Thursday, October 13, 2011

I Can Cook, See?

I've always had a chip on my shoulder about the pioneers.  Especially in the part of the country I live in...Utah.... there's a lot of people with pioneer ancestry and they are very proud of it.  Which is great.  Go genealogy.  But I've got roots too.  And they have nothing to do with a handcart company.  (They may or may not have something to do with the St. Valentine's Day Massacre.... just saying.) Ken and I were walking the Koley the other night.  We passed a house that had a plaque.  It showed a silhouette of pioneers pulling a handcart with the caption "Remember."  Maybe that stirred some one's heart but my reaction was, "Give me a chance to forget for crying out loud!  Geez!"  Ken told me I had a bad attitude towards pioneers.  Yeah, no duh.
But this morning I put my prejudices aside and put my metaphorical pioneer bonnet on.  I made applesauce from scratch.  I'm not one to can or bake pies or churn butter or take the horse to town. (Though I admire the women who do.) I'd rather buy a jar of applesauce.  To me, that's one of the greatest benefits of my generation... grocery stores.  They have food.  For you.  On a shelf.  You don't have to hunt and gather.  But, my dear sweetie brought home a big old box of apples and after I searched for the perfect cobbler recipe online (I figured I could probably make 6 or 7 with the amount of apples we have) Ken suggested I make something healthy, that didn't include sugar so Kole could eat it. 

In unison now: "Boooooring."

We compromised.  Half the apples are boring old healthy apples.  And half the apples are super fun, ultra sweet, covered in brown sugar, cinnamon, and tasty crumbles apples.  I'm looking forward to the latter.
Now let me show you my ignorance here.  Do you know how easy it is to make applesauce?
This is all you do.
1.  Boil the apples.
2.  Mush the apples.
Voila!  Applesauce.
Pioneer hardships.  Please. 
Maybe if they didn't have any cinnamon to sprinkle on top.  That would be difficult.

9 comments:

Julia said...

Hahahaha! Funny. Funny. "Give me a chance to forget!" That's hilarious. I would down that applesauce in a heartbeat. Can't wait to see the cobbler, too!

Jeannie said...

I think I've done applesauce even easier by popping it, covered, into the microwave maybe with a little water. It stays light in colour though. I like to buy applesauce too. My husband brought home a bushel of apples. I'll peel and chop them up then freeze them in premeasured bags to use as pies or apple crisp or apple sauce.

Brett and Tiffany said...

Well yes, I am one of those canners! And I love it! I know you can buy it at the store, but homemade is MUCH better! I like to make apple pie filling too with my apples...mmm, mmm, good! Much better than the stores! Then you can make pies, cobblers, or apple crisp with it! We love it! Keep canning and you might really like it! ps...great job with the myfitnesspal! I am going to sign up...I think I already told you that, but it is on my "to do" list...for tomorrow!! hehe

Holli Fuhriman said...

I share your pioneer sentiment. I think I can still be grateful for all the things they did without being made to feel guilty for having it so easy. I do like canning and preserving though! It's kind of fun and tastes better than store bought. I've found however that it's really only worth it financially if you grow the food yourself or in my case, get it for free from my parents or grandparents gardens.

Cinderella, the A-Train and Our Little Caboose said...

I love grocery stores...I also love applesauce - so this post especially appealed to me. Way to go! :)

SkippyMom said...

Homemade applesauce is da' bomb. My kids also like cooked apples [on the stove top] they won't allow me to buy Stouffer's anymore. I wish someone would bring me home a box of apples :(
Nicely done. Love the recipe. :)

Kar said...

The St. Valentine's Day Massacre? Coooool. But not for the people who were massacred, eh? I'm amazed at your Domestic Goddessness. My sis, Mom, and I made applesauce for an entire DAY last week, when I was dying of jetlag. It was neat. But you know, it was fun to do, because we were in my mom's garage, using her camping stove (she doesn't like to get her kitchen all mucky). So we would sing the apple song from the Johnny Appleseed Disney cartoon at the top of our lungs all day: "Apple dumplings, nice and tasty, apple pickles, apple pasties..."

And on another applesauce side note, my really old, only good, neighbor, Nephi, made my fam some applesauce today - he puts in raisins, coconut, nuts, etc. Interesting. He's so cute. And really provident. The man has food storage like you wouldn't believe. If a major disaster happens, I'm going to live at Nephi's house. We'll have food for like three years.

DoublClik said...

This was hilarious. Keep speaking your mind! It was the hardest thing for me to move to Idaho and wrap my head around the quilt making and bread baking...I just couldn't understand, like, you know you can go buy those things? Why are you working so hard for it? I also have the same feeling toward hiking...why do they do that to themselves? The view, the exercise right? Enjoying nature? Meh. I don't get it.

Anonymous said...

I feel the same way about the pioneers. I think some people put too much emphasis on them and forget about God. lol In a way I mean. Sounds yummy! I hope it really is easy to make it all!:) I want to make apple crisp after reading this post.