I've never enjoyed canning. Let's face it, it's a LOT of work! But, having been raised on home-canned foods, I really prefer them. I mean, REALLY. Especially fruits.
Anyway, this past summer I was complaining to a friend about how I HAVE to can since I love the taste of canned peaches and pears so much. She started telling me about how she LOVED canning. She said she would buy a box of apples and set aside a day of the week that she wasn't too busy and look forward to it all week. It was kind of "her" time to do something she really enjoyed.
It got me thinking... I guess her attitude rubbed off on me, because I started looking at canning in a whole different light. I really enjoyed it. In fact, I enjoyed it so much that I canned peaches, pears, applesauce and tomatoes with peppers and onions. That's not to say it wasn't hard, but the rewards are so worth it! I can actually say I felt like canning was a PLEASURE, and my attitude even rubbed off on Eric! I especially enjoyed the pears. They were perfectly ripe and the skins peeled off so smoothly. It was a real joy. Now, since I am posting this several months later, I can say that we have really enjoyed our home-canned pears, peaches, applesauce, and Rotel tomatoes! Every time I get a jar to open, I feel a little bit of joy knowing that, "I did that!"
These pictures aren't necessarily in order. We did the peaches in July. The rest were done in October or early November.
We did peaches around July 28. That night was crazy and I hadn't achieved the "love part" yet with these. Eric and I started around 6-7pm on a Saturday night and were up most of the night. Around 2am when we had 50 jars canned and still had a lot left, I started cutting them up and freezing them. They have worked great for smoothies.
Micah wasn't cooperating very well that night either. Usually he would go to bed and sleep all night, but I guess there was just too much noise cause he kept waking up. So finally, we brought him down in the swing to sleep. That worked out fine until I took him out of his swing to put him in his bed. That was a mistake! He woke up and was wide awake! I nursed him (which is usually guaranteed to get him to sleep), but nothing worked. He was awake, and stayed awake for a long time after we were exhausted and finally ready for sleep. We were up most of the night. I felt like I was in a trance at church the next due to my lack of sleep.
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| It was kind of fun to learn that these apples may have come from the orchard in Washington where my sister works. |
My sister, Melanie, got me hooked on bountiful baskets this past spring. I would get one almost every week, which changed to every other week in the fall when they changed their offerings. I have enjoyed SO much having fresh fruits and vegetables on hand most all the time. I was excited when they offered these Washington apples for sale by the 40 lb box!
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| Honeycrisp Apples |
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| Beautiful Applesauce |
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| We bought this food strainer to help us out with the applesauce |
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| Gorgeous Red Pears from Oregon |
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| Pears finished! My favorite part is looking at the finished product on my counter. |
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| Skinned Tomatoes |
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| My version of Rotel tomatoes (I thought they were going to be too spicy, but they are perfect!) |
1 comment:
Love seeing the finished product! Great job!
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