I woke up at 6:30am with that feeling that I was being watched. Well, that's because there was a weimaraner sitting beside the bed with his head gently resting on the edge sending telepathic "wake up, I'm hungry" messages my way.
This started a whirlwind of house cleaning as the house was a bit of a disaster after me prepping for the fair and my hubby coming home from hunting. We had family coming over for a quick visit and I didn't want to be totally disgraced by the state of my house. I'm not sure who thought it would be a great idea to build such a large house, but I think whoever it was must have thought she'd have a little army of elves to try to keep everything clean. So, house clean, laundry washing, dishwasher running......
Then I realized that I had some blackberries in the fridge that needed to be used so I canned 5 pints of blackberry jam and made a blackberry cobbler. I've made both of these items before so it was quick and painless and made the house smell amazing.
Then I realize I have a huge bag of apples from my friend, Adam, that need to be used. So, I can 9 half pints of apple butter and 9 half pints of apple spice butter. Now, this is a new endeavor for me. I've never made apple butter before even though it's probably my favorite thing to put on toast. Usually I mooch these kinds of things from my mother as she always seems to have a jar or two in her cupboard from the year's leftover apples. But, now that I'm turning 30 (gasp) in a few months and have my own very large house and orchard I need to start learning how to do these things on my own.
A few things I learned while making these items.
- I hate peeling apples. This is why I never make apple pie or apple crisp or apple cobbler. I'm not good at peeling, I always feel like I'm going to cut a finger off, it's sticky and messy and takes forever. I made this process a bit more tolerable by watching SATC season 2 while I was coring, quartering and peeling the 8 pounds of apples.
- Make sure you have all the ingedients you need before you start. Don't assume that you have enough cinnamon just because you never use it and don't particularly like it. So, I ended up getting creative with the second batch and it has my own little personalized blend of spices. Hopefully it tastes ok.
- I'm a food processor kind of girl. I borrowed a food mill from my mom to "smush" the apples after they were cooked the first time. This is a long, messy and frustrating process (at least for me). And I think I'm more of a "push the button" kind of girl. This just means I'll need to add a food processor to my wish list of cooking gadgets.
- Smushed apples will continue to boil even if you have them on the lowest setting on the stove. And by boil I mean continue to throw scalding hot bits of apple goop out of the pot at the person attempting to stir it.
So, with house clean, the blackberry cobbler out of the oven, the blackberry jam and apple butters cooling I decide to marinate venison for homemade fajitas. A little bit of this spice....a little bit of that spice....onions, yellow peppers, homemade corn and avocado salsa.....MMMMmmmmmmm.
When I finally take a moment to rest and snuggle on the couch with my sweetie I realize that I haven't really rested all day. But, you know what? I am extremely happy, content and relaxed. This really is a testament to how much I love cooking and it really is a great source of entertainment and joy for me.
Happy cooking everyone!
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