Well, regardless of what you call them, these cookies are so delicious, SO easy, and SOOO addicting! (Sounds like a perfect little cookie if you ask me!) The recipe I currently use to make these has been slightly adapted over the years as I’ve found other things to add and enhance the cookie, but it’s mostly true to what I started out loving as a youth. However, I’ll go ahead and give you both versions, since the original recipe is super basic, as well as shelf stable. But the second version is my preferred version. So go ahead and whip up a fresh batch (haha… doesn’t ‘fresh’ take on a whole new meaning when you think of the title?? Sorry. Overly gross. My bad.) and I dare you to eat just one!

{Side note: I’m having computer issues these days and can’t save any PDF files in Word or edit and save my pictures in Photoshop, hence I don’t have any nicely arranged pictures to show you nor a printable version of the recipe for you to download. However I was tired of just waiting to figure out what’s going on and decided to go ahead and post this anyway. But I promise to add the nicer photos and files when my computer is back up to full working status. }

Gorilla Poops – a.k.a. Chocolate Oatmeal No-Bake Cookies {Original Recipe}

Ingredients:

• ½ cup shortening
• 3 Tbsp cocoa powder
• 2 cups sugar
• ½ cup milk (reconstituted powdered milk)
• ½ tsp salt
• 3 cups rolled oats (quick oats is best, but old fashioned will work fine)

Directions:

1. In a medium saucepan, heat and melt together the shortening and cocoa.
2. Add the sugar, milk, and salt to the saucepan and bring to a boil, stirring frequently. Once the mixture has come to a rolling boil, start timing for about 1 minute (and continue to stir).
3. At the end of 1 minute, remove the pan from the heat and add the oats. Mix everything together thoroughly.
4. Drop large spoonfuls of the mixture onto a wax paper lined cookie sheet and allow to cool and set up for approximately 30 minutes. Eat and enjoy.

Gorilla Poops {Modified/Preferred Recipe}

Ingredients:

• 1¾ cups white sugar
• ½ cup milk (reconstituted powdered milk)
• ½ cup butter (1 stick)
• 4 Tbsp cocoa powder
• ½ cup peanut butter
• pinch of salt
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 3 cups quick oats

Directions:

1. Measure and prepare all of your ingredients in advance. Prepare 1-2 cookie sheets lined with wax paper. (This makes the process go so much more smoothly since things will start happening quickly!)
2. In a medium saucepan, combine the sugar, milk, butter, and cocoa. Bring the mixture to a rolling boil, stirring frequently. As soon as it reaches a full boil (i.e. the top is all foaming up with bubbles), start timing for 90 seconds while constantly stirring. (Do not overboil the mixture or your cookies will be dry and crumbly. Do not underboil or your cookies may not set.)
3. Immediately remove the mixture from the heat and stir in the peanut butter until melted. Then add the salt, vanilla, and oats. Mix until fully combined.
4. Drop by rounded spoonfuls onto the prepared lined cookie sheets. (I like to use two spoons for this, since the mixture is really hot. Use one spoon to scoop the mixture from the pot, and the other spoon to scoop the mixture off the first spoon and onto the wax paper.)
5. Let cool until set/hardened (30-40 minutes). Eat and enjoy!

Well, I hope you enjoy your tasty jungle treat! (I know, I know, Mom… that’s disgusting.)

To make fresh-squeezed lemonade, clearly you’re going to need some fresh lemons. We currently have two lemon trees in our yard, but both are pretty young and still in the ‘not really producing much yet’ phase (although we were actually able to use two lemons from our trees that had actually turned yellow and were ready for the pickin’! I cannot wait until these trees produce in large quantities!). Fortunately, however, we have some good friends with a mature lemon tree that produces lemons like crazy and they were kind enough to share some with us. (Thanks Browns!)

So the process starts with picking the lemons, but since that was already done for us, we moved right on to the juicing phase. Cut the lemons in half and then juice, juice, juice those babies until they have no more juice left in them. (Note: an electric juicer is TONS of help when doing any substantial amount of juicing, although not necessary as you can read about below.)

Add child labor whenever possible.

Pour the collected juice into a jar…

and ta-da! You’ve got freshly squeezed lemon juice that is just BEGGING to be made into lemonade. (P.S. Just refrigerate or freeze any lemon juice that will not be used right away.)

Fresh Homemade Lemonade

Download Printable Version
Ingredients:

• 1 cup fresh squeezed lemon juice
• 1 cup sugar
• approximately 2 quarts of water

Directions:

1. In a 2-quart pitcher, add your lemon juice and sugar.
2. Add enough water and ice to make 2 quarts. Stir. Enjoy.

{Note: These amounts are based on personal preference. If you like your lemonade a bit more tangy, use more lemon juice. If you like it more diluted, use less. More sweet, more sugar… you get the idea. This is just a starting point. Also note that different types of lemons (or different levels of maturity) will produce different flavors. So depending on the type/maturity of lemon you’re using, you may end up varying your amounts as well.}

So here’s my funny lemon juicing story… just to keep life real: We have an electric juicer (as you can see from the pictures above), and I put it together to go ahead and use to juice all these lemons. I tried to juice the first lemon and it wouldn’t work. No motor noise, nothing. I’d only used it a few times before and couldn’t believe it was already broken! ‘Piece of junk’ I’m thinking to myself. So my girls and I juice all our lemons by hand. I disassemble the juicer, and then I remember we’ve got two lemons on our tree, so I run out to grab those to add to our spoils. I come back in and put the juicer back together, and this time I notice a little notch in the top that looks like it’s maybe supposed to line up with the seed catcher part. Hmmm… so I line them up, and badda-boom badda-bing, it works! I couldn’t believe we juiced all those lemons by hand due to my user error. (I seem to be pretty good at making extra work for myself based on user error.) DOH! Well, it was a good arm workout anyway.

Lettuce is mainly a cool weather crop–which I find interesting since I usually crave it most during the hot summer months when I want something light and refreshing to eat. But regardless, you want to plant it when your temperatures will be mild (generally between 45 to 75 degrees F, and most lettuce can even survive a light freeze). During the hot weather, lettuce tends to turn bitter and bolt (which means it sends up a flower stalk at the top, and basically it’s done growing). This happened to us this past summer, and the lettuce isn’t really salvageable at that point (unless you like eating bitter lettuce), so your best option is to just pull it up and replant when temperatures are cooler, or to plant in a location that receives more shade (particularly afternoon shade). You can also find lettuce varieties that are more resilient to heat and don’t bolt as quickly. {I’m thinking I’m definitely going to have to look into that this year!}

Planting: When planting lettuce, it’s fun to choose a variety. {Right now we’ve got about three different kinds growing, and the mix makes for a beautiful salad. I especially like the small amount of red romaine we’ve got included.} Prepare your soil by loosening the top 10 inches or so, and mix in some compost to the top layer.
You can plant lettuce by either broadcasting the seeds (which means you basically just sprinkle them all over your prepared garden soil area), or you can plant them in rows to a depth of about 1/4″ and spaced about 1″ apart. I like to plant in rows, but the seeds are so tiny that I don’t worry about how far apart they are spaced within that row. I just sprinkle them down the row and then, when they start growing, you can thin the plants out, if needed.

Tending: Lettuce does best when the soil is kept cool and moist. Water in the early mornings so that the leaves have time to dry during the day and you can avoid mildew and fungal problems that can come if the leaves are continually wet overnight.

Harvesting: One way to “thin” out your lettuce is to just start eating it! As the plants start growing and getting crowded together, just pick the outer leaves (new ones grow from the middle of the plant) and throw them into a salad and leave the rest to continue growing. There’s no need to let the whole plant grow to a certain point and then pull it out or cut it all together. Just harvesting the outer leaves allows for a continued growing process and you will enjoy your lettuce for a long, long time (or at least until the end of the growing season). Also note, that it’s often best to harvest in the mornings. This is especially true if your days get pretty warm as they move to the afternoons. The hotter temperatures will make the lettuce wilt in the afternoon hours and then it’s hard to get your lettuce to be crisp (even if you stick it in the fridge). However, if your temperatures are mild all day long, you can really harvest at any time during the day.

We’ve got a good amount of lettuce growing right now in our winter garden and it is doing pretty well (yes, that is lettuce from my garden pictured above). Granted… Houston’s “winter” isn’t exactly the same as the majority of the country. We don’t usually get to freezing temperatures until sometime in January/February, and even then, the periods of freeze are so short (generally only a few overnight hours) that crops can often make it through unharmed. {You hate me now, but trust me… you’ll be the one with the last laugh when I’m suffering through the miserable, humid, Houston summer heat with withered vegetables! }
We lost a fair amount of the crop over the Christmas holidays when we were on a 3-week vacation right during the time the lettuce was sprouting up and needing to be thinned… so we came home to a fairly tangled mess of mixed up and strangled lettuce leaves (not to mention the weeds!), but I was just impressed any survived at all! We were able to revive quite a bit of it by getting rid of the bad parts and giving the rest room to thrive and grow.
So anyway, we’ve been enjoying having a healthy salad dinner at least one or two times a week without having to buy any lettuce at the grocery store! It. is. SO. cool! I absolutely love it. If you’ve never planted lettuce, you have seriously GOT to try this. You will not regret that you did!
(And P.S. If you don’t have any garden space at your home, lettuce would do awesome in a small or decorative pot as well!)
Happy Gardening!

Well, this project has definitely been a BIG one. I still have a long way to go in getting my folder all put together and completed, but maybe that will be another pseudo goal of mine for this year (there are so many!). It really would be nice to be able to just have all this information in one place, organized, and right at my fingertips.

{For those who are unaware as to what the Important Papers Folder is, click HERE for all previous posts, downloads, and information. There’s about seven other posts that take you through this process. }

So anyway, {drumroll} here are the FINAL FOUR sections of the Important Papers Folder (just click on each image to view/download/print it)…

• Section 11: Individual Family Member Information (have info for each member of your family)



• Section 12: Household Information



• Section 13: Home Property



• Section 14: Miscellaneous

And that’s it!! That’s all the sections! {Deep breaths. In. Out.} Now just remember… this book is (or will be) full of all your most important information for your family and home. That being said, you will want to keep it in a safe place where it could not be easily stolen or destroyed, but you also still want to be able to easily access it for the information you need. So choose it’s dwelling place wisely.  Good luck with your project, everyone! And HAPPY FRIDAY!!

Anyway, I of course wanted to share it with all of you in hopes it can be of use to some of you with your goals as well (click on the file name below to download it… it’s in PDF form). You can use stickers to mark off each chapter completed, or let your little ones color in each circle… whatever floats your boat. And hopefully this will help keep our kiddos motivated to sit still a little longer. Enjoy!

Download Here: Book of Mormon Reading Chart

As always, at the end of every year I find myself looking back to see what kinds of things I was able to accomplish in the past year, and areas in which I might have fallen short as well.  2011 held a lot of good progress for me in the food storage and preparedness arenas. I’m really excited about the progress in gardening that our family made this past year. I feel like we are finally starting to get a feel for what is working and what is not. Granted, we still have LOTS of learning to do, but I’m happy with the efforts we’ve made. I’m also happy with the organizational efforts that have been made in the food storage areas of our home. I’m feeling like we have a pretty good system going right now, and while it’s not perfect, it’s a system that I can manage for the time being. I also checked back with the goals I had set at the beginning of this year and am happy to report that I came out pretty well on these. Yea for accomplishing goals!

An area I know I fell short in was my emergency preparedness… specifically first aid. I had wanted to get certified this past year (although it wasn’t one of my initial goals) and then never got around to it. *Drat.* I have looked up the information for local places that offer certification, so at least I’ve got that I guess. But that will have to stay on my list of things still do.

And now, with the new year, it’s time to look forward to see what good I can accomplish for the upcoming year. 2012 will be a great year, and there are so many things I want to do, but one of the most important aspects of making goals is to keep them realistic. (Remember to make S.M.A.R.T. Goals: Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, and Timely.) One of the most exciting parts about my year will come in about three months when we welcome a new baby into our home. However, while that will be an enormous blessing, I also know from past experience that it is going to mean focusing A LOT of my time this year on just being a mom and making it through the initial newborn phase of our baby’s life. So my goals this year are going to have to be kept fairly simple and limited in number.

So aside from my personal goals here’s what I’ve got planned in the preparedness realm for 2012:

• For food storage, I want to try canning at least one new thing this year… something I’ve never tried canning before; and…
• For gardening, I want to try planting something new for the garden… perhaps planting potatoes; and…
• In emergency preparedness, I want to revise our family’s evacuations plans and get the details on those worked out a little better.

And that will probably do it. I’m sure there are probably a lot of new things I’ll try this year and a lot of things I’ll continue to work on, of course, but as far as goals, those are some things I would like to accomplish.

What about you? What preparedness goals do you have lined up for 2012? Be sure to take some time to think of at least one or two and then write them down to help keep you accountable. Oh, and you can also check out THIS POST for a helpful goal tracker as well.
HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

Rocky Road Candy

Download Printable Version
Ingredients:

• 1 (12 oz) package milk or semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 1 cup butterscotch chips (half a 12 oz bag)
• 1 cup creamy peanut butter
• salted peanuts (roughly ¼ cup)
• miniature marshmallows (roughly ¼ cup)

Directions:

1. Line a 7″ x 11″ pan (or you could also use a 8×8 or 9×9 square pan) with wax paper (or just grease it REALLY well).
2. Sprinkle a layer of peanuts on the bottom of the pan, then add a layer of mini marshmallows. (There should be enough between the two that it basically covers the bottom of the pan. Don’t overdo it, though, or the candy will have a hard time adhering together.)
3. In a microwave proof bowl, combine the chocolate and butterscotch chips. Microwave for 1 minute, stir, then continue to microwave for another minute. Remove and stir.
4. Add the peanut butter and mix it in a bit. Then microwave again for another minute. At this point, your mixture should be mostly melted (although you may find that the butterscotch chips have a harder time melting… but that’s okay). If you need another 30 seconds or so, go ahead and microwave again, otherwise stir your mixture to fully combine and then pour it evenly over the nuts and marshmallows. Spread it out with a spoon or spatula, then give the pan a little jiggle, a little shake, and a little tap-tap-tap on the countertop to work out any air bubbles. Set it in the fridge to chill for about an hour.
5. When it’s firmed up, remove the candy from the pan by pulling up on the sides of the wax paper (or if you just greased it, hopefully you can just turn the pan over and have it dump out onto a cutting board), and cut your candy into approximately 1″ squares. Store in the fridge in an airtight container. Enjoy!

Okay, and here’s a helpful/important tip: Do not try to microwave your ingredients for just three minutes (or even two minutes!) without stopping to stir. You are bound to find yourself with a kitchen that smells like burnt gym socks. Yes… you will burn your chocolate that way. (Experience talking, perhaps?? ) Be sure to only microwave in no more than 1-minute increments. Also, if you cook it too long, the chocolate will start getting crumbly instead of melty, so try not cook for more than a combined total of 4 minutes. Even if your butterscotch chips haven’t melted all the way, you can still pour it over your mixture and they’ll still continue to mix and meld as the candy sets up.

And on that note, we’re heading out on our Christmas vacation so I will be signing off for the holidays. We wish you all a very safe and Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!!!!

However, this season also brings with it its share of stress as we run from here to there, thinking up the perfect gifts, holiday parties to attend, and a million other things to do. All while trying to keep that ’special feeling’ from slipping away in the hustle and bustle.

Well, to help with that, here’s some quick and easy food storage gift ideas that would be fun to give to your friends and neighbors (common… who doesn’t want a little more food in their pantry??) You can use #10 cans of food, or use regular sized products from the store. Whatever floats your boat. And each card comes with a recipe to use the related food you’re giving away, so at least they’ll have something they know they can make with the item. Enjoy!

POPCORN

Use a #10 can, or those cute Orville Redenbacher containers would be awesome with a bow, and attach the following card:

POWDERED MILK

Use a #10 can of powdered milk, or a container of powdered milk from the store. Attach a pretty bow and the following card:

WHEAT

And here’s one for wheat! If you happen to live where you can buy wheat at a local store, that would be an option, otherwise use a #10 can, or put some wheat berries in a mason jar to give away. Attach a cute ribbon and the following card:

I hope you enjoy your holiday season! May your days be merry and bright!
MERRY CHRISTMAS!

How To Make/Can Homemade Applesauce

Okay, well if you read my drama story, you know that I tried making applesauce two different ways*. I will only show you the second method I used, because the first is still too traumatic for me to re-live.

Get Your Apples: What Kind and How Much

So alright. First things first. Clearly, you’re going to need a bunch of apples. Experts suggest using a variety of apple types. This will apparently produce a better applesauce flavor in the end. Well, I didn’t have a variety. I had two big boxes of Golden Delicious, but they worked wonderfully for me. (Although in the future I think it would be fun to try different apple blends as well.)

Obviously, you can use as many or as few apples as you would like and that will just determine the total amount of finished product you get. My two boxes produced 17 quarts and 12 pints of applesauce, two apple crisps, and two apple pies. (I wish I knew how much those boxes weighed so I could give you a better accounting. I’ll see if I can find that out.) From what I can gather from online resources, though, a bushel of apples (which is estimated roughly to 42-45 lbs) will produce in the ballpark of 15 quarts of applesauce. On a smaller scale, 3 lbs of apples should make about 1 quart of applesauce. So I’m guessing each of my boxes was about a bushel. Okay. Moving on…

Check and Prepare Your Equipment

Make sure you’ve got clean, warm jars (I like to run them through the dishwasher, or if they’re already sparkling clean, just have them soaking in hot water in the sink to keep them warm) and check them for any nicks or cracks. Check your canner to make sure it’s in good working order; new lids; good rings that are rust free; pots to cook the apples in; a large bowl for working in, something to mash with, and that should about do it!

Prep The Apples For Cooking

Once you have your apples, you need to prep them for cooking. For me this meant using my cool new apple peeler/corer/slicer. But even without a cool gadget, you’re going to need your apples peeled, cored, and then sliced into small sections.

{Helpful Tip: What I actually found that I really liked was that on the end of Day 2 (when I still had almost a whole box of apples staring at me), I sat there and just peeled/cored/sliced all the remaining apples, stuck them into gallon size ziploc baggies, and then stuck them in the fridge. This meant they were ready for use whenever I was ready to tackle the rest of my applesauce project. I did most of the remaining applesauce two days later, but five days later I still have some sitting in baggies in my fridge to make an apple crisp with and they are still doing great. So this gives you a lot of flexibility in terms of being able to work around your own schedule. It also creates a whole lot less stress in the kitchen when you’re actually making the applesauce: less mess, less things to worry about… it made my last day of applesauce making really nice!! So I plan to prep my apples a day or two in advance every year from now on!} But I digress.

Cook Your Apples

This is super easy and makes your house smell appley wonderful!! I used a steamer for this step and it was perfect, but you can also just use a big stock pot as well.

For the steamer, I added filtered water to the bottom part and then filled the steamer basket full of my prepped apples. For a stockpot, you basically do the same thing: add your apples till it’s full and then put some water in the bottom to keep the apples from burning. {Tip: It took about 1½ of my gallon sized bags to fill the steamer (which is about an 8-qt pot), and doing this twice made enough applesauce to fill 6-7 quarts… which is just the right amount to process one batch in the canner. So 3 gallon size baggies will do one batch for me.} You’ll want to cook your apples until they’re soft and start to break down (this will be roughly 15-20 minutes over medium-high heat). And don’t forget to give your apples a stir occasionally to keep them circulated through the pot and cooking evenly.

{Another helpful hint: Get your water heating up in your canner at this point so it will be ready for you when you’re done filling jars. Also get your lids boiling in a small pot of water.}

Mash, Mush, Blend

Now it’s time to turn those apples into applesauce! {Helpful Hint: So here’s the trick with this part… You need to keep your applesauce warm right up to the time you’re going to process it in your canner (otherwise you end up with spillage in your jars… yes, I learned this the hard way). This can be difficult if you aren’t able to cook enough apples all at the same time to fill your jars and process right away. So what I found to work well is that I’ve got a large bowl with a lid, and when my first batch of apples was done cooking, I tossed them in the bowl, covered them, and then cooked my second batch of apples. The apples in the bowl stayed warm enough till the second batch was done, and then adding the second batch on top of them heated the first ones right back up. Was that confusing?! You could also keep the first batch of apples in another pot over low heat on the stove, but I don’t have that many big pots and I don’t have that much room on my stove!) Well, however you do it, with all your warm apples in a large bowl, choose your favorite way* to mush those apples down. It can be as simple as using a potato masher (this will give you a chunkier sauce), or you can use something like a food processor or blender to get a smoother texture. I used an immersion blender, which I loved for a few reasons: 1) It meant I could leave all the apples in my big bowl and not dirty up any more items, and 2) I had good control over the texture this way– some batches I made ultra smooth, and some I left a little more chunky. (BTW… if you just wanted to make applesauce to eat right away this is where you’d stop. Just stick the applesauce in an airtight container and keep it stored in the fridge. It will probably be good for a week or two. Otherwise, continue on…)

Fill The Jars

Simple, easy peasy. Using a wide-mouth funnel for less mess, fill your warm canning jars near to the top, leaving at least a 1/2-inch headspace. Give the jars a little jiggle to help the contents settle, wipe the rims, and then place a hot lid on top. Secure a ring on it (just till tight… don’t crank it on or anything!) and it’s ready to go!

Process The Applesauce

There are two ways to process applesauce: a hot water bath, or pressure can it.
For the hot water bath, simply place your jars in your canner (preferably with already warm/almost boiling water in it), and then make sure the water level rises enough to cover your jars by at least 1 inch. Bring the water to a boil (checking every now and then to make sure the water level has remained at an inch above the jars), and once the water is boiling, you can start your timing. Quarts will process for 20 minutes; Pints will process for 15 minutes.
For pressure canning your applesauce (which is the method I ended up preferring), follow the directions on your pressure canner… but it will likely go something like this (or at least these are the directions for my Presto pressure canner): fill your canner to the 3-qt line with water (and add 2 Tbsp of vinegar to prevent hard water on your jars) and bring that water up to a boil. Add your jars. Seal the lid on the pressure canner and continue to boil until the steam starts to vent out the top. Time 10 minutes and allow the steam to vent the entire time. At the end of 10 minutes, apply the pressure regulator (use 5 lbs of pressure for applesauce). Wait until the pressure regulator starts rocking and then start your processing time. Quarts will process for 10 minutes; Pints will process for 8 minutes. At the end of the processing time, turn the heat off and let the pressure come down of its own accord. (Do NOT attempt to speed the pressure release by removing the regulator or by trying to open the lid!)

Whichever way you process the applesauce, once they are done take the jars out and place them on a towel to continue cooling. Check the lids to make sure all have sealed (they should not ‘pop’ when you press on the top but should be sucked down). It may take several hours for this to happen. (Note: If after 24 hours, there are any jars that have not sealed, stick them in the fridge and use them within a few days. Or you could re-process them with a new lid. Your choice.) After 24 hours, remove the rings and wipe down the jars. Label, store, and you’re done!! Woohoo!!! Now you can just enjoy your delicious homemade applesauce.

Getting Fancy

Depending on the kind of apples you used, or the kind of applesauce you like, you may want to add some stuff to your applesauce. For my first two days of applesauce making I used straight apples, and although I enjoyed the taste I wasn’t “wowed” by it. On my last day, I knew I wanted to make some jars to give away, so I thought I’d start getting a little fancy. The first thing I did was to add a little bit of lemon juice to my prepped apples in the ziploc baggies. (I used maybe 2-3 Tbsp in each baggie and tried to spread it throughout the apples.) This really helped zest up the flavor a bit. Then, when it was time to mash into applesauce, I added some cinnamon and sugar. For my whole batch (which was 3 of the gallon bags cooked down) I added a tad over 1 cup of sugar and about 3/4 Tbsp of cinnamon. This was absolutely delicious but almost made it more like a dessert! (Next time I’ll maybe try a 1/2 cup of sugar (and maybe the same amount of cinnamon) so it’s not quite as sweet.) But I really liked the additions and will definitely be using them again!

Wanna know a ton of fun facts about apples? Check ‘em out HERE.

*I also know of/have learned of several different gadgets available for use in making applesauce (or other such things). If you happen to own a KitchenAid mixer, they have an attachment called the ‘Fruit/Vegetable Strainer and Food Grinder’ that does the same thing my friends gadget does (it strains out the applesauce part and discards the skin, stems, and seeds for you) but without having to manually crank anything! It’s all done by machine. I could see that being a super quick and convenient method, although the attachment is quite pricey (in the $100 range). Ya… that goes on my ’someday when I’m rich and famous’ list. You can also use a food mill, a food processor (you’d need to peel, core, slice first), or even a blender (again, peel/core/slice first) to get the job done.There are tons of possibilities.

A good friend of mine sends me an email letting me know that a big truck is headed our way with tons of boxes of apples from Utah (a big treat for us Texan gals) and do I want to get in on the action? She entices me with stories of her homemade applesauce, baked apple pies, and so of COURSE I say YES! (Who says no to homemade apple pie?!) Then I realize I have a few obstacles in the way between me and applesauce greatness.

Hurdle #1: Budget. We’re on a tight one. Let’s just say we’re in the “We’re thankful we already have our food storage supply because we’re frequently relying on it to save our grocery bills” phase of life and not the “stocking/re-stocking” phase of life. But we manage to overcome this hurdle and move on to…

Hurdle #2: I have never made homemade applesauce before, I have never had an entire box of apples staring at me in the kitchen before, and the thought of watching them sit on my counter and rot because I’m too scared to do this on my own has me terrified. (Can you tell I’m not much of a ‘fly by the seat of my pants’ and ‘just wing it’ type of gal??) But after watching some online how-to videos and reassurances from friends that they will hold my hand, I overcome this fear, get TWO boxes of apples (I’m feeling brave), and then discover…

Hurdle #3: The applesauce DRAMA! So okay. My good friend has a super cool little applesauce making gadget she let me borrow (see above) that is supposed to save you the trouble of having to peel, core, and slice all your apples. Instead, you just cut your apples into ¼ths, cook them until soft, and then process them through this gadget, which pushes the pulp of the apples through the holes in the strainer type funnel and moves the seeds, stems, and skin through to the end to be dumped out. Super cool gadget… if I could get it to work right. Oh my heavens. You would not believe the amount of issues I had. The gizzmo has a clamp on the bottom of it that will only screw in so far, so you have to make sure your work surface is thick enough to get a tight fit. Well, my table wasn’t thick enough, my counter didn’t have a wide enough lip, which left me the breakfast bar counter… which was barely thick enough, but it’s tall and I’m short. Ugh. So now a chair enters the picture, and I’m getting up and down off this chair (did I mention I’m pregnant?), going back and forth between trying to add apples to the funnel area, then back up onto the chair to push them down, then down off the chair to get a good crank on the processor, back up to push the apples down some more, oh wait… they’re getting jammed… I need to plunge the stick through there to get the peels moving again, back down to crank again… all the while, I’m battling trying to keep the thing from sliding around on the countertop and trying keep the collecting tray in place (I couldn’t get it screwed on tight enough for it to stay on its own)… and four hours later I have a whopping 5 quart jars processed. If I were the swearing type, there would have been a string from here to Japan that would have made a sailor blush. Okay, okay… maybe not THAT bad. But I was worn out, on the verge of tears (again… pregnant), still had 1 and 2/3 boxes of apples staring at me, and I had already sent a text to Hubby telling him to hide the guns. I was done. {In fairness to my friend’s gizzmo, had I been strong enough to secure it in place properly, it probably would have worked pretty darn well. So all this pain and suffering was due to user error. Just so ya know. }

Saving Grace #1: Then I remember a gadget I had seen in one of the how-to videos that does the peeling/coring/slicing of apples for you. (I had done an internet search at the time and new they carried these peelers online in several locations but that they actually had them in the store at Bed, Bath, and Beyond. So that’s in the back of my head.) I realize that if I get that peeler, I can just peel/slice/core all my apples, then cook them, and then they’re all ready to be mashed/pureed into applesauce. And then I wouldn’t have to fight with the applesauce maker!!

Saving Grace #2: So Hubby comes home from work, sees me in my pitiful plight, (and no… no dinner is made), makes dinner without complaint, and then takes our girls to his scouting activity with him (he’s a scoutmaster) so that I can go to the store and purchase my peeler tool without dealing with children. Did I mention that I love this man??!

So with apple peeler/corer/slicer in hand, I come home, give it a test run, do a little adjusting to get the right peeling depth, and Ta-Da!! Within about 5 minutes, I have 10 apples cored, peeled, and sliced!! (*The heavens open and angels are singing!*) Of course, there was no way I was starting up more batches that late at night, so I simply zipped those apples up in a baggie and saved them for today to start another applesauce making adventure.

Well, Day 2 has been a better adventure for me. There has not been any real drama to speak of, no tears, no swearing, but the time intensity is still definitely a factor. This time the work is on the front end of the cooking as opposed to the back end, and occasionally the peeler thingamajigger has difficulty with an apple (usually the ones where the core is caddywhampus) and I have had to break out the parring knife to manually peel a few apples, but it’s easy, manageable, and I am having fun doing it. I feel like I’m back in the 50’s when people spent all day in the kitchen canning their produce to put up for the winter.
And just for the record, I did two batches today and the first batch took a lot longer than the second batch did. There was definitely a learning curve factor. I have a feeling next time I attempt something like this, I’ll be even faster and more effecient.  But I do have to say, this re-enforces to me why meat is one of my favorite things to can. It is SO much easier than this! But I’ve snuck a taste of the applesauce every here and there and am thoroughly enjoying the taste of this homemade treat, which, again, reminds me why we go to all this work in the first place. Yea for homemade applesauce!

So anyway, stay tuned for the step by step ‘how to’ for canning applesauce, and good luck in all your preparedness efforts!