Homemade Applesauce

Homemade apple sauce is a treat!  Not only is it easier to make, and cheaper than the grocery store brands but it tastes way better and has no additives!

This fall, apples were on sale for $0.67 per pound at a local grocery store.  This is one of best prices I've seen around here as we don't live anywhere near orchards and most of the apples are from BC.  I bought 15 apples, and they cost me just over four dollars.

First I washed all of the apples.  I like to do this with all of my fruits and veggies even if I am going to peel them.

Then I peeled and sliced 12 apples into bite size pieces.  We bought this Starfrit Apple Peeler and it was the best thing I have ever had to peel apples!  It gets most of the peel, there only maybe one or two spots that it missed.  It also came with a corer/slicer that made slicing the apples super simple.  I did end up cutting the apple slices in half so they were a little smaller.

Once I had all the apples peeled and cut up, I put them into my crock pot.  It cooks down a lot so I tried to fill it as full as I could.  I didn't add any sugar but you can if you like your applesauce a little bit sweeter. You can also add lemon juice to keep the applesauce from turning a dark colour.

I turned the crock pot to high for about 4 hours.  Once the apples are very soft and mushy, I used a stick blender to make the apple sauce smooth.

I wish I had a picture for your but it got eaten before I managed to take a picture!  I guess I will know better for next time! 

You can freeze the apple sauce into ice cube trays and take out a few at a time for lunches.  That is, if you can make it last longer than mine did!

Leftover Pizza

Hubby and I cooked a turkey on Thanksgiving for our family.  I sent everyone home with leftovers but we still had lots and lots!  I decided to make some homemade pizza one night for dinner with our pizza.

Ingredients:

Pita pockets - for crust

Shredded cheese

Pizza sauce

Leftover turkey (or other left overs)

Veggies of choice chopped - we chose peppers, onion and spinach left over from Thanksgiving salad and canned mushrooms.

We used a cookie sheet covered in parchment paper.  You can also use tin foil but don't use wax paper in the oven! (Saying from experience, it smokes and it melts - not good!)

Then simply just took the pitas (right from the freezer) and smothered them in sauce.  I got the pizza sauce on sale for $0.99 and the pitas were on sale for $1.39 for 6.

We chose which toppings we each wanted.  Hubby chose to have more meat, and I chose more veggies - go figure.  Then we topped it with cheese, which I chose more of, I love my cheese!

The canned mushroom's were on sale as well.  The cheese was leftover from the rosemary biscuits I made for Thanksgiving.

We baked the pizzas in the oven at 350F for about 10 minutes. (Until the cheese is melted and the pitas have browned and are crunchy.)

Voila! We had hot freshly baked individual pizzas made mostly from leftovers.   We just cut them with a pizza cutters and enjoyed.  It was lots of fun and easy for us to make.  I am sure kids would enjoy designing their own pizzas as well.

I've read about using pitas as pizza crust before but I hadn't tried it.  It turned out really good.  Hubby said it was better than takeout!  I guess it depends where you get your takeout but it was certainly cheaper than any takeout I have ever paid for!

Cheddar Cheese Rosemary Biscuits

Ingredients:

1 cup all purpose

1 cup whole wheat

1 tbsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

3 tbsp fat

1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

1 tbsp rosemary (or less to taste)

3/4 cup milk

This year for thanksgiving I decided to try serving biscuits instead of the traditional dinner buns our family serves most years.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees farenheit first.

1.  Add together the dry ingredients, all purpose flour, whole wheat flour, baking powder and salt.  Mix together.  *You can use all white or whole wheat flour if you prefer*

2.  Add in fat (in this case I used margarine), cut.  If you don't have a pastry blender you can also use two knifes to literally "cut in" the fat. Blend or cut until it starts to look like large crumbs.

3. Add in the rosemary and cheddar cheese.  I used a coffee grinder to make the dried rosemary finer, then added it and the shredded cheese and mixed. I used about 1 tbsp rosemary and found it on the stronger side, use less if you don't want it to have such a herby taste. 

*Note this step is optional - if you want regular biscuits, don't add rosemary and cheddar, or add different things to make different types of biscuits*

4. Slowly add the milk.  You want to add the milk a little at a time so that you form a dough.  Just use as much as you need.

5. Form the dough into a ball.  Place on floured surfaced and kneed a few times.  You want the dough to stick together but you don't want to over work it.

6.  Gently roll the dough out to about a half inch thick and cut using a biscuit cutter or a slim glass, cut the biscuits and gently move them onto a greased cookie sheet. (Repeat until the dough is used up but remember the more times you work with it, the less delicate the end product will be)

7. Bake in a preheated oven at 400 degrees Fahrenheit for 8-12 minutes or until golden brown.

Enjoy! I like to serve these warm out of the oven or make them the day before and pop them in the oven or microwave to warm them up.  Great with butter!  Makes 12-15 biscuits.

Sale Items to Watch for: October

Its October and where I live that means the first snow fall, Canadian Thanksgiving, and, of course, Halloween! With these come an opportunity to find some awesome sale prices and to stock on up things. So what things should you look for this month?

1.  Yams

Yams are a traditional thanksgiving food so naturally they are on sale in time for Thanksgiving.  Usually they can be found for good prices 2 weeks before to 1 week after Thanksgiving.  Yams are one of my favourite foods so I like to use this opportunity to buy them and freeze enough to last through the next several months.

2. Turkey

Another Thanksgiving favourite, turkeys are on sale.  If you have room in your freezer grab an extra one.  They are great for making tons of dinners you can freeze, such as Turkey Pot Pie and Turkey Soup.  Don't have extra room?  Don't worry - they will be on sale again around Christmas.

3. Pumpkin

Doesn't matter if you buy it fresh or canned, both are usually on sale. I like to use canned pumpkin in pies, cheese cake and muffins.  The canned variety last a long time so you can buy what you would use in the next year or so.  One word of advice (from experience) is label your containers in your fridge - otherwise another family member could mistake it for sweet potatoes!

4. Cranberries

What is turkey without cranberries?  Whether you buy fresh cranberries or canned, both are on sale.  Fresh cranberries can be dried or used in many recipes.  I love cranberry sauce on turkey sandwiches.

5. Stuffing

If you like stove top stuffing, this is another thing to pick up. It makes an easy side any time of the year.  

These are several items to consider stocking up on now.  Remember little savings add up - 50 cents off a pound of turkey is 10 dollars off a 20 pound turkey! Make sure not to buy more than you can use before it goes bad.  Spend some time planning what you are going to use each thing for and when you are going to use them.  No sense buying 20 pounds of yams if they are going to sit and go bad in your fridge.

Watch for other sale items as well - apples are commonly on sale this time of year but that depends where you live. Try your local farmers market.

Happy Thanksgiving!