Wednesday, October 17, 2012

Applesauce is NOT for the Faint of Heart

I DID IT. For the first time, I chopped, cooked, sauced, and canned enough apples into applesauce to meet the applesauce needs of our family for an entire year. And I did it all by myself. I'd watched my mom do it my entire life, but until two days ago I never appreciated exactly how much love and energy was required to accomplish this. If you are a fellow applesauce enthusiast and are interested in making your own too, here is my recipe.

INGREDIENTS

1- A WILLING, ABLE AND SLIGHTLY APPLE OBSESSED INDIVIDUAL WILLING TO UNDERTAKE THE PROJECT. In our home, this person would be me. Here I am with my favorite cowgirl and hopefully (crossing my fingers) future applesauce apprentice.


2- MORAL SUPPORT. When  your kids have done nothing but watch movies all day, your hands hurt, your feet hurt, your back hurts, it looks like bomb filled with apples, dirty dishes, and leftovers has exploded in your kitchen, you are starving because you've hardly had a minute to stop and eat, it's getting late, AND there is no end in sight, you will need moral support. Here are my cheerleaders. It helps to have an extremely knowledgeable and encouraging mom to talk on the phone with too.


3- APPLES. We took a trip to an apple farm in Northwest Arkansas- about 90 min from our home. Purchasing the right apple variety is very important. Different apples are better for saucing. Depending on where you live, different apple varieties are available. We mostly bought Winesap apples, but we purchased a few Johnathon apples too. Macintosh, Gravenstien and Johnagold apples are good for saucing as well.


4- SINK. Kind of a no-brainer, but you'll want to clean your apples before you sauce them. You'll also need a sharp knife, large pots for boiling apples and some large bowls to allow your applesauce to cool in before you put it into jars. 


5- JARS, LIDS, RINGS. Speaking of jars, here are some of mine after I've filled them with applesauce.



6- SUPER DELUXE APPLESAUCE MAKING MACHINE. Actually, it's a Victorio Food Strainer. You can use it to puree, juice, and sauce just about anything. Mine was a gift, but I know you can order them online for about 60 or 70 dollars. The cooked apples (with cores and seeds) go into the funnel on the top. While you turn the handle, gently push the apples down with the red stick. The sauce will come out the front and the seeds, and skins will go out the side.


7- CANER. For applesauce you can use either a water bath or pressure caner. I have two Mirro pressure caners that I picked up at garage sales. I'm fortunate they are the same brand and model. It made canning the applesauce go much faster and easier than if I only had one, or two that operated differently. To can applesauce in a pressure caner, you'll need to use 5lbs of pressure for ten minutes. For every 1,000 ft above sea level increase the pressure by 5 lbs.


8- SUGAR. The amount of sugar you use is entirely up to you. I recommend making your first batch of sauce, calculate how much sugar you need to bring sauce to desired sweetness, and then use that as your recipe for the rest of your sauce. I used about 1/3 c of sugar per 3 quarts of sauce.

9- TOWELS, HOT PADS, SPOONS, SPATULAS, BOWELS. If these need any explanation, I'm not sure you should be making applesauce...

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Quarter washed apples and fill stockpot. Do not remove skins or core.
2. Add 1-2 cups of water to the apples and cook on high until they are very soft and mushy.
3. Run the apples through the strainer. Different apples will create different textures of sauce. Some will produce a think sauce, while others will be more runny. Increase or decrease the amount of water added to apples to create your desired sauce thickness.
4. Place applesauce in a large bowl to cool.
5. Add sugar and then place into clean jars .
6. Clean the mouth of the jars before processing.
7. Boil jar lids and place on jars with rings.
8. Process jars in caner.
9. Allow jars to cool and check to make sure each jar seals correctly. If a jar is not sealed correctly,  it will have to be reprocessed.
10. ENJOY!! Canned correctly, your applesauce will stay good for a very, very long time.

In total I canned 92 quarts of applesauce. I started at eight in the morning and finished around 3:15 the following morning. It took me a little longer than it should have because Noah was home with the stomach flu and Abram was constantly needing or getting into something. I also was taking pictures so I could document the whole process.

 After 19.5 hours, 4 1/2 bushels of apples, and dirtying every dish towel I own,
I AM FINISHED.


Not only do I love my strainer because it makes super delicious applesauce, but it is also incredibly efficient. These two pans are all the waste from the 4 1/2 bushel of apples. These are all of the skins, seeds, bad apples that had to be thrown away and bad spots that had to be cut out of the apples. Pretty Amazing! According to folks selling me my apples, I could get 12-16 quarts of sauce per bushel. Per their estimations, my goal at the start of the day was to get 70 quarts of applesauce. But, because of my super deluxe applesauce machine, I got 22 quarts more than I predicted! As the day wore on I kept having to wash more jars and when I was processing jars in the wee hours of the morning I was very relieved to find out I had just enough lids to finish the job.


This is my very happy husband after tasting the applesauce.


Applesauce production held almost no interest for Noah and Abram. We'll forgive Noah this year because he was sick, and Abram because he is still young. However, they did think our trip to the apple/pumpkin farm was very fun and interesting. They especially liked pulling and pushing the red wagons.
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We were going for really cute, possibly Christmas card photo material, but after a few shots we settled with  goofy and distracted.

Of course, my little project fits right in with our month of preparedness. While applesauce is not included in the recommended foods for survival, I can only imagine how grateful we would be to have it if we ever had to live off of our food storage alone. Good luck on your own Applesauce adventures. I hope you enjoy them as much as I have!!

Tuesday, October 2, 2012

October Is Petersen Prepardness Month!

This past Sunday President Williams, our branch president, counseled us on provident living. This is some of the information he shared and my thoughts while listening.

- PRESIDENT WILLIAMS: It has been his experience (this being his third stint as branch President he has lots of it!) that those who pay tithing are rarely in need of assistance.
           MY THOUGHTS: Thank goodness I paid our tithing today!

- PRESIDENT WILLIAMS: Of those who pay a generous fast offering, the need of assistance is almost non-existent. He said, "Not that it has never happened, sometimes even those who are very faithful have their feet swept out from under them, but it is extremely rare that someone who pays an honest tithe and generous fast offering will need church assistance."
           MY THOUGHTS: Tyler and I need to sit down and reevaluate how much we are paying into fast offerings.

- PRESIDENT WILLIAMS: Debt can be a powerful tool or it can enslave you. In the state of Oklahoma it is legal for lending agencies to extend loans at a rate of 400%.
           MY THOUGHTS: 400 PERCENT!! If you borrowed 100 dollars you would be required to pay 400 dollars back. Paying back our student loan is difficult enough and our interest rate is at 6.7%.

- PRESIDENT WILLIAMS: It is impossible to judge which is more important, our spiritual or temporal preparedness.
          MY THOUGHTS: Our soul is made of both our body and spirit. If we are to have a properly prepared soul then we cannot neglect one or the other. One gentleman shared this thought, "A man cannot focus on a lesson being given if his stomach is gnawing on his backbone." At the same time, if we neglect our spiritual well being then we jeopardize our ability to weather the storms of life with the faith, hope, and perspective that the gospel brings. When we are spiritually week we are also more susceptible to the temporal pitfalls of life.

Overall, it was a very good and thought provoking lesson. I left with a renewed determination to examine our family's temporal and spiritual preparedness and I have decided that the Petersen family is making this October our preparedness month. Whether or not we make this a yearly practice is yet to be seen. There are five Mondays in October and I have outlined a topic regarding preparedness to discuss at FHE and then focus on throughout the week. The outline is as follows:

Week of Oct 1 - 72 Hour Kits
Week of Oct 8 - Financial Planning
Week of Oct 15 - Soul Preparedness
Week of Oct 22- Food Storage (Bulk Foods)
Week of Oct 29 - Food Storage (Extras)

We have begun to revamp our 72 hour kits. Pictures, information and ideas are soon to follow!

Sunday, September 30, 2012

I'm Back!!

It has been awhile. But, I am here. I am alive and I have some stories to tell. It's been a year of adventure, heartache, frustration, disappointment, learning, growth, happiness, and excitement. I imagine that when my hair is white, deep wrinkles line my every feature, and the spring has left my step, I will look back upon this past year's experiences with deep gratitude in my heart for all that took place. However, at the time, this certainly was not the case!! Thankfully, we have a loving and merciful Heavenly Father with far
greater vision and knowledge of our needs and desires than exists within ourselves. It is humbling to realize how involved God is in the details of our lives. I am so grateful he brought us to Pocola, Oklahoma; home to two stop lights and a greater population of deer than people!

Subway Trumps All


Our trip to DC was pretty amazing. We visited monuments, took a step back in time at Mount Vernon, got to see the home of air force one, where the president goes golfing and get searched by the entrance guards at Andrew's. We learned about our family history, visited Gettysburg (which inspired the year's Halloween Costumes) and paid our respects at Arlington National Cemetery. But for the kids, nothing, absolutely NOTHING could compare to our the Subway.


Here is Naomi. She liked to hang onto the pole like the big people. She was so proud of herself.


If she wasn't holding onto the pole, she was looking out the window. Being above ground wasn't nearly as exciting as when we went underground though.


Noah did not like walking around the big city. He did not like riding in the wagon. He did not enjoy the monuments. He did like the Air and Space museum, but still not as much as the subway! I have to admit, I think we all enjoyed the cool air in the tunnels after spending the day in the sweltering heat.


This is my dad and my Uncle David. Uncle David was our tour guide extraordinaire. Without him we would've been lost in the maze of blue, yellow, and green subway lines. He also knows all kinds of cool facts and stories about history. When he retires from the air force, I think he ought to consider making professional tour guiding his new career!