasta is al dente.
  5. Remove from heat. Stir in the basil, lemon juice, and as much fresh ground black pepper as you'd like.
  6. Remove the parmesan rind and bay leaves and serve.

Jam Making Tips for Beginners

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Does the idea of home canning intimidate you? Fruit preserves are a great place to start, and with these jam making tips for beginners, you can feel confident that your creations will be safe, delicious, and just the right consistency.

Jam Making Tips for Beginners

How to can with confidence

If you’re new to jam-making and canning in general, I’m going to guess that you have two big concerns:

  1. That the jam won’t be safe and shelf-stable.
  2. That the jam won’t set correctly and you’ll end up with runny, crystalized, or overly thick jam.

Those are totally valid worries! But jam-making doesn’t need to be scary or overly complicated. Getting the set just right can take a little practice, but as long as you follow instructions and don’t burn the jam, you’re sure to get a tasty treat.

As far as canning safety goes – it is an issue to take seriously, since botulism is incredibly dangerous and impossible to detect with your senses alone. But if you adhere to the following jam making tips for beginners and follow your chosen, tested jam recipe carefully, you don’t need to be afraid. It’s easier than you think to can safely!

And just imagine the results! Homemade jam is far more delicious than the store-bought stuff – with complex flavors that melt on your tongue. Whether you eat it on toast or biscuits, in a PB&J sandwiches, as an ice cream topping, as the fruit on the bottom in homemade Greek yogurt (my personal favorite), or even as the glaze for pork chops, ham, or other meat, it’s a delectable treat and the perfect homemade gift any time of the year.

So let’s preserve the harvest, in the sweetest way possible!

Jam making tips for beginners

1. Use only safe, tested recipes

If you take only one thing away from this post, make sure it’s this one. If you want to store jam on the shelf, only use ph-tested recipes from reputable sources.

And don’t rely on your senses to tell you whether your canned goods are safe. Botulism can’t be seen, smelled, or tasted, but it can be deadly or debilitating nonetheless.

So I’ll repeat myself in caps: USE ONLY SAFE, TESTED RECIPES! My go-to is the Ball Blue Book Guide to Preserving. Don’t let the magazine format and dated cover mislead you – it has a wide variety of classic and creative recipes, clear instructions, and a guide to canning safety that I refer to often.

Still want to use Grandma’s famous jam recipe? Either contact your local extension office about having it tested, or just use it as a freezer jam, rather than storing it on the shelf.

2. Dress smart

So, this might seem like the silliest of my jam making tips for beginners, but if I know I’ll be making jam, I’ll dress accordingly. Jam is cooked at high, boiling temperatures, and sometimes that hot jam splatters. An old, long sleeved t-shirt that you don’t mind getting sticky, and an oven mitt go a long way (I especially like grill mitts that are designed for better dexterity than traditional oven mitts). Your hands and forearms will thank you.

Jam Making Tips for Beginners

3. Gather and sanitize all your supplies

4. Use new inner lids every time

This might seem like a pain, but if you’ve used your canning jars before, you’ll want to purchase new inner lids before making jam to ensure a proper seal. There’s a shortage on them this year, but normally they’re inexpensive and relatively easy to find. I stock up whenever I find them for a good price.

5. Choose good quality fruit

Use good quality, fresh, ripe, and in season fruit for your jam.

Jam and other canned goods will always turn out best if you use fresh, ripe, in-season produce. The better the fruit, the better the jam will be. Underripe or overripe fruit will throw off the texture, set, sweetness, and potentially even the shelf-stability of the finished product.

6. Make sure you’re using the right kind of pectin

A quality recipe will tell you exactly which kind of pectin to use. Classic pectin and liquid pectin can often be substituted for each other with some recipe instruction changes.

Low sugar or natural sweetener (fruit juice, honey, maple syrup, etc.) recipes will generally call for Pomona’s Universal Pectin or Ball Low or No Sugar Needed Pectin and I definitely wouldn’t recommend trying to substitute regular pectin – your jam won’t set properly.

7. Use a large pot

This is a personal preference thing for me that goes along with tip number 2. I hate having my arms burned by splatters of hot jam, and I’ve found that happens less when I use a larger pot.

8. Stir, stir, stir!

When the recipe tells you to stir, it means it! Stir continuously while heating the jam to avoid inconsistent texture and set or burned jam.

9. After letting the jam set, skim any foam off the surface

The white-ish foam that forms on top of your jam isn’t a problem; it’s just a result of the boiling process. If you stir thoroughly right after turning off the heat, you can often incorporate it into the rest of the jam.

But if you still end up with foam after the jam has set, just skim it off before pouring the jam into jars (and then immediately eat the foamy jam on toast, if you’re anything like me). It won’t hurt anything if you pour it into the jars, but it can ruin the pretty visual effect of rows of jewel-like jam. It’s mostly a preference thing.

10. Follow headspace instructions

Now, this is another instruction that can be tempting to ignore, but don’t do it! Different recipes have different headspace requirements, and the appropriate headspace is essential for creating a proper vacuum seal of the lid and jar.

The grids of the jar rim are in quarter inch increments, but if you’d like to be extra sure, you can use a headspace measuring tool.

11. Clean off the jar rim before placing the lids

Adjust water bath canning times according to altitude.

After pouring in the hot jam, but before placing the lids, use a clean, damp rag to wipe off any jam on the jar rim or in the headspace area. This too will help ensure a proper seal.

12. Adjust water bath times according to your altitude

This is an easy, but dangerous, step to skip if you jump straight into a recipe without understanding safe canning practices. Always double check this before making jam!

Canning recipes are written for sea-level altitudes, but water boils at different temperatures depending on the altitude. Given that I live in the Mountain West, those recipes won’t work for me as written.

Every time I make jam, I double check my altitude (generally by googling or asking Siri), and then consult a canning altitude chart. Since I’m at about 4500 feet, I adjust my water bath boiling times by 10 minutes.

13. Keep the jars upright after water processing

You might be tempted to tilt the jars as you take them out of the water bath to get water off of the lids, but resist that impulse. Doing so can break the seal you’ve just worked so hard to make. And the water will evaporate off the hot lids on its own anyway.

Jam first time tips

You also may have been taught inversion canning – where you turn the jars upside down right after putting the lids on – at some point in the past. This is no longer considered a safe practice, and it creates a faulty seal. It also skips the crucial water bath step needed to prevent botulism. Don’t risk it!

14. Seeing a white powder on the outside of the jars? Don’t be alarmed

This happens every time I water-bath can anything, and at first I worried it meant I had done something wrong. It turns out it’s just mineral deposits from hard water – nothing to worry about!

So how do you get rid of it? Just wipe the jars down with a bit of water and white vinegar. And you can even add white vinegar to your canning water before boiling to prevent the powder from forming in the first place, a handy hint I learned from Food In Jars.

15. After the jars have cooled for several hours, test the lids

Let the jars sit and cool for 12-24 hours, then gently unscrew the band and see if you can lift the inner lid off. Hopefully it will hold tight, and you can put the jam away.

But if it’s loose or pulls off, all is not lost! Just repeat the waterbath process.

15 jam making tips for beginners

And that’s all there is to it! That doesn’t seem too hard, does it?

Do you have any other jam making tips for beginners? Please share them in the comments!

Homemade Instant Pot Yogurt

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All the tips and tricks you need to know to make smooth and creamy homemade Instant Pot yogurt.

Making your own yogurt might seem like a daunting task, but with an Instant Pot, it’s incredibly easy! It’s taken me a little research and a few rounds of practice, but I’ve finally found a method for making yogurt at home that matches the flavor and texture of my favorite Greek yogurt brands at the store.

And with eight servings coming from a single half-gallon of milk, it costs pennies in comparison with the store-bought stuff!

Looking to learn more about homestyle cooking, growing your own food, or old-fashioned skills? Join me in becoming a homesteader, no matter where you live, with The Apartment Homesteading Project!

Essential Instant Pot Yogurt supplies

An Instant Pot with a yogurt setting

A digital food thermometer

A whisk

A large spoon

Helpful Supplies

Glass Instant Pot lid

A tea towel

Something to strain the yogurt into (a tall bowl or Tupperware works well)

Individual storage containers (I like these glass anchor containers, regular half pint mason jars, and especially these wide mouth half pint jars)

Homemade Instant Pot Greek Yogurt

Prep

Clean the bowl of your instant pot and then rinse thoroughly with hot water, even if it looks clean. Since yogurt is made at a medium temperature to encourage probiotic growth, that also means it’s an ideal growing environment for less-desirable bacteria. Any food residue or left from previous recipes can result in off-tasting yogurt. For great tips on cleaning your Instant Pot, check out these instructions from the company.

If you don’t have a glass lid for your Instant Pot, you can use the regular lid, but be sure to remove the rubber inner seal first. It can collect odors and flavors from things you’ve previously cooked. You don’t want your homemade Instant Pot yogurt tasting like pork tenderloin!

Tips

  • Use whole fat milk, especially if you prefer Greek yogurt! Skim milk will result in runny yogurt.
  • Don’t be tempted to add more yogurt as a starter than is called for in the recipe. Too much will throw off the consistency of the final product and make it too tangy. I learned this the hard way by initially throwing a whole serving of chobani into my Instant Pot, thinking I didn’t want to waste the extra. Trust me, it tastes much better with just a couple of spoonfuls.
  • For your starter, choose a yogurt brand you really like. Your homemade yogurt will taste like whatever you use as a starter.
  • NEVER USE FLAVORED YOGURT AS A STARTER! It will not work.
  • Check the expiration date on the yogurt you’re using as a starter. Older yogurt may result in lumpy yogurt that is too tart.
  • Start with eight hour yogurt. If after trying it you think you’d like something more tangy, you can leave it on the yogurt setting for a longer period of time.
  • I recommend dividing the yogurt into individual servings in small pyrex containers right away. You’ll be more likely to eat it if you have grab and go servings ready in the refrigerator.
  • Want a simple way to flavor your yogurt? Mix in a tablespoon or two of jam or other preserves to add a little sweetness. You can also add fresh fruit (below, I combined lemon curd and fresh raspberries – yum!). If you’re prepping all your individual servings, add the jam before the yogurt, and you’ll get a “fruit on the bottom” look.
Homemade raspberry lemon greek yogurt.

Homemade Instant Pot Yogurt Recipe

Print Recipe
 Homemade Instant Pot Yogurt
For the cost of a 1/2 gallon of milk, enjoy a week's worth of smooth and creamy yogurt, straight from your Instant Pot!
Homemade Instant Pot Greek Yogurt
Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 8 hours
Servings
servings
Ingredients
Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 8 hours
Servings
servings
Ingredients
Homemade Instant Pot Greek Yogurt
Instructions
  1. Pour the milk into the bowl of your Instant Pot. Put the lid back on and twist it to lock. Press the yogurt button until the screen reads BOIL. It does not matter if the vent is sealed or unsealed.
  2. While the Instant Pot is heating, fill the sink with a few inches of cold water.
  3. The Instant Pot will beep when it reaches 180 degrees. Let it sit at this temperature for five minutes or so.
  4. Move the Instant Pot bowl to the water, making sure not to let the water spill into the bowl. Allow the milk to cool to between 108 and 112 degrees, stirring continuously.
  5. As soon as the milk has cooled to under 112 degrees, remove the Instant Pot bowl from the sink, dry the outside, and place it back in the Instant Pot. Skim the milk with a spoon to remove the "skin" that forms on the surface. Add the starter yogurt, and whisk it in thoroughly.
  6. Secure the lid on the instant pot, and hit the Yogurt button until it gives a time reading. Adjust the time to 8 hours (or longer, if desired), if it isn't already set to that.
  7. Once the 8 hours or desired incubation time has been reached, turn off the Instant Pot. If the yogurt is lumpy, whisk it until all lumps disappear. For thicker, Greek style yogurt, strain some or all of the yogurt through a tea-towel into another container, but remember that the yogurt will thicken more in the fridge. (I strain about half and then mix it back into the rest of the yogurt.)
  8. Finally, move the strained yogurt into sealed storage containers. Store in the fridge overnight, and then enjoy!

Hidden Vegetable Soup with a Kick

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I want to be the kind of person who LOVES vegetables. The type who chows down on raw bell peppers, arugula, and tomatoes and happily chooses them over less healthy fare.

Unfortunately, barring an act of God, I am unlikely to ever be that person. Instead, I am a person who LOVES chicken strips and Doritos and french silk pie. Because of this unfortunate fact, I sometimes have to hide veggies in my food as if I am cooking for a four-year-old….

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