Making Applesauce

Last week we set aside a day four our annual sauce making. The children love applesauce day, and love to help make the sauce. They are now all old enough to help cut, stir, crank, and fill the jars. All of their help really makes the process go fast, or at least compared to when I used to do it by myself when they were to little to help very much.

We started with six bushels of apples this year. I had decided that I need at least 100 jars to get through to the next season and we eat sauce almost every day. I do have about 35 quarts left from last year. Hopefully it will be enough. With the boys eating more I am not sure how we will do this year, only time will tell. 

I bought 4 varieties of apples. Golden Delicious, Smokehouse, Empire, and McIntosh. We like the sweetness of this combination best. I don't have to add any sugar.

This is our set up. I found this table at the thrift shop last year. My plan is to refinish it, but we use it all the time I can't imagine taking it out of the kitchen to work on it. It's perfect for clamping the strainer to.I use a Victorio Strainer strainer and love it. I made sure to wash all the jars ahead of time so I wouldn't have to take any time away for that. 

The first thing we do is wash the apples in the sink. To keep the flavors even we select 8 apples of each variety dup them in the water and then begin cutting them. I found that this is the perfect amount to fill my pots for cooking. All we do is remove the stems and cut into about 12 pieces.

  

I have a 22 quart stock pot and a 16 quart pot that I use. Just make sure your posts have a thick bottom to prevent burning. When a pot is full of apple pieces I add about 1/2 to 3/4 of a cup of water to the bottom and cook them down on medium heat. Since one burner has the canning pot I rotate the pots so one is cooking while one is getting strained and then we fill a bowl with cut apples until a pot is free. This keeps the process going smoothly and without breaks, unless we get ahead of the canner! 

The strainer makes it so easy! Put the cooked apples in the hopper turn the crank and out comes the applesauce. Hot fresh applesauce has got to be one on the best foods on this earth! 

After we have sent one pot full of apples through we then take the peels and sent them through two more times. By the time they are pressed that many times they look like paper. 

I have a stainless steel bowl that holds 8 quarts. I know when it is full that it is time to start filling the jars. I keep my jars war in the oven at 170 degrees until I need them. Then I pull them out and fill at the end of the little table. After doing this for so many years I have found out the most efficient way to make sauce in this kitchen. From here they can go right into the canner. 

Applesauce processes in a water bath for 20 minutes. I ran out of my Tattler lids and had to use the metal ones. I was quickly reminded why I love Tattler for applesauce. With the metal lids I have seepage that runs down the jars and makes them sticky. With the Tattler due to the tightening after they  come out of the canner I don't have this problem and cleaning the jars for storage is so much easier! There you have it one really long day and 108 jars of sauce for the pantry. 

I left them on the table for a few days before I washed and moved them all downstairs. They are so pretty all lined up in rows. 

Pardon the Dust

I'm coming back! 

Please pardon the dust as I make some changes to this poor neglected blog of mine. 

I have missed being here. It may take a few days but I hope to be posting again in the next week or so. 

I have so much to share. 

A lot can happen in fourteen months. 

Stay Tuned! 

 

How to spend a chilly afternoon

 

Earlier this week I was downstairs doing some cleaning when I realized it had gotten really quiet upstairs. While my children may be older that the age of creating major messes, they still can get into mischief.

When I came upstairs to check this is what I found and the reason for the quiet. They ended up spending almost two hours reading stories together. Such a pleasant afternoon.

Teeth!

 

Fiona is finally getting her front teeth! We are so excited!

Over two years ago her little sister hit her in the mouth with a small hammer causing her front tooth to turn black. Ever since then she has smiled without opening her mouth.

May 2010

April 2011

Well, I found one or two photos with a big smile in the past two years. I don’t think it ever crossed my mind that it bothered her until I started looking back and really noticed.

June 2011

The dentist eventually pulled the dead tooth and the one next to it quickly followed. She stayed toothless for over a year. In October we noticed them starting to come in. Although still no big smiles…

October 2011

Until yesterday!  It’s been a long time coming and I just love to see her smile!

Christmas Pajamas

 

I realize that Christmas was exactly one month ago, but I thought I would share the jammies I made for the children. I ended up not being able to finish the tops for the boys and purchased t-shirts that coordinated. It worked out fine, but I wish I could have gotten them done.

The children picked out the fabric they wanted, choosing green because they had never worn green before for Christmas. I just loved listening to them work it all out between themselves in the fabric store.

I finished them two days before Christmas, just in time for them to wear them for all of the festivities! Don’t they all look so excited?  This is what they think of pictures before opening presents. Then I remind them that the more they smile the faster we can be finished.

 

 

Pajamas are very easy to make, especially the boys pants. They only took me about two hours to put together. The gowns require a bit more work but are also very simple and I enjoyed working with the flannel. Much easier to work with than some other fabrics. Despite the fact that I was working like crazy to get them done I can’t wait to make some more and have all ready purchased fabric for next year!

Sunday Best

I finally finished these dresses for the girls that I started back in March. With the house cleaning and showings I had a hard time finding the time. Fiona chose the fabric for this dress also. I love how the orange looks on them. It's also not something you would see in the stores, so that makes is special.

I used this pattern from Simplicity. The number is 2683. At first glance it looks like a simple A-line style. I thought it would be a quick sew.

It turns out that is had small gathers along the empire waist, waistband, ties, and gathered sleeves.  All these are simple to do but add extra time to the construction. Of course they also make the dress stand out.

I just love the detail on the sleeve!

Here is a detail photo of the waistband from the side. You can see the little gathered area and where the waist band and ties meet.  I had even purchased coordinating shirts for the boys. It was so nice to finally see it all together!

I love this pattern and would use it again, as square necklines are one of my favorite styles.

A Daisy Day

"Mommy we're going to pick you some flowers!"

So thankful for little girls who bring sunshine in a bowl to their Momma!

A new dress for Fiona

I finished up one of the dresses I started for the girls. Fiona has a party at Church tonight and wanted to wear it. Thankfully I used an easy pattern for this one and was able to get it done on time.

This is Pattern # M5966. I used view B with the ruffle from A to make the dress longer. It is also a bit big on her as she is in between sizes.

Fiona chose the material for this one. I wanted her to have some input so she would be more likely to wear it. With sensory issues one never knows if she'll like something. I plan to add a bit of detail to the V neck line. I have found that V-necks are usually quite low in patterns, but was pleasantly surprised by this one, it's much higher than it looks and a bit of lace will finish it off nicely. 

  She loves her new dress and has worn it all day. I knew it was a hit when she said it was like wearing pajamas. She would wear pajamas all day long if I let her.

Riding Lessons

Fiona has been interested in horses and riding for a few years now. We finally told here that if she stopped sucking her thumb she could ride. That happened around Thanksgiving, it didn't take her very long to quit with such a great incentive. :) Then came cold weather, ice, and snow. So finally she got to start lessons a few weeks ago. She loves it and talks about "her" pony all week. Hopefully I'll take her to her lesson and get pictures of her riding. But for now these are from when we purchased all of her tack of which you might find her wearing any time of day while she pretends to ride.

I'll bet you can guess her next question now that he has her lessons. :)

"Poppa, when can we get a pony?"

Pretty Girls

Dressing for tea.

Portraits

One of the things on my rather long list of things to do is take more pictures to learn my camera better. I find so many times i don't take the time to practice. So when we went away I took all of my books and manuals with me. Not that it helped, but I did take a lot of pictures to practice with the different settings. I'm not brave enough for manual yet, especially since I can't see clearly enough to focus properly. Yes, getting my eyes checked is also on that list. :) Anyway I did learn some things, but I have so much more to learn. Here are my meager attempts at portraits on a chilly morning in the mountains.

    I set out all prepared to take a family shot until I couldn't find my tri-pod attachment. So my father-in-law took this one for us. He only took one shot, thankfully we are all looking in the same direction.  One must not forget the hundreds of outtakes to get that perfect shot. :)And one more because it's so hard to pick and choose.