Welcome to my
Perfectly Imperfect Life..........

Monday, October 17, 2011

Fall Is Apple Time! Ant Time Too :(


Imagine my excitement and surprise when
B and T brought a huge box of homegrown Apples!


They came from her Aunt, who has 4 Apple Trees,
 ♥♥♥♥
and smell divine!


Simply delicious!


Visions of Applesauce, Cakes, 


Crisps and more danced through my head.


Right away I knew I wanted to make an Apple Hill Cake.
When we lived in Sacramento we used to visit Apple Hill every Fall.
Apple pickin', Craft Vendors, Antiquing, Kids Activities
and the aroma of ALL the baked goods
that the 50 different ranches make.




APPLE HILL CAKE

2 c. sugar
1/2 c. vegetable oil
2 eggs
4 c. diced apples
2 c. flour
1 tsp. salt
2 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
1 tsp. baking soda

Combine sugar, oil and eggs.
Add diced apples.
Sift together flour, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg and baking soda.
 Add to apple mixture.
Pour into 9x13 inch greased cake pan.


Bake for 1 hour and 350 degrees.

Serve warm or cold.
 

Yum!!


Next was Applesauce.
So I pulled out my vintage canning jars,
 that belonged to my Mother and Grandmother,
 and went to town.

I love having homemade Applesauce for Easter Dinner.


Chunky Applesauce

24 cups apples, cored, quartered and peeled
1 - 1 1/2 cups sugar
2 cups water
2 Tablespoons Cinnamon

In a kettle combine apples and 2 cups water.
Bring to boil;
reduce heat and simmer 8 - 10 minutes,
stirring often.
Mash with potato masher.
Add sugar and cinnamon,
mix thoroughly.
Bring to a boil again.

Spoon Applesauce into hot, clean jars,
leaving a 1/2' - 1" head space.
Wipe rims; adjust lids.
Makes 6 pints.

Water Bath Canning

Process in water bath for 20 minutes for pints or quarts.
Start timing when water boils.

Freezing

Prepare Applesauce as above.
Cool
Spoon Applesauce into freezer containers, leaving head space..
Seal, label, and freeze.


I made one batch Rustic Allpesauce by leaving the peels on.
Lots of vitamins in those peels. 


Garden Tip


What to do with all those Apple peels and cores....

Besides putting them into your compost pile, I found this 
method to keep ants away from your home.

Place apple pieces, cores, or apple peelings any where ants enter your home
or you have seen them enter the house.
There is something about the acid in the apple that will kill the ants
when they take it back to their own home!

I tossed those peels and cores all over the backyard!

"just feeding the ants" she said with a devilish grin.

I should be ant free any day now!





11 comments:

  1. beautiful colors in those apples...

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  2. I live in apple country and this year was a bumper crop. I made applesauce, apple butter, apple pie filling (canned) and many uses of fresh apples. Enjoy your bounty.
    'hugs from afar'

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  3. Love that witch at the end! LMAO!

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  4. Oh, wow, thank you for the wonderful recipes! The apples are so beautiful with all of their pretty colors and the cake and the applesauce, yum!

    You had a very busy time making all these goodies, isn't it fun to have your own food stored up for the winter?

    'I love men, but they get stuck in my teeth' what a hoot!

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  5. Great recipe! Thanks for sharing and for linking to 2nd Time Around!

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  6. oh, yum!!!!!!! thanks for linking up to the party over here!!! ooxx

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  7. Great tip with the apple peels. Think I'll go buy a few apples jest to help the little buggers along!! Happy VTT!

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  8. Oh yum! Now I am craving apple cake. Hummm, I do have some apples. Guess I know what I will be making this afternoon! Thanks for sharing the recipe! Thank you for being part of TTF and have a fantastic weekend!

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  9. Beauteeeful apples! The recipes look awesome too! ::cheers:: Sü

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  10. Lucky you, Deb! I love apples and apple pie and your cake recipe is one I'd also love to try.

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  11. I am so lucky to have such a great group of gardeners to share with...thank you so much for linking into my little party today...I look forward to many more posts as wonderful as this from you!!!
    I hope your week/weekend is just what you hoped it would be!!!
    (¯`v´¯)
    `*.¸.*´Glenda/Tootsie
    ¸.•´¸.•*¨) ¸.•*¨)
    (¸.•´ (¸.•´ .•´ ¸¸.•¨¯`•.

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I'd love for you to leave me a comment. Helps me to know I'm not totally crazy...like my family thinks I am!
*hugs*deb

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