A Domestic Goddess, I am NOT

                After we had picked pears in Medford for the Church, we gleaned about four bags of pears for us to take home.  Roland took 24 pears to give to friends he had made at the theater, and  I took 18 to my friends.  Most of the pears were not ripe at the time.  We continued to pass them out to neighbors until they became too ripe.  It got to the point where we needed to do something - such as pear sauce or pear cake or something.  I made pear sauce last week.

                Roland is the one who loves to bake and cook.  I was disappointed that he didn't do more of it during his time off.  I prefer not being in the kitchen for a huge length of time.  But Roland has returned to work and more than just the pears have ripened - but bananas as well.  In addition to our ripened fruits, Jaime and I had picked two buckets of apples - which Roland cored and I cut yesterday.  We're currently drying some apple rings and have put the rest of the pieces (5 1/2 gallon bags full)  of apple pieces probably for pie.

                This morning I baked one loaf of banana bread and started on a pear butter recipe that my neighbor had given me.  She had also given me a sample of the heavenly deliciousness.  Exhausted with my morning workout in the kitchen, I decided I needed a break and went to the pool to relax - or at least attempt to. 

                The pool was a nice temperature, but there was a light wind that made the air too cool for the wet skin to enjoy.

                When I returned home, half of the banana bread was missing, and I decided I would have a slice with Maxine's pear butter (as I had not finished making my own).  I had to fourth the recipe as it called for about 15 pears (I would assume enormous ones) which would add up to about 8 cups of pulp.  I had only 11 pears, 2 unusable, and not many in which the entire cup could be used.  I barely had 1 cup of pulp and 1 cup of juice combined.  I had left it in the refrigerator while I was at the pool.  I think that helped, for when I returned, I used the strainer once more and barely had two cups of sauce.

                I followed the recipe as best as I could.  I was appalled with the tiny amount.  It reminded me of having the juicer and getting only one or two ounces out of 20 apples or whatever else was used.  I had to put a drinking glass in the photo so as

Maxine's nearly gone, mine in the middle is mine did not fill an entire marachino jar. 

 

to prove what a tiny amount it was. 

 

                Jenna and I have been putting the pear butter on what's left of the banana bread.  Delicious.  Still a lot of work though.