Food Adventures

Not having a job has left me with a lot of free time. And since life is just different here, going at a slower pace and being more reminiscent of days past, I have taken on some new "hobbies"....gardening, canning, and cooking. I am not sure the hobby is the right word, it is really more like I have learned some new skills. Within a couple of weeks of moving into the new rental house, I had the opportunity to meet a couple of lovely local ladies who, I learned, were into gardening and growing their own fruits and veggies AND canning. Since our house has a nice garden with apples, plums, pears, tomatoes, squash, peppers, and blackberries that I needed to do something with, I took one of the ladies up on her offer to teach me the basics of canning. So, on a nice Sunday afternoon, with my friend K in tow, we headed to Curlew for our course in canning 101. We learned how to use a boiling water canner and prepare our jars, lids, and food for the canning process. That day we made peach salsa, stewed tomatoes, BBQ sauce, and zucchini salsa. It was such a treat. I managed to snap a few pics of our yummi-ness filled jars before, during, and after the canning process.

The finished products

Zucchini salsa jars starting their processing in the boiling water canner

Zucchini salsa prior to processing

Now for an introduction to my garden...

Apples, not sure if they are Granny Smith or Golden Delicious yet, but I have 3 trees LOADED

Plums (apparently they do not turn purple), have to research what variety they might be, but the tree is full!

Delicious cherry tomatoes and large yellow tomatoes

My first real Washington apple, eaten in Washington

My daily haul...yellow squash, zucchini, cherry tomatoes, yellow tomatoes, and peppers

Our first real meal in the house...fresh veggies from the garden, black beans, and green enchiladas. YUMMY!