Our Subtle Fall and Not So Subtle Driving Nudge

The sun is shining again and we have a break from our first part of the week rainy weather.  BUT, you can feel the change in the air.  Fall is here.  It's sublte here.  There is a shift in how the sun shines.  The air feels different.  It smells different.  We have trees that have leaves and stay green all year long.  We also have some that don't, and those are beginning to turn.  Our white birch ( my attempt at Quakies), are not as deep green; their leaves are muted with some golden hues emerging.  And the Liquid Ambers! Oh, the delicious reds and purples will be in full blaze shortly.  We begin the 'windies' soon.  Those Santa Ana winds that bring havoc and arsonists.  But even those signal fall with their higher temperatures.

Christine even commented on the autumn change when I picked her up from school this afternoon.  Speaking of which...This is how that goes:

School gets out at 2:45pm.  I leave around 2:55pm to pick her up.  The line is long.  And I don't want to be there at 2pm and sit and wait for an hour.  They have staff who direct traffic.  I like that.  I turn in to the outer circle and pull into the staff parking lot.  I go over to the left side.  She and Amanda walk to the car.  I put it in park, and get out and go to the passenger side.  Chris piles her stuff into the back, and Amanda gets in the back.  Then Christine gets in the driver's side and drives.  I know the drill now, but it took me a while.  It threw me off when she kept showing up at my door motioning for me to get out. That permit is used whenever there is an opportunity! 

I am an apron person.  Especially the last few years.  I wear one during the day doing regular tasks.  Laundry, cleaning, dishes, cooking.  They are so practical and so cute now-a-days.  The vintage look and chef look are making a comeback.  Well, a few times I've forgotten about our school pick-up routine.  I hadn't given it a thought until I caught her expression and exclamation of, "Mom!  Why do you have your apron on?!?!?!"  uh-oh. 

She is a really good driver, and just about done with all her daylight hours.  We need to make more night-time driving opportunities though so she can complete those.

Perspective?

Ok.  I've hit the wall today.  I'm feeling the 'let-down' of being gone for 2 weeks, coming home and getting back into the routine, putting all the canning away, catching up on laundry, and we are on our 3rd day of rain.  Weird thing is, I love rainy days.  And these are allowing me to validate some time to put myself back together,  but all of it combined is making me a bit 'down in the dumps'.

Experience has taught me that I know I just need to patiently wait out the next few days and I'll be back to my regular self.  So I'm trying to just pick one thing each day to focus on.  Clean sheets.  Dinner.  Praying.  When I get like this it seems I pay more attention to my prayers.  That is a good thing, but it would be good to beef up my prayers on a regular basis, huh.  I don't like to admit that I am getting a 'touch' older and am coming to terms with the fact that I just don't bounce back like I used to.  Therefore, it's okay to take a few days to do that.  I used to be able to 'run'--just go from one thing to the next without skipping a beat.  Now I find it takes me a while to adjust from big thing to the next. 

I've had a lot of internal conversations about this with myself these last few days.  Is this a new season I'm entering?  Is it okay?  Does it change? get better?  Do I embrace it or fight it?  I have some friends who are starting to admit to this same thing, but I have others who just keep 'running' away from it.  I'm not saying I'm ready for the rocking chair, but what is the new balance?  One of my visiting teachers is 80.  I love her.  She is so full of wisdom and we really do enjoy each other.  She keeps telling me to 'run' right into it!  Haha!  That it is a beautiful thing to move from one season of a covenant woman's life to the next.  And she tells me that there are 100 different seasons to life, not just '4'.  That you can be right in the middle of one and it abruptly bumps to another or that one might just melt into another and we don't even realize it until we look back on things quite a while later.

Lots to ponder about on this rainy day.  While I'm changing the sheets.

In evaluation, the canning experience was awesome, but we bit off way more than we should have.  I wrote everything down so next time we will have a better perspective on yields that will help us plan better.  I will not do that much at one time again. The problem we face is that we are at the mercy of the fruit.  We don't live in an area where we can get it and do one box a week, so to speak, so we don't get burned out.

Salsa

The salsa is done.

Canning season is coming to an end for me.

We did 42 pints, and I think I want to do at least one more batch.

I figured out it costs about 50 cents a jar compared to the $3-4 dollars when you buy salsa in the store.  (Of course, that all depends on if you already have your jars, canning equipment, and have tomatoes from your garden.)  But even if you add one item a canning season and get your tomatoes at the local grocery, it becomes very economical.

Grandma Duffy's Salsa Recipe
Yield:  21 pints, 10-11 quarts

Ingredients:
28 cups peeled, cut tomatoes (approximately 40-45 medium sized) [28 cups = 7 quarts]***
3 onions, diced
5 green bell peppers, diced small
3 yellow bell peppers, diced small
3 jalapeno peppers, seeded and diced small****
1 Anaheim chili pepper,seeded and diced small
2 cloves garlic, chopped (you can also use a jarred garlic.  It equals 2 teaspoons.)
1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes****
3 1/2 Tablespoons salt
2 Tablespoons garlic salt
2 Tablespoons sugar
2 cups vinegar
1 large can tomato sauce (2 cups)
1 large can tomato paste (12 oz.size) [add one 6 oz. can if salsa is too runny]

Prepare tomatoes and vegetables.  Put in large kettle or turkey roaster and add all of the spices and tomato paste.  Bring to a boil and simmer for 30 minutes.  (I like to cover mine while simmering).

Prepare canning jars, lids, and seals.  Fill bottles and process for 30 minutes.  Remove from canner/water-bath and let cool on a towel on your counter.  When cool, wipe down and label.

Be careful--This is addicting.  The good news is that it is all natural and has no preservatives that you can't pronounce!

***I have also made this with canned, petite diced tomatoes from the store in place of the fresh tomatoes.  In all honesty, you cannot tell the difference and it saves a big step in peeling and cutting the tomatoes.  28 cups = 8,  28 ounce cans.  There are roughly 4 large tomatoes in a 14 oz. can.  These are always on sale, so pick a few up here and there.

****This makes a mild salsa.  My family likes a little more kick to ours, so I add 1 more jalapeno pepper and 1 more teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes (for a total of 2 teaspoons).  It's not a lot hotter, but has a bit more 'punch'.

Frozen Peach Cobbler Filling

This isn't my picture--I got it off the internet--but it looks just like this recipe.

Enjoy!

 Frozen Peach Cobbler Filling

Ingredients for filling:
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/3 cup cornstarch
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon Fruit Fresh
1/4 teaspoon (or more if you like) almond extract
8 fresh peaches, peeled and sliced ( you might need more or less depending on the size of the peaches, but enough to fill a 9X13 pan)

Mix sugar, cornstarch, cinnamon,and Fruit Fresh together.  Mix almond extract into sliced peaches.  Add sugar mixture and combine well.  Place labeled gallon freezer bag in a medium mixing bowl with opening wide.  The bowl will support the bag upright.  Place filling into freezer bag, removing air, seal and freeze.  (I like to lay and freeze them flat.)

Ingredients for Topping:
2 cups flour
1/4 cup sugar
1 Tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup oil
1/4 cup plus 2 Tablespoons milk
2 eggs, slightly beaten

Mix together all dry ingredients.  In small mixing bowl or glass measuring cup, combine oil, milk and eggs.  Stir into dry ingredients with fork until just blended. 

On Baking Day:
Thaw the fruit filling and pour into 9 X 13 baking dish sprayed with Pam.  Dot with 4 tablespoons butter.  Drop topping by large spoonfuls over cobbler.  Bake at 350* for 45 minutes until light brown.

(If this is too large of a recipe for you, you can successfully divide it in half.)

Dishwasher and Wading Pool

 John is at the stage of loving the dishwasher.  He has learned how to climb up on the door and sit on it.  He loves playing with the silverware, but Oma (my mom's name for great grandma) only lets him play with the spoons.  He pulls them out, bangs them on the door, and throws them on the floor.  Then reverses the order by picking them up, banging on the door, and puts them back in the holder.

He also loves water.  The bathtub, the hose, the faucet, the sprinklers, his sippie cup, a bottle of water,  Auntie's pool and his wading pool.  Robert is vigilant when he is in the pools.  His younger brother, Jason, drowned at 2 years old in their backyard pool.  It can happen so suddenly and quietly.

Ever Faithful

Dear Darla kept vigil during our canning in the laz-y-boy with a blanket and one of her 'babies'.  She is so loving and faithful.

--side note:  on the drive out and the drive home, she laid on her blanket in the passenger seat opposite me.  When she would get warm or need to change position, she would stand up and put her face right in the path of the a/c vent.  She was blowin' in the wind!  Smart doggy!

Frozen Peach Pie Filling

I love this recipe.

It is quick, easy, and delicious.  You can have a summer peach pie any time of year.

Frozen Peach Pie Filling

Ingredients:
9-10 pounds peaches
2 teaspoons Fruit Fresh
3 1/2 cups sugar
1/2 cup plus 3 Tablespoons quick cooking tapioca
1/4 cup lemon juice
1 teaspoon salt

Directions:
To peel peaches, first bring a pot of water to a boil.  Using a paring knife, score the peaches with an X in the the blossom end of the skin only.  Gently drop the peaches in the boiling water for approximately 30-60 seconds.  Using a slotted spoon, remove the peaches and place them in iced water for a minute or so.  The skins should slip off easily.  If not, place back into the boiling water for another 30seconds.

Peel, remove the pit, and discard.  Slice the peaches and put them in a bowl.  Add lemon juice.  Mix.  Mix Fruit Fresh, sugar, tapioca and salt together, add to peaches, mixing well.

Line 4 pie pans with heavy foil, placing plastic wrap across in one direction and then turn the pan 1/4 turn and put another piece of plastic wrap across in the other direction.  Make sure they are long enough to cover the filling.  Divide evenly (about 4-5 cups) per pan.  Loosely fold wrap over filling, then the foil, leaving it in the pan and freeze until firm.  When filling is frozen solid, remove from pans and wrap tightly.  Put into gallon ziploc freezer bags and label.  Return to freezer until ready to use.

On Pie Baking Day:
Ingredients:
2 nine-inch pie crusts (for bottom and top)
1/2 stick (4 tablespoons) butter
1 teaspoon cinnamon or nutmeg

For each pie, simply place frozen pie filling in pie shell, dot with butter and sprinkle with cinnamon or nutmeg.  Top pie with an additional pastry crust, seal well, brush with a little milk and sprinkle with a bit of sugar.  Bake for 50-60 minutes in a preheated 375 degree oven.

Rocks

John has discovered outside.

He loves everything about it except for lawnmower engines.  Too loud.

One of his passions is rocks.  Oh and mud.  But I didn't get a picture of that.

A true boy.

Even though it was 104*, he had to be outside.

I won't even walk on these rocks barefoot, but he has no problem walking, crawling, and sitting on them.  He can't get enough of the rocks.  He pushes them around, picks them up, drops them, tosses them, and puts them in his mouth.

At Lisa's, he had a particular liking to one rock and wouldn't let it go to come inside.  He cried so hard, Natalie had to take him back out and he picked it up and brought it in.  He even had to bring it with him in  his car seat on the ride home!

Scale

 This scale has been in my family for a long time.

It first belonged to my grandfather, Kurt Abramowski.  He was a butcher by trade and he used it to weigh and measure his ingredients for sausages and salamies and all manner of other yummies.

My grandmother, Minnie (his wife), used it in her kitchen.  The scale on the counter is one of my earliest memories.

As my grandma got older, the scale ended up in my mom's kitchen while she and her sisters got together to bake stollen and honishcuchen at the holidays.  Everything in those german recipes has to be weighed out.  I remember coming home after school to my aunts and mother laughing and working together getting the baked goods ready for Christmas.  I can still feel the warmth and security of that scene as I type it.

I hadn't really given the scale much thought until my mom took it out of the garage cupboard to weigh out the peaches for the pie fillings.  The memories washed over me.  I just had to take a few pictures.  And now a fourth generation is using it to measure.  

Roaster

In 1982, our next door neighbors in Santa Ana, Rodger and Barbara Wyman, had a yard sale.  We were really poor having recently graduated from college and buying our first house.  I was doing in-home daycare to make ends meet and had two little boys of my own.  I had one pair of shoes--flip flops--that I wore for and to everything.  Our house payment took our whole two-week paycheck and then some of the next.  Obviously, we were on a tight budget.  I mosied on over across the grass to their driveway and perused the items on the folding tables. I found this darling round granite-ware roaster.  It was 99 cents.  I counted out my coin and went home with my treasured purchase.  It was the perfect size to roast a whole chicken.  From that time on it was always referred to as the 'roast chicken pan'.  About 6 months ago we had to put it in the trash.  It was finally worn out.

While in AZ, we went to the Honeyville store, and there on a shelf of new products was the same kind of darling round roaster!  So I put it in the cart and made my purchase.  It was $12.95 now instead of my yard sale price, but I came home with it just as excited and proud as my first acquisition.

Roast chicken is back, better than ever!  (I don't know why, but this pan just makes the best roast chicken ever.)

Tally

Tally to date:

• 84 quarts pears
• 74 quarts peaches
• 64 pints raspberry freezer jam
• 24 pints peach freezer jam
• 15 pints raspberry/peach freezer jam (my favorite)
• 40 frozen peach pie fillings
• 20 frozen peach cobbler fillings
• 42 pints Salsa

Still to do:

• 1 box peaches
• 1 box tomatoes

I'm Home

*I am finally home.  13 days later.  Grandma and Grandpa sent us off with a hearty breakfast.  It is so typical 'them'.  A good memory.  Josh and Meredith came by for dinner and to say hi and Shaun was home for Conference weekend and Salsa making.  It was 'heaven'.  Just needed Nats, Rob, and Johnny-boy here.
*I had to bring home one box of peaches because they still weren't ready,  I think I will bottle one more batch and then make cobbler fillings with the rest, but I was determined to get home yesterday.  Mike and Adrianne came out on Tuesday to help and do some Family IQ meetings.  I led and they followed.  For some reason my cruise control wasn't working and that annoyed me.  I love cruise control.  Adrianne was heaven-sent.  An extra pair of hands and her personality made it go by faster.  We were soooo done with pears and peaches.  BUT.  We have a good years worth for the cupboards and all that hard work just feels secure and another perk is that it looks pretty!
*My dad is the best packer.  He got just about everything frozen in my big cooler.  And then everything into my car.  The Denali was literally packed floor to ceiling from behind the driver's seat all the way to the back loading door.  There was a small place for Darla on the front passenger seat.  We did have to borrow their smaller cooler to bring home the rest of the pie fillings.  I debated whether or not I should bring the 'coffin', but decided against it.  It would have been too big because it literally fits an adult person inside it, that's why we call it the 'coffin'.  It's what we take camping and when we go boating.
*All those little crafting projects I brought to work on 'in-between'----haha!  Not one of them even looked at.  I truly fell into bed each night after 8-12 hours on my feet canning. 
*And now we start Grandma Duffy's Salsa tomorrow.  I need a little 'canning' break, but I promised.  I promised.  I'm grateful for all the extra hands we will have to get it done though.  Wish me luck.  I'm really tired.