So I've been meaning to write about what I spent part of last week doing....
I got to babysit my aunt's adorable little miniature dachshund named Simone. She is the greatest and definitely a big reason why i want a little mini dog just like her!
(CAN YOU BELIEVE SHE WEIGHS ONLY 8LBS????!!!!!)
Also...I was reaching out to my inner Martha Stewart and went to Chicago where my friend's mom Carolyn and her Grandma taught me how to make applesauce!!!!!!!!!!!! We cut and cooked 2 bushels and a peck of apples. I used 5 varieties of apples that I bought from various farms around here in the fruit belt of Michigan: Northern spy, empire, melrose, idared and golden delicious. It was most definitely a fun experience, but EXHAUSTING!!!!
So the steps I went through were:
number 1, cutting alllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll those apples up, which unfortunately i didn't get a picture of! Let me tell you, it was quite a site seeing bowls and bowls of cut up apples all over the kitchen!!!!!
Step number 2 was putting them in 3 pots on the stove, 2 slow cookers set on high, and one gynormous electric skillet all to cook down.
Step number 3 involved taking all the cooked apples and putting them through the sieve attachment on the Kitchen Aid --you can see they already look just about like applesauce in this bowl, except there are still seeds and the skins by this point have the consistancy of construction paper and are just plain nasty to eat (i tried!).
Step number 4 went onto the stove in a pot again, to warm it up to temperature so it could be put in steralized canning jars.
Step number 5 is the cans going into the canner (the biggest pot on the stove), depending on the size--for 15-20mins
Step number 6 is in place of step 4 if I am putting them in freezer containers. which is just letting the applesauce cool down enough to put in those containers, mostly to prevent melting the containers and also to prevent freezerburn later.
The finished product after about 10 hours in the kitchen non-stop was 12 pints and 11 quarts canned and 10 pints and 10 quarts frozen!!!
I AM sooooooooooooooo Martha!!!
Next year I plan to make my own tomato sauce!!! yippie!!!!!!!!!!!
2 comments:
first of all, i love simone! too cute!
secondly, i miss ida red apples... couldn't find them in cali and they don't seem to be here in DC either! :(
finally, martha, the applesauce is awesome. my sister and i said we were going to make jam this fall, but that didn't happen. maybe next year!
That applesauce looks so yummy!
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