Saturday 17 September 2011

Messy Multi-Tasking

I once tried to teach myself to juggle but was rubbish at it. I like to do one thing at a time and do it well.  This afternoon was set aside for dealing with the bag of apples I'd been given last week. They have been sitting in the corner of the kitchen ever since then attracting very annoying little flies that Mr TH chases round the house trying to squash or hoover up.  Both the flies & Mr TH were driving me nutty, the apples had to be dealt with!


Half were lightly stewed with sultanas & lemon to be added to the freezer so that I can rustle up pies, crumbles, etc with very little effort (I always make about 3 times the amount of crumble mix needed & freeze some so that I can just sprinkle the frozen crumbs onto the frozen fruit & put in the oven- the ultimate lazy pudding!)

The rest of the apples were destined to become chutney.  (We're on the last jar of the 2010 chutney, autumn is nearly here, there will be jacket potatoes & baked hams & so Spiced Apple Chutney is vital) I've made a variety of chutneys (isn't it an odd word?) in my time but keep coming back to this one time and time again- Spiced Apple Chutney from Nigella's Domestic Goddess Book.

I did not feel like a Domestic Goddess whilst making it...for some insane reason I chose to be very green & use the oven for other projects too...

-I sterilised the jars then...

-kneaded some bread dough ready to prove & put in the oven as soon as the jars had been sterilised

-Whilst the bread was in the oven I put the chutney in the jars


-Then noticed that some lemons needing using up so I made 2 lemon cakes

-Weighed out ingredients in to bowl ready to mix & answered the phone a few times before I realised I was 2 eggs short

-Found a small pot of frozen egg whites in the freezer, zapped them in the microwave & added them


 -Cake in oven, pesky flies now collecting around crab apples

-Quick wash of jam pan & shoved crab apples in wet pan to begin crab apple jelly

  


My afternoon of domestic bliss had turned into a multi-tasking mess, a sink full of washing up, a jelly straining to be set up, complete with 2 more loads of ironing to be done...but at least there is cake to be eaten & the delayed gratification of chutney to be enjoyed by Christmas.

7 comments:

Stitchybritt said...

Well done! Despite the mess, such a productive day!

Annie Cholewa said...

Where do you find the energy? (And you too Sue!)

I'm sure the outcome was worth the effort though :D

Thrifty Household said...

It was an ambitiously mad moment...

silverpebble said...

Delicious. Well worth the washing up.

noknittedknickers said...

I'm exhausted just reading this! Well done - definitely worth the mess. C.x

Anonymous said...

One afternoon of mess is a reasonable price to pay for such bounty!

Cheryl
a simple yarn

Barbara said...

Hi! Came over from Pomona's having something in common, holidaying at her B & B. I am sure you loved it too.

You certainly did some multi-tasking here. All looks great.

I have such an abundance of red crab apples this year and keep wishing that I had not given away all my jam and jelly making equipment.

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