Applesauce

The other day, L and I raided the damaged produce cart at the grocery store. We came home with four packs of tomatoes, one pack of red peppers, and one pack of apples. All of the tomatoes and one single pepper have been turned into meat sauce (which was then turned into lasagne last night OM NOM NOM), and just the apples taunted me. I knew that I wanted to make applesauce, especially as I'd opened my last jar a few weeks ago. The fact that the sauce inside was runny and too sweet was mildly disappointing.

So today, I chopped up all of the apples, added a bit of water and the runny applesauce and set it to cook down. It cooked down about 5 hours or so, and then I deemed it worthy. :-P (As the previous applesauce was too sweet, I didn't add any additional sugar or spices.)

Keeping in mind my failure recently, and remembering that I STILL am without my jar lifters (grr), I was a little more cautious this time around. Heeding Francesca, I popped the jars into the oven to warm, instead of submerging them in hot water. I then took great care in using my silicone gripper and a wide spatula when lowering the jars into the water.

According to my Ball Blue Book of Canning, applesauce should be waterbath canned for 20 mins. They've been in there for at least 10 minutes (I'm timing for when the LAST jar went in, because you can't overprocess them by a few minutes) and when they are done, I will remove the WATER with a measuring cup (I did this last time to great effect) and thus, minimize any attempts to burn myself.

When this is all complete, I will have 7 jelly jars (8oz) of applesauce for the minimal price of $1.

UPDATE: Success! 7 jars and no burns! :-D

A Couple More Recipes

Baked White Bean Dip with Rosemary and Parmesan -- I'd like to make this for the housewarming party tomorrow

Schnitz un Knepp -- Ham, Apples and Dumplings, this looks tasty!

Tasty Recipes

As I am making this Apple and Squash Galette for dinner tonight, I was browsing Perry's Plate to see what else Natalie had.

Tons! Is the answer.

Amish Baked Oatmeal
Pecan Crusted Chicken with PB & Maple Drizzled Apple Salad <-- the tastiest salad I've ever seen!
Pie crust recipe as well as a tip on incorporating butter into flour -- grate frozen butter! Note: definately don't use a box grater and use a plate, not a bowl for your frozen butter -- it will stick to everything.

So much of her food looks so tasty, and her site is very well organized. I might be making more from her in the future...

Making Applesauce

So at the last time that -I- went to the Farmer's Market (now sadly closed), one of the things that I had gotten was a bag of apples. Flash forward to last Monday, and we noticed that there was a most decidedly smushed apple in that bag, polluting all of the others. Mister said "oh we should throw that out" and I said "nah, I was gonna make applesauce anyways".

I chopped the apples on Tuesday, but then got home too late to cook them. So Wednesday morning, I popped them in a saucepan, put some water in there, and covered it. And last night I finally did get a chance to put it on the stove.

I added cinnamon, cloves, allspice, cardamom and a little too much sugar (:-(). But my 3 lbs. of apples turned into a quart of applesauce.

Yay for applesauce!

Now we need to go buy pork, as I only eat applesauce with pork, and I have two jars of applesauce that my grandma made sitting on the shelf as well. :-P

Also, since I'm a cheat, I made sure that the jar was hot (by repeated filling with near boiling if not boiling water), the applesauce was hot (reached a boil), and upended the jar to try and make a seal. If it doesn't seal, it'll just go in the fridge. But I don't want to pull out a full water bath for one little jar of applesauce.

Recipes to Save

Pot Pie #1
Pot Pie #2
Pot Pie #3
Pot Pie #4
Pumpkin Apple Bread Pudding
Banana Bread Pudding
Steak with Fondue
Bacon, Onion, Cheddar Biscuits
Make Ahead Muffin Melts
Black Ginger Blondies <--- I should make these for my coworkers at LUSH for Christmas! yay for vegan food blogs!
Irish Cream liqueur
Pumpkin Bread Pudding with Spicy Caramel Apple sauce and Vanilla Creme Anglaise

Also a recipe!

I made this squash recipe the other day, only I used Carnival Squash. Absolutely fabulous. It is my new favorite squash. Also, they're small and cute, and cut in half is a perfect meal for Mister and me.

Saving Some Links

Louisa May Alcott's Apple Slump
Medieval Apple Tart
Random Apple Recipes
Basic Dessert Egg Rolls
Eat Wild -- a site to help find grass fed meats and eggs
Growing Herbs for the Medicine Cabinet
Eating Out of Your Pantry

Just cleaning up my browser!

Follow-up of Brunch -- Strata and Spicy Apple Dumplings

So J and her roommate M came over for brunch. (Of the massive horde that I invite... sheesh.) Due to my loving to work last minute coupled with their arrival 10 minutes early, even the coffee wasn't ready (but the kettle was already on the stove! ... and things were ready in 10 mins).

As I had to be at home from 8-12 for the RCN guy to show up (if he'd shown up at 8 I was going to punch him), I had to be here early. But, as it was RCN that was showing up, our internet was down. And where did I post all of those lovely recipes I wanted to try? My blog. Where did I leave the book they came from? Mister's house.

Luckily, I typed all of the damn things in, so remembered the basics of what I wanted.

Half of it turned out as delicious as I wanted. The other half... I'll explain.

Based upon my half remembered Basic Breakfast Strata.
Strata Recipe:

Ingredients:
-- ground pork
-- bread (preferably day old, but I dried out regular bread)
-- garlic
-- oil
-- spices
-- 6 eggs
-- milk
-- 8 oz. block of cheddar cheese

I fried the pork with garlic and spices until appropriately browned. In a greased casserole dish, layer 1/3 of your bread in torn up bits. Add a layer of half of the sausage. Add 1/3 of the cheese. Another 1/3 of bread. The second half of sausage. Another 1/3 of cheese. Final 1/3 of bread. Leave final 1/3 of cheese off. Mix eggs with milk, and VERY VERY VERY SLOWLY pour the egg/milk mix over your casserole, allowing it to soak in everywhere (if you don't pour slowly, it bounces off the bread and onto the counter. Don't ask how I know). Let sit for an hour. Add final layer of cheese, and bake in 375F for close to an hour, or until done.

Verdict? Delicious.

Based upon my staring at this recipe a lot -- I looked up a recipe for the dough in the King Arthur Flour's Baking Companion.
Spicy Apple Dumpling Recipe(Picture above):

-- 2 apples, peeled, cored and diced
-- sugar
-- vanilla
-- choc. chips
-- cinnamon
-- garam masala
-- 2 c. flour (+ more for rolling out)
-- 2 tsp. baking powder
-- 1/2 tsp. salt
-- 2/3 c. shortening
-- 1/2 c. milk

In a med. sized bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt. Using a pastry cutter or fork, blend in shortening until crumbly. Stir in milk and form a soft dough. Divide dough in half, wrap each half in plastic, and refridgerate it while preparing apples.

Prepare apples as listed above. Throw in a bowl with a bunch of sugar, and, remembering that Garam Masala is cinnamon and a few other spices, toss a boat-load in and consider it a job done. Mix, and realize apples are spicier than an apple has a right to be. Throw in vanilla, cinnamon, more sugar and finally, chocolate chips in an endeavor to fix said spicy apples. Consider it as good as it's gonna get.

Preheat oven to 375F.

Roll out small balls of dough (<2" diameter in ball form). Place a spoonful of apple mix in the middle, and fold dough over into little purse-shapes. Place dumplings seam side down on a greased pan.

Bake for 45-50 mins.

Verdict? Spicy. I keep trying to convince Mister to come over and eat them. He's entrenched at his apartment, and not budging (nor am I being a sweetie and bringing them to him).


All in all, a fun morning drinking coffee and discussing musicals and odd bits of youtube.