In my kitchen

Yesterday, I had a billion things to do. Instead of doing them, I spent all day in the kitchen.

I've never canned my own jam/jelly, never even made it (not counting freezer jam), so I decided I wanted to try it out. I don't know if it has been the cold, rainy weather that is making me feel like a squirrel and want to store some nuts for the winter or what, but I have been wanting to do this!

So I made blackberry jam, raspberry jam, four berry jam, and 2 jars of apple butter. All the cans sealed and I was so proud of myself.

I did have a few mess ups. It was my first time, I don't use recipes, and mess ups are bound to happen. I called my Grandma seven times for tips (you would think that she would have a recipe she could give me after doing this all her life, but nooooo... so I'll write down my recipes for my posterity. My Grandma has also never made seedless jam, and she wasn't sure it would work very well, but that's what I did.) My blackberry jam was my first guinea pig, and I ended up making blackberry glue. My raspberry jam was next and it was a little less gluey. Luckily, I finally learned my lesson and my four berry jam turned out with a good consistency. I was really excited for my apple butter, and it turned out good, though not as dark as my Grandmas. But, it was fun to experiment and learn how to do it all by myself.

I also made some broccoli, potato, cheddar soup (I love soup, and I love fun soup bowls! These bowls have lids and look like mini pots, so cute.) and rolls for dinner. The soup was perfect, I was so excited to eat it, and when I went to reheat it for dinner, I forgot about it and burnt the bottom! The smell made me even more nauseous than I already was for the rest of the night. Blah! The reason I burnt the soup was because I was making apple dumplings for dessert and forgot about the soup. At the same moment the soup was burning, the almond sauce which was also cooking on the stove for the dumplings boiled over, making a huge mess. It was a fun moment for me...

My belly was full, the kitchen was a mess, and unfortunately I fell asleep watching The Office.

Also, being in my kitchen all day made me want to
run to Home Depot to put in some tile,
redo the floors, and paint the cabinets.
I better stay out of the kitchen for a while...