Kitchen Ramblings

This has been my week of large kitchen projects. I started out on Monday by making apple butter. Two different friends had apples from their trees. Did you know that the small sour apples that grow here in Montana make the best apple butter? I think they do, at least, so I sat and peeled and cut apples. And peeled and cut apples. And peeled and cut some more apples.

I ended up getting fourteen cup jars and three pint jars of delicious apple butter made and processed (and oh, did the house smell good while it was simmering!). The full jars are still sitting on the counter waiting in all their autumny glory to be stored in the basement for our enjoyment this winter.

I also made another batch of tomato soup from the garden tomatoes that have ripened since being brought into the house. The tomato soup is still waiting in the kitchen to be stored in the basement too.

Little Man and I also made an enormous quintuple batch of banana bread from some sale bananas (they were 43 cents a pound!) that were getting too brown to eat. Benjamin helped by mashing the large quantity of bananas, and I said something to Little Man about how big and strong his daddy is. Then when Little Man took his turn on the bananas, he exclaimed that he was strong too. : ) It is so much fun seeing him grow and try to be just like Daddy.

Tackling all these big cooking projects was fun and rewarding, but I think I'm ready for a few weeks of small, normal kitchen projects. I think I'll attempt things like making a single batch of pumpkin chocolate chip cookies and attempting to stick to my menu plan again.