You May Bow Down to Me Now...

...the DOMESTIC GODDESS that i am!!

Now, not only do i grind the grains and bake the bread with all of this gluten-free baking that's been going on for the past 4 months. i now CAN the beans and pears, too! What is going on?!

I know that's exactly what Doug is wondering when he looks at me in a "Who the hell are you and what have you done with my wife?" sort of way. A comment he made when he walked in on me decked out in my apron and my grain grinder?--"Wow. I never thought i'd see the day..." My response being, "This is LOVE, baby." (Meaning i'm doing this out of pure love for my child in need of non-wheatables).

I went to the farmers' market the other day and got it into my head that i wanted to make dilly beans. Basically, pickled string beans. I remember my mom made them once growing up. At the time, i thought they'd be totally gross, but they were yummy. And then lo and behold my friend calls me up the next day and asks if i want to join her in a canning class she's going to. Why yes i do!

We went to the class and then high-tailed it to the Ace Hardware they kept saying had all the supplies we'd need. Then we headed to the farmers' market and picked up boxes of fruit and some more beans. Then, of course, we had to do lunch. And a fun errand. By the time i dropped Kristen off and got home she was already calling me to say her peaches were in their water bath (bragger). So i got to work on my beans. Totally quick and easy. It took FOREVER for the water to come to a boil, but that's my only complaint. We'll see if they turned out tasty or not.


Then onto the pears. MUCH MORE WORK. Unlike the beans, they had to be peeled and cooked before canning. (Yes, i read that you can leave the peels on and make them raw, but i also read that they're oh so much better peeled and precooked and if i'm going to go to the trouble...) And i had to make a light syrup. And i'm a total hypocrite because i made a sugar syrup and i'm always really annoyed when i can't find canned fruit in JUICE in the stores. Here i am making my own and tossing sugar in the mix. But that's what i remember about my mom's canned pears. Oh, how yummy the syrup was. And i didn't have white grape juice on hand. And i made it extra-extra-light, so hopefully that counts for something. And am i using enough "ands" for ya?

I only got four quarts done before i burned out (and i swear i have the same amount of pears left that i started with!). I did some fresh salsa and finished the pears last night for a grand total of ten quarts (much thanks to Doug who peeled and cored the pears whilst he watched the season premiere of Heroes). So bring on the blizzards! We are set. (TOTALLY JOKING. We still need to get chips for the salsa. And please no snow until at least AFTER Halloween. Thankyouverymuch).
Here's hoping for some delicious home-canned fruit on my storage shelves!

And Kristen? Next time, let's split a box of pears!