Thursday, September 24, 2009

Some days are apples and some days are peppers, and some days are both..

I have been buying a (yes a whole) box of apples every month(on my once-a-month shopping trip) and my family hasn't had any problem gobbling them up. My last box was a box of local Gala apples. They looked very pretty and were the perfect size, not too big! Looks can be deceiving however and these apples were more of the texture of Red Delicious apples, mushy and no one here likes them very much. One of my kids said they were 'sandy' and DH said they were like applesauce! Needless to say, they started rotting from the inside out! So, I felt it my duty to oblige them if they wanted to be apple sauce! ;) So I spent some time making apple sauce and apple juice from them.
My kids of course, had me open one right back up and requested eggs and applesauce (one of their favorite 'meals', however usually for breakfast).
Then I braved the mud bog, uh garden, and saw my poor pepper plants withering so I decided to pull all the peppers before they withered too. In order to cut okra, I had to take a shovel to brace myself because I was sliding and sinking so bad in the mud. DH stood back watching, letting me know that he would go get the camera if I fell! ;) I had mud up past my ankles and around the bottom of my skirt by the time I was finished. -sigh-
(I forbid the kids to come near the garden, because last year it got wet like that in the spring and they were up to their knees in the mud!)


8 comments:

Millie said...

Your hubby is so sweet to offer to get the camera. He sounds like mine :-)

I've been inspired by your once a month shopping posts to attempt that myself. I've been working on my list for over a week now with my shopping day planned for this Monday. I feel like I'm training for a marathon!

Michaela Dunn Leeper said...

I just got a box of Jonathan apples. I've done apple sauce & a apple-blueberry crisp so far with them. Today I'm making cream cheese apple crisp. I still have loads left & plan on canning some cinnamon apple chunks. I hope he's still there on payday so I can get another box or 3. I still want to do juice, apple butter, more sauce & maybe more chunks.

Donna said...

Millie,
It is some work but the payoff is great!! :)

It usually does take me about 4 days off and on to plan and then about 2 days to do the shopping.

I don't know if I've ever discussed this but the interesting part is that last week!
You'll find either-
a) You've planned well and there's even some extra, which means some splurging on the next month!
OR
b) You are having to take inventory on what's left and make meals accordingly. (This I find kinda fun and I involve the kids in this too so that adds to the fun as well.;)

Donna said...

Michaela,
You're a girl after my own heart! I love apples.

Hmm never heard of cream cheese apple crisp! Sounds yummy!

Sandra said...

We used homemade applesauce in our Applesauce cake. That's the only kind we eat. It is just so much better than the store bought kind. I'm sorry yours didn't turn out great. We love Gala apples the best. At least you used them for something.

Donna said...

Ah Sandra! Good idea! I will have to use one of these jars in that cake of your's when I make it. I showed it to my "John-boy" and he said "when can you make that?" ;)

The Prudent Homemaker said...

Apple are usually on sale here for $1.49 to $1.99 a pound. This week they are on sale for .50 a pound! (Galas, Granny Smith, and Golden Delicious).

I bought 3 boxes (40lb boxes) of Galas and 3 Granny Smith. I felt like I should have bought more, but I had frozen items in my cart too, so I went home. I will go back on Monday monring and get more! I figured out that we are eating 1 box worth of applesauce every month--not to mention all the fresh ones that we eat!

I got home and dh said he thinks I should buy 5 more boxes! Go figure!

I know we'll probably eat 3 boxes and I'll can the rest. I like a blend of apples best, so this time we are trying a blend, since there was more than one kind on sale!

Donna said...

Woo hoo! Bring on the apples!
I don't think they EVER get that cheap here...and in order to get GOOD ONES, I had to buy another box this month from Washington. The local apples that I bought were the ones I had to make sauce out of, mushy.