Monkey Business

Just the other day as I was scraping corn from the cob and fixing to dehydrate it, Pig Pen informed me that he had an entire case of bananas.  Really?  A case?  He wasn't kidding.

So the corn got put on the back burner and the bananas were sliced and dehydrated instead.  19 trays went on the dehydrator and another 48 bananas went into the freezer for later use in breads etc.  Peel and all...frozen in time.

From the 19 trays, we got 1 gallon of bananas put up. 

Several were mashed and frozen too.  And then there were 6.  Hmm.  What to do with those?

Banana Liqueur

from Cooksrecipes.com

1 1/2 C. Sugar

3/4 C. Water

1 t. Vanilla Extract

2 Ripe Bananas, mashed

3 C. Vodka

Make a simple syrup by bringing sugar and water to a boil on medium heat.  Stir constantly.  When clear, remove from heat and add vanilla.  Let it stand till warm.

Place mashed bananas in a 1 Qt. jar.  Add syrup and vodka.

Cover and let stand in a cool dark place for 3 to 4 days.  Shake daily to avoid clumping of fruit.

Using a fine mesh strainer, strain out solids and discard.  The mixture will still be cloudy.  Cover and let stand until it clears.

Rack into clean container.  Cover and age for 1 month.  Rack again as necessary before serving.

I made a gallon.  It should be good to go by the end of September and then I will let you know how it turns out.  At least I don't have to wait 6 months for this one. 

Let the monkey business commence!

Smarter not Harder

Every Summer, my niece picks a week or few and stays with me.  I asked Andrea if she was going to be Smart about it this year.  Last year, she was here during Sweet Corn and Peach harvest. 

Not Smart.

This year, she decided to come earlier than usual.  She thought that was being Smart.

She forgot about Strawberries.  :o)

We only picked around 35 pounds, so it wasn't too bad.  Then of course you have to clean, hull and do something with them. 

This year I dried quite a bit, made two batches of jam and two gallons of Strawberry Wine.

I am a wine novice.  Right now, we have one gallon of Rhubarb wine fermenting.  I will rack that early next week.  Strawberry Wine is the one I am most looking forward to.  Recently, Jody at Spring Garden Acre did a great post on their wine-making.  You should check it out if you are interested!  Since my girlfriend Tricia gave me this great book for Christmas, I decided to try a recipe from it however:

MightaMaybeMadeMistakes, so rather than share the recipe now, I'll wait to see if it turns out!

Now on Strawberry Picking and my niece, ...she was quite proud of herself for her accomplishment.  This was her first time ever picking and she easily out-picked me almost 2 to 1.  She is also 23 years younger than me.  The brat! 

I let her think she out picked me due to her youth.  What these "old bones" lack in speed, they certainly make up for in endurance!  I wasn't the one whining in "my back hurts, are we done yet" type way...  I saved it for later and suffered silently!  Ha!

But I ask you, did I work Smarter or Harder?  (wink-wink)

And lastly, if you ever needed yet another reason to start pressure canning meats maybe this will help!  Late afternoon yesterday, my SIL Jen called and was a wee bit upset because once again...her freezer went on the fritz.  Just this Spring, she got a 1/4 beef from our farmer up the road!!  So she was wanting to know what she could do with all that meat that was thawing.  UGH!

Hopefully she got it cooked up.  And hopefully she gets a new freezer.  TODAY. 

There again, note to self/nudge to work smarter not harder also.  No one wants to lose that much meat! 

Sorry Sis, hope you got it done or had one heck of a feast!!