Tuesday, September 2, 2008

free food.

Whoever thought that buying a house would get us free food? Here's the picture book of how it all came to be.



It all began when a visitor landed on our couch, that we quickly turned into a comfy bed...more on her later, cause she had a super special day while visiting (her birthday!)

Which led to the great harvest of our apple tree. We think we've scored a Gravenstein Apple Tree and so we had quite the adventure gathering our plunder.









And not to be forgotten are the two pear trees that have just started to produce edible treats...





So. Of course, after the picking and the washing, came the peeling, and the cutting, and the boiling. We added the juice of one small lemon and a cup of water per pot.






To the second batch we added about 5 TBS of honey



and a few shakes of cinnamon




We filled all the containers I could find with three types of applesauce, plain (just the tad bit of lemon juice and water), honey and cinnamon, and the final was a glorious pear-applesauce (a bit of honey right at the end.) Each pot boiled for about ten minutes and whalla. Applesauce for everyone!



Not to be outdone, the dessert apples squealed with glea as they became a part of the famous apple crisps recipe. Which I am proud to say, because of our glorious apples, I only used an eighth of a cup of brown sugar in the topping and no other sugar or honey or anything...these apples are heavenly.

The apples have a coating of fresh lemon juice, cinnamon, and wheat flour



The topping includes oats, wheat germ, whole wheat flour, a bit of brown sugar and butter.



Piled high, apple juice (unfiltered cider is best) to cover dish a 1/2 inch high. and....bake.



After that...fresh pasta (no I didn't make it), fresh veggies and a blend of shrimp, calamari rings, and scallops in a slow cooked mushroom cream sauce (I used coconut milk instead of cream and parmesan rind to thicken, no one noticed it wasn't heavy cream...it was soo good.)


Two of our dearest friends (they're both family in ways completely different from one another)



A perfect end to a perfect day. Hot out of the oven. Sweet goodness.

9 comments:

Sarah said...

That looks fantastic. I had no idea apple sauce was that easy. If only I had apple and pear trees...

Josh (the oak) said...

That's nice, but you mean "voilĂ ," not "whalla".

Anonymous said...

Maybe she was just styling it up eh Josh!?

But man..I'm HUNGRY now. Thanks for that.

teal! said...

oh huzzah!
gravenstein's are the best. sooo yummy!

I'm glad you found something tasty to do with all your fruit.

Anonymous said...

congrats to my daughter.... who has become a mah-va-lous cook!

Melanie said...

Yummmmmy!! My grandpa just informed me - I had no idea - that you are supposed to pick pears off the tree while they are still green. Otherwise, they get all mealy.

Anonymous said...

oh my gosh... Meggie I see from Melanie's comment I steered you all wrong on the pears! I had no idea - pick 'em, quick! Sorry!

meg said...

josh. shut up. no one likes you.
andy. thanks, I was. come over and eat some of this stuff. there's tons.

melanie. i had a hunch. i'll get out there today.

meg said...

ahh. josh. i didn't mean it! I just miss ya so damn much, I say mean things just to stop the tears!