Sunday, September 16, 2007

We don't need no stinkin' lid

My mom and I are constantly bored, so we decided to make and bottle homemade applesauce. First we ordered apples from Utah for too much money, then realized they were so old they're probably from last year... No worries, we'll make sauce! Except, we don't have an apple miller (handy-dandy device that grinds up the apples and separates the peels and seeds from the sauce).


"That's okay," says Sherry. "We'll do it by hand. I like chunky sauce anyhow."


9:00 am We start cutting and peeling apples.


11:20 am We're halfway through one box (there are two), and we want to throw all the apples away.


12:30 pm We decide to use Sherry's Vitamix to pulverise the apples. "I don't see why we need this lid," are the last words she utters before the photos. Bits of apple cling to my 2-month-old cupboards, floors and ceilings. Logan is creating the soundtrack for the event, wailing because he hates loud noises and I forgot to feed him a real meal all day (we wouldn't realize this until about 5:30 pm when Grandpa came to the rescue with bottled food).









1:00 pm I call a local kitchen store and ask if they have an apple miller in stock. They do for the BARGAIN price of $79.95.

1:30 pm Hop in the car with three kids heading for kitchen store. Buy apple miller. Skim copy of "Applesauce Making for Dummies." Ahhhh, that's how it works.

3:00 pm Begin making applesauce the "dummie" way. It's not so dumb.

7:00 pm We finish with 20 quarts of sweet, yummy, healthy apple sauce. The kitchen is a wreck, I spend an hour trying to scrub burned sugar off the stove, and realize we now own an apple miller and a steam canner so there's a good chance we'll be repeating this next year!

7 comments:

Beeswax said...

Well, it could have been worse!If you had invited 20 ladies over for, say, book club the next day, now that might have been stressful. (I notice you didn't serve us any applesauce.)

Jenni said...

oh my gosh--this makes me laugh so hard! What a scene this must have been!!! You're just so darn domestic!!!

Hailey said...

You had me at your opening line--"constantly bored," ha! Having been, um, sick, all weekend, let's just say I am sick of store-bought applesauce--I'm coming over!

erin said...

Haha... you guys are adventurous. Oh, and Logan is very cute when he is mad. :)

Kristen said...

This coming from the person that said "why would you want to make your own baby food when you can buy it?" Haha for the price of the apple miller you could have bought the stuff, but it is much better when you know you made it. it is the same with crafts. You don't actually save any money but you get to brag that you made it.

Oh and I love the color you chose by the way.

FancyAuntNancy said...

Hah, hah, hah, hah, hah...still laughing out loud here at work and can only imagine the hustling around, stress faces, hurting hands from unnecessary peeling, soundtrack crying and whining from Logan, etc. Very funny story and will be even more funny when repeating it to the kids once they will appreciate it more! Cute Melanie! At least next year, you will be hit up by everyone for some of that delicious apple sauce! Hey, I want some, lol.

MAINLAW said...

I'm down and out on the floor laughing! This brings a few episodes of my own kitchen adventures to mind, as well as one of my mothers' when she tried to can guinea in the early '40s on a woodstove! I'm looking forward to some of that wonderful applesauce when I visit in a few weeks. You know, of course, that no future batches will taste as good!
Mom/Judy (MA-IN-LAW)