Cherries!!!

I canned the cherries today!!! :-D
I WAS going to use them to make juice, but I just couldn't resist canning them whole!  I even put some almond flavoring in 3 jars - YUMMY!!  It was a long process, though, because I had to remove the seeds from each one....that took over an hour!

Here is what I started with.....

.....those are in my large colander!  They are washed, and the cherries in the sink in the top of the picture have bruises on them that I'll cut off (but still save the good part!)

Then it's time for the cutting.....

PHEW!!  This part took over an hour!  It was hard to keep from eating them, they were so juicy and smelled SO good....but I resisted.... :-D

Finally, DONE!.....

After this, I got the jars ready, and I made a light sugar syrup to pour over them in the jars.  All that's left is to stuff them in there, and pour the syrup over them (this is also where I added 1 tablespoon of almond flavoring to 3 of the jars!).....

Then they are processed in the canner for 15 minutes, and then ALL DONE......

I'm so happy about these, now they can be brought out in winter, for holidays, etc!  Normally we can't even GET cherries in the winter, or if we can, they cost $3 a pound or more -- so fun!!! :-D


Of course, along with the cherries, I cooked and canned my tomato sauce....I decided to make an herb-tomato sauce, with herbs from my little planters -- I used onion and garlic powder, and bay leaves and thyme!
I took a picture of me processing them through the large food mill I got from Goodwill - I want to show you what it can do!  Start by filling it with the cooked tomatoes.....

After turning it and turning it, this is what is left -- just the skins and seeds!
I love my food mill!! :-D

Here are my jars, all filled up and waiting for lids to be boiled....

I made quart jars this time -- that's alot of sauce! :-D

Making those two recipes brought me right up to supper, so basically I cooked all day! LOL  It sure is great to fill the pantry with food!!  Of course, I still have that side-sink full of tomatoes, and I have to can the nectarines still.....I wanted to get those done tomorrow, but I remembered this afternoon that the kids have orthodontist appointments tomorrow.... :-P  I'm not sure if I'll be able to tackle any of those jobs before or after we go there....I hope so, especially the nectarines, because they can get too soft pretty quickly!
My plan is to "spice" them up -- put some cinnamon and allspice and honey in the jars with them!!  Doesn't that sound yummy??!!

If only I can get this week's canning done tomorrow, then maybe I can spend the rest of the week staining my cabinet boards!  I'm just itching to get to that!!! ^-^