Energy Spurt

I'm not exactly sure quite why I have a sudden energy spurt but I sure am makin the most of it. I managed to do some freezing and baking yesterday and some canning today while babysitting my mother. I haven't canned in YEARS! I guess I stopped when we moved back to England because it wasn't so easy to get supplies.

Anyhow yesterday I prepped and froze a ton of carrots and Vicky helped me make a couple of loaves of zucchini bread. Her washing machine broke down so I've been doing her laundry the last couple of days. Since we agreed to split one loaf between us and give the other one to mum I gussied up the presentation a little bit - would've added a bit more but simply ran out of time. Mum loves zucchini bread but doesn't make it herself so it's a real treat.




I had seen something similar to this wrapping. I just used a double sided heavier weight patterned paper, worked out how big the base needed to be for my bread, added a few inches around each side and then added an extra 1/2 inch on top of that for the cuff which I cut with scalloped scissors to finish. I simply cut out the corner squares after scoring, punched holes, threaded ribbon through and tied knots at each corner. It really needed a tag or top decoration but I'll definately be putting that on my next one. How nice is this for gift giving?

Anyhow, today I made Dave 'bread & butter' pickles. I don't think he's had any for about 20 years! He's done an awful lot for a lot of people lately (myself included) so he deserves a treat for himself - I don't actually like these pickles so he can have each and every jar all to himself.

I really enjoyed doing it too and it took me way back to when I was a young wife and mother. I used to do so much then. I am amazed that we actually brought back the canner and a case of jars on one of our many trips back home. I've had them stashed away in my cupboards for absolutely yonks!

These cucumbers were organically homegrown too which I'm sure will make them even tastier.

If I still have energy tomorrow I have beets, green beans and sweetcorn to prepare and freeze - Dave will keep picking the darn things and bringing them home. Since Dave and I polished off a half a loaf of zucchini bread between us today I'm gonna have to make more for the freezer. Dave's also hoping we can get into his bosses field tomorrow to pick blackberries after church so I can make some easy peasy microwave jam. I discovered the recipe a couple of years ago and it's 10 minutes tops from start to finish.

I am so luvin taking time out to preserve all this good food. It's a heck of a lot of hard work but it's sooooo rewarding. I just wish I had a few more days full of energy to do it with.

Oh and I played around a bit with some paper at mum's too when I got the chance so I should be posting a card real soon if I get time to squeeze that in this weekend too. I think I'm gonna be real glad I'm on vacation next week even if I am just stayin at home.