Summer task, winter treat

Next on my list of domestic food adventures this summer was freezing peaches.  Greg had to work on Labor Day, so my sisters joined Adalyn and I that morning as we peeled, cut and packed a bunch of peaches.  For those who have never taken on the task, it's a fairly simple one.  The trick is to make sure your peaches are nice and ripe AND have two big bowls or something of the sort to use because otherwise it can be a sticky mess.  I think it's easiest to have two people to help.  My younger sister, Sarah was the peeler, I was the cutter and my older sister, Rebecca, was the babysitter.  Who do you think enjoyed their job most?  :)  I bought a half of a bushel of peaches, which equates to about 50 peaches.  After it was all said and done, I ended up with 10 quarts of nicely cut peaches ready to eat in the dead of winter!  Of course we had to document the occasion. 

Clearly I wasn't ready for the picture to be taken

Peeling (make sure you wash them before you peel)

Cutting

AND I saved the best for last..........

 Adalyn grabbed Bec's bagel and started licking it (don't worry we supervise her closely when she does this :-) )

Who do you think won?!  Yup, Aunt Bec enjoyed a nice, slobbery bagel :-)

I hope you are out enjoying the beautiful sunshine after many days of rain.  Can you imagine Noah...no wonder God told him to build an ark to prepare for 40 days of rain!  God is a powerful God, that's for sure.  

Freezing Corn

I mentioned in a previous post that I was going to share about freezing corn.  My mom has traditionally done this each summer, but I've never really paid close attention to what exactly needs to be done to make it a success.  This summer was different.  Here are a few words of advice before I tell you how to go through the process. 

- Set aside most of the day to do it
- If you have a baby, make sure someone is there to help when your hands are full of corn
- Wear an apron at all times
- Expect that your kitchen floor with be sticky and will need washed when you're done
- Eat lots of corn

First decide how much corn you want to freeze.  My mom and I decided to buy 20 dozen ears and split whatever the result was.  We ended up with 49 decent sized bags of corns (pictures to follow).  The first step of course is husking all of the corn.  I don't have a picture of this, but I recommend doing it the day before you actually start the freezing process.  Once the corn is husked, boil water in a few large pots.  Cook the corn just like you would if you were going to eat it off the cob.  The color of the corn will change slightly. 

My mom has lots of big pots to use after many years in the kitchen so we decided to do it at her house

Once the corn is cooked, start the cooling process.  I recommend doing this outside, otherwise you'll have water everywhere when you transfer the corn.  Move the warm corn into a tub and simply put cool water, preferably from a hose, on it to reduce the temperature of the cobs a bit.  Then move the corn into a tub with ice cold water (I forgot to mention you'll need to buy several bags of ice - I think we used 3 of the largest bags).  Let the corn cool off completely!  I became a little impatient towards the end, but my mom reminded me that it's really important for it to cool off. 

Notice the tubs of water in the background

Cooling off

After the corn is cool, lay it out to let it dry off.  Then transfer it to your table or workspace where you will cut it. 

Ready to cut

Remember to sharpen your knives before you start cutting and then let the fun begin!  Using a big basin or tub of some sort is best so you have lots of room. 

My mom cutting

Check out all of the corn (and my awesome hair haha)

 It's fun to see the long pieces that stick together

Some of the completed bags

Adalyn licking the corn

So that's pretty much it!  It was a fun day and we are looking forward to eating some homegrown corn this winter!



A milestone

I realized that part of the reason I don't blog a lot is because I always feel the need to share pictures, which tends to take a long time, so this time I'm blogging without pics.  I wanted to share the excitement of the past week with you all.  Adalyn cut her first tooth!!!  On Friday she was 4 months and 5 days old and the little guy on the bottom right appeared.  We spotted it a few days before, but it wasn't quite through.  Then on Friday we did the old spoon test...when we put the spoon in her mouth, clink clink, we heard it!  Overall she did pretty well with the whole teething process.  It's still growing of course so the slobbering has continued. 

Adalyn had her four month check up this week.  She weighs 13 lbs 9 oz and is 24 1/2 inches long.  She is getting sooo big!  Her head control continues to get better each day.  She's getting to that point where she doesn't always want to be held and would rather just lay on the floor and move around.  She really enjoys her little bouncer that we have hanging in the doorway.  We fall more and more in love with her each day!  She is such a joy!

Have a wonderful Labor Day :)