Good morning all! I hope everyone is braced for another hot day! To me, this is end of August weather...my second least favorite month of the year. (February is my least "est" favorite month of the year.)
I am asthma coughing up a storm this morning, but I had to water my garden and sit outside for a bit. It wasn't that bad this morning, but it is going to be 100 degrees with a heat index of 110 degrees. Yikes!! Water everything well.
It has been busy around the Beale Bungalow these past few days. We had a great Fourth of July at the Nansemond Swim Club. Swimming (in bathtub temperature water), hotdogs, hamburgers, fried chicken, baked beans, pasta salads along with an array of liquid beverages were to be had by all. The conversations were wonderful, too. It was nice to be out of the house and doing something different for a change. I really enjoyed myself, as did everyone else, I am sure.
The fireworks show was spectacular!!! Better than Norfolk's! Every time I thought I was watching the finale- it would start up again. I do believe there were at least 4 possible grand finales in this show. Not bad for a little place called Eclipse!!
The next day, a friend asked if I wanted to go to an organic fruit and veggie place at the beach. I said yes and off we went. I bought nice clean peaches and some non-gmo corn. This was a very nice outting and I thank you, my friend.
Friday, since there was no coffeehouse, was committed to canning peaches.
Canning peaches is as easy as pie.
As many peaches as you want to can....halved, skinned and pitted...
Make a syrup. I usually make a light syrup for everything. This would be 4 cups of water to 2 cups of sugar. I add a tablespoon of lemon juice to mine to help peaches keep their lovely reddish orange color.
Heat the syrup. Pack peach halves-pitted side down in clean mason jars. Pour in syrup up to 1/2 inch headspace. Wash mason jar lip off, place heated seal and ring on. Process in a water bath for about 20 minutes. (I use cling free peaches and quart jars, by the way.)
I then went on and made some Peach Jam. Another easy one!
10 cups of chopped, skinned and pitted fresh peaches
4 cups of sugar (The original recipe called for 5 cups of sugar, but I used 4 cups of organic sugar from BJ's and they were plenty sweet.)
3 Tablespoons of lemon juice
Place them in a pot and mash them up with a potato masher. If you want chunkless jam--you might want to run them through a food processor or a Vita-Mix. We like chunky! Add the sugar and lemon juice and cook it until it slaps ya! About 25 to 30 minutes. Stirring constantly when it thickens. P.S.--I put a little ground cinnamon in mine this time.
Now, you should already have your jars cleaned and in the canner boiling. Fill the hot jars with the jam.
Place on the seals and rings after wiping the lip of the jar to free it from anything that would hinder a good seal. Place the filled jars back into the water bath and process for 10 minutes.
The results are not only beautiful colors of summer freshness, but tasty, too!
I still was able to do a load or two of laundry, vacuum and mop the floors....so Friday was Productive! With a capital P! Needless to say, I slept very well last night.
So, what is the agenda for today...to make chicken salad, bake bread and freeze up some corn...maybe even do a little shopping this evening. It is going to be tooooo....hoooottt to be outside for much...Hmm...is their any indoor project I want to work on? :)
Sharon
I linked up with http://www.oursimplecountrylife.com/
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