Around the Kitchen

I enlisted the help of my parents in the canning party.  Aren't they cute?

The kitchen's been a busy place the last couple of weeks (though I guess it always is)...

- 20 pounds of tomatoes = 11 jars of canned peaches (I lost 2 jars in unfortunate broken jar mishaps in my canner - bummer), and 3 bags in the freezer.

- No eggs from the ladies yet.  But plenty of entertainment.  It seems every time I open a door, there they are. I feel like they'd like to come right on inside the house!  But I shoo them away.   They've done a really nice job eating slugs and other yucky bugs.   We like to watch them go crazy over an ear of corn.

-  A new and delicious Loaded Baked Potato soup recipe (thanks Lill!).  And while I do like to simmer a pot of soup on the stovetop - this one was made entirely in the microwave.   In about 20 minutes.  It was so ridiculous easy I could hardly believe it.  And even more delicious the second day (though not very much of the batch made it to the second day, I'll admit.)

- Mike's been making his own rye crackers, with pumpkin and sesame seeds and sea salt.  And every batch gets more and more yummy, as he perfects the recipe.  So good with hummus!  Oh my gosh.  They're addicting.   And they disappear so fast around here, I wasn't able to snap a photo of any for you.

- Lots of "windfall" apples from hurricane Irene = lots of apple crisp.  Nothing beats warm apple crisp with vanilla ice cream.   If you don't agree - then maybe you and I need to talk.

- And finally, as I mentioned yesterday - 2 big batches of pumpkin bread.  For the snacks at school, and plenty left over for us, and extra for the freezer  (for those days - when one wants to eat pumpkin bread, but doesn't necessarily want to bake pumpkin bread.)  You know those days.

Whew!

This weekend, we're going apple picking (Oh this is one of my favorite favorite favorite fall activites.)  And no - not just for the cider doughnuts either!!  You know me too well :)

Honey crisps - here I come!

What's up in your kitchen this week?



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