Not together of course! That would be weird (or would it...?)
The cider-making cleared a lot of apples out of the trees, but I'm still working desperately to use more apples than I throw away. So today's projects included apple sauce and two Dutch apple cakes. These two recipes required the peeling and slicing of quite a few apples, so I put my boys to work.
Apple sauce, like jam, is super easy to make. Just simmer the apple slices in a little water until soft,
add sugar and pure. DONE!
The cakes took a little longer, but the boys were responsible for that, so I could just sit back and relax (Hahaha! I cleaned up behind them and did the dishes, of course)
What sets apart a Dutch apple cake apart from the crowd is a mild, buttery batter and apple slices that have marinated in cinnamon an hour before being inserted vertically in the form.
The fruits of our labor (pun intended!)
As we were working I felt a bit conflicted. Although I love that we are using fruit grown organically and locally, which we harvested for free (win, Win, WIN), I cringe at the amount of sugar that goes into almost every method of preparing or conserving fruit. It drastically decreases the nutritional value of these home-grown wonders of nature. Of course making things from scratch allows you to control the amount of sugar, and it eliminates additives and preservatives. And since I use organic sugar, that almost makes it healthy, right?
So that is why I also canned jalapenos today. NO SUGAR ADDED!
I found a recipe for canning jalapenos that called for 2 pounds of peppers. I had 7. Not 7 pounds, 7 jalapenos! So needless to say, I had to adjust the recipe. To can jalapenos you slice them and pack them into jars, then season with mustard seed and celery seed. I added chili flakes as well, as my jalapenos are quite mild. Over the jalapenos was poured a boiling mixture of vinegar, water and salt.
My seven sliced jalapenos were exactly enough to fill one small jar. But that will be enough for one taco dinner, one batch of breakfast burritos and some jalapeno bread!
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