Just peachy

There is nothing like a productive weekend to make me feel better about myself.  I got a lot done this weekend.  I'm feeling just peachy.  This is another interesting saying.  I wondered where it came from.  I found my answer in http://wiki.answers.com/.

When eaten, some kinds of peaches produce a natural high by interfering with the lipotin receptors in the brain. Since these kinds of peaches were not outlawed until the 1940's, they were commonly sold as a drug. When high off of them, people would often say that they were feeling "Peachy".

Seriously?  High?  Too bad these peaches are outlawed now.  I don't think I'm feeling "high" because I got a lot accomplished this past weekend, but I am certainly feeling satisfied.  It's amazing what can be accomplished when I don't have a migraine.  I didn't get EVERYTHING on my wish list done, but I'm not going to fret over it.

The first thing I did when I got home from work on Friday was to freeze a bushel of tomatoes.  My husband stopped at the CSA farm we belong to and bought a half bushel of seconds.  These are tomatoes with blemishes.  Some of these blemishes are quite serious.  There are bruises, bugs, mold, splits; you get the picture.  I stood at the sink and cut all the bad parts off the tomatoes and put them directly into freezer bags.  I've found when you freeze tomatoes this way, then thaw for use, the tomato will just slip out of the skin when slightly thawed.  When I go to make sauce with the frozen tomatoes, I allow them to slightly thaw, slip them out of their skins directly in the pot and cook down into sauce.  Easy peasy.  My husband also bought a half bushel of roma tomatoes.  These are my favorite for sauce.  These were first grade tomatoes, so directly in the freezer bags.  No work needed.

Here's a bit of tomato information for you.  There are generally two types or cultivars of tomatoes.  There are determinate and indeterminate.  Determinate tomatoes produce a bush and produce all their fruit at once, then stop producing.  Indeterminate tomatoes produce vines and continue producing fruit until there is a killing frost.  Roma tomatoes are determinate tomatoes.  So, you've got to get them while they're available.

On Saturday I froze a bushel of peaches.  Our family LOVES peaches.  I buy what is known as pie peaches when I buy peaches for the freezer.  I called the peach farm lady on Friday to ask if she would bring pie peaches to the farmer's market Saturday morning.  She said she didn't have room, but if I came a bit later in the morning she would see how many peaches she could sort for me.  So, at 11 o'clock a.m. I sent my husband to the market and he came home with a bushel of peaches for me to freeze.  I was so happy.
I did take some pictures of the peaches.

This is a perfect peach

This is a pie peach

You can see what I mean when I speak of a pie peach.  These pie peaches cost $16 per bushel.  This is a VERY good price.

This is a peck of peaches.  There are 4 pecks in a bushel.

I measure the amount of peaches in each freezer batch I make by using a 9 inch pie plate.  I usually make peach pies in the winter.  I make a delicious peach pie.  *I think I've mentioned this before.  I don't make pies in the summer because it is way too hot to bake.  I eat plain, delicious peaches in the summertime.
 

One freezer batch of peaches.  Yum!

I sprinkle some fruit fresh on the peaches and slip them into a freezer bag.  It's a lot of work and my hands get a few little cuts all over them and IF I had arthritis I wouldn't be able to type this post today.

Some of the fruits of my labors.  :)

On Sunday I canned six pints of pickles.  I made Bread and Butter Pickles.  I use this recipe from Cooks.com.  It is delicious and not too sweet.  I love canning.  The canned vegetables are so beautiful in the clear glass jars.  It makes me so happy to see them lined up in my cupboard.  The colors are so vibrant.

The last thing I did on Sunday was make the BEST Eggplant Parmesan.  I used Martha Stewart's recipe.  We had it for dinner Sunday night and it was delicious.  Really.  The best one I've EVER made.

So, I didn't get any items listed on eBay.  I still have peppers I need to roast.  But it was a very fulfilling weekend.  I can't believe this is the kind of stuff that makes me feel so good about myself.