So, even though our Montana summer produced bummer garden crops and your family and friends haven't been able to keep up with your garden excess, I urge you to keep with canning recipes that have been tested and proven to be safe. Canning requires the most information and resources to produce safe, quality foods, but that information is available. When you use canning guidelines approved by the USDA, you know that safety is the top priority in creating them. They are based on extensive research on safe processing pressures and times. Among many safety factors, the USDA's primary goal is the prevention of botulism, a potentially deadly food borne illness.
Botulism can grow and reproduce in improperly process home canned foods.
Even though creativity and canning don't mix, you can turn your creativity to the presentation of your safely processed foods in new recipes. For that matter, you can even put some creativity into how you display them on your shelves. One lady told me she always arranged her tomatoes and peaches and pickles so that the pattern of the colors pleased her. You also have the option of freezing or drying produce. But definitely forego the temptation of re-creating the recipes themselves.