Friday, October 14, 2011

Applesauce and Local Honey

I had a productive day today! I thoroughly cleaned the basement, made homemade applesauce, and bread, and got little caesars pizza for dinner. I know I know, epic fail! I must say, we eat little caesars a little too much. And I was particularly unimpressed with the usually greasy stuff they served up tonight. They have raised the price of the hot and ready pizzas from $4.99 to $5.99. Not only that, but the quality has gone down. The crust was half as thick as usual and the bread sticks were hardly cooked. Note to self: need to work harder at meal planning so that I don't end up feeding that junk to my kids any more! Although I love the pizza crust recipe I posted a couple of days ago, I'd like to find a quicker version that doesn't require the time to rise. I think there is such a thing?

Well, with out further ado...on to homemade applesauce. This is not a new creation. I made this for the first time when I was still in high school, 10 and some years ago. My best batch ever was made with Johnathan apples. It seams like the grainier, softer apples work better for sauce. The Johnathans simply fell apart while cooking and didn't need to be mashed or blended at all. Tonight I used Galas because that is what was on sale. They worked beautifully as you can see.


Cinnamon Applesauce

Homemade Cinnamon Applesauce

5+ apples such as Johnathan, Gala or Red Delicious
water just to cover bottom of pan
sugar and cinnamon to taste

Place all ingredients in a pan and boil until the apples are cooked through. Mash with a potato masher, or run through a blender or food processor. 

Note: omit the sugar and use as homemade baby food! You could use any alternate sweetener you choose. I think I might try it with honey next time. YUM! 

Speaking of honey, I have found a local bee keeper who sells his wares out of his house, just a couple of miles away, year round. Yeah!!!! It's really good honey too, and VERY reasonably priced. I bought three pounds from him at the farmers market last week for just a couple of dollars more than I spend at wally world for just one pound. If you are in the Kansas City area and are interested, he can be reached at 816-331-4143. (I tasted it side by side with the Fishers brand raw honey from Walmart. It is SO much sweeter and much more flavorful. I had no idea there could be such huge a difference! I totally licked the spatula, and the measuring cup.)

I got a really late start on my bread today. It's still rising, at 10:00pm. I think that my yeast was going bad too because I didn't start it thaaat late. It should be done by now but I just started the final rise. I finished up the last of the jar of yeast. Perhaps a fresh one will solve my problem of short loaves too. I did use the full three loaf recipe for only two as I mentioned in another post. I'll let you know tomorrow how it turned out. For now though, it's time to watch some mind numbing TV and fall off into dream land as soon as possible. I'm taking the boys to the Pumpkin Patch tomorrow and fully intend to gorge on some roasted sweet corn.

I'll leave you tonight with some eye candy from my garden. Many of my flowers have perked up and are blooming like crazy despite the dry weather we've had the last couple of weeks. Enjoy!

Flowers from my Garden. Blanket flower, Zinnias, Marigolds, and Mums


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