Oatmeal Mix and Prickly Pears

Monday morning, I had a friend come over and keep me company in an effort to help me get things done. It worked! While we chatted in the kitchen, our older kids played and our babies watched each other. I also got a few things done. I made Pancake Mix (we have pancakes every Saturday morning for breakfast) and Oatmeal Mix from this cook book called Make a Mix Cookery. The Oatmeal Mix is probably our family favorite at the moment. We mainly use it to make oatmeal muffins, oat pancakes and fruit crisp (called Peach Blossom Dessert in the book). It's only been 2 days and I already used up the whole mix! Gonna have to make it again!

Oatmeal Mix

I just had to try making our favorite: Fruit Crisp with this cherry pie filling I canned last week at a friend's house. Yum!


That afternoon, I had a friend over and we made Prickly Pear Jelly together. It's prickly pear season, everyone! I have a friend that lets me pick her fruit in exchange for some of what I make with it. That's the jelly in the small jars in the back.

Since we have pancakes so much, I made some Prickly Pear Syrup (in the quart jars) that evening before hubby got home from work. And then, since I was in the midst of canning, we had oat pancakes with fresh prickly pear syrup for dinner! The kids loved the "pink" syrup.

I ordered a TON of bulk fresh fruit, through a friend, that's supposed to be arriving next week. So, in the two or three days after getting the fruit, I'll be busy canning all that fruit. I've never done such large amounts of fruit (a little over 150 lbs, what was I thinking?!?) in such a short amount of time. I've mostly just done jams and jellies so far, but I'll be branching out quite a bit. I'm borrowing a dehydrator from a friend (hubby loves dried fruit) and I'll also be making pie fillings, jams, applesauce and bottled peaches and pears. Wish me luck!