Saturday, September 27, 2008

Caution! Domestic Goddess ahead

Yep, that is me. Let me explain why I have given myself that title. Over the Labor Day weekend I drove myself and the kids up to Utah for a week. I needed some time away from the stress of not moving (that is right, I said not moving. I can't stand messes and I could only pack my house up so far in advance of the move in date. I was going crazy not being able to pack. I caught up on all the season's of House. Great show, by the way.) Anyway, since it was full season for corn, tomatoes and peaches I decided to do some canning this year. Actually, I begged my mother-in-law to help me. I love canning, I just don't love doing it all by my self. It is a lot of work.


Day 1: 32 quarts of peaches. It doesn't sound like a lot, but I think it took 2 bushels to get 32 quarts.

Peaches are my favorite thing to can because first, they are beautiful when they are taken out of the water bath.

Second, because my daughter will actually eat them without telling me she doesn't like them first, me trying to convince her that she does, then remind her of the rule of the house is that we take 2 bites of everything before we say we don't like them, and then her jumping up and down with joy and proclaiming that she does actually like them. Who knew!

And third, they are my favorite fruit to eat and can. They are SO easy to can. You can almost do them by yourself without going crazy.

Day 2: two bushels of tomatoes. It came out to about 33 pints. For all of you who know me well know that I hate tomatoes, raw ones anyway. They make me sick, I can't even smell them. This project is torture for me.So why do I do them? I do them because I like stewed tomatoes and they taste so good in my spaghetti sauce and taco soup. The entire time I was cutting them I kept repeating to myself, "it's okay, it is just watermelon." It looks just like watermelon when you cut them up, but does NOT feel like it. I am impressed it did not throw up. The smell was awful! At least I have enough for 2 years (see day 4).



Day 3: Corn. We did 15 dozen ears of corn. It is super easy and didn't take too long, but it was a lot of corn! We got about 90 bags put together and frozen. Tip: use a food saver to store the corn. But, first freeze the corn so the juice does not destroy the foodsaver. And definitely stock up on bags. Corn goes a long way.


This was the first canning experience for my new sister-in-law. She was a little nervous when Kathy and I told her we would be doing 15 dozen ears. Um, I was a little nervous. This was the first corn I have canned/frozen. It was EASY!!! The only bad part is shucking the corn. It wasn't that bad, just messy.


Hunter really dug it, he just gnawed away on the ears. We tried to keep him to just one, but he wanted to see if they all tasted the same. Look at the cute boy!

Day 4: more tomatoes. 3 more bushels to be exact. I was so tired of tomatoes. But it will be nice to have them in my pantry. If I am going to put them in my food they better taste good. Home canned tomatoes are the reason I put them in any of my food at all. I don't think I bought tomatoes the first 6 years of my marriage. About two years ago Kathy roped me in to helping her do some. As a thank you she gave me about 8 or so pints. I honestly didn't think I would ever use them, but what the hey, ask my husband, I can't say no to free anything. Needless to say I did use them. In about 2 months. I then begged to make them again but never hit the seasons right with our trips up to Utah. Until this year. As a result we now have 60 pints of tomatoes to bring home with us in October. We did 83 in all. I was so tired of them, but I will appreciate all of my hard work for the next 2 years. Hopefully by then I will have forgetten the hideous smell and the slimy feel on my hands. Here's hoping....


Here was the dining room table at the end of the week. It was full! The corn took up the entire extra freezer. It's going to take almost the entire back of the car to get it all back in October. Why October? Because Ryan said I could do as much as I want but I was not allowed to bring any of it home until our October trip. Neither of us wanted to move everything twice. I figured it was fair.







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