Canning Applesauce

Canning Apple Sauce

I find few things more annoying than having to scroll through a looooong story about someone's day & everything they hold dear in order to get to the recipe I want to check out, so I will share my recipe FIRST.  If you want the story & pictures, continue to scroll.

The Recipe

10lb Apple 

2 c No Sugar Added Apple Juice 

2/3 cups Brown Sugar

2 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp allspice

!/4 tsp nutmeg

8 pint mason jars, lids and rings

The Steps

Wash & sterilize mason jars.  I always hold them hot in the rack of my cannier waiting to be filled.  

Peel, core, & slice apple.  I used a peeler, corer, slicer to make my life easier.  

Combine apples, apple juice and spices in a pot larger enough to hold all of your apples.  (The pot I was using was FULL before I could add the last 5 or six apples, so I put it on the stove so the apples would break down while I prepared the last few apples.)

Cook apples on medium to medium-high until they are soft enough to mash.

Use an immersion blender to mash the sauce into the consistency you like best!  

Ladle your applesauce into prepared pint mason jars leaving 1/2 inch headspace.  Wipe jar rims and adjust lids to finger tight.

Process filled jars in a boiling-water canner for 15 minutes. Remove jars from canner; cool overnight.

Remove rings for storing.

The Story

  Apples!  I LOVE apples!!!  Well, I love good apples, but I live in Florida, and we aren’t particularly KNOWN for our apples!  When you think Florida you think oranges.  For some, strawberries might come to mind.  We have a FANTASTIC strawberry harvest in the winter months! In recent years our produce industry has recently expanded to include countless blueberry farms and many blackberry patches.  Some growers are even producing a peach that grows well in Florida.  (I’m not personally a fan of the Florida peach because I find them hard to work with for jam making.)  Decent apples, however, are difficult to procure here!  The REALLY good ones come from so far north that they have no taste or are “mushy” by the time they arrive on our store shelves.  

  Recently, I spent some time in Virginia, and found myself at a lovely Mennonite produce stand with APPLES.  We had driven from Florida to Virginia, so I was able to buy 1/2 a bushel to bring home!  YAY!  It’s rare that I can fill my stock pile with yummy apple goodness!   With visions of apple pie filling, apple sauce, and apple jelly in my mind, I happily paid $15 for my BOX of apples!!! 

  When I got home (okay, maybe one the 13hour drive home too!) started scouring the internet for recipes.  I knew I wanted to make and preserve apple pie filling and apple sauce.  The apple pie filling recipe recipe was pretty easy to find.  I had a little more trouble finding one I really liked for apple sauce.  Every recipe I found was for pretty small batches.  I wanted to make more jars than I could eat in a week AND I wanted to preserve it for later use.  SO, I combined a couple of recipes that I liked,  and processed the jars for the amount of time that seemed standard for the couple of large batch recipes that I found.

My PRETTY apples!

I used this nifty gadget to peel, core, and slice my apple in one step! 

Apples prepared. Add apple juice, brown sugar, and spices then simmer until the apples are soft
enough to mash.

All of the recipes I found suggested using a food processor of a  regular blender to mash the apples.
I chose to use my emersion blender!  It seemed much easier than transferring the apple sauce between things a couple of times!  I've also had BAD experiences with HOT foods in a blender!

I had to be carefully to not touch and scratch my cooking pot!

Close to ready (for me).

This is the consistency I decided I wanted.  Next I ladled it into 8  pint size jars, and processed it in my water bath canner for 15 minutes.  

Finished!
  I really like the way this batch looks!  When I had friends bring me apples 2 years ago, the apple sauce I made with them had WAY TOOOO much cinnamon, and it looked too brown for my liking.  Amount of cinnamon was something I paid attention to when I was looking up recipes this time around!

I was SO excited to get these apple!  I'm EVEN more excited that I'll probably be back in Virginia around the same time next year which means that I'll be able to keep my stockpile sufficiently supplied with apple goodness for at least the next couple of years!!!

Let's Tie Dye!!!

I ordered a white LLR tank top, but with all that can happen to WHITE (grandkid's tiny smudged fingers, pet's paws, and :gasp: RAIN!) I really wanted to try tie-dying it.    I like the results & I'm excited to wear this beauty!

I even (with a tiny bit of help from my sons) recorded and edited a "how to" video!

FOR my Kitchen Counter!

With cabinets ordered & on their way, it was time to decide what TYPE of counter-tops we wanted for our kitchen this time around.  I knew that granite was TOO pricey,  Corian hadn't really worked out to be the "forever" solution that we had hoped it would be, and, well, laminate & I were not friends.  I'd ruined our first counters with a hot pan fresh off of the stove very early into its lifespan, and spent about 14 years covering the bubbled spot with a cutting board!  LOL  I really didn't want to go back to the laminate option even though it really seemed to be the most budget friendly option.  Then, I had a thought!  What about butcher block counters?!  An internet search led me to several options, as well as several sites and blogs about finishing and care!   After some research, we decided on Lumber Liquidators 12ft Maple butcher block.  It was long enough to complete the entire project affordably!  BONUS  when we got to the store to purchase, it was on SALE!!!

 Our 12 beautiful feet of Butcher Block!

My son trying to lift the end or the Butcher Block. "It's like trying to lift Thor's hammer!!!!!" LOL

Sealing the underside of the counters. It's almost a shame that this will never be seen!!!

The tops don't look the same because they're be sealed with a food safe butcher block conditioner.  Ive chosen Howard Butcher Block Conditioner.  It's easy to use, and easy to get!  I've purchase it at both my local Lowe's store & from Amazon.

I'm very happy with my butcher block choice!  It look wonderful & the conditioner has worked exactly as was expected too.  The only irritation is when my husband splashed wine & doesn't wipe it right up!  That stain can set a bit, but, if I find it cant be taken care of with a wet clothe, it's nothing a little bit of sandpaper can't remedy!   Other than that, it's lovely!

Want to know how the kitchen remodel turned out?  Subscribe & keep reading!  :)

The Power of the TWEET!

  One Sunday afternoon my husband decided to stop into our local home imporvement store to look at the kitchen  cabinet selection.  I had already been looking at unfinished cabinets to replace the current ones in our kitchen & we wanted to see what they looked like.  When we arrived in the cabinet department, we met, a kitchen designer.  We asked about if there were any unfinished cabinets in stock.  As she was guiding us to the shelves, she mentioned that the store had FINISHED Portland Cabinets at a GREAT price, although she didn't know why the price was SO low!  My husband even asked, "Are they a clearance or discontinued item?  If we decide on these, do we need to rush to purchase?"  Her response was that we didn't need to rush because they weren't a clearance item.  We selected the Portland Oak cabinets that are on sale and called home to have our son collect measurements & send pictures.  The designer said that she needed to go over the measurements, and confirm what was in the store, and what would need to be ordered from the warehouse or, possibly purchase, at nearby stores.  We learned on Wednesday that the cabinets which we chose WERE a discontinued item and that was reason for 50% off sale.  The designer put together a list and suggested we purchase what our store has in stock check around with other stores to see what they have to complete our project.  We were told that if we couldn't find the remaining 5 cabinets,we could  return the purchased items.  Looking on company website at stores from Tampa to Daytona it appears most of these items are now out of stock!
  As we reviewed the list, some things just didn't add up.  It looked like the associate was trying to give us options, but I can't fully tell, so we went to the store last night at around 5:30PM in an effort understand the list a little better.  (We knew we want an Utility Pantry between the Fridge and Stove, so that could be where some of the confusion is coming in.  Also, some of the item numbers were showing a different finish which didn't seem right.)   The designer we had been dealing had already gone home, but we found 2 other associates in the kitchen area.  One woman was playing with her cell phone & the other was on the store phone, presumably with a customer.  We waited for a couple of minutes, and, finally,  the woman who appeared to be on a business call, acknowledged us over her phone call asking what we needed.  When we briefly explained the situation, she responded with a laugh & said, "Well, I'm too busy trying to put this order together right now!"   It might have been the shocked look on our faces at such a response, but she reluctantly ended her call telling the person on the other end that she would have to call them back in a minute "because hopefully this won't take long."   At that point I was pretty much DONE!  We looked up a few items missing on our list, and didn't find them in stock anyplace.  We came home and searched the website AGAIN checking stores across the state of Florida & couldn't find all of the pieces to complete our kitchen remodel. I was very disappointed!  I now had visions of pieces that I hadn't even thought of before our first store visit.  Not only would I probably not get those pieces because they weren't available anymore, we were back to square one!
  It was time to start looking at how to stain & finish cabinets again.  That is until I told my oldest son about our experience the next day!  After I explained all that had happened over the past couple of days & how frustrated I was about it, he replied, "Did you tweet the company?"  Ummm... no, it hadn't occurred to me to TWEET the company!   I'm not in my 20s, so twitter isn't the first thing that comes to mind as a customer service tool!  My son, however, has tweeted the big car companies to get a test drive of a specific model car!  He has also tweeted while standing in a store unable to find an associate.  The cooperate twitter responded asking the store number, and he had an associate to him in a matter of minutes!  I handed my him my iPhone and he composed three simple Tweets:

Within 40 minutes I had this response on Twitter:

 

I emailed our experience to them and the NEXT day we had a phone call from our local store management team.  It turns out it WAS possible to have the missing pieces shipped to our local store! We determined what pieces we needed with the management of our store, and placed our order.  Thanks to Lowe's Customer Care & Twitter we were able to gt ALL of the pieces we wanted!   I even posted a THANK YOU Tweet when we finished the project!

Want to know how the kitchen remodel turned out?  Subscribe & keep reading!  :)

Whaaaaaaa! Water Damage!

WATER DAMAGE!  Yep!  We had it!  A few years ago we noticed some pooling under and around the dishwasher.  Sometimes it would be after we had run it, sometimes it just mysteriously appeared!   My husband watch under the machine while it ran to see if there was any visible leak MANY times.  We even pulled it out & sat watching for the mysterious water source. Then, suddenly one day the water seemed to STOP!  Every now & then we'd see a tiny bit of water, but nothing to cause concern.  Problem solved, right?  NOPE!  Within a few months, I noticed that all of the pots & pans in my cabinets seemed to be shifting a bit to the back.  Little by little, the incline became steeper until the shelf was useless!  My husband put a new bottom into the cabinet, but we knew it was only a temporary fix.

  Fast forward about two years to late Summer 2015.  We could actually see that the cabinets were crumbling at the corner near the dishwasher & our temporary fix was also meeting with it's demise.  My  husband, once again, pulled everything out to investigate the extent of the damage.  (We had hoped that he could repair the base of the cabinets, but alas, it was not to be!  The damage was to extensive for a patched fix, so we knew we would have to start looking into replacing the cabinets.

   Having been home when the Corian counters were installed 10 years ago, I knew that cabinets would probably NOT be all we would be replacing!  Further research confirmed, that Corian counters are one molded piece & rarely survive simply removing the old cabinets to slide new ones underneath of them.  I had been noticing a slight slope to the counters for a few weeks, & figured that the the cabinets were no longer supporting sufficiently.  Then IT happened!  I found a small crack forming at the corner of the counter top about 5 feet away the origination point of the water damage.  (When we eventually demolished the kitchen for remodel it was along this tiny crack that the entire counter broke in two.)  It was TIME to get serious about replacing pretty much the whole kitchen.

  Like most construction projects, we had in mind what HAD to be done, and we ended up adding a few other unexpected & fun elements!  BONUS!  We didn't spend a TON of money either!  A little shopping around, and some help from Twitter really helped the budget!  Keep reading over then next few days & weeks to see how we changed more than JUST what's On My Kitchen Counter!  I promise I have LOTS of pictures!

Since I Last Blogged...

Oh GOODness it's been a long time since I blogged!  A recent kitchen remodel has inspired me to pick up where I am now & once again share What's On My Kitchen counter.  There have been a few changes in my blog hiatus.  Our oldest son got married almost 3 years ago, and we are now grandparents of a sweet little baby girl!  (I'm Nana & my husband is Grand-daddy)  She'll soon be a big sister, too!   

Some of my upcoming post will be counter-inspired by fun stuff for her & baby brother or sister to enjoy!   Stick around & see what we've got going on in the kitchen and around our house! 

Gardening Tools

I'm not what anyone would call a successful gardener! Over the past 23 years we've planted several gardens in our small yard, without much yield.  The most successful was probably the first year my husband & I were married.  For our first garden we planted a cute little "plot" that gave us some wonderful green beans & tomatoes.  As the years have passed & life has become more busy, gardening efforts have become smaller or non-existent.  The latter is the case most years.

  While I'm not a successful gardener with tons of produce to show for any effort I might put forward, I am a wistful one.  What do I mean by that?  I suppose I as I plant, fertilize, water, & baby my plant babies I wistfully imagine what could be.  If I get one tomato or six green beans, I'm exceedingly excited!  Can you imagine if I ever got what would  constitute a real crop?  

 My aversion (that is an understatement) to creatures that have no legs & slither plays a significant role in my inability to keep a tiny homestead. So, a few years ago I tried a few hanging & container plants.  I loved the relaxation I experienced tending the plants! And, although it, once again, didn't result in bushels of produce, it was a fun homeschool activity me & my kids.

  As a "wanna be" gardener (and hopeful canner) I came across a "tomato rocket" in the supermarket last week.  My inner wistful farmer came out & made the impulse buy.  Today I broke out the gardening tools that that United Methodist Women at church recently gave me as a gift, reenlisted one of my container gardens, found my Starbucks "grounds for your garden", & did a little planting!  It's might be too late in the year or the container might be the wrong size, but maybe, just maybe THIS will be the year that I harvest the 100s of tomatoes that the box "promises." Only time will tell!

Finally Some New Soap!!!

I finally have some new homemade soap on my kitchen counter!  A couple of weeks ago I spent a day making 3 batches of soap using 3 different processes.  I made a hot process (crock pot) Warm Vanilla Nutmeg scent, a cold process/ oven process (CPOP) Toasted Marshmallow, and last but not least a cold process Radiance scent.  The HP & CPOP are ready to use, but the CP batch is still curing & you'll get to see it sometime in the future!  

  The scents of  these soaps are SO yummy!  I really wish you could smell online!!! LOL  

 
 
 
 
 

Accidentally "Crunchyish"

I believe that over the past 5 years or so, I have accidentally become a more "crunchy mom."  I suppose it could be augured the crunchy journey began when I started homeschooling 14 years ago.  Don't get me wrong, I'm not completely crunchy, I took a quiz & rated me at "pretty crunchy."   Some of the questions really don't apply to me anymore since my kids are WAY beyond the baby phase & some decisions are way past made!  I may make some different decisions if I were making them now.   There are also so many different decisions to make now than there were 20 years ago, particularly pertaining to how vaccinations are administered!  

On my kitchen counter today is one of my crunchiest endevours yet. We bought a PIG! Not a live pig. A farm raised butchered pig!  I've been interested in buying a cow for a while now, and the opportunity presented itself to buy a pig a few weeks ago.  It seemed like a good place to start, so we started small with about 40 lbs of pork now in our freezer.  Today, I'm preparing the first of our piggy, which my youngest son has posthumously named "Bacon."  A Boston butt roast is creating a lovely aroma throughout my house.  

I look forward to sharing my pork adventure here over the next few weeks & months!  Just wait till I try wet curing a ham!

 

Ahhhhh... Refreshment!!!

I am by no means, what one would call a coffee drinker!  The fact is there is no coffee maker on my kitchen counter, and there hasn't been one in at least 20 years!  We did receive, not one, but TWO as wedding gifts 23 years ago, but I can only remember using the one that we kept a handful of times for company.  All of this is quite ironic considering, for a very brief period of time, we owned a dessert & coffee shop!  If I do have a coffee, I need it "candied up."  Occasionally,  usually at Christmas time, I'll order a Peppermint Mocha at a Starbucks.  It's more like hot chocolate than coffee.  Usually, if I'm up for a hot drink I'll get a Caramel Apple Cider.  I don't drink much caffeine, so when I have a real coffee just ONE keeps me up for hours!

The fact that I'm not into coffee, by all means, does not mean that I don't have a most favorite indulgence at my local Starbucks.  I LOVE a Venti Green Tea Lemonade, sweet with light ice!!! It's a special treat for me! I do not drive past a Starbucks daily.  I do, however, visit my local Target on a fairly regular basis.  When I do, the Starbucks cafe calls to me.  So, when the budget allows, you'll find one sitting on the counter as I unload groceries!

 

Quail Eggs

On Monday morning atop my kitchen counter I had quail eggs!   Did you even ever think about eating a quail egg omelet?  My husband hadn't, but he said he found the one I made him on Monday quite tasty!  

 A friend of mine has started a little farm, complete with chickens and quail.  While the chickens won't be laying eggs for a couple of months now, the quail are laying!  I'm looking forward to fresh chicken eggs soon, but while I'm waiting I decided to try some of the quail eggs!  They are really tiny and cute, but nutritionally, they pack a punch!  In my research I found that their nutritional value is three to four times that of a chicken egg, and they contain about 2% more protein per egg!  They also aren't known to cause allergies like chicken eggs!  I have been truly amazed at the health benefits these tiny little packages hold! I pretty sure that they'll bee seen on my kitchen counter again!!!

Cute little quail eggs!

I cooked up six.

Okay, so it's probably more like scrambled eggs that an omelet, but I like them to look nice! 

My Weekend "Wilderness" Camping Kitchen Counter!

This is my "kitchen counter" for this weekend! 

I know it's still a bit disorganized, but we were just unloading our gear for our Mother's Day group camping at Ft. Wilderness Resort & Campground.  We've had an annual October trip for many year, but this is the first time we've organized a Mother's Day weekend trip.  

We just love our trips to Ft. Wilderness! There truely is something for everyone at this resort!  This time around I'm banking on lots of pool time!  There will be also there will also be dinner cookouts, evening movies,  and watching Magic Kingdom fireworks on the beach!  "Roughing it" at the primative group site is something every family should try at least once!!

 

Zellwood Sweet Corn!

Last night Zellwood Sweet Corn, one of my seasonal favorites, was on my kitchen counter!  For those up north, Fall is the time for corn, but in Florida this treat is purely a Spring time pleasure!  I get almost giggly when I see it in the local supermarket!  Yesterday I bought my first corn of 2013!  It was great & I look forward to many more dinners with some yummy sweet corn!!!  In fact, I might take some on our weekend camping trip!!!