Makin' Applesauce

The great Autumn weather in our area this past weekend put my husband and I in the mood to make a bushel apples into of applesauce! He suggested I share how we did that.

First of all, we bought a bushel of Golden Delicious apples. We purchased seconds; they are the bruised versions that the orchard can’t sell for eating. We got them for a discounted price! Don’t be afraid of buying ‘seconds’! Ours weren’t in bad condition; both our toddler and I ate one on the way home and thought they were fine!

(Expect to pay around $16 for a bushel of seconds.)

We started by cutting the apples into quarters. We have a food strainer, so we did not remove the seeds or skins.

Next, we put the apples into a big pot. Since we made a bushel of apples, we ended up doing about six pots’ worth of cooking. Add about an inch of water to the apples to prevent burning.

Cook the apples down until they’re soft and the skins are starting to fall off. The total volume of apples in the pot will shrink.

This is what the food mill looks like:

To use the food mill,

[after your husband figures out how to assemble it for you!]

you just push the apples through the top bowl. The mill seperates the skins from the good stuff. The applesauce comes out looking like this:

My husband likes it extra smooth, so we put it through our blender.

This is the finished product:

A bushel of apples made a ton of sauce! For $16 and about 2 hours of work, this was our quantity of sauce:

It freezes well. I don’t know how to can food, but someday I would like to learn! This would be great to can.

Repurposed Zipper Pouch with Bunting Tutorial

Here’s a really easy tutorial for making a cute two-tone zippered pouch with a bunting embellishment!

Supplies: 8” zipper (I used one I picked out of an old pair of pants)

Two pieces of fabric 9” x 6” (the tan colored pieces below)
Two pieces of fabric 9” x 2.5” (the denim pieces)
Two pieces of fabric for the lining, 9” x 7”
Scraps of fabric for the flags

Interesting fact: I used all repurposed fabrics (lining is a t-shirt, the tan fabric is from a pair of pants, and the denim is from jeans!)

To make the bunting, sew a curved, swooping line using a running stitch onto one of the tan fabric pieces. Set the flag pieces on the line to make sure they all fit.

Next, sew the flags onto the line. I didn’t try to follow the exact original line. I think that makes it more fun.

Next, sew around each flag a few times.

After you’ve attached each flag, place the denim piece with right sides together at the bottom edge of the tan fabric and sew that into place.

Open that up, press the seam flat, and then add a line of running stitches for top stitching.

To assemble the pouch, place the zipper right sides together with one piece of the outer fabric, aligning it with the top edge of the tan fabric. Align one of the lining pieces with this top edge and pin in place. Using your zipper foot, sew this into place making sure to catch all three layers.

Check your work to make sure you didn’t miss the zipper of the lining!

Repeat with the other side of the pouch and lining.

Now, open the whole thing up and align the edges of the outer fabric and the edges of the lining.
Pin it all in place. Sew around the whole thing, leaving a gap for turning in the bottom of the lining.

Trim the edges, clip the corners, and turn the whole thing through the gap you left in the pouch’s lining. Push the corners out with a pencil so they are crisp. Stitch up the gap in the lining and the pouch is finished!

Want to Make: Fabric Banners

Scrappy banner idea.

No ragged edges on this one.

This is so cute. I don’t know if it’s what I’m looking for or not.

Want to Make: Bookends

I think my little guy's room could use some bookends. Not sure if owls are the way to go...maybe turtles instead...but here are some tutorials I've found.

Super cute owl bookends.

Another owl bookend tutorial.

But since I have two boys, maybe these are a

better ‘want to make’:

Boyish bookend designs.

One-Pot Pasta Dinner

This lasagna recipe is really yummy and makes cleaning up easy! It tastes like lasagna.

1 # sweet sausage

1 small onion, chopped

1 jar of spaghetti sauce (26 ounces)

4 cups of egg noodles

1 cup of water

1/2 cup ricotta cheese

2T Parmesan cheese (from the green plastic can)

1 T fresh parsley, snipped into tiny pieces

1/2 cup mozzarella cheese, shredded.

1. Cook sausage and onion in a large pot until brown; drain.

2. Stir in spaghetti sauce, noodles, and water and bring to a boil.

3. Simmer for 10 minutes, stirring occassionally.

4. In a separate bowl, combine ricotta, parmesan and parsley. Drop onto the pasta mixture. Sprinkle the mozzarella cheese on top. Cover and cook for a few more minutes to melt the cheese.