Tag Archives: canning applesauce

Frugal Friday

Posted in Blood test, cooking, Uncategorized by

A frugal week overall. No eating out, nothing extra bought, and just doing our usual things. Yesterday, I woke up with a mild flare-up of diverticulitis. I had a horrible attack almost 2 years ago exactly. This is definitely just a pain in the lower left abdomen but I’m keeping vigilant as you don’t want it to go full-blown. Mostly, I did pretty much nothing all day. We were planning to go out for lunch but I didn’t think that was a good idea. I’ll see how I am tomorrow. What I read was most mild cases do resolve themselves. It’s always something.

All the monthly bills are done and I’ve worked up next month’s budget. The biggest thing is paying off the house insurance bill. Then next up will be the property tax. We’ll get there:) I do think using the cash envelopes is working well and keeping us on track (mostly).

This morning I’m not going to the gym to rest more but I am making applesauce to can from some free apples my son’s friend gave us. It’s usually pizza night but I think I’ll do something in the crock pot that’s more easy on the digestive tract. I think I’ll make some brown rice too. High fiber is important with diverticulitis.

Barclay painted the cement patio yesterday grey. It came out terrible. WAY TOO BRIGHT. So now we need to go spend another $50 on a darker color. On the paint sheet, the color Armour looked darker than it is. I’ll let him go back to Lowes and get a different color next week. We’re supposed to have rain tomorrow morning so no painting.

Oh, and good news!!! My labs came back with no change. Kappa at 22.4 mg/L. Another month of freedom!!!

Midweek musings

Posted in cooking, husband, just keep walking project, Uncategorized by

Yesterday was a busy one.

I canned more applesauce (5 jars). It’s not hard work per se, just time-consuming. For this applesauce, you don’t need to peel the apples, just quarter or half and then into a big pot. Cook until tender. Then you put thru a food mill.  If you do any canning a food mill is really necessary.  Then into the sterilized jars and water bath for 20 minutes.  Overall time is about 2 1/2 hours.

I also went to the gym and then Safeway for a few things.

When I got home I decided to can the tomatoes that were ripe. Again tomatoes aren’t hard it’s just time-consuming. I plop them in boiling water so the skins loosen up and then into the food mill. The result is fairly watery but I then cook the sauce for a few hours so it thickens. Then into jars and pints take about 35 minutes. I put 2 tablespoons of lemon juice in the pints as I read the amount for quarts.  Overall time about 3 hours.

Any canners out there with advice?? I’m assuming it’s okay. It tasted fine.

By then I was kinda exhausted. But later was on a roll and cleaned out the freezer of a bunch of stuff no one is going to eat and the fridge some too.

My dishwasher was packed with pyrex containers:)

I decided to not walk this morning even though I wanted to. I just felt tired and not too enthused to head out. Tomorrow will be fine. Plus I’m back to 5 days a week and my foot feels a lot better. Some days I feel some stress on the top of my foot where the fracture was.

Today, I’m going to do just a few errands in town. I need a bag of ground coffee from Starbuck for camping. I might go into Target for a few things too, but that’s not critical.

B is in Chico for co-op work so he will go to Costco for some of the stuff we need. I appreciate that he can do this as it saves me a trip down to Roseville.

All the house chores are done.  the bathroom zone is always fairly quick( 10 minutes) because it’s small and decluttered. We have a walk buddy in the park that was always there when we were…in the dark,rain,wind, etc. Starting about 6 months ago, we hadn’t seen him. Then he finally showed up and we stopped to chat, and turns out he fell in his shower/tub and BROKE his back.  So on our to-do list is take out the claw foot tub and put a walk in shower. Our tub is lovely but probably a danger for’ getting older folks’.  We only have the one bathroom so I will miss a tub. But better to miss a tub than risk a fall and broken whatever.

Dinner is unknown.

 

Simple Sunday

Posted in camping, cooking, freezer cooking, Lake tahoe, simple foods, Uncategorized by

It is a beautiful fall day.

We had a lovely walk in the park this morning and it was quite empty except for our geese friends. The Canada geese babies have all grown up and have flown away. Once in a while, we see them circle around the pond. There are other lakes around here and I imagine they hang out there too.

I made another pie in a tin dish and froze it on the recommendation of blogger Hilary.  I just took it out of the oven and it smells and looks amazing so I will try and do at least a couple of pies this way for fall.

I went to Target and got another case of pint jars for the applesauce which I will start tomorrow.  I figure I can get most of the one box of apples done. The second box is staring at me already but will have to wait.

We leave for Tahoe on Friday and will be gone a week. It’s a different time to be up there but certainly, most crowds are gone. Evenings will be chilly but we can sit by the fire or inside the tent trailer. Usually, we play scrabble or I read. We are taking the kayaks so we will go out at least 2 times to make it worth bringing them.  We might drive down to Sand Harbor( quite a ways back on the lake) and go out from there. Sand Harbor State Beach is where many of the famous shots/pictures of Tahoe are with the big boulders and beautiful blue water.

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I’m planning a few Lodge meals and other than that just simple foods. Plus the grocery store is like half a  mile away.

Since the tent trailer does not have a shower we’ll go to the gym up there, work out and then shower. My main criteria for a new trailer is a shower/toilet.

I made organic long grain rice for dinner and we’re having burritos with rice, beans, cheese, sour cream, lettuce.