Are you a Foodie? I think I'm a Foodie. I love to grow food, I love to smell food, I love to cook and bake food, and I really love to eat food. Yup. It's official. I'm a Foodie.
Remember when I told you I stopped at an orchard coming south through Missouri a couple weeks ago? Well, I bought some apples there and then Barb had picked some pears for me at a friends house near her in Alabama. After I got my car unpacked from the trip and did forty nine loads of laundry (ok, maybe I'm exaggerating a bit) it was time to do something with the fruit before it spoiled.
Yum, here comes the good part. Two of my crock pots came out of hiding and after peeling, coring, and slicing the apples, they went into the crock pots along with a little water, sugar and nutmeg. By the end of the day I had chunky applesauce!
Now, just what do you do with pears? When I was a kid I remember my Aunt Etta canning pears from her trees so they'd have fruit all winter. Didn't think I had enough pears to do that, so, I had to come up with Plan B. Barb makes a delicious jam called Pear Honey, so, I got her recipe (actually, it's Paula Deen's) and started peeling.
You just cook it down until it turns a gorgeous honey color and thickens and then it's ready to be put in jars and go through the canning process. Now, I get a little nervous about canning. Hey, I can't help it! It's the nurse in me. All those classes I took in microbiology make me far too aware of all the organisms that can make you sick if you don't do things just right.
Well, you know what? Everything went just fine. I read cookbooks like other people read novels and I had been boning up on "how to" do this the right way. It's been a few years since I canned anything but it all came back to me once I got into it.
All you need are a few tools of the trade. Doesn't that blue handled thing look like something you'd use to birth a calf? Hey, I'm just sayin'!
Ta-Da! Success! And it tastes good, too! Now I can't wait to do a few more jars of......hmmm, I need to figure out what I want to can next.
But wait. There's more! Wait till you see what I made 2 nights ago.
Make a yeast dough. Saute onions till brown. Cook 1 lb., yes I said 1 lb. of bacon and crumble. Roll out dough, spread onions and bacon over dough. Roll up and slice.
Put in pan. Now let rise again and bake.
Can you smell it yet?
Eat and repeat. Can I get an Amen, sister? Is it any wonder I don't lose any weight? Too bad. I'd rather be fat and happy than skinny and bitchy. Enough said.
I'm just sayin',
Debbie
