Canning 2012

 This year our garden was very unproductive, partly from lack of water, but mainly from neglect. Shame on us.  We were out of town way too much for a garden to thrive.  Anyway we still have been blessed by good sales, local produce and friends who have fruit in their back yards.  This is a photo of me canning green gage plums.  They were given to us by a friend and neighbor and were delicious.  They look a little like olives in the jar after processing but I'm sure they will be delicious this winter. 

I was able to buy some great chilis from our local nursery/farmer's market.  Every fall they have chilis and they will even roast them for you.  I didn't have them roasted because I wasn't ready to put them up yet so I roasted them myself.  I bought Ancho chilis and the man selling them seemed worried that they would be too hot for us to eat.  I didn't tell him that my crew likes it hotter the better.  I got a half bushel box of these for $20.00.  This produced 21 1/2 pint jars.  This is cheaper than buying them in the store, even on sale.

Peaches. Sprouts had peaches on sale for .69 cents/pound.  They are Washington peaches and weren't the best I had seen but were very tasty and I canned them with a light syrup.  I also have another box that I got from our food co-op Bountiful Baskets and am going to can those too.  They are Utah peaches and are not quite ripe yet.  I'll do those on Tuesday.  I have a box of pears that I bought from the grocery store for  .79 cents/pound and need to do those today.

 



This is a box of nectarines that my friend Jeannie gave me.  My boys went and picked them.  They are white fleshed and delicious.  I had a couple sliced up on my oatmeal this morning.  Delicious!

 

 Other things I have canned this season are tomatoes, bought from Sprouts also, for .69 cents/pound.  I put up 50 pounds of those boys. 

 

I am planning to can a 40 lb bag of dry beans and also some chicken.  It is nice to have cannned beans onhand and makes preparing a dinner a lot quicker.

  I have not bought from Bountiful Baskets before and today was our first time.  We got 2 baskets that had fruit and vegetables and also an Italian package, 5 loaves of 9 grain bread, the peaches and two flats of strawberries that are now in the freezer.  I am going to freeze some strawberries and can the sweet potatoes.  I had better get busy.

 

We are truly blessed to have all this bounty!

Homemade Mozarella Cheese

A couple of years ago I was reading this book, and she told



 

 

about making homemade cheese and going to a cheese making class in New England.  I couldn't stand it so I got up and went and googled said cheesemaking company and found this place:http://www.cheesemaking.com/

 

 

They are a real cheese making supply and instruction place.  I found myself ordering a kit  for a homemade mozzarella that only takes 30 minutes to make.  It is like magic.  You heat the milk and add a few things and then heat it again in the microwave and then you have shiny, stretchy and delicious cheese.  We had purchased some heirloom tomatoes from Sprouts  http://www.sprouts.com/

and I had some basil in my pots and so we made a capresi salad.  Stuart had not seen me making cheese since he came  home from his mission so he was impressed.  The salad above is the result of this effort.  I have also used it on pizza, and just eating out of hand.  It is delicious.  You should try it sometime.