Making your own food is awesome!!!!

And I do not mean just cooking, but actually growing, canning, preserving and manufacturing stuff. This year I have been more innovative than ever. I did my veggie garden as usual but got lots more vegetables: 3 varieties of tomatoes, peppers, garlic, onions, beans, brussel sprouts, okra, broccoli, spinach, lettuces, cucumbers, zucchini, potatoes, green onions, chives and a whole bunch of herbs. It have been so fun, the kids love to see the plants grow and to harvest the stuff.

Then due to an over supply of tomatoes and cucumber, I decided to do some canning. So by now I have canned lots of tomatoes and made 3 different types of pickles. We opened our first pickled batch today and my son LOVED it!! that is what I called success! I also did some freezing of fresh tomatoes and some tomato sauce made entirely from the garden bounty :)

A trip to Michigan and a close encounter with some raspberry bushes lead me to make some Jam. Thanks to an old recipe from a friend we also now have home made strawberry jam for my next triffles!

A trip to Wisconsin got me into dairy - I have just finished my first batch of home made yogurt and I am tackling cheese later in the week - Mozzarella is the goal.

I LOVE this. truly do.