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This handy tool makes fast work of apples! It peels, cores and slices them with the turn of the crank. At our house, this is a standby every fall during apples season. |
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Using a food strainer/sauce maker is the fastest way to make applesauce out of a box of apples.� I grew up turning the crank every year when my mother made a year�s worth of applesauce for the freezer, and now my children are doing the same. I know Chelsy and her family make applesauce also. If I remember right, Chelsy�s mother prefers to make it from Paula Red apples. My favorite is Golden Delicious and my dad�s favorite is Yellow Transparent. Everybody has a favorite applesauce flavor! If you use a sweeter apple, there is no need to add sugar. Simply dump your box of apples in a sink of water, cut them in half and fill a pot half full with apples. Put in a little water to prevent the skins from scorching the bottom of the pot. When the apples are soft, empty them into the top of the sauce maker and start cranking. The sauce empties into a bowl while the skin and seeds empty out the end of the auger. Put the sauce in freezer boxes and eat it until next apple season! It�s easier than pie. |
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Chelsy in the Kitchen |
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Hello!�
My name is Chelsy Bontrager.� I am 14, and the oldest of eight, soon-to-be-9 children.� (My mother�s due date is TODAYJ).� I love being the oldest, in spite of the many responsibilities.� My younger siblings, Mitchell (13), Allison (11), Carson (9), Joshua (8), Denver (5), Taylor (3), and Elizabeth (1) are more than willing to sample anything I make. They are great testers and it�s not hard to please them! �� One of the first things I remember making on my own is chocolate chip cookies when I was about nine.� When I was much younger, my mother would set one or two of my siblings and I on the counter top and we would take turns adding ingredients.� I went on to make brownies, cornbread, pancakes, and eventually whole wheat bread, at age 10.� At first, I did NOT enjoy baking bread, but now I love it!� I have learned that the more you do a job, the better and faster you can do it, and as you become better at it, it can be a lot of fun!
My earliest memories of working in the kitchen are drying dishes and setting the table.� I started those jobs when I was about six or seven, but now Taylor and Denver do those jobs and more.� My mother says she has learned a lot since thenJ.
At the present time, my kitchen chores are making dinner on Tuesday through Saturday evenings (my mother cooks on Monday since I give piano lessons to 7 students on Monday afternoon). My other kitchen chores include keeping the water purifier filled, keeping the water pitcher for the refrigerator full, washing the kettles each evening, (we have a dishwasher, but I wash all the larger items) and cleaning the kitchen on Saturday.� I used to dread cooking because I didn�t like it.� My excuse was �it�s just not my thing�, but then I realized that if everyone in our family just did what they were good at and what they enjoyed, we would be in big trouble!� Now that I have been cooking more, I enjoy it.� It is such a great sense of accomplishment to serve my family a hot, filling meal each night, even if it did take a while to make.
Currently we have been using many apples in the kitchen.� We get them a bushel at a time from a fruit barn a few miles from here.� This month I am going to share with you one of my family�s favorite recipes using apples.
APPLE CHIP CAKE Preheat oven to 350 degrees.� �1-cup plain yogurt ��-cup safflower oil �1 cup unrefined sugar �2 large eggs Using a mixer, mix together first four ingredients until blended.� Add: 2 tsp. Cinnamon �1 tsp. Vanilla �1 tsp. Baking soda �3 cups freshly ground whole wheat flour (we use soft wheat, but you can substitute with hard, winter wheat or unbleached white flour) Mix in just until blended: 4 cups peeled and diced apples (Jonathon, Gala, or some other tart baking apple will work) � cup semi-sweet chocolate chips Pour into an un-greased 9x13-cake pan.� Bake at 350 degrees for 40-50 minutes or until toothpick inserted comes out clean.�
Note:� Sometimes the cake takes longer to bake, but to be on the safe side, I check at 40 minutes so it is not over baked.� We like it moist.
Some changes I�ve made to the recipe are to add 2 tsp. Cinnamon instead of 1 tsp.� Since we only add 1-cup sugar instead of 2, it is nice to have the extra flavor.� In addition, we have found that yogurt is a wonderful substitute for part of the oil/butter.� This recipe called for 1 � - cups oil so we tried using 1-cup yogurt and �-cup oil instead.� It turns out wonderful, and we love it like this!� The recipe calls for 1-cup nuts, but because some of my siblings do not like nuts, I often omit them.
We like to serve it with a dollop of freshly whipped cream on each slice.
When the cake is in the oven, I stack all my dishes in the mixing bowl and then either wash them right away or wash them up after supper. ����������������������������� Enjoy!
Editor�s note: Chelsy�s mother had a baby boy two days after Chelsy submitted this. Chelsy�s family also make their own yogurt and whipped cream from fresh milk. Maybe she�ll write about that sometime!
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Yummy! Fall is the perfect time to make food with apples, they are fresh, crisp, and the price is right! *applesauce *apple pie *apple cookies *apple crisp *apple dumplings *apple fritters *and just plain eating fresh! |
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Apple Chip Cake |
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Date: 11/05 |
