Days of Ole` Re-post

I posted the following on my “Just Jen” Blog a few weeks ago. I guess that I can say this is where my desire to get back to something simpler began. I hope that you like!

It is Sunday and the end of a very busy week. My daughter left with her father on Wed. to go live with him in Maryland. Divorce is hard on everyone, but as long as m kid is happy, I am happy. It is a bit of a sad time for me and I have found myself feeling ever more alone. This to some would be a bad thing but for me at the moment I have not decided. I do however find myself longing for yesteryear when my mother and great grandmother were both still alive, life was simpler, and I was a kid without a care in the world.  I chalk this all up to too much time on my hands to be honest. Being single and not dating anyone, nor having any potential suitors gives me a lot of free time these days.

I have however found myself feeling nostalgic lately. In a time where everything is nearly instant from the time it takes to cook a meal to the time it takes to communicate with another person via a smart phone, It is however nice to let yourself slow down and let the world pass by for a bit. This is what I have done today as a matter of fact. I pulled out some of the old family cookbooks and took a trip back to the day where we canned our own food.

I grew up in a family where canning, pickling, and the like, were a way of life for us. There were always jars upon jars of food in the pantry that my mother had put up. I remember sitting in the kitchen with her when I was little and watching her first cool something interesting, sometimes Pickles, sometimes beans and squash, other times stewed tomatoes, or sometimes Jams, and Jellies.  My mother was an amazing woman and I guess that it is my missing her and my daughter that had me thinking. So today I made my very first batch of Strawberry Jam, and My favorite Apple Butter, Not my first attempt by any means at this delicious topper.

I was both happy and amazed that my Jam turned out so well and the fact that it was so easy to do. The canning process was fun and equally as easy for me.  So now with twelve jars of jam and seven jars of apple butter. I have been thinking of just what my next attempt will be. I am seriously thinking of Bread and butter pickles, my favorite, maybe a few dill ones as those are my little ones favorites. Not sure yet, I am sifting through a ton of old recipe files some as far back at 1910 to figure out what it is going be next.  

I have enjoyed my down time and my glimpse back into the past today. Tomorrow it is back to work and the grind of school, But for now… buttered toast with Strawberry Jam, my own of course.