Operation Apricot Bounty (Thanks, Kit!)

     Last week I went to a friend's house to pick apricots off her tree while she and her family were camping (prior permission obtained, of course). Several of my girls and I arrived in her backyard armed with bags and apricot eagerness. We picked 50 pounds of apricots! No joke. Last week was How Many Things Can I Bake and Make With Apricots Week. It was an orange-y, sweet, juicy week of apricot delight. I'll let the pictures tell the story.

Let the apricot gathering begin!

Weight of first batch - total: 50 lbs!

Washing, sorting, composting, and separating to ripen some more

Carefully placing all the not-yet-ripe apricots in small bags to prevent rot, and on my dryer no less. (Do you notice the canning jars beneath? You can see where my domestic efforts are these days!)

Making many batches of jam in my breadmaker. Yes, folks, one of the most valuable kitchen appliances I've ever owned! http://zojirushi-bread-maker-machine.com/

The first of many quart-sized bags of frozen apricots and  bags of frozen apricot juice (I'm going to use it later with 7-Up for a juice spritzer).

Apricot-Oatmeal bars (Never mind the crooked picture!)

Apricot puree used in the breads pictured below as an oil substitute

Apricot blueberry bread and chocolate apricot bread - super duper yummy!

     I also made apricot chicken which is not pictured. Can you tell I had fun with all those apricots last week?