Homemade Applesauce...

Quote for the Day:

"If all the cars in the United States were placed end to end,

 it would probably be Labor Day Weekend."

~Doug Larson 

Hope everyone is enjoying their Labor Day holiday...which is basically your last day off till Thanksgiving!  Unless you are a government employee...which means you will have a half-dozen more holidays between now and Thanksgiving.  Or a nurse...which means you are probably working TODAY and are scheduled for Thanksgiving, too!  :(  

I'm lucky that even though I'm an RN, I work in a department that is Monday through Friday, with weekend call 3 times a year and a holiday call every other year.  :)  Since Labor Day is neither a "work day" nor a "call day" for me, I'm off today!  YAY!

I put the last of the pears and apples into the crock pot yesterday afternoon with one 3" cinnamon stick and about 3 tablespoons of white sugar.  I cooked it on "low" for a few hours and then turned it to "warm" overnight.  

This morning they looked like this...

Had I not have left the peels on the apples and pears, I would have just taken a potato masher and mashed them up a little.  (I kinda like a few chunks in my applesauce.)  However, because I didn't want the peeling just floating around, I went ahead and used my immersion blender and blended them a LITTLE bit.  (Yes, the $2.00 thrifted Braun immersion blender!!!)  

There are still a few chunks, but I tried to blend up the peelings as best as I could.  I got 3.5 pints out of this batch and water-bathed canned the 3 full pints.  

I didn't have any lemon juice to add to the apples/pears to keep them from turning brown, so before putting them in the crock pot, I soaked them in ginger ale soda, which contains citric acid...the ingredient in lemon juice that helps keep fruit from browning.  It kinda worked, but they still turned a little bit brown.  Oh well, I can tell you that it TASTES DELICIOUS!!!   I had some with my lunch today while the sauce was still a little warm!   Mmmmmm!  :)

I'm heading into my sewing room to work some more on the Blue Ridge Beauty quilt.  I'm very close to being done with it!!!

There is a feeling that comes over you when you can see the end in sight!  It's a feeling of satisfaction but also anticipation as you look forward to the NEXT quilt to go into the frame!!!

Loretta

Hot Pepper Jellllllllyyyyy!!

Quote for the Day:

"The thankful receiver bears a plentiful harvest."
~William Blake

I love garden harvest time!!!

 

No...I haven't had a vegetable garden for several years now, but this is the time of year when people who do garden love to share the excess with their friends and neighbors!  And Andy & I have been on the receiving end of squash, tomatoes, and hot peppers from friends' gardens!!!

 

So far this week, I've made FOUR batches of HOT PEPPER JELLY!!!...THREE of those batches were made today!  :)

 

Here's the water-bath canner...busy doing it's thing on top of the stove!   :) 
 

Lets take a peak inside!!!  Look at those cute little jelly jars in there!  :) 
 

 

And here are just SOME of the TWENTY-TWO jars of hot pepper jelly that I made up today...

 

 

The batch I made last weekend produced EIGHT jars, too!  :)   So that makes...THIRTY jars of hot pepper jelly total I've made this year!  All from GIFTED peppers!  :):):)

Tomorrow I plan on making 3 batches of zucchini relish from some gifted zucchini!  That is our favorite relish and we ran out mid-winter last year.   We HATE it when we have to resort to store-bought relish.  It just can't compete with the wonderful taste of zucchini relish!   

I really enjoy canning.  My mom canned.  A LOT!  We had huge gardens when I was growing up and canning the harvest was not for fun...it was a necessity to feed our family of 8!  When I was growing up, I HATED helping with the canning because it was HOT and HUMID and we had no air conditioning.  AND it kept from being outside playing with my friends!  

Canning is no longer a "necessity"  for us like it was for my family, but canning is a great way to preserve the best tasting food around...home-grown vegetables and fruits!  Nowadays, I crank up the air conditioning and just get busy!  :) 

I LOVE to can!!  I love the look of the splatter-ware canner.  I love using the utensils.  I love the mason jars.  I love that I know how to make yummy pickles, relish, jellies and jams.  I love the peacefulness of watching the canner boil, knowing that you're going to be rewarded for all the hard work you've put into those little jars.   I love hearing the "pop" of the lids sealing when you pull them out of the hot water.  I love sharing my canned items with others, knowing that I MADE THAT!

And... when I am canning, it evokes memories of my mom, and that makes me feel like she's there with me at that moment.  :)

Loretta