More Winter Preparations

Last Saturday the girls and I headed off to the orchards after work to get some farm fresh fruit for canning.  I bought a box of peaches and a box of pears.  They had the most beautiful green bell peppers too so I bought four of them to dice up for the freezer.  The girls each picked out an apple to eat when we got home.  It is a special time for us and a nice drive into the country.

 

 

Usually we would plan a second trip out there next month for apples but because we have plenty of applesauce left from last year we won’t be doing that this time.  We are in the same shape for pumpkin puree too.  We’ll use the apple and pumpkin money to stock up on something else. 

On Sunday morning I started my day off by getting a load of laundry going and a pot of coffee brewing.  Once I had coffee in hand I made a batch of rhubarb jam.  I have never made it before so I am hopeful it tastes okay.  The recipe made 10 half-pint jars of jam.

 

I had purchased grated cheddar cheese (5 pounds for $10.69) so I wanted to divide it up into sandwich size zipper bags and get it into the freezer.  I put two cups of cheese into each bag and ended up with ten packages.

 

Next I made up four whole wheat pizza dough balls, placed each one into a fold top sandwich bag and then all four went into a gallon zipper bag and into the freezer.  When I am ready to make pizza I will set one dough ball in the refrigerator in the morning to defrost and it will be ready when I get home that evening.  It really gives me a good head start on dinner.

 

I made two loaves of whole wheat bread, one for now and one for the freezer.  While the bread dough did its thing in the bread machine I picked all the ripe veggies that were ready in the garden and ended up with enough cucumbers to slice up and make a small batch of bread and butter pickles.  Since I am the only one in the family that likes them a small batch is just right for us.

 

Last, but certainly not least, I made a chocolate zucchini cake.  The recipe makes more cake than we should be eating at one time so I divided the batter in half and baked one half in a smaller pan and the rest in cupcakes for the freezer.  The cupcakes will be great in our lunches. 

My tomato plants are loaded with green tomatoes and the squash and cucumbers have tons of blossoms.  I hope the weather holds out for a few more weeks before we get a big freeze so we can get our tomatoes to ripen and a few more cukes and squash.  I’m keeping my fingers crossed.