Tuesday, July 22, 2014

Canning Peaches Without Sugar and.... Outdoor cooking!

Here is a view of my kitchen when I got up this morning.  Yesterday, I canned 38 quarts of peaches, with no sugar, like THIS.  It took me 6 hours, start to finish and they are beautiful!  In case you are new to this way of canning them, you will be pleasantly surprised.  They are healthier, of course, but also it's more economical, as you don't have to buy any sugar, and more peaches fit in the jars.  All that is in the jars is peeled peaches.  No Water.  No Syrup. Nothing to prevent darkening.  If you do it my way, they will be wonderful.  I promise!  They do have to be ripe enough, of course.  I even did it one year when I bought 60 pounds of peaches and when I went to can them, found out they were cling peaches.  :-0   HERE is how I did that.

I worked so hard yesterday that today I decided to "play."  I have never, before, baked a loaf of bread over a fire, but my son sent me a link to a YouTube video on how to do that, so I had to try it!  I also made a wonderful beef stew over the fire.  I really love cooking over a fire outdoors.  It is so versatile.  The bread got a little too done on the outside, but it was still delicious.  Next time, I'll hang the Dutch oven not quite so close to the fire.  By the way, HERE is the link to that video.  I used my own bread recipe, but followed his method for baking.

Here is the bread...



Here I am stirring the stew.  The bread is hanging over the fire at this point.


Here is the stew, right before I stirred in the pint of beef chunks.  You can see that it is simmering there next to the fire.


It was a wonderful meal and so much fun to cook!

Now, I think I'll do the dishes and then read a book.  We are having sweet corn from the garden for supper.

4 comments:

  1. Your peaches look beautiful! We are beginning to cook in dutch ovens, so much to learn there.

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  2. Thank you! Yes... I don't really know that much. I've seen videos but they always use charcoal, which I really can't afford, so using the wood coals is a bit more challenging. I love it, though.

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  3. The peaches look wonderful! I love the outdoor cooking pictures, everything is so green and beautiful! I'm jealous!

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    1. :) Come visit! Next week is supposed to be so nice.

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