My not-so-little helper was so proud to carry the recycling bin all the way back to the house!
Today’s quote: “Mommy, you and me are going to help other peoples together.”
Little Helper
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Apples, oranges and peaches…
This week I was lucky enough to host a “Ball Fresh Taste of Summer” house party. We “put up” home made salsa and peach jam. Home canning and preserving isn’t as tricky as you probably think, is fairly economical once you’ve purchased the equipment, and is a great way to make some of summer’s bounty last though the winter. Plus, you know what’s in your food, especially if you grew and picked it yourself. I enjoyed the opportunity to get back to home canning , since I haven’t done any since Ian was born. This was a great “Mamas’ Night” activity, since we set up multiple chopping stations around my table and everyone got to participate while we chatted.
Assuming you already know the basic canning process, here’s the recipe we used:
Peach Jam
4-5 lbs of peaches- just ripe, not too soft!
1/4 cup lemon juice
7 cups sugar
1 1/4 package powdered pectin
- Wash the peaches. Then scald them in boiling water, dunk them in ice water, and pull the peels off. Cut and pit them, then crush them with your hands or a potato masher. You should have about 8-10 cups of crushed peaches.
- Stir in lemon juice. Put peaches and lemon into a large, non-reactive sauce pan over medium to high heat.
- Mix your pectin with 1/4 cup of the sugar. Add pectin mixture to pot and bring to a full boil. This should take about 5 minutes. Add remaining sugar and stir well.
- Bring the mixture back to a boil and let it boil, HARD, for 1 minute. You’ll know it’s done when it “jells” at room temperature. We put a little in a saucer and stuck it in the freezer for a minute.
- Put in pint jar, leaving 1/4″ head space. Apply lids and process in your water bath canner for 5 minutes.
If you need more information on the canning process, a detailed tutorial can be found here.
Tinner Hill Blues Fest
Raba bought everyone’s favorite budding blues man a kazoo, which is naturally his new favorite thing.
Joys will never end
I’ll fly away, oh Glory
I’ll fly away in the morning
When I die Hallelujah, by and by
I’ll fly away.
When the shadows of this life have gone
I’ll fly away
Like a bird from these prison walls I’ll fly
I’ll fly away.
Alison Krauss & Gillian Welch
Photo courtesy of mikebaird via flickr creative common
Billy Goats Gruff
What you see here is Ian dropping one of the “Billy Goats Gruff” over the “bridge” so they can go eat grass “in the meadow.” Naturally, he is wearing protective gear for his encounter with the troll.
Carrot Bread
I came up with this recipe after hours and hours of experimentation in the crummy little kitchen of my first apartment. I know, that sounds nuts, but this was “back in the day” before you could tap your ingredients into Google and have a recipe in seconds, and I wanted to make a carrot bread. I started with a zucchini bread and modified it heavily. I made at least three batches before I came up with something you’d really want to eat. It became a staple of my holiday baking for several years.
My past self could use a few notes from my present self about how to put a recipe together, however… I made a list of ingredients and noted the bake time and just assumed I’d remember the rest. After I had Ian I scaled back my holiday baking, so I made this for the first time in a long time today and apparently I figured it out. So, past self, take note: THIS is how you write out a recipe.
Yield: 1 loaf
3 eggs
3/4 cup sugar
1 cup vegetable oil
2 1/4 cup shredded carrots (finer is better)
1 apple, peeled, cored, and minced
1 Tablespoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon orange extract (optional)
3 cups flour (half whole wheat is okay)
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1 Tablespoon cinnamon
1/2 cup raisins
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 9″ loaf pan with non-stick spray.
Combine eggs, oil, and sugar in a small bowl. Mix well on low speed. Add vanilla, carrot, and apple, and orange extract if using, and combine.
In a medium bowl, combine the flour, salt, baking soda, baking powder, and cinnamon. Stir well.
Add the first bowl to the second bowl and mix well on low speed, occasionally scraping the bottom of the bowl with a rubber spatula.
Fold in raisins. Pour into prepared pan and bake for 50 minutes or until a toothpick in the center comes out clean.
NOTE: You can also substitute grated zucchini for part of the carrots. Zucchini is a little wetter than carrot, so my instinct would be not to substitute more than 1/3 zucchini.
PS: Little Dude LOVED it.
Herb Garden Progess
Sunshine everywhere you look
My sunny little man has been joined at last by our daylillies! My herbs are also making good progress.
We had school today…
You can read more about Ian’s morning here.
Daddy Thunder… (or, Ian’s Thoughts on Thunder Storms.)
Ian loves storms. I think it’s his delight in all things noisy that makes him exclaim, “Oh! There’s Daddy Thunder! And there’s Mommy Thunder! Ian thunder should be coming next week, I think.”
“Mommy, those birds can come in and get a warm, dry towel. Then when the storm is over, they can go fly again.”
“Look, Mommy, the rain is making puddle stompin’ for me and my friends!”
PS… in case you’re wondering, that pic is what you get when Ian insists I go up the steps on the playground, then he takes off down the slide and tries new things.
New Word For Today
All this driftwood is OUT of the water.