Getting Ready for Winter

I love kale, especially in soups. So I thought I'd try to grow it myself and see what happens. Well, it is beautiful. It's growing so beautifully. My mother-in-law came by sometime ago and picked some, she couldn't believe how pretty it was and that there weren't any worms on them. WORMS!!! Kale attracts WORMS??!! She told me it always did when her mom grew it. Had I known this I would not have grown kale. I'd grown broccoli once before, and I couldn't believe the worms it attracted, it grossed me out. UGH!! The white ugly fat worms that look slimy. After doing the broccoli that one summer, I swore I'd never do that again. I will buy broccoli from now on. Then she tells me Kale attracts worms, but for some reason my kale did not attract worms, thank goodness!!!!

I did some research online searching for the best way to freeze Kale. So I washed it well, let it soak, watched a few spiders appear in the water, they were small, good thing...LOL. So it said to add Kale to boiling water, let it cook for no more than two minutes.

Then add it to ice water to stop the cooking process.

The kale should have a bright green color and it did. It made the house smell good cooking it.

So before freezing it I wanted to dry it a little. So I place it on a clean towel...

And started to roll it...

I rolled all the way to the end.

And bagged it for the freezer. It made three good size bags, but I have more kale growing so I'll be doing this again.

You all saw that I made sauce a week ago, well, like I said, I may make another and I did. I had enough tomatoes to make two and a half pots this time.

As you can see, it made plenty. I counted this morning, I have 24 containers in my freezer of sauce. My husband asked me last night, "do you think we have more sauce here than we can eat?" I said" NO WAY!!", You can never have enough sauce. Last winter I ran out, so not this time.

This is my favorite Peach Pie recipe. It took me awhile to find one, and here it is. Its delicious, sweet and comforting. So this year I decided to buy local peaches and freeze them for the winter.

Aren't they pretty??

I have a friend who made and sold pies for a living and she told me I can either make up the pie, don't bake it though, and freeze it or I can make the filling and freeze that. So I chose to make the filling and prepare it so it'll be easy to thaw and then bake.

After tossing the dry ingredients in, the smell was wonderful and I didn't even bake it yet, temptation!!!

I bagged them and labeled them. I had enough peaches to make two pie fillings, thank goodness. I already have two bags in the freezer from two weeks ago, but I think I may make another batch. I'll be taking one of these with me to NYC when we leave in two weeks to visit family. We'll be going to an uncle's house for dinner, so I'll make a peach pie and either an apple pie or a cake, haven't decided. Jane's Sweets and Baking Journal blog (you can find her on the right side of my blog page) she has some yummy looking desserts on there, I may have to choose one of those to make as well. We'll see.
I have thoroughly enjoyed doing my kale, corn, sauce and peaches. It's alot of work, I was exhausted last night. On my feet all day, but I know when winter has arrived and I go into my freezer and see all my hard work, and cook all the yummy stuff and when we're sitting down eating, it will all be worth it. So satisfying.