Pies and Yogurt and Applesauce, Oh My!

Domestic goddess that I am (or maybe just a nesting 39-week pregnant woman), I've been baking up a storm in the kitchen this week. It started on Saturday with bagels. Kendra and Zac and Lily came over, so while Zac and Leif were working in the basement, Kendra and I made some bagels. I like bagels and they freeze well... plus I wanted to play. So we made some plain, onion, and apple cinnamon bagels. The plain and onion bagels turned out great. The apple cinnamon need to be tweaked a little more.

Then I decided to make my own yogurt. I'm hoping to be able to make most of Phoebe's baby food myself, either dehydrating for reconstitutable purees or freezing or canning. Martha had a segment about making your own yogurt, so I decided to give it a whirl. My verdict: it's cheap, easy, and you know exactly what goes into your baby's food, then. Plain yogurt is NASTY. But add some fruit and some sugar (or vanilla) and you've got a pretty good thing going.

Sunday I got the craze to make pies. Don't know why - I don't like making pies. But for some reason I just HAD to. So I made a no-bake cheesecake and 4 mini cheesecakes as well as a strawberry pie and 2 mini strawberry pies.

I also made up a bunch of taco meat and froze it so we'd have ready-to-go meat after the baby is born, when I get a hankerin' for tacos, as I have so often. =)

Last night I really wanted to make salt-water taffy. But, alas, I seem to have lost my candy thermometer. So, after adding "candy thermometer" to the shopping list, I settled for making some crockpot applesauce instead. I probably won't be ambitious enough to can it, but it will freeze.

Oh, and I made some strawberry sundae sauce (though I'm sure it will be good on pancakes, too) while I was in the kitchen. It's just one thing after another, it seems.

I also completely reorganized the pantry and the whole kitchen. Poor Leif can't find anything anymore! But it is a much better way of organizing things, if you ask me. I did end up with one cupboard that's completely empty, though, so I'll have to see what I can do to remedy that. Haven't decided what I want up there yet.

So... we'll see what I'm up for today. I really ought to get down to the basement and tidy up before my folks arrive tomorrow. But I still have a couple apple pies on the brain... We'll see, I guess. We'll see.