I told you that Kalissa hit up the produce auction and brought me LOTS of things to process. Besides that I got cucumbers from my niece and made hot dog relish. I haven’t tried this recipe before. I hope it’s a good one. It’s from Mary at Country Threads. You can find it here.
They were easy to put together. A food processor makes everything so much easier.
Also making it easier was the help of this girl…Kayla! She was home for a last hurrah before school and grad classes kick in again. Poor girl is trying to make the most of her freedom. I’ve tried to convince her to slow down on the grad classes but she wants it done.
We did this after childcare on Tuesday.
We both agree that we enjoy canning if we can do it together. It’s much more pleasant to have someone to chat with while working. I know that was one of my favorite times I remember with Hubby’s mom. I always enjoyed helping her can.
I just freeze peaches. It’s easy and I have the freezer room. We were happy have four done and that number grew and grew.
I can’t remember how many we got done, but plenty enough to keep Hubby in pie and crisp for the year. I think we had about 25 bags.
The next day Kayla left and I was on to peppers, onions and tomatoes. These are fajita starter packets…just onions and peppers chopped and ready to go into fajitas. Kayla assured me that all I need to do is chop them up and freeze them. I hope it works!! I have 8 done but have more to do.
Wednesday during nap time I started doing everything I could to start making salsa. I carried up the pans and washed them then started on the food prep part…doing everything I could that didn’t require the heat and the stove which is actually quite a bit.
Kalissa came over as childcare was ending and then we started in FULL FORCE. At 10pm that night we had 32 quarts ready for the pantry. That was a big day and I fell into bed pooped. 10 hours of childcare and the rest of the night making salsa….no sitting at all, except to write a blog post while the last batch of salsa processed in the water bath.
I went to bed feeling really accomplished. Then the next morning I woke up and started carrying it all to the basement. As I came back up the stairs there I saw it…bags of sweet corn a childcare family gave us. They had asked if I wanted any….I said sure, 2 dozen would be great. These are feed sacks so I’m sure there is LOTS so next up sweet corn processing is going to happen.
Once this is done…I’m hoping I’m done-done.
I really do love doing it but why oh why does it all have to happen over the course of one week.
I always have a love/hate relationship with canning this time of year :)
Everything looks delicious! I have made one batch of pickles so far. I have a recipe that is my mom’s to make hot dog relish using zucchini instead of cucumbers. It’s tastes great and is a good use for the zucchini that quadruple in size overnight! It is such a good feeling to open up a jar of something you’ve canned, especially in the middle of winter. We also chop and feeeze bags of peppers, too. They come out great!
I have always cut up onions and peppers for the freezer. I don’t even thaw them to use, just break some off in the bag and throw it into whatever I am making! So easy!!!
Homemade salsa is the best and I envision that the hot dog relish is wonderful being homemade. My mom always makes her tarter sauce and gives us all a jar at Christmas, it jars of love. Happy corn freezing.
How do you do your corn? I have a great recipe for baking it with butter and cream and then letting it cool and freezing it.
Do you freeze the corn on or off the cob? I always froze it on the cob, just blanching it for a bit and individually wrapping it in Reynold’s Wrap.
These are some of the fondest memories I have of time with my mom and sister. It does get crazy when all the produce goes crazy in the garden at the same time, but is sure is yummy during the winter months. Those peaches look wonderful!
Our corn & the green beans always seem to be ready at the same time and they’re both so time consuming. I do my peppers that way too…just chop them up or cut in strips for stir fry and into the freezer they go. Now I’m on to tomatoes. Before long it will be apples & pears.
I was actually feeling sad that I can no longer do this with my Mom. Her and I were a great team and I even miss the hard work we used to do together. I hope your daughters know what a treasure they have. I always knew, but not sure I told her enough while I had her. Enjoy!
Jo, quick question: How do you get that pan to work on your glass top stove? Does it have a concave bottom?
I’m going to start on tomatoes sometime this week. Should be fun:)