Introduction

Hello!

The purpose of this blog is kind of like a step by step cook book for me and anyone else reading. I'll be blogging about my cooking adventures, which will help me to remember any mistakes I make, or changes to the recipe that I should make. I am going to try to do a bit of everything, but I am trying to focus on money saving cooking like making my own spaghetti sauce so it's one less thing I don't have to buy at the store, meaning more money saved! I hope you enjoy my adventures in the kitchen!

-Nina

Canning Peaches

So today I finally got around to canning my second and third (and last, I think) batch of peaches. They had been sitting in my fridge, ripening and waiting for me for about a week, week and a half now! With school its hard to fit in enough time to can during the week though, so I had to wait until Saturday. Today I was all by myself canning, no boyfriend to help peel or quarter the peaches while I got the water boiling (for the jars) and the sugar syrup ready. No biggy though, it worked out well! The only problem I had was picking up 2 500ml jars out of the water once they were done processing for 15 minutes. I ended up dropping them twice (by accident of course) back into the boiling water which cause boiling water to splash all over my face. Good news is the jars didn't break and I didn't burn! I finally got those pesky jars out and they are currently cooling on the table. In total I have done 8 500ml and 1 250ml jars of peaches! I guess this means I'll have to get some vanilla ice cream to enjoy them with!

Peaches aren't the only thing I've canned this year. Here's a list of all the yummy food I have canned:

- 6 500ml jars, 12 250ml jars and 2 1litre jars of jam in the early summer/late spring (strawberry, mulberry and strawberry-mulberry)
-9 500ml jars and 2-250ml jars worth of dill pickle slices
-4 500ml jars full of bread and butter pickles
-3 500ml jars of salsa
-1 500ml and 1 250ml jars of spaghetti sauce (which was quite tasty!)

I still have 4-2 litre baskets of pears to can along with a bunch of tomatoes to make more spaghetti sauce and salsa and some shallots to pickle as well. Oh and I can't forget about my basket of pickles/baby cucumbers. I'm going to try my hand at gherkins! Of course I will be making apple sauce soon, which is always a favourite at holiday dinners!