For reals applesauce has to be the EASIEST thing to can. I mean there is basically one ingredient: apples. I add lemon juice so I am doubly sure my PH is canning safe, but if you’re just going to freeze it you don’t even need to add that! And of course you can fancy it up with cinnamon and/or sugar, but I leave both out, adding cinnamon (Tuesday does) upon serving.
So here is a visual guide to my easy process for a huge, big, ginormous batch of applesauce.
This is what my set up looks like at the end of the day, when things are about ready to go in the canner, but really I work on this on and off all day if I’m home, and it’s easy. Most of the day I work with the smaller stock pot on the front right burner.
First thing I do is quarter and core the apples. No peeling required! You can’t tell by these pictures but these are from a friend’s tree, and um, organic. meaning, they have bumps, bruises, and worms. It doesn’t bother me, I just cut those parts out. This will not hurt you one bit!
Here there are in the pot, with a bit of water in the bottom (an inch or less) to prevent scorching, and a hefty squirt of lemon juice. If I’m busy I just leave this on low heat and let it simmer for a while (you can also put it in a crock pot), if I really want to get things moving and am in the kitchen any way so I can keep an eye on it (and stir), I up the heat. Just don’t let it burn or boil over and you’ll be fine (I do leave the lid on at low heat. I find that it steams the apples nice and soft).
I’ve talked two friends into this immersion blender so far this summer, and you’re next. 🙂 No, seriously this Cuisinart Smart Stick blender is amazing (affiliate link – oh my gosh just realized it comes in colors!). And yes Bj you can tell me, “I told you so.” Because when he wanted to get it I remember saying, no we have a blender. My friends just try to put these apples in a regular blender and then deal with the hot lava that results – DANGER. For $35 this thing pays for itself in one canning season. My friend J has used hers every day since she bought it. Either way blend up the apples. I don’t worry too much about texture at this point because I add it to the big vat and figure that out later:
It is hard to make out just how big and awesome this stock pot is (partly because it’s next to my mom’s even bigger giantess of a water bath canner). It is nice and fancy from our wedding, but you can get big pots like this from restaurant supply places. I did score another giant one at an estate sale. I will say though this All Clad one (affiliate link) has two cool steamer baskets that make it more than a one trick pony.
So all day the pureed apples (with lemon juice) go into the big pot. I don’t keep heat on it, but the applesauce keeps itself plenty hot. At the end of the day when the kids are in bed and it’s safer for me to wielding the jar lifter (do yourself a favor and order this one please! After a very messy and dangerous accident involving hot glass, boiling water and super heated salsa I think those other piece of crap lifters should be banned!). When I have the last batch of apples going in the small stock pot I start the jars heating up in the water bath canner, at the same time warming the lids (it’s not necessary to do anything to the rings). I also make sure the big batch of applesauce is warm, and add water if necessary. Once all the applesauce is together in the giant stock pot I take a jar out of the water one at a time, add applesauce (leaving 1/4″ headspace), fish out a lid from the hot water it’s sitting in the tiny pot, and put that on. Then I finger tighten a ring around it. Repeat. Once all the jars are in the water bath canner I make sure they are covered by an inch of water and bring it up to boil. 15 minutes of processing and I’m done! I turn the heat off, take the lid off and wait five minutes before getting them out of the canner.
I was thinking about how much this saves me, because lets be honest, a lot of the crafts I do don’t save much money! I love my supplies!
Apples: from a friend, free (don’t be shy about knocking on the door of someone who has a tree with fruit all over the ground! I’ve done it, they’ll be happy to have you help them I bet)
Jars: as you may have guessed I thrift most, but unfortunately I also give lots of canned goods away and with them, the jar! This year I had to buy jars again. I’m going to make a nice note next time letting the recipient know if they are a canner to keep the jar, if not, I’ll gladly have it back. So I pay 44 cents on sale for brand new jars (comes with lids and rings), or max 25 cents for a used jar.
Lids are 1.69 or 1.99 on sale for a pack of 12.
Plus lemon juice, cost of heat, etc…..
I’m thinking worst case senario a jar of applesauce costs me maybe 50 cents? I have no idea what the price of this is in the store, but the best price I could find on organic applesauce online was $3.50… is that normal? I don’t know, but I’ll never buy applesauce again!
How to remember how tiny your kids were
This layout took no time at all. And before you click away and say, I don’t scrapbook; listen. Find the tiny thing your kid wore when they were newborn. Tape it to a piece of paper and add it to the baby book. No baby book? Hallmark makes great simple ones I love. I have one for Bennet and one for Tuesday. These are what I plan on giving to the girls when they leave home, or when ever they want them. I have mine and it’s fun to compare weights and lengths (you might have guessed that I was tiny. I married someone 6’4″ and now Bennet is smaller than I was? how?!?). I should do a review on the one I got for Bennet, it’s for “boys” but you know how I feel about that right? Gender stereotyping is so lame. Anyway go do this today! And just try not so say, “how did it go so fast?!?!”
(I think I originally saw an idea like this checking out Ali’s book for Anna)
Summer days
Ah sweet summer days. They are long, but still it seems I do not have enough time in them! (<- apparently, I started drafting this post in June!). We did check some things off our to do list.
Finally hiked in Forest Park, we LOVED it. I can not believe this is in the city, crazy! It’s beautiful!
Tuesday requested a bonnet and I was happy to oblige of course. I used this vintage pattern (I also made the dress, but did short sleeves, I need to get some good pictures of it before she grows more, she seems to shoot up every day!). This phone snap was from a homeschool science association meeting. The founder is seven. Man I love our little homeschool community.
Lots of getting dirty and getting clean in the sink. How hard is it to clean under baby finger nails, my goodness!
Tuesday overcame her fear of fountains! She is still a bit of a timid thing, but will get wet now. As you can see this brings her much joy.
I developed a pattern formula for a flat fronted skirt with in seam pockets. Start to finish in under an hour… Need to do a tutorial on this if there is interest. This had been on the to do list for ever and I’m so glad I took some time to sew for myself! I wore this and the other one I made all summer!!
So there’s some random stuff from June…. let’s see how long it takes me to get to July and August!
Sleep. Or what ever the opposite of that is.
I had a kid who didn’t sleep. Her name was Tuesday and I blogged about this “problem” a few times. Eventually at 38 months she started going to sleep on her own and sleeping in her own bed. A freaking miracle because I was pregnant and FREAKING OUT over having two kids that took hours to rock to sleep every time they woke up.
(Bennet so cozy in our room in the hammock)
So when Bennet came along I was super hopeful that she would be chill and drowsy and all those other words that really mean, “wow I have it easy this time.” And dudes and dudettes I did have some easy months. She napped. NAPPED. Tuesday did not nap until she was a year old (it’s ok if you don’t believe me, I would not have either). I nursed bennet for five minutes and she was done. Then laid her in her cute baby hammock and she slept in there… FOR HOURS. One time when we were on vacation at the beach she slept for eight hours in a row in it. I was all, “oh man I have it made. I know; I should sign up for a craft fair and pretend like I don’t have a small baby.”
(emergency crib move in – thanks mom and Bill!)
Right around that time said small baby (Bennet, Bennie Boo Boo, but never Benners) started moving. Really moving. Rolling from side to side. I started to get concerned when she tried to sleep on her side in the baby hammock. I wasn’t sleeping well listening to her breath with the hammock hanging near the bed. I contacted the hammock people to see of I needed to buy one of the inserts to make the bed more stiff. No they said, “sounds like she has out grown the hammock.”
(Tuesday waiting for me.. Bennet asleep or nursing on my lap)
People things haven’t been the same around here since. And I really didn’t feel the need to blog about it again because we’ve been down that road before. Then I read a post from another blogger who talked about her 3 year old not sleeping and it made me feel better. So I decided to write this out. I’m sure it will be good to look back on for me (and my children if I ever figure out how to print out the blog).
(ya, she sleeps smack on her face – I KNOW THIS IS BAD, YOU DON’T HAVE TO TELL ME. Just try moving her, I dare you.)
So here’s the situation now. Bennet will sometimes nurse to sleep. Sometimes one of use dance/sings her to sleep. Some times she stays asleep for a few hours. Her favorite time to wake up is about a half hour after I get in bed. You know, right when I’m falling asleep. I change her, nurse her and each time she wakes the intervals are less and less until I’ve only been in bed for an hour and she’s up again and now it’s morning. AHHHHH. I hate it. I’m tired. And I have this fantasy that if I just got eight hours of sleep (or seven, or if it’s in a row six even!) everything would be perfect. The house would be clean and we would eat perfectly and I would have time to do absolutely everything! Of course this is not true, and deep down I know it. But, but well, it is difficult when I read about people who are complaining about a newborn waking up once a night. Cough, cough. You’re kidding me right? Pro tip, if you don’t want to wake up at night don’t have a baby.
To all of the mamas and papas (and super patient siblings) who have babies in the house not sleeping, this is for you. And if those babies are three, four… I feel your pain. It is ok to hate posts about a baby who sleeps twelve hours at night AND takes five naps. You know what? Those are some lazy ass babies. I can tell Bennet tries her very best to sleep as little as possible, just like her sister. And I guess you have to give them some credit for that.
Here’s to you non sleeping babies, toddlers and kids (oh ya, Tuesday gets up at night again, did I mention that?). You keep us guessing! We’ll keep trying to roll with it. And please don’t complain about instant oatmeal for breakfast, if you really want something better sleep already.
Thrifting: an average take
Oh so you want to hear more about thrifting huh? (I’m basing this off the survey 92 of you filled out so far, if you haven’t yet here it is, I get 100 free responses so top me off! and thanks!). I will be dashing back and forth to the range to check on the apple pear sauce cooking while I chat with you about this. Hope things don’t get too dis-jointed.
First let me say I have a lot of thrifting to catch up on (on the blog), but I hopefully WON’T be thrifting this month. Bj and I are going to try a no spend September (I got the idea from this awesome blog), and I’m not going to temp myself by visiting sales or thrift stores (we shall see…). One of the problems with thrifting the way I do is I do end up spending money on weird or frivolous things. Granted usually that is 75 cents or so, but as Bj has remarked, our house is only so big. My bad. 🙂
I wanted to share with you a haul from a recent “estate sale” I put that in parentheses because the lady was not dead, just downsizing to a condo. Now I’ve got nothing against living people having sales, and this was still a good one, but a living person is not going to sell their best cooking pot or favorite trivet. Just saying. I had only Bennet with me, and a new app to play with (gsalr.com where have you been all my life?), plus, ok it was August 30th, and I knew we would be tightening the belts in a few days. All that equaled up to the itch, the itch to see what was out there, I had it bad.
The ad:
HUGE ESTATE SALE ,,,,CASH ONLY PLEASE… 21 yr accumulation. 2 story home. SAT 31st 8:00 to 3:00. Sale of the summer!!!!
SUNDAY SPECIALS AND MARK DOWNS MID DAY!!!!!!!!
Professional butcher block
Antiques and collectables
Nike mens tennis shoes size 10 1/2 and 11 like newLate 1800’s large butlers desk
Limoges
Wedgewood
Calphalon roaster
Brass double broiler
Full wall glass pained crested book case/cabinet
1928 tapestry sofa. Excellent condition
Sub Zero frig
Vintage glassware
Camping
Tools/yard
Upscale clothing
Snowboards
Lamps
Quality jewelery,,Judith Jack/Byzaantium
Ethan Allen computer cabinet
Freezer
Frig/ side by side
Lots kids games and books
Christmas
Silver
Antique stain glass window
So much more!!!!!!!! Don’t miss out!!!
I gotta say, nothing really grabbed me here. Mostly what drew me to the sale was that it was super close by, and it was an estate sale. Estate sales are the bomb. I had a friend visiting from Denmark and took her to one. She asked if I thought it was weird going through dead people’s things. I told her I didn’t mind it at all, and I hope some people get some awesome deals at my estate sale (but hopefully not for like 60 years). Even if you really love someone that passed away you’re probably not going to keep their can opener, or whatever. So I don’t think it’s weird. But you might, actually, do you?
Back to the sale. I realized pretty quick it was a living person as I said above. But that’s ok because said living person had good taste. I do have a list of wants (another post) and a list of things I keep an eye out for fellow thrifters (another post), but I really was just looking around Friday. So I was happy with what I found. For FOUR DOLLARS I got tiny dixie cups (for popsicles like these), an egg carrier (got it for my mom, they camp more than us), a crown cookie cutter that I found in a closet, made by Crate and Barrel, and a handful of Everyday Food magazines. No longer made these are gems! I have some, so I didn’t want to get too many (was totally tempted to take them all) and end up with duplicates. I instead just bought all the September and October issues she had.
Four dollars. That’s all I spent. I would say this is a middle of the road, average thrifting adventure (worse being rat poop on the ground, run out screaming, best being found a dresser worth $850 for $65). So is this stuff I really needed? Well, no. Is this a good use of $4? I mean I get some serious pleasure in finding this stuff. To me it’s like an art and sport all rolled into one. So I would say yes. I would also say I don’t want to turn into a hoarder so this no spend September is probably a good thing for me!
Well I just heard all my lids pop, pop, pop, so I think my apple pear sauce is all good. How did I do it so quick and easy? I leave the skins on, maybe I’ll take some pictures next time to show you.
Celebrating One!
Oh sweet sweet Bennet!
This was Bennet on her birthday, the best shot I could get (and you can tell I did a hack job to Photoshop out flip flops on the floor!). Since she doesn’t know when her birthday is we decided to do a low key dessert only party a few days later with a small group.
I pretty much had nothing done an hour before the party except for ordering vegan cupcakes and making this hat, the important things, obviously!
I used a load of fun ribbons from The Ribbon Jar. I have been talking to my mom about putting together little kit projects through her site, and these hats are ones I would love to do, because it takes a lot of little pieces of ribbon.
I made a “1” shirt for Bennet with my Silhouette. Easy and fast. I was just going to use Tuesday’s, but it was temporarily lost. Glad she has her own though, I have grand plans of baby clothes quilts, has anyone done that?
The party was super simple and easy. I ordered vegan cupcakes from a place in town: Twinsies. Bennet preferred her frozen peas, so no shots of her eating this (don’t worry I had plenty).
Big sister probably had the most fun. I invited only one other family with older kids, because I knew she needed someone to play with and she always gets along great with K&K. I was right, they had a blast. And yes, we’re the crazy people who own a little bounce house. BEST. KID. INVESTMENT. EVER. We take this thing to every BBQ we are invited to. Love it. Bj is in an ikea tube thing here being a monster or doing something silly that they loved.
Oh Bennet, we can help you with that….
Ah my sweet girl. I still need to cram her into that sleeper and finish off our monthly series of pictures. It won’t really take much cramming since she’s itty bitty. I am all about simple parties for kids. Ya I had a black tie wedding, and yes I love to go to awesome parties. But if I’m throwing a party for a kid then simple wins.
And then… A survey about you and me
Ah this lovely life.
You may have noticed that I’ve been quiet in this space lately. I’ve been thinking about what I want to do with the blog, now that I’m not taking clients. Do I want to make it strictly a journal of types for family and friends? Do I want to showcase craft projects? I decided asking you why you come to my blog and what you would like to see would be super helpful. So to my loyal and lovely readers, could you please take a minute or two and answer these ten short questions? I would appreciate it so much!
Click here to take survey
Thrifted
Sciarrino and I have been on a roll lately thrifting. Probably replacing most of what we garage saled away, but oh well. I thought it would be fun to showcase some of the things I’ve found over the years, how I use them, what the deal was, etc.
Tuesday is working with a Wonder Knitter by Clover (affiliate link). It is $7.62 on Amazon. That’s not terribly expensive, but I found this one (new in the package) for $1.99 . Earlier this year I found a small knitter like this (but way cuter) for a dollar, but I thought it might be difficult. At the beginning of the year I tried to teach her finger knitting, but she didn’t love it. If you’ve seen the size of my yarn stash you know it’s imperative that one if my girls likes knitting!!
So I was intrigued by this thing and the price was right. I was with Sciarrino and no kids which always means I have time to really search the rows. This came from our Lancaster Goodwill, which has the best book section in town, by the way. Sometimes I go to Goodwill (or an estate sale, garage sale, etc.) for something specific. But more often than not I like to browse. I’m the first to admit this is dangerous. Who can pass up a 99 cent book with gorgeous illustrations, who?!?! When I’m going without a plan I start on one end of the store and work my way over. I dig through the racks and move things around, open packages, and am snoopy. Things are so often mis-shelved, usually because I don’t think employees know what the things are. My favorite rows are the toy row and the craft row, where I found this. And let me tell you this thing is awesome. Tuesday loves it. It hits at her skill level (at 4.5) just right. Doable, but a challenge still, which is great. For sure I will be adding this to my gift ideas for this age group.
So that’s my first what I thrifted, what I got it for, what I’m doing with it post (I need a clever title I guess!). What’s the best random, you weren’t looking for it, thing you’ve found?
One summer day
Just jumping back in with a day, yesterday to be exact. Trying this blogging from my phone thing as it seems I never have time to sit at the computer any more!
Bennet has been sleeping terribly and this day woke with a temperature. She went down for an early nap which gave Tuesday and I some alone time. She chose painting. We eat all our meals outside so this table has taken a hit from the mess monster! Not sure what I’m going to do about this when the weather cools. Trying to get the basement back into action.
My mom is selling her house and doing a little updating in the process. She needed new carpet in the bonus room, where the piano sat. She asked if we would like it. Pay for moving it she said, and it’s yours! Bj loves to play the piano so I was excited to add this to his office (now also music room!). It’s beautiful! Bennet cried when I got her down, I think we have another music lover in the family.
I’ve never tried finger painting with either if my girls but yesterday I decided to give it a try. I got a pad of finger painting paper at goodwill (I’ve been having some great luck there!) and used yogurt colored with koolaid powder. Did you know koolaid has no sugar? You have to add it so the powder is great for color and smell. Lucky for me I have an (almost) 12 year old mama’s helper who was busy playing with Tuesday in her outdoor play kitchen so I could have a little Bennie time.
I’m not sold on this activity. I don’t understand the reason not to give a toddler a brush. Anyone? Messy!
Not pictured:
Bennet’s breakfast of frozen pineapple slices only (so maybe the temperature is teething?). Tuesday wearing the size 18 month shorts I bought Bennet for next summer (such skinny girls!). Driving to aunt Sciarrino’s to pick up another thrifted treasure. Pizza. Mousetrap with Ethan. And giggles and squeals. Two goodwill stops with only this to show for it… But brand new at $3.50 makes mama happy. Which led to late night magnet unit set up, how could I not?
And now it’s tomorrow and Bennet barely slept and I think I need a little nap.
Garage Sale!
Sciarrino is having a garage sale and I’m bringing tons of my scrapbooking, yarn, fiber, fabric, crafty stash. It was inevitable that I would have to pare down my stash when we decided to go the homeschooling route because now I need room for a million glue sticks and books! The rest of this post is copied from Sciarrino:
Vintage, Home Goods, Kid/Baby, Craft, Etc.
Who
We aren’t new to the garage sale scene—in fact we love them! Estate sales, antiquing weekends, thrift stores, throw in a bunch of hobbies and there you have us in a nut shell. We are joined by a few of our equally minded friends to offer you our first ever garage sale.
Location
Conveniently located in SW Portland at the corner of Haines St. and Lesser Rd. Off the Haines St. Exit (#293) off I-5. White house on the corner #12200 (can’t miss us!). Follow the neon on white signage.
Hours
Saturday and Sunday 10a. – 4p. (firm start time)
What
Vintage: fabric, home goods, decor
Home goods: kitchen stuff, entertaining, decor
Kid & Baby: clothes, toys (infant/toddler), wooden train tracks, kid furniture, Chicco carseat in excellent used condition with tons of time left on it!
Crafts: fabric, thread, modern scrapbooking (Project Life, studio calico, etc.), knitting, patterns, yarn, hand dyed spinning fiber
Clothing: women, men, baby, shoes
Outdoor: small charcoal grill, camp stove, hoses, cooler
Other: 2003 Xbox with three games, golf club, porcelain dolls from the early 90s in mint condition (priced to sell)
Plus an over flowing box of free stuff.
Featuring
Did we mention we’re crafty? We’ll be featuring our handmade baby and kid dry goods: blankets, toys, onesies, tshirts, burp cloths, and more! If you’re expecting a little one or know someone who is we’ve got you covered.
Cash only please.