Applesauce

I've recently become intrigued by canning, of all things. We got an abundance of tomatoes in our CSA delivery, and my friend Anne showed me how to can them. I was hooked! Next I wanted to try applesauce.

So on Sunday, Maisie and I went to the farmers market and found a guy selling apples with a big sign that said "ask me questions - I grow everything I sell." Perfect! So at the farmer's recommendation, we bought a 5 gallon bucket of Cortland apples. He said they were tart and would make great sauce, and a lot of it.

That apple farmer was right!

I used maybe a quarter of the apples - I didn't want to do them all at once as I was short on jars (and time) - and made 4.5 pints of yummy applesauce! I didn't even have to add any sugar - just some cinnamon.

So now we have 4 pints of applesauce sitting in storage in the basement next to the tomatoes I put up with Anne's help, and more apples left to sauce up this week, or weekend, whenever we find the time to peel them all.

And as for that other 1/2 pint - Maisie's already eaten it!

Weekend projects

We had a fun, crafty weekend this weekend!

It's almost Halloween, so I decided that we needed a jack o' lantern. On Saturday morning Maisie and I hit the farmer's market while Aaron slept in, and we picked out a couple of pumpkins. (Maisie also requested, and I got her, a cookie. What kind? "Giant!")

We brought it home and carved it open. Maisie was fascinated by the insides, and enjoyed playing with them!

She thought it needed a silly face, so that's what it got. I think she's pretty happy with the way it turned out!

We also roasted the seeds, which she tried and did not care for. Aaron and I enjoyed them, though. And it turns out the squirrels are enjoying the jack o'lantern, so it's a good thing we got a second pumpkin. We'll carve that one up later this week!

On Sunday, we had planned on going trick-or-treating at the Como Zoo. Unfortunately, it was really cold out - a high of 40 degrees, with high wind gusts, and even snow flurries! So the outside event was off, and we made cookies instead.

As you know, Maisie really enjoys playing 'cooking,' and I figured she's big enough to start helping me actually cook! I put the dry ingredients in a big bowl and gave her a spoon to mix them all up. Then she used the measuring cup to put them into my bowl, which had the eggs, butter, vanilla, and sugar! There was a fair amount of flour that got everywhere, but she got most of it into the bowl. I mixed it up, and then we spooned it onto the pan together.

The cookies turned out great, and she was so proud that we made them together! It was a very fun chilly day activity.