New Year, New Things to Try

Pictures will come shortly!

It's another year for Joel and I.  Our years start from September to September, not January to January!  So with one year down and many more to go, I'm still looking for ways to be frugal yet keep things fun and tasty.  My dad and extended family have done this for years but I've just barely gotten to the point where I understand it and am experimenting with it on my own.  So what is it?  Well keep reading. 

Two weeks ago I was at Linda Pyrah's and I learned how to can pears.  We also made applesauce and apple pie filling, and salsa verde.  It was soo good.  Time consuming but really good!  Pizza sauce is yet to come!  I figure with cheap fruit from the Caldwell Church Orchard I should at least try.  My goal is to put away fruit for us to use later, especially baby food for Hailey so I don't have to pay ridiculous amounts of money later on.  Come on Plums were $.10 a pound.  Apples were $.25 and Pears were $.13.  I can't really do better than that.  The jars are more expensive but they last forever! A worthwhile investment.

So experimenting with the plums.  I tried taking my freshly gained knowledge on pears and applying it to the plums.  I boiled the plums for 30-60 seconds to get the skins to come off easily.  Then I cut them in half and attempted to core them... It's much harder to core a plum than to slice out the core of a pear.  Lesson learned.  Also, plums are tiny and it takes a lot more to fill up the jar than say pears or peaches or something bigger.  I canned two pints...I did modify the plums a little compared to the pears I did recently.  I didn't add any sugar because I want these ones to be more for Hailey to add to her rice cereal or something.  So instead of filling the jar with sugar water to make a syrup I pureed some of the plums and put plum puree in the jar instead.  It seems to have turned out well enough.  I haven't tried the actual canned finished product but the puree and the plums were good.

K, next try.  Aunt Lynn makes fruit leather and that's super yummy.   I thought ok, lets try this.  One big downside... no actual food dehydrator.  That's okay, let's improvise.  They say I can cook it in the oven at the lowest temperature.  I thought, "Well, I have a toaster oven that lets the temp go lower than the oven, I'll try one in both."  Needless to say, they both failed! It could be that I got the leather too thick for the capabilities of the toaster oven and then I just overcooked the one in the oven and the edges burned.  So no leather this year.

I also learned that some tools or utensils made specifically for canning such as the grabby tongs for the hot jars... they are a must.  I only did two small jars of plums tonight to experiment and I wished I had the tongs.  But I made do.  I ladelled out the hot water till I could grab the lids with a hot pad holder.  I know, I know.  Craigslist find for $20, 24 pint jars and a canning utensil set.  Perfect!

I still have lots of applesauce, apple pie filling and more pears to do.  It's going to be a busy week.  How do I plan to get it all done with Hailey in tow?  Well, when Joel wakes up at 4:30 to get ready and head off to work.  I just stay up!  That gives me at least 3-5 hours while Hailey continues to sleep.  Then I'll take a nap when she does or go to bed early like Joel does!  The things we do for good food at a cheap price that will last for a long time!  K getting up in the early a.m. didn't work but doing it after she went to bed at 7 was perfect!

I had quite a bit to do but luckily my sister came to help over the weekend.  We found a good system for working together to speed things up.  Our first attempts were applesauce. It turned out well but soon we removed a step.  Instead of straining and getting fresh water to boil the apples in each time, we left the old apple water in the pot and just added more apples... finish byproduct, SUPER AMAZING APPLE JUICE with no sugar added.  Success!

Then as the time was getting late and Dana only had on night left before she left, we decided to make the apple pie filling.  With our apple coring techniques down to a quick science and a Smith family recipe we attempted the filling.  I was worried I wouldn't have enough sugar but we did. What did we find? Super easy, quick, and really sweet and yummy dessert!  What will I modify?  A little less sugar, cinnamon, and corn starch.  A little bit more nutmeg but not much!

I still have more to go and I'll be solo now but it was a blast of an adventure.  I only hope that sooner than later I'll have my own garden and small orchard of my own.  This leads into my next blog. ;)