Holy Beets!

let's be clear here... i don't even like beets.

and neither does rowan or bubba. 

but they sure were fun to grow. 

and i'm even a bit crazy enough to grow more! 

don't ask why.. 

so bubs and i pulled up all of the beets. 

and the soil and location weren't the best, so they didn't grow to their full potential, but that's ok. 

i'm hoping for some new raised beds on the side of the house by next spring. 

ssshhh... don't tell bubba. 

i haven't let him know yet! 

of course rowan lets pulling carrots. :)

so i decided that being as some of my family members, including my mom, love pickled beets, that i would make some pickled beets!

even though i've never even eaten one myself. 

didn't know what i was doing. 

and didn't know how they would turn out because there was no way i was going to try these out myself. 

so.. i cut off all the leaves except about 2 inches. and left the roots intact. 

boiled them for about 20 mins until i could poke with a fork.

then i made this mix. this is the hot liquid that goes into the jars. 

with vinegar, water, and some spices like allspice and chives.

in the middle of all my canning glory.. this happened:

seriously. 

please tell me WHY the foot went in the window to begin with?

who does that? 

now it was time for a cold water bath, some skinning and chopping. 

it looked like a murder scene in my kitchen. 

but i'm hoping that in the end these will make great Christmas gifts. 

p.s. rowan's foot was saved. after i took pictures against her will. 

surprise!

this past week:

 

remember those box of pears?

well they got canned up.

and I also made 4 jars of pear butter in crockpot.

perfect for fall! :)

 

and my huge bowl of tomatoes?!

well after giving away a bunch of tomatoes, I still had a bunch left.

so I made spaghetti sauce.

and then I gave away some more tomatoes!

they are coming out my ears. and being as i'm the only one in the house who eats them there are always extras.

 

I tried to find the recipe I used to make this sauce, but I couldn't.

and I have homework to do. so basically it's tomatoes, basil, onion, garlic and I cooked and blended.  

 

I got to spend my Saturday night with these lovely ladies!!

 

and... boy was I in for a big surprise!

 

a few months ago I bawled my eyes out when I had to say goodbye to my lovely lady friend as she moved back to California.

well... little did I know that she moved back up here, just for 6 weeks, and showed up at my house!

I was beyond thrilled and i'm so happy to have some more time to spend with her! yay!!!

what a great week.

 

now... on to homework.

I should NOT be blogging.

more.

i picked some more tomatoes.. 

they seem to be never ending. and every time i go out there with a bowl.. i always end up with way more tomatoes than can fit. 

and one zucchini. 

i'm not sure what is up with my zucchini plants, but i've only been able to pick 2 zucchinis so far. 

and i ended up buying a box of pears. 

yay for more canning.

why do i do this to myself? ha!

Peaches, Peaches & More Peaches!!

ya... those peaches we picked.. those 40 lbs of peaches.

they were amazing.

but boy was i exhausted by the time i was done with all of these.

but it will all be worth it when we open a jar of peaches in the middle of January.

 

 

 

 

 

these were the first batch of peaches...

after putting them in hot water to peel off the skins, i sliced and diced and threw them in a bucket of lemon water.

 

first batch of delicious peaches!

and then i made some peach jam!

 

and some peach lemonade which my family slurped down the entire pitcher in two days.

 

and some ice cream.

 

 

however, i think my kitchen was too warm and my ice cream maker warmed up too quickly so my ice cream didn't get that cold, but i just threw it in the freezer to harden up.

 

 

my end loot... my two batches of canned peaches and a batch of jam.

 

after deciding that i was tired of making a bunch of stuff, i sliced up the rest and froze them for later!

 

lots of peaches... peaches for me.

In the kitchen

 

rowan and i worked in the kitchen today

working on all those blackberries we picked!

 

 

she loves mashing up those blackberries for some yummy freezer jam!

 

 

she was pretty intense and methodical about it all

 

after we made about 8 jars of jam we had some leftover and i decided to throw it on the dehydrator.

it's still drying and next time i think i will blend it instead of just mashing.

 

i picked up a big bunch of bananas marked down to 0.79 so decided to fill the rest of the trays with those.

my house smells glorious!

 

{iphone pics}