It's Official, I'm a Domestic Goddess!

A couple of weeks ago, I threatened to make applesauce with the abundance of apples on our little tree. But I wasn't really serious, I never thought I'd actually do it. But when my friend, Jenna read about it on my blog, she told me that she was also interested in learning to do applesauce and her neighbor, our mutual friend Judy, had already offered to teach her.

In fact, Judy was all over it and set the date and FORCED Jenna and me to make applesauce today. For FIVE HOURS!

And this is how it went:

• we picked..... (aren't they purty!)

• we steamed....
  

• we squooshed.........

• and it was PINK! A delightful shade of "blush and bashful" (name that movie).

The color of pink grapefruit, actually, because the apples were red and we cooked them in their skins. Love it.


And then we put it in bottles - jars, whatever. I had a whole motley assortment of large and small and wide and narrow jars that had once contained some kind of homemade goodness that someone else had made and given to me. Just goes to show that you should never, EVER throw anything away.

So here is the final product. TADA!:

And the best part it - it's GOOD! It's tangy and sweet and zippy and oh, so much more yummy than the store bought stuff. I never knew what I was missing. And my pickiest kid likes, it. And Jenna's picky little guy likes it too!

We both ended up with 15 + bottles of the stuff. Jenna and I did do our share of the work, but we contributed absolutely none of the expertise. Nevertheless, we are inordinately proud of our pretty little bottles. We feel accomplished and excited, but most of all we feel empowered - we think that maybe we could even do this ourselves from now on.

And Judy, bless her lovely heart, gave Jenna and me a bunch of her extra canning equipment. It's kind of funny because between the two of us, we now have one whole set of canning supplies. We figure that means we'll just always have to bottle together. Which is okay, because one of the many things I learned today is that canning with friends is what make it fun.

So thanks, Jude, you're a great teacher and an even better friend. Next week.... apple pie filling!