Domesticated Mak

DMP took the girls to ID last week for a few days. He had a funeral for a High School buddy to attend, and it was a good visit with Grandma & Papper and Mark & Kathy. I couldn't go because of work, so I was left to decide- what to do with my time?

Day 1, I relished in the alone-ness. I watched Twilight (I hated the book, but the movie is better) and read a book until way to late with Chester on my lap. Day 2 pretty much was taken up by parent-teacher night at EJ's preschool.

Day 3, I got tricky and decided to make some yummy strawberry-jalapeno jam. I'm not usually a fan of the jalapeno jams, but I had this stuff at a Ward party poured over cream cheese with crackers and it was like crack. No kidding.

Here is my attempt:

Don't mind the one on the far-right. It was a little runty :). I think my first attempt at jam-making could have gone a bit better. I actually didn't have enough pectin, so I had to "remake" my first batch to make it a little more set.

I also learned the hard way that when you are chopping 15-18 jalapenos, use gloves. I was careful not to touch my eyes or face, but even the oil on my skin burned. Just so you know, soaking your hands in milk, applying hydrocotizone cream and Tylenol works.

I also decided to can peaches this year. So Saturday I spent time turning these:

Into this:

Don't they look pretty all lined up like that? In my opinion, the work to can peaches is totally worth it- they taste wayyy better than store-bought.

Just to round out the weekend 'o domestication, Birdy and I made some banana bread with the brown banana's we had hanging around (just ignore the fact that it is "well done").

Next week? Some sort of tomato canning, I think. Maybe Salsa? Maybe Tomato Soup? Maybe we'll buy an apple peeler and try apples??