Saturday, September 26, 2009

An Apple A Day....

Today my sweet hubby picked up 1/2 a bushel of these for me

they are WineSaps FYI and isn't the basket simply BEEEEE-U-TIFUL??!! My sweet neighbor's precious mother ("Marvelous Mrs Mary" as my kids call her) who lives in Buffalo gave it to us filled with Easter goodies this past spring on one of her visits...how blessed are we? Isn't it gorgeous filled with apples? just Love this basket!!

HERE IS WHAT I DID WITH THOSE BEAUTIES:

First I peel, cored and sliced them (and pointed out to sweet hubby my need for a new peeler, corer, slicer contraption. Mine was purchased before I married and has been well loved and used and......... has about had it)


While doing that, John Mark did this:

He asked if he could eat the whole bowl...this kid LOVES apples
(but Gala's are by far his favorite)


Then, I did this. All the liquid is provided by the apples,
just cook them for a while to get them super soft!
Then I mushed and mashed, and mashed and mushed
and added some other yummy goodness to the pot
(brown sugar and cinnamon)
And then once again put my parents old canner to good use and did this:

I made 7 pints of applesauce. My son could go through those in a week if we let him

So, tomorrow, we're going back to buy a whole bushel, perhaps a different variety to do a taste test...this one is going to be hard to beat we all decided...we'll see. I hear it's good on gingerbread. Hmm...might be time to make some. I've not in ages and ages....

Oh yeah...and we also came home from the baseball game & other adventures today to a house filled with the stench of a sick dog....so I called hubby and asked him not only to please pick up the apples, but also PLEASE get a steam cleaner. And once you pay to rent one...well you must clean ALLLLL your carpets, right? So here I sit at 11 at night, taking a bit of a break. From furniture moving, vacuuming and steam cleaning...well hubby operates the cleaner, I just help with the prep work. I didn't document that part of the day with pictures...no one deserves that...ugh.... but it turned it to a big part of our day so I had to mention it

last weekend I canned scuppernong jelly. I'm thinking salsa is next (after more applesauce). I'm having WAY too much fun canning stuff. I might like it more than baking...hmm...that's a toughie, but I do really enjoy it! Is it odd that I get a thrill every time I open my pantry and there are more pretty jars filled with things I canned then there are metal cans filled from the store? Those pretty jars make me smile every time I see them.
Hmm.....wonder if anyone has a wonderful recipe to can pumpkin since they are starting to pop up everywhere.....and it happens to be one of my favorite things to consume (and smell)!, and I'm thinking it could be really pretty in jar!!!

So once again I pose the question...why oh why do they call it "canning" and not "jarring"?

4 comments:

LBO said...

Yum? Can we try some next week??

I've read it's not safe to can pumpkin puree -
http://www.fcs.uga.edu/pubs/current/FDNS-E-P.html

but you could freeze it. Here's a good link for how to prepare it -
http://www.thenourishinggourmet.com/2008/09/roasting-pumpkins-for-pies-and-other-projects.html?showComment=1222888560000

(been giving some thought to doing this myself, can you tell?)

See . . . I come in handy!

The Unlikely Homeschooler said...

SURE!! I'll have a jar waiting with your name on it!!

perhaps we should can next week ;-) hee hee!!

THANKS for the info on pumpkins, I'm looking forward to reading it for sure!! I want to take as much advantage of the seasonal offerings as possible and get some stuff put up for when it's not available! SO fun!!

See you SOON...and sis you are ALWAYS great to have around!!

Andysbethy said...

My mother in law cans quite a bit - some of the best jams and jellies I have ever had. I really need to get that equipment and do some of my own. Your applesauce looks great! Yum Yum!
I saw your comment about being thankful for steam cleaners - sounds like you really did need it!

Unknown said...

I have no idea how to can. I would love to learn. I love your basket!! And our favorite apples are Gala too. The BEST!