My First Adventure in Canning!

Well, here I am. I've been on vacation for the past week in North Carolina, but now I'm back for a few days before heading to Iowa for about three weeks. I found myself bored the last couple days and in need of using up some apples so I decided I should try my hand at making and canning apple butter!  I have never made apple butter and I have only canned a few times with the assistance of my mom, so I was a little nervous to try. I got up early this morning, peeled and chopped up the apples and set them in the crock pot for about ten-eleven hours to cook down and then canned them! It isn't hard at all but I am so tired. It's pretty time consuming, but totally worth it when you start hearing the jar lids "PING!". I can't wait to give them away to friends and family!
I feel like canning is becoming a lost art...My mom canned everything when I was a child. I hated canning days! My poor mom was stuck in the kitchen all day canning green beans, hot peppers, jalapenos, corn, and carrots  making and canning salsa, strawberry jam, applesauce, and fruit pie fillings! She is an amazing person! But, canning day meant none of mom's attention, hot stuffy kitchen, and boy, could it stink(especially, the green beans!) My mom canned for two reasons 1) I really think she liked it! She was proud of her work and she did it for the family! and 2) We didn't have a lot of money so she labored over a garden all summer to provide food for us year round! I don't really hear about people canning now a days...I feel like people think it's old fashioned and outdated.  I feel like it is an amazing way to preserve your harvest and provide for your love ones. Plus, you control what goes into it, so no crazy weird additives!

I've caught the canning bug and I'm bound and determined to make more! I'm making plans to try to make a new canning recipe at least once a month and give the majority of it away to friends and family!

My First Thoughts

Well, here goes nothing...and I mean nothing. I'm just going to start writing about my life as a New Hampshire house"wife". "Wife" because I'm not yet a wife but about 13 months away from being one.  My fiance Chris and I recently moved to New Hampshire from Hoboken, NJ for a new job opportunity. Chris and I decided that I won't have to work after the move and I could go back to school or whatever...I'm in the whatever. I have worked retail for the past seven years and I am burnt out from hearing one too many customer problems.  I was about to the point that I wanted to drop my fake concern and tell them how really stupid I think they are for putting hot chocolate in a thin glass tumbler and blaming it on poor quality...really? Anyways, back to the whatever. I'm currently going on a month and a half of being unemployed and I LOVE IT! I really like being at home, cleaning, cooking, BAKING, working out, shopping...it's great! I am lonely, though. I don't really know anyone up here and I do miss my friends, but I've been trying to replace it with projects and it's been working!

I've decided that I will try to write once every week or two. I want to write about my life, give my opinion(or advice as I see it) on things such as weight loss, healthy eating, cleaning and fashion, updates and ideas for my wedding, and include recipes for delicious dinner and dessert ideas. I want to record the good and the bad. The pass and the fail and so on.

Well, I guess I should tell you a little about myself. I grew up on a farm in Iowa. I had a horse, took care of chickens, weeded a vegetable garden, picked apples, made strawberry jam, learned to bake bread, pies, and to cook from my mama. I was in 4-H and FFA, active in my little high school( one of 75 graduates in my class) and my church. I went to summer camp every year and was a well balanced kid. Then I grew up...I was a little out of control for awhile...enough said. I met Chris and things changed, for the best and here we are, four years later, getting married.

That should do it for now. I might blog again tomorrow, I might not...just saying. I hate promising things I now I won't keep. Hopefully, you'll continue to read and enjoy what I have to say.