The Week in Progress

Last week was a bust around here in terms of getting things done.  My family was sick, and I was laid up with a pinched nerve that left me unable to use one hand...it was everything I could do just to keep ahead of the dishes!  I did manage to wash some tomatoes and make two pints of kosher dill pickles, but not much else.

This week has gone better in terms of productivity.  I've been slowly going through the last of the garden tomatoes as they turn ripe.  I made a giant pot of spaghetti sauce that we ate then froze the rest, followed by a pot of chili, and then I discovered a really awesome Mexican rice recipe, which can be found here:  http://mexican.food.com/recipe/mexican-rice-117892.  It is easy to make, and I usually have all the ingredients on hand.  I've made it on the stovetop and it was okay, but for really fantastic rice be sure to bake it as the recipe says.

And in other news...we have apples!  We were allowed to pick off of someone's lone tree, so today Mom and I geared up and went out to pick.  For about thirty-five minutes of work we have three five gallon buckets and two printer-paper boxes of beautiful red apples--I think they might be red delicious, but the taste is far and above anything we can get in stores.  These apples were allowed to grow without any kind of spraying, so I don't have to worry to about peeling them either!

My plan for today is to finish working up the last of the garden tomatoes; I am going to blend them with onion and then freeze them in two cup portions for the Mexican rice above.  I also have a bag of jalapenos that is going to be divided between the dehydrators and the freezer today, and I want to get a head start on apple prep.  Most of these apples are earmarked for our year's supply of apple butter, but all of my half-pint and pint jars are already full.  I do still have a fifty gallon drum about half full of quart jars in the barn, so I will can my apples as sauce in quarts, then turn it into apple butter as we need it this winter, a quart at a time. The sauce can also be cooked down into hillbilly apple pies, used as an oil substitute in baked goods, and is generally more versatile than just canned apple butter.  Today I want to wash and dry my apples, and get the jars out of the barn and washed.  These are jars that haven't been used in years, and I'm getting to the bottom of my jar supply.  Luckily the apples are the last of my planned canning, but I may or may not have pears coming in the next few weeks as well.

Tomorrow I will turn my pile of apples into neat, shiny jars of sauce.  I'm so, so happy to get my hands on some apples for this winter!

How has your week been?