Cooking on a hot day
Despite the heat, it's been a productive day. I did a bunch of cleaning and at least three loads of laundry. Most of the garbage and recycling is out for tomorrow's pick up. I cleaned up some of the kitchen. I never did get around to doing any yardwork - it got too hot too early in the day. I'm not sure how different the rest of the week will be. Le sigh.
Instead, I spent a good share of the day in the kitchen and at the computer. I baked another batch of sweet potatoes. Nothing fancy, just baked whole sweet potatoes. Everyone in the house likes them, they make for a good quick dinner, and M can take them for lunch at work too.
I made almost five quarts of bread & butter pickles with the green cucumbers and lemon cucumbers from the yard. I'll try to get pictures tomorrow - one fat lemon cucumber cut into spears fit perfectly into a pint jar. It looked really pretty in the windowsill.
ETA Photos:
One whole big fat lemon cucumber. The width perfectly fit inside a pint jar.
Mideast green cucumber. This is the pint jar of leftover slices after filling two quart jars.
I also made a batch of tomato ketchup. I've made a version before that I ended up not really liking. This one, it's a keeper. I kept wanting to eat spoonfuls as I was making it. Which reminds me - we're out of cranberry ketchup. Maybe I'll make more of that over vacation too.
Because, you know, what else should I be doing on a 90-something degree day but bake and cook, right?
Instead, I spent a good share of the day in the kitchen and at the computer. I baked another batch of sweet potatoes. Nothing fancy, just baked whole sweet potatoes. Everyone in the house likes them, they make for a good quick dinner, and M can take them for lunch at work too.
I made almost five quarts of bread & butter pickles with the green cucumbers and lemon cucumbers from the yard. I'll try to get pictures tomorrow - one fat lemon cucumber cut into spears fit perfectly into a pint jar. It looked really pretty in the windowsill.
ETA Photos:
One whole big fat lemon cucumber. The width perfectly fit inside a pint jar.
Mideast green cucumber. This is the pint jar of leftover slices after filling two quart jars.
I also made a batch of tomato ketchup. I've made a version before that I ended up not really liking. This one, it's a keeper. I kept wanting to eat spoonfuls as I was making it. Which reminds me - we're out of cranberry ketchup. Maybe I'll make more of that over vacation too.
Because, you know, what else should I be doing on a 90-something degree day but bake and cook, right?