That’s what it’s been like in my kitchen for the past two weeks as I have gone mad with canning and putting away food for the winter. I don’t know exactly what came over me, well there was that one 40 pound box of organic apples at the Saturday market that I just couldn’t pass up for $20, I guess that was the start of it all. Sarah was talking about her applesauce and I figured, hey that sounds easy. I really haven’t gotten out the canning supplies since my pickle debacle of 2009 (oh, did I forget to mention how those turned out? like mush mostly, though the relish was good). I told myself I would stay away from pickles this time and started with apples. Of course once I got out my ball book of home preserving I was a goner.

The kitchen has been in a constant state of madness. A good madness I think.

Bj snapped this of me even though he was so over it before I even really started. Notice the applesauce cooling in the background and I’ve already gone onto something else.

Beware the peppers!

A second batch of applesauce, this time made with liberty apples. Not sure exactly what I did wrong here, but somehow it turned out very very thick, so I think it may become fruit leather or something.

I talked Bj into making me another shelf in this unit he built for our basement storage room. I love to organize stuff so I was pretty excited to get the jars labeled and put away since I’m done for the season (probably, maybe, I mean unless there is a really good deal on pears…).

I used my silhouette’s print and cut feature on some old random label sheets (like these). I’ve been scared of the print and cut feature, but I don’t know why it was really easy to set up. The print out includes three registration marks the machine reads to correctly cut. Oh in the background you can see some of my ziplocs (I wish I would have figured out they were this cheap on amazon much earlier!). I have also been freezing a whole lot!

Yummy, yummy food for winter! And mostly for myself here is a list of what I made this year:
Peaches (ball – med syrup/cold pack) – 6 quarts, 5 pints
Apple pie filling (ball – liberty apples) – 7 pints
Unsweetened applesauce (ball & Sarah’s post – had to use ball for acid and processing times) – 10 quarts, 5 pints, 1 half pint
Thick liberty applesauce (ball) – 8 pints
Pickled lemon cucumbers (ball) – 3 pints
Whole peeled tomatoes in water (ball) – 8 quarts, 4 pints
Whole peeled crushed tomatoes (Food in Jars) – 2 quarts, 12 pints
Pizza sauce (ball) – 6 pints, 3 half pints
Dill Slices (ball) – 12 pints (I know! They better be good, I used pickle crisp this time)
Chipotle apple BBQ sauce (Family Feedbag, forgot the sugar but it was still good) – 3 pints, 6 half pints (and more that my mother in law took, she helped me a ton one weekend)
Tomatillo Salsa (ball) – 12 half pints
Salsa (ball) – 4 quarts, 6 pints, 6 half pints
Antipasto (ball) – 2 pints, 3 half pints
And I also made a lot of freezer stuff. Tomato sauce (like this), corn (blanched and cut off the cob), carrots from my garden (peeled and sliced), zucchini “noodles”, and some cherry tomatoes (frozen on a sheet then popped into jars). I would have frozen more stuff, but despite my attempt to organize our storage freezer I maxed us out (I also have lots of fruit in there from the summer, and Bj has a whole drawer of fish from Alaska).
I think this was exactly the kind of thing I needed to throw myself into. I’m so happy to have all that lovely food down there. Now I’m just hoping I can get us used to “shopping” down there instead of at the store for these things. And if you have a good recipe using peeled tomatoes let me know, I think I’ve cooked with them maybe once in my life.