Pumpkin Pie

Can she bake a pumpkin pie, Billy boy, Billy Boy? She CAN bake a pumpkin pie, she's the apple of our eye, she's a young thing and cannot leave her mother!

This year Miss Abigail made the pies for our Thanksgiving dinner --her first attempt. The crust was the obvious challenge. She used a recipe titled "No-Fail Pie Crust" but it proved to be a real trial. The recipe called for oil instead of shortening and it was too flaky to bend --at all! So fluting the edges was impossible. At one point, we were tempted to throw it away and begin again. But, in the end, Abigail poked and pieced and made it work. Our traditional Chocolate Praline Pumpkin Pie was delicious!

If you would like the recipe, follow the link to our family food blog --Mower Cookin.

More Canning

Thanks to a wonderful friend who brought goodies to us, Miss Abigail and I enjoyed another canning day. I was hoping to reinforce what she learned in July. I also wanted to help Abigail have a more normal canning experience. Canning is obviously different with the attitude of production rather than trying to make everything "just so" for exhibiting and judging, plus trying to fulfill all the requirements for the 4-H project.  This time we used my steamer canner, instead of the water bath, so that was different and we had two jars burst in two different batches during the processing and visitors during the day - so I guess it was a fairly normal experience. ;o) We ended up with nine quarts of peaches, twelve quarts of pears and twenty pints of tomato salsa.

We had great fun working together and I am so glad to have such a willing and now capable helper.

Scrapbooking Pics

These are the pictures of Miss Abigail's scrapbooking exhibits. She is still working on the "theme album" exhibit and the covered photo album. I hope they get finished. (Sigh. I really am going to be better organized next year!)

Flower Arranging

On to flower arranging! A woman has so many opportunities to decorate with flowers. I have wanted Miss Abigail to have some skill with arranging flowers. I've taught her just a bit about composition and she seems to have her usual knack for what looks good. She has the basic "triangle" down, for the most part. I think this silk arrangement is very nice.

The Fruit of Our Labor

It was a long day. Miss Abigail sweated in the heat. But, in the end, she joins the ranks of those few women who know how to can. She is only twelve and she couldn't do it again by herself, but I'm so impressed with how hard she worked to learn this skill. Of all things, Abigail enjoyed blanching and peeling the peaches and the tomatoes. As long as there isn't a bushel left to do, I could enjoy that also. We did peaches and tomatoes in the morning and then, in the afternoon we did a batch of quick pickles, zuchinni relish, and spiced pickled cantaloup. Don't wonder - it's delicious! BTW, the second batch of peaches turned out beautifully.

Last year, at the county fair, a 4-H friend of mine said to me, "I really want to promote the canning project. Would you help me teach a workshop?" So we did. We held a workshop in October for anyone interested in the project and we had about ten kids respond. We taught the kids about safe preserving and did a fun experiment with PH. Then we canned apples together. I don't know how many kids went on to finish the project, but I hope there will be some of those other apples entered, at least.

Canning - Peaches, Tomatoes, Pickles

Miss Abigail and I are canning today. Last October we canned apples and this week we are canning everything else. But, I had to come out to the store to get more peaches. When we took the jars from the water bath, the sliced peaches were floating halfway to the top of the jar. I think Abigail was so careful to pack the peaches without bruising them that she didn't get enough fruit in the jar. I've always canned just for the family and never had to worry about making everything look perfect. Alas, we will have to do another batch. Abigail isn't sad about that. She thought it was wonderful fun to blanch and peel the fruit. We also did a batch of tomatoes this morning that were perfect. She's pretty good this! I'm glad that I will have such a good helper for canning.

Coming out to the store was really only an excuse to come to the library to look for pictures of my brand new grandson! Little Eric is our first grandchild and he is so beautiful. Born on July 21. I'm pretty excited to see him - soon, I hope.