I love what I call my “kitchen days”. Those are the times when I spend an entire day in the kitchen, cleaning and cooking/canning/freezing recipes, etc. My happy places are my kitchen, the barn, the local library, any beach by the ocean/sea, Christmas Eve/Morning (wherever the festivities take place), and Disneyworld. And today is a kitchen day!

I love kitchen days because everything is slowed down for me, and I just putter around in here all day long. First I give it a good cleaning, making sure the dishes are all washed and put away so I can load straight into my empty dishwashers as I go, and making sure my counters and stovetop are spotless before I start. Second, I have a cup (or two) of good coffee while I plan what I’ll do on my kitchen day. Third, I check my supplies and get started!

Today’s kitchen day agenda:

1. Render lard (using instructions from this site)

2. Fill the dehydrator with apple slices (to later make an apple and cinnamon stick garland for Christmas decorating in my kitchen)

3. Make crockpot apple butter (using this recipe) and can the jars of it

4. Thanksgiving Dinner planning: find out who’s spending it here, write out the menu and grocery list, check the pots/pans/dishes/servingware situation (to make sure I have everything I need)

5. Replace our Halloween deco with Thanksgiving deco

Kitchen days are relaxing for me, and I love how accomplished I feel at the end of each one. Now it’s time to get started on today’s plan!