Weekend Labors...

It was Labor Day Weekend, so I kept busy in the kitchen. I bought forty pounds of beef steak tomatoes from a local producer, with stewed tomatoes, homemade Rotel™ and tomato juice in mind. I processed the first fifteen pounds of tomatoes, which yielded these gorgeous seven quarts of stewed tomatoes, plus two quarts of juice.

I would have processed more tomatoes, but there was a gentlemen who brought pears and McIntosh apples (Handsome's favorite) to the store where I work. We had this big plastic tub, filled with bags of both. I get our pears from Andy and Shelly, but all our apples from the old tree dropped before they ripened, so I jumped on the Macs. 

I came home with twenty five pounds, so Handsome and I cut them all up and put them in two Nesco™ roasters to cook down while I did the tomatoes. I didn't finish the applesauce until midnight, but went to bed with fourteen quarts cooling on the counter. One didn't seal, so it went into the fridge so we'll eat that first.

I did blanch and peel the beef steaks, so I saved  the peels to dehydrate. Did you know that you can also preserve these to make tomato paste? I only just learned about this. Once dehydrated, I pulverized the skins in my little grinder (dedicated to spices and veg - no coffee) and then placed them into a jar.

To use for paste, mix 1 part powder to 1 part water. It's that easy. In the alternative, the powder can be added by the spoonful to soups or other dishes to enhance the flavor. It takes a while to fill a jar, but I have more tomatoes to process, so there will be more skins.

I took the day off on Sunday to rest and spend time with Handsome, but got back to it yesterday. We didn't have plans as Handsome tires quickly, so I want him to rest. Instead, I processed twenty pounds of San Marzano tomatoes (like Romas) into pizza sauce.

I don't peel these tomatoes. Instead, I cut out the core, and then cut them into quarters to run through my food processor...peels and all. The peels are undetectable when the mixture is cooked, and it adds more texture to my paste. As always, I then season the tomatoes with my favorite, Mrs. Wages Pizza Sauce packets to cook.

By mid-afternoon, I'd processed twenty one 12 ounce jars, and eight 8 ounce jars of sauce. After they cooled, I removed the rings (I do that with all my jars), made sure they'd all sealed, wiped the rims and labeled them. They're now in the pantry cupboard awaiting our next homemade pizza.

I work today, but will process the rest of the beef steak tomatoes tomorrow. Then I'll be taking a little rest from canning to work on some craftier pursuits. First things first. I'd better finish getting ready for work. I don't want to be tardy. See you tomorrow!

The Apples Have Landed...

Brynwood Needleworks - A Big Pot of Goodness

 

Handsome has been raking up windfall apples for over a week, so I mentioned that it might be a good idea to make applesauce with them. I think he was sick of raking, because his reply was that he was close to cutting down the tree, (I know he'd never do that!) and those apples were going out to the habitat. 

Then, a couple days later, he came back to me and said he thought making them into applesauce would be a good idea - and he'd even help. Done!

We collected fifteen gallons of apples in three big buckets, and spent two days turning them into applesauce.

 

Brynwood Needleworks - Processed Applesauce

There are a dozen quarts in this photo, but by the time we were finished, there were eighteen jars. We used two Nesco roasters on Monday, and one on Tuesday. After they were nice and mushy, we milled all the applesauce through my mother-in-law's chinois to take out all the seeds and skins.

 

Once we had the "good stuff", it went into my Kilner pot, and I added cinnamon, sugar and nutmeg, and heated it back up. From there, it was into quart jars for a water bath. All the jars have "popped", meaning they all sealed properly, and I've got them all labeled. They'll go into the pantry this morning.

Between the zucchini relish and applesauce, I'm pretty tuckered out. I'm so glad Handsome offered to help in this process. I really couldn't have done it without him doing the heavy lifting for me.

I have a needlework order to fulfill today, so I think the timing is perfect. I can sit and stitch. Coffee first? Yes, please.

Apple Saucing...

Brynwood Needleworks - A Perfect Day To Make Applesauce

 

Handsome and I finally set about turning our apples into applesauce this past weekend. It rained the later part of the week, so we decided to wait a few days. 

 

Saturday, we put the first peck of apples into our two slow cookers and let them stew the morning away. We had those jars canned by dinnertime, and started the second peck after that. We let them cook until we headed up to bed, and then turned them off overnight.

First thing yesterday, we started up again, and decided to put the other half bushel into our large Nesco™ roaster because it had a larger capacity. By late afternoon, all the apples were jarred and water bathed...and there was snow on the ground.

Brynwood Needleworks - Our First Snow Day

 

The day began cool enough, and the forecast brought promised flurries. At first, the temperature kept the snow from sticking. It just melted on contact, but it got cooler as the day progressed, and the snow finally started to collect. 

Brynwood Needleworks - Our Front Yard

I took these two photographs of the yard right before dark. By nightfall, we had a dozen quarts, plus four pints of slow cooked applesauce in the pantry, and a nice blanket of snow in the yard. I'd say that's just about perfect.

My Outdoor Weekend...

Brynwood Needleworks - Late Summer Compass Barn

Happy Monday from the farmhouse! 

If you stopped to visit yesterday, you saw a photo of my lunch date with my girlfriends from Saturday. The weather was gorgeous, and the company was great. It did rain for a while after we were all safely back home, but sitting in the sunshine as we were eating our lunch on the restaurant patio - overlooking the lake - was perfect.

Yesterday, I decided I needed to do a little yardwork. Our porch demolition begins mid-week, and a few plants have to be moved away from the porch for their own safety. First though, I needed to weed out the planting bed in front of the Compass Barn. I moved a few ornaments over after I'd cleaned up the bed, but they won't necessarily stay where they are after I plant the bushes. We'll see.

Brynwood Needleworks - Queen Anne's Lace and Tiger Lilies

When I finished the weeding, I took a little stroll around the yard. This flower bed should be weeded, too, and the fence is itching for new paint, but today I just enjoyed the flowers. The bees and butterflies are enjoying them, too, and they all look like they belong, so I'm going to leave them as they are for now.

Even after weeding, the Queen Anne's Lace will remain. It's my favorite wildflower, and when we lived in Florida, the thoughts of Queen Anne's Lace intermingled with the beautiful blue blossoms of chickory filled my memories with thoughts of home. They'll definitely stay.

Brynwood Needleworks - The Old Apple Tree

The old apple tree was overflowing with blossoms this past spring, and thanks to the bees that pollinated them, the tree is now fully laden with fruit.

This tree hasn't been trimmed to maximize fruit in decades, so many of the apples knock against each other in the wind, and then fall to the ground. Even so, many more will ripen to become applesauce we'll enjoy through the winter.

I was fully tired when I finished outside, but a shower, and dinner with Handsome, refreshed my body and my soul. I'll move the bushes away from the porch before the crew arrives on Wednesday. As it was, I was well-pleased with my accomplishments for the day.

I'm in the studio today. I have more commissions, including one that needs to mail in the morning. Tag will be here tomorrow, but I'll be back on Wednesday. Oh, and one more thing. I'll surely be taking lots of photos of the demolition, and the process of rebuilding our new porch. I think you're really going to love the transformation! I hope you have a great week, because ours is going to be a little crazy!

Fulfilling Friday...

#shotoniphone6plus

 

When I first got up yesterday, the temperature outside was hovering around 59º. (Great sleeping weather!) I went out to check on the garden, and found this fuzzy bumblebee snoozing in one of my hollyhock blooms. There it remained until the sun came around to warm the garden, and then I imagine the bumblebee flew off to go about its daily chores.

I mowed the yard today, as Handsome has been under the weather this week. There are a lot of blossoms in the yard (clover, Queen Anne's Lace, chickory, bird's foot trefoil, and others) so I left our high yard (on the hill above the house) mostly unmowed. It was full of bees and butterflies, so I decided they can enjoy the flowers until the buds are spent.

We've also been short on rain for more weeks than the grass likes, so we've been holding off on mowing to help the grass. The wildflowers can thrive in drought conditions, but the grass needed a break from the weekly mowing. The yard looks much better now, and the colorful flowers are welcome, plus the colors provided by the butterflies they are feeding.

Orange Juice Applesauce From Our Farm

 

In the process of mowing the yard, I picked up all the windfall apples under our very old apple tree. Many of the apples had already been chewed on by bugs, but there were also a basket full of unblemished fruits.

I brought them into the house, cleaned them, cut them up, and tossed them in the slow cooker. I added a fruit preservative so they wouldn't brown, and let them cook for a couple of hours. When they were soft, I put everything through Handsome's mom's - now my - antique chinoise. 

After milling out the fruit, which separates the skin, seeds, etc., I heated the mixture, added a small amount of sugar and Ceylon cinnamon. In the end, the mixture yielded one quart and one pint of tasty applesauce.

Handsome and I finished the day by trying a new-to-us restaurant in our own town. From the first to last person working there, we were treated to friendly, Midwest hospitality and fine food. We'll definitely return. On our way out, we ran into old friends who go there every Friday! I'm sure we'll see them again, too.

Today, my BFF, Lee and I are going to the farmer's market in West Bend, WI to see what they're offering this week. I'm looking for more garlic scapes and raspberries (for jam). I'm looking forward to our outing!

I'm going to be stitching on my silk butterfly, too. Now that I'm silk thread instead of cotton floss, it's going slower (one strand, as opposed to two when I was working on the practice piece). I'm not in a hurry, but I would like to move right along on this. I'm looking forward to seeing it completed. (Patience, Donna. Patience. sigh)

 

Cinnamon Scrapplesauce...

Ready To Make Applesauce

When I finished the first batch of applesauce, I estimated that I had about thirty pounds of apples left from our purchase last week. I was guessing because I hadn't weighed the first batch of apple before I cooked them down. I actually had a total of twenty eight pounds. I decided to can the balance yesterday before they got mushy in our warmer weather. I got out all my supplies and set to making applesauce.

As I cranked the apples through my peeler, corer, cutting tool, it occurred to me that I really should do something with all the apple parts I'd usually toss...especially because there was still apple in those pieces. It's sort of like deciding to make soup to use up all the goodness left on a turkey or chicken carcass.

Secret Ingredient

The first seventeen pounds of apples I cut up went into two slow cookers to cook down, while I placed all the apple scrap into another pan to cook down on the stove. After everything was soft, I put it through the food mill to remove all the seeds, skins and inedible bits. I added a cup and a half of granulated sugar, and small handful of my secret ingredient...cinnamon imperials (aka "red hots") to the milled apples and placed them back in my cooking pot. I brought the mixture back up to a boil on the stove top, and it was ready to put into the jars.

Completed Cinnamon Scrapplesauce

After I canned the first batch of what I'm calling "Cinnamon Scrapplesauce", I cut up the final eleven pounds of apples to process on the stove top. I treated those scraps the same way.

The slow cooker applesauce and the stove top applesauce were all finished by dinnertime. Handsome came in from running errands, and dug right in to help. Just in time, too. I was starting to get tired!

At the end of the day, there were eight pints, plus one quart (for the refrigerator) of slow cooker applesauce; six pints of stovetop applesauce; and five pints of Cinnamon Scrapplesauce which was a true bonus! (It tastes as fabulous as it looks, by the way!)

This weekend, I'll clean up the kitchen garden for the end of the summer. I'll cut down and cover my lavender plants, harvest the last of the sweet basic and then let the rest go to seed, and just after first frost, I'll cover the garden with marsh hay to protect my perennials for the winter.

I'm sure I'll do mini canning projects through the winter, but for now, my canning supplies will be stowed away, and I'll dream of a bigger garden next summer.

Making Applesauce At The Farm...

First Batch

We made our first batch of applesauce yesterday. Handsome came into the kitchen as I started cleaning apples and asked what he could do to help. We've always made a great team so, of course, I was happy for the offer.

I washed nearly eleven pounds of Macintosh apples and then, as I put them through my "apple peeler, corer, slicer" from Pampered Chef (mention of which yields no compensation to me whatsoever), he stirred the apple mixture on the stove.

Milling Cooked Apples

Once the apples had stewed down sufficiently, and I'd added a small amount of sugar, cinnamon and freshly-grated nutmeg to the mixture, it was ready to be milled. I wanted to make sure there were no stray seeds or peels in our finished applesauce.

It Smells Delicious

This chinois (the metal sieve, stand and wooden muddler) belonged to my mother-in-law. Handsome said she had it for all of his memory, growing up. I've had it for thirty five years, and when not doing its job, it sits on the top of the china cabinet in the kitchen. It's been too long since I last used it, and it felt good to have it working for me again.

Family heritage means a lot to me, and I've always taken care of things that were part of our family history. This chinois is one of those things, and now belongs to the farm. I'll make sure that our grandchildren know the significance of this piece so they'll continue to treasure it decades from now.

I have to show you a close-up of the wooden muddler that presses the fruit through the sieve of the chinois. Handsome believes that it was made by his maternal grandfather, Charles. I wish I could convey through the photograph just how wonderful it is to hold. It's smooth from years of use, and the round ball handle moves perfectly through my hand as I roll it around the edges of the cone-shaped sieve. You can almost feel its history.

Milling Cooked Apples

As my husband watched me milling the apples, he smiled and told me that his mother would be happy knowing that I'm using the same tool she used to make applesauce when he was a child. My heart is full, and once again, the farm has showered more blessings on our family. This first batch of applesauce, made here at the farm, will be especially tasty.

By the way, eleven pounds of apples yields three quarts (or in our case two quart jars, and two pint jars) of finished applesauce. I used the recipe from the current Ball Blue Book recipe book.)