I have never canned this much before! I thought I was done after I did the grape juice. Isn't it pretty?
Then Jeff brought in a huge amount of green peppers and tomatoes from the garden. He said, "How about making some more salsa. So I did some more salsa.
I was really starting to feel like this about my canner at this point....
I am so glad to be done with canning!! It is so worthwhile, but so exhausting! We had an overabundance of peppers and tomatoes, so after canning, I froze peppers and dried tomatoes. I'm still trying to figure out how I am going to use the dried tomatoes! The peppers are great frozen. I froze them halved, and then I make stuffed peppers with them. They are yummy! I just need to figure out how to use the dried tomatoes. I dried them because I had so many of them canned that I didn't want to can anymore!
Besides the canning, we have been finishing up with the adoption homestudy. We had our last meeting this past week, so the paperwork is done!! Yippee! They told us that the paperwork on their end of it should be done right after Thanksgiving, so they will be ready to show our profiles to the expectant moms that come in. Wow, it all seems unreal! We are seriously needing to start working on the nursery. We found out today at church that someone has a crib they can give us, so we are so thankful for that! We have tons of clothes...if the baby is a girl! If we have a boy, we have no clothes right now. We also have been trying to come up with names. That has been harder than I remembered. Evie keeps giving her suggestions, and they are usually the names of her dolls :).
I have been amazed at how God has helped me to get stuff done through all of this. I have been able to keep on track with homeschooling, and Evie has been able to do Bible quizzing and homeschool get-togethers. I still have tons of things to do, but I'm trying to pace myself. We are planning on starting on the nursery after Christmas. I am going to have to move the homeschool room to the dining room, which should be interesting!
I hope it won't be months and months before I blog next!
5 comments:
That is a lot of canning. I doubt I would have had the patience to do it. I suspect you can use the dried tomatoes in any recipe that has liquid in it to start off with (such as a paella or casserole) or in place of sun-dried tomatoes. They might even be quite nice on their own chopped up into salads or as an antipasto platter.
Looking forward to more on the adoption front.
Hi Jen,
Just asked about how things were going with the adoption on the other board, but I've caught up now! LOL! So excited for you! I pray everything will go smoothly and a baby will be in your future soon!
You have really worked hard on that canning! I can see why you were ready to shoot it! LOL!
Yay! You're back again for now! :) I miss you when you don't write in your blog, but I know you've been busy... and with a new little one before too long? Wow-oh-wow... I am waiting with baited breath as they say. I do hope all goes well; I am so excited for you and Jeff (and Evie!).
I laughed at the picture of you wanting to shoot your canner - hahaha! You do so much and I am always impressed. It is a lot of work, but like you said - so worthwhile. I enjoyed my introduction to it this year and hope to use it even more next year. It's work, but for me it's kind of like meditation or something... peaceful. But then, I don't have the same kind of workload or distractions you have!
I've not used my dried tomatoes yet, but assume (I hope?) I can use them where I use sun dried tomatoes... in the harrissa that I make and in soups and casseroles, etc. - like Jules suggested. I just like to have different ways of saving food and now have veggies that are that are frozen, canned and dehydrated. It's so cool!
Jules - Thanks for the ideas! I have never used them before, so it will be interesting to see if I like them that way.
Fox - Thanks so much for praying! The process has been very smooth so far, so that is a huge answer to prayer :).
April - Aww, thank you! I have missed you too, and have missed blogging! Now that canning is done, it should be easier to blog. I'll post any updates about the adoption too :).
As for the canning, it seems that every year near the end of the season, I am really ready to be done. I think it is because I am trying to homeschool along with doing canning. Every year, I think I will just give up. Then I start planning my garden all over again :). I'm already doing that, and the season just ended! It is so great to have the food. I feel blessed every time I walk downstairs and see all the jars! I'm glad you are enjoying canning too! It can get pretty addictive!
Hahaha! Jen in the kitchen with a weapon in her hand. I LOVE that!
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