PING PING PING … it’s music to a canner’s ears

Ahhhh my darling preggo daughter Erin came over today, and we went to *work*….  we cleaned, scalded and peeled skins on 16 quarts of tomatoes.  My neighbor, Charlotte, gave me a some cool new hybrid green striped tomatoes.  They are fully ripe, but greenish/yellow in color.  We mixed them in with some regular red tomatoes and I think it will make some interesting chili and sauces.  

Once the tomatoes were done, then it was time to start on the pickled beets.  Steve and I had picked up 40 pounds of beets on our way home from camping on Sunday.  So those were simmered for a while to let the skins slide off.  Standing at the sink for about two hours, we cut up the beets, filled them into canning jars, and added a brine of vinegar, suger and water.  My Mom’s recipe is:  2 cups vinegar, 2 cups sugar, and 1 cup water.  Now multiply that by 8 to get enough brine to make 40 pounds of Pickled Beets.  We got 20 quarts done and sealed. PING PING PING sounds from each jar as they seal up.

While we did the canning all afternoon, we had also tossed into the oven a big ole pot roast, little red potatoes, and shrooms and carrots.  By the time our guys came home from work, the roast was just about ready.   They were going to tackle replacing son-in-law Mark’s brakes on his SUV, so we had to delay supper a bit till they were done. 

So it was a very productive  day, finished off with a great meal, and full tummies.  Speaking of tummies, I talked to our granddaughter-to-be, due in January, and I know she can hear me already in her mommy’s tummy… so I told her a whole bunch of cool things in uetero.  Never too soon to be learning stuff, right?

I think this evening we will watch part three of the National Parks series on PBS, and I am zonking out on the couch for a bit beforehand… but I might check out and see who is in the RV Dreams Chat Room tonight.