Week 27

I had to make a quick trip to Disney's California Adventure this morning to get tickets for the World of Color show, tonight.  It's a new water and light show at the park, we have waited till the majority of tourists have left.  Although it was getting rather steamy as I hustled my way to Grizzly Rapids to get the Fastpass ticket for the show.

Life is tough here in SoCal, what can I say? 

In spite of the heat, I am finishing up the jalapeño jelly for my DH.  Today's flavor is key lime jalapeño.  I had also purchased a couple of fresh pineapples for $2 bucks each.  I trimmed those down, cut them in spears and used a light sugar solution to can them in pints. Of course, I HAD to sample the pineapple before canning to make sure it was eatable.  I'm happy to say it was sweet and yummy.

Since it is just my DH and me at home now, we scale back on the amount of food we purchase.  One item where that is difficult to do is russet potatoes.  If I want to make baked potatoes, I can get the individual potatoes at the market, but they are usually too big and are almost the same price as buying a sack of potatoes.  Last week I got a 10 lb. bag for $1.67.  Too good of a deal to pass up.  So far I've used 4 potatoes.  What can I do with the rest?  Glad you asked.  This week I am breaking out the pressure canner again and am going to can the potatoes.  I will chunk them and raw pack with a heated salted water brine.  Pints are processed for 35 minutes and quarts for 40 minutes.  That is more than enough time to fully cook the potatoes without parboiling them. With the potatoes canned, you have a great head start on mashed or fried potatoes.  They can also be used for potato casseroles or making a model of the Devil's Tower.  (Like Richard Dreyfuss in Close Encounters of the Third Kind)