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| the lovely canning and homebrew storage shelving that my husband built. (yes, the basement is dimly lit...) |
lately i've done some pickling, pressure canning, and made some pie filling.
my beets are coming up like crazy right now. they are so delicious, the roots and the greens.
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| dark pickled delicious goodness |
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| chicken stock |
did you know that regular canning lids are coated in BPA? and that you have to throw them away after one use? this summer i decided to switch to Tattler lids. they are plastic, but BPA-free and reusable. the rubber ring gasket must be new each time, but not the lid. they certainly cost more, but i love the idea of using them over and over. i'm a fan!
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| the cherry chomper and i having a date at 4am. pregnancy isn't always that great for sleeping... |
last summer i discovered the amazing montmorency tart cherries from ayers creek farm. i didn't get any then, but dreamed about all of the ways i could use them. so this summer i did a little research and decided to can some cherry pie filling using these wonderful cherries. don't they look like little jewels?
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| the cherry chomper in action! |
gigi and i had fun with a our new kitchen addition, the cherry chomper! so cute, and so easy to use a two year old can do it.
i used a recipe from Putting Food By. once all of the cherries were pitted, it came together really quickly. i'm really excited about the addition of almond extract. if you ask me, not enough things in this world are almond flavored.
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| three quarts of cherry pie filling with Tattler lids! |
last year we hosted christmas dinner and i cooked and baked up a storm! this year i'll have a newborn at christmas, so my hosting dreams will have to be put on hold. the great thing about canned pie filling is that all i need to make is the crust, pour in a quart of filling, and pop it in the oven. i'm pretty sure i can manage that with a two week old baby. we'll see...
