Homemade Applesauce

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

        

Recipe~ Makes 5 quarts of applesauce

30 Apples- a variety of different apples is best

4 Cups of R. W. Knudsen (Apple) Cider & Spice

1 Lemon

Instructions:

Core and cut the apples into chunks place in a large stock pot. Squeeze the lemon juice over the apples. Pour 4 cups of cider over the apples. cover with a lid and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to simmer, cook  apples until tender, 10-15 minutes. Push apples thru a sieve. Taste your applesauce, if it is too tart return to the pan and add sugar and cook until dissolved. 

*If using a food processor to mash your applesauce it would be easiest to peel your apples before cooking them.

Add the apple sauce to hot sterile jars for canning. Make sure to leave 1/2" of head room in the jars and the lids are on nice and tight. Place in water bath, cover. Bring to a boil and boil for 20 minutes. Carefully remove jars onto the counter and let them cool for 24 hours, makes sure all the jars are sealed.

Enjoy applesauce all year long.

 

This applesauce is perfect for cooking with or just eating :) My little helper couldn't get enough of it. And it is just right for him since there is no added sugar, not even in the apple cider I used.

What a weekend

We had a busy weekend and got a lot of projects done.
I got the carpets cleaned. Sorry no before and after pictures :)

Finally got my Christmas present from two years ago painted and hung up. My grand father in-law made it for me, I think it's great and the paint matches with the rest of the bedroom set. I still need to get all of my jewelry put in it and I am thinking it should be moved to another wall. My husband, of course, wants me to wait a week in hopes that I will like it where it is. So I must keep an open mind about where it is hanging now. Unfortunately I don't have a before picture, I thought of it a bit too late. I used an antique black paint kit, the pictures don't really show the antique look but it looks great.


We use our old wood kitchen table and chair set for our out door furniture. It works great except here in the northwest we still get a lot or rain during the summer, especially this year. So the set is not looking that great. I talked the hubby into sanding it down and painting it. We had some left over cans of spray paint, espresso color, and the in-laws had some left over clear varnish for out door use. After we got started I thought it would be really cool if the top of the table were painted with the chalk board paint. Then we could doodle and keep score while playing cards right on the table. But we are not to sure on how well it would hold up being outdoors (only during the summer of course). And I would hate to put a lot of work into it to have it turn look like it does now. So if anyone knows about using chalkboard paint outside please share your knowledge because I would love it if we could use it. As of today, Monday, we have one coat of the varnish on and we are going to apply several more so for now I have a picture of the table with it's new paint and no varnish. Please ignore the sad looking flower pot in the background it used to be so beautiful but it's the end of summer and at its nearing its end life. We still have to do the four chairs, we haven't even started on them yet. We ran out of sand paper for the electric sander, hubby is supposed to pick some more up today. So hopefully I will have an updated photo with the complete set all done shortly.

I have been working on some cloth booties for Colin, pattern from here . Maybe it's just me but I have heard this from others, Amy Butler's directions are difficult to read and follow. I could be that I am a beginner but I have to read the directions over and over for each step. Especially since there is two booties each one consisting of an outer layer and a liner. I am now at the sewing part and I tried to sew the two layers together only to end up ripping the seam out. I am awful, truly awful at following curved lines. Normally I do everything in my power to avoid them, which is not good because I will never learn how to sew them if I avoid them. My new plan of attack is to mark out my 1/2" seam line then trying following that, since I am incapable of just following the edge of the fabric. If any one has some helpful hints I would love to hear them ;o)

Hmmmm..... what else was there?

Congratulations to me! I won my first giveaway. I am so excited and grateful for the great stuff that is going to be coming to me via snail mail ( I love mail espcially when its not bills). I won the linky love prize you can see it here.

And of course I tired out a new recipe featuring my moms home grown zucchini, Fried Zucchini Coins, from food network. You can get the recipe here and of course I added a 1/4 cup of grated Parmesan cheese.

We borrowd a jumper from our dear friends Rob and Sarah and I am pretty sure Colin likes it.
And I also have a picture from when we went and visted the sometimes crafter, the sometimes crafters mom, and healing techniques. We had a great time and I thought I would share is adorable picture of Sheila playing with her grandson. She is one happy grandma, too bad I didn't get the front of Brice's face he was having as much fun as grandma. I am really hoping that we can all get together at least one Friday a month for some crafting.

Drunken Cheesy Bread

It got this recipe from Real Simple magazine and I finally made it (picture from real simple' website, since our dear friends are borrowing our camera). It was delicious! It was especially good since I am a bread freak, I could munch on a warm loaf of bread by itself. Even the hubby loved it. I think it's supposed to be an appetizer but we had it with a fresh green salad (with cucumbers from our garden) and cantaloupe. My recipe differed from theirs so I figured I will share it.

1 baguette, sliced open and then cut into 2 inch slices
1/2 small yellow onion diced
1/8 pound deli ham, we used black forest ham
1/2 cup of white wine, use something you like to drink, we used Montinore Estate Muller-Thurgau 2006 (it's a German variety that is semi sweet that is made here in the Willamette Valley)
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1 1/2 cups (6 ounces) grated white cheddar (may use Gruyere, Swiss, Monterey jack, or Fontina)

Heat oven to 400 degrees. Place half the bread in a buttered ovenproof dish (such as a skillet, or 9-inch square baking dish, or casserole). sprinkle half the onion and ham over the bread. Next lay a seconed layer of bread and spinkle with the remaining onion and ham. Pour the wine or the bread mixture and sprinkle with peper and cheese. Bake until the cheese is melted and it has begun to brown at the edges, about 20 minutes or 15 with speed bake. Let rest a few minutes and enjoy!

Ya ssou

Colin is now almost 11 weeks old and it seems like everyday we cry a little more. This is mainly due to the fact that he was born 7 weeks early and he never cried until he reached his gestational age of 38 weeks. Apparently he had spoiled for those 5 weeks because now I am at a loss on how to make him happy. I know babies are supposed to cry and that it is part of their development but it just seems unnatural.
I try holding him, singing to him, walking with him, burping him (he is a huge spit upper, due to being a preemie), sitting in the bouncy chair (him not me), looking out the window, changing his diaper, and just trying to entertain him. But nothing really seems to work. He just falls asleep when he is ready to.
For example today after hours of unhappiness and dismay he fell asleep on his play mat, made by Christina, this is actually the first time we have used it. I have been afraid to use it due to the fact he spits up at random times and I just adore it and I would be devastated if it got ruined. He has now been asleep for an hour on his play mat, I turned up the heat and covered him with a blanket, I think he loves his play mat Christina.

My question is "is this behavior normal for a baby, a preemie, an 11 week old?" And if anyone has any helpful tips please leave me a comment.

On to something more tasteful, last nights dinner. I was hoping to blog about it last night but I just got to tired. So here we go...

Greek salad with herbed pita
This is one of my favorite recipes, it's from Williams-Sonoma Food Made Fast Salad
It has a suggested variation for picnicking, just add chopped cooked chicken and insert salad and chicken into the pita and enjoy a fabulous sandwich. I add the chicken even if I am not going to be using it as sandwich filling, it's delicious either way. It's even great as leftovers, which I am not a big fan of, but I love to eat this the next day for lunch. Yum, just writing about it makes me want to go back in the kitchen for seconds.

Wow, this is a long entry for me, here I was afraid I wouldn't know what to blog about. So before I bore you too much I will say "Ya ssou (Greek for hello/goodbye to a friend)."