2008
on first and second avenues
maura @ 8:21 pm
The problem with being sick for most of your week off is that you then try to cram everything you planned to do in that week into the two remaining days after you feel better. And I did get a huge amount of stuff done this weekend, probably due to my spazzy energy from my body’s relief at finally not feeling yucky anymore.
One of the things I didn’t do last week when I was sick is make applesauce, so I did it today. Yes! Cooking! Me! I mean, applesauce is no bacon, white bean and kale soup, nor is it homemade chocolate pudding (the things that were cooked in our house today not by me). But it’s not nothing either!
Here’s how to make it:
1. Take a bunch of apples out of the fridge. However many you have is fine, but make sure to ask the people you live with if they want any apples to remain unsauced for eating.
2. Wash ’em and quarter ’em and core ’em. Don’t take off the skin, that’s the secret ingredient!
3. Put about 2mm* of water in a big pot, then dump the apples in. Turn the heat up to simmer and cover the pot.
* Don’t use too much water, because adding it at the end will make the sauce too watery, but the UberCook will say, with horror, “you can’t waste all of that precious apple vitamin juicy water!!!”
3.5. While you’re waiting, unload the dishwasher!
4. Stir the apples every so often and check for doneness. If you’re using a few different types of apples they may be ready at different times.** The apples are ready when they’re soft and just starting to peel away from the skin.
** Honeycrisp take a LONG time; Pink Lady, not so much
5. Take your grandmother’s old Foley Food Mill out of the cabinet, and put it onto a big bowl. Dump the apples in as they’re ready, 4-6 pieces at a time, and turn that mill, baby! Pick out the pieces of skin as needed (i.e. when they start to gum up the works).
6. When all of the apples are milled (whew, good exercise!), dump in the appley water from the pot and stir it all up. Shake a bunch of cinnamon in there (to taste). Marvel at the slightly pinkish color of the finished product — that’s why we leave on the skins!
Everyone in your house will want to try some right away while it’s still warm. Even the 6 yr old, who has been growing ever more picky recently about what fruits he will deign to eat, loves it so much he will consume three (3!) bowls in one day! Now that’s time well-spent, don’t you think?
2 comments on “on first and second avenues”
Har! Just tonight we were telling Gus that celsius is SO MUCH easier than fahrenheit for freezing and boiling. We are secret metric nerds! Of course, the middle temps are kind of weird…my head will never be able to translate the normal weathery F temps into C.
mm? Is this some kind of EU subversive trick into making me learn the metric system?