Wednesday, September 26, 2007

Temporary Singledom

just a little shout out to all you single parents and occasional "business trip widows". chris has been gone since early sunday, and lets just say this week has helped me to not take him for granted. being home with 3 little ones is hard--being home with 3 little ones alone is even harder. and, i don't even have to do it that often! so, kudos to all you uncomplaining masses who deal with this all the time--you have my respect.

Friday, September 07, 2007

Doing the Can Can

so the last few weeks have been a whirlwind of canning--pots boiling, knives flying, steamy kitchen madness. so far i have processed about 40 pounds of peaches, and probably half that much of apples, with the other half still to go. the apples are not so precise, because they are windfall apples we found along the bike trail, and a few from a willing neighbor. what does that translate into, you ask? well, that would approximately be:

*7 jelly jars of apple butter (+ 1 that broke in the canner)
*8 pint jars of apple sauce
*6 quarts of sliced peaches
*22 jelly jars of peach jam

plus:
3 peach pies, and one for the freezer.
the rest of the apples will likely become more apple butter and maybe some apple pie filling. watch out, martha stewart! (or should that be, laura ingalls?)

ever wondered how to can? it's as easy as boiling water and cutting up fruit, with a few little tricks thrown in. here's a little overview if you're interested...you can always start small and dazzle yourself with homemade goodies along the way.

however, in the interest of full disclosure, i must say that the above amounts do *not* include the 4 quarts of peach jam that i burned late one night during the first round of peaches. chris was very gracious to me and did not remind me that when the recipe says "do not double", that generally it is a good idea not to double it.