friday photos

So what have I been doing lately that's been keeping me away from the computer? What have I been doing that leaves me so little time and gives me so little material for blogging?

I've been in the kitchen, being little Suzie Homemaker (as my mom might say). Last weekend I went to the market with salsa on my mind. I came home with approximately 823423 pounds of tomatoes, onions, jalapenos, and red and green bell peppers.

Some of my beautiful peppers.

In the early part of the week, I hauled out my canning equipment and went crazy with salsa. I spent hours and hours chopping vegetables, and then hours and hours waiting for the water to boil in my canning pot. (This is all slightly exaggerated, but not much. It took waaaaay too long, and seeing as I always underestimate the time it will take me to do things, I was dealing with salsa for far longer than I had planned.)

But it looks so pretty, doesn't it?

Once the salsa was finished, I had produced eight pints over the course of three days, and I still had a mountain of tomatoes and peppers left over. So then I spent the next couple of days making a giant batch of spaghetti sauce, which doesn't really taste like spaghetti sauce so much as it tastes like tomato puree, which is largely what it is. How do you get spaghetti sauce to taste like spaghetti sauce?

On top of dealing with the produce, I have begun making my own bread all the time now, since my mom found me a bread machine at a rummage sale. This doesn't actually take much time or effort on my part, but still, I thought I'd mention it, because what's as great as homemade bread? Nothing, that's what.

And we are off this weekend on a camping trip with friends, so last night I stayed up late baking two and a half dozen pumpkin spice muffins, and they are delicious.

Delicious.

Now that I've (mostly) used up my produce, I'll be able to take a little break from the kitchen. I'm really looking forward to cooking over a campfire this weekend -- no chopping vegetables, no washing dishes, what a treat! Until next weekend, when I go apple picking and get to work on making gallons of applesauce. Hope everyone has a great weekend!