Homemade Applesauce ~and~ Lexi Had a Birthday
I am so very surprised at and proud of myself. I actually remembered how to make applesauce!
Okay, yeah... so it's really not that hard. But when you consider that I only made it once before in my life, and that was at least 15 years ago... then I still think it's a pretty big deal that I actually remembered how to make it.
I'd show y'all a picture, but I don't know where my USB cable for my camera is. Sh!t.... I'm lucky I still know where my laptop is! (I hate moving.)
The kids and the Hub asked me "why?!" when I told them I was making applesauce. The answer: the polock in me made me do it.
See, there's this one fruit & veg shop near us (there's 2, actually, but I'm referring to one in particular) that sells 3 large bags of apples for £1. Obviously, they're the older ones, the ones that are likely to rot faster. Usually that's no big deal, because the kids eat them like they're going out of style. But for some reason they weren't eating them as fast these past few weeks, and I had a few (okay, more like a dozen) that were going to end up in the bin if I didn't do something with them. So the skin-flint polock in me cried out "make applesauce!!!"
So I did.
Only I didn't do one thing. I didn't add sugar. I did that on purpose, though. I've been trying to make my family eat healthier (if I make THEM eat healthier, then *I'll* eat healthier). And Caitlin's put on quite a bit of weight lately, too. So I made unsweetened applesauce. The thing is, though, it tastes just fine without the sugar. I gave the kids what I couldn't fit into the jar (I only had the one jar to put the stuff in) last night after dinner, and they loved it.
Only now I have a craving for French Toast the way grandma used to make (okay, she probably still makes it that way, but she's 7,000 miles away!!). Bad, bad mom. ;)
On a totally different note....
Lexi had a birthday on Friday. She turned 7. SEVEN!!! Yikes!!!
As I do with all of them (Hub, too) when it's their birthday, I let her pick what she had for dinner and what kind of cake she wanted. Once again, she wanted Mince & Dumplings for dinner, with cream cheese mashed potatoes (it's the only way I can get this kid to eat mashed potatoes!). It turned out okay, but there wasn't as much gravy as I would have liked. Of course, if I had a measuring jug (Hub left mine at the old house when we moved and I haven't been able to find one in a reasonable size since), I wouldn't have had so much trouble.
And Caitlin actually made Lexi's cake. She'd stayed home from school (she's been getting really bad headaches - I suspect she's inherited my migraines), and since I'd bought cake MIX - where you only have to add egg & water - I let her have at it. Obviously I supervised the whole thing, but I have to say she did pretty good. Lexi'd asked for chocolate cake with strawberries, but I couldn't find any chocolate cake mix at the local supermarket. However, I did manage to find a can of strawberries in syrup, which I thought would go quite nicely. (And judging from the amount of compliments we got, I'd have to say I was right.)
One thing surprised me, though. The kids' aunt Sarah actually came with Vicci. Apparently Kirsty was going to come (I'd seen her in the afternoon [she goes to school near us and has to walk past our house to get to and from] and she'd told me she was coming), but she ended up going to bed. Not that I mind - I have no problem whatsoever with the two of them coming to family functions such as birthdays. I had a real problem with them when we all lived together, but I think that was mostly to do with the fact that we had 11 people living in a 3-bedroom house. But they're family, for cripes' sake. What my mother-in-law doesn't seem to realize is that I'm willing to put my personal feelings aside for my children's sake. I don't even like her, but if she'd wanted to come, I would have welcomed her with a smile on my face. It's called being polite, and I'm more than capable of it.
Money's been a little tight lately, what with us having to shell out extra money on rent (although we don't mind with THIS house - it's actually WORTH the extra money), so she didn't get a whole lot in the way of presents from us, but she seemed to like what she did get. I left Daddy in charge of getting the presents so I could concentrate on cooking and baking, and he got her a Horrid Henry book, The Goonies DVD, and a Watership Down DVD. She got some Dr. Seuss and more Horrid Henry books from her aunt Vicci, and a cute little backpack with ponytail holders from her aunts Kirsty and Sarah. The little greedy bugger keeps asking me if she's going to get any more presents!!!
The reason she got so many books is.... well, her. She can read quite well (she already had one Dr. Seuss book that she's read from cover to cover more times than we can count!) and she was complaining that she didn't have anything else to read. So we put the word out that she wanted books.
It's funny. I asked her one day, "are you a nerd?" She got this really contemplative look on her face and after a moment said "yeah... a little bit." *lol*
Okay, yeah... so it's really not that hard. But when you consider that I only made it once before in my life, and that was at least 15 years ago... then I still think it's a pretty big deal that I actually remembered how to make it.
I'd show y'all a picture, but I don't know where my USB cable for my camera is. Sh!t.... I'm lucky I still know where my laptop is! (I hate moving.)
The kids and the Hub asked me "why?!" when I told them I was making applesauce. The answer: the polock in me made me do it.
See, there's this one fruit & veg shop near us (there's 2, actually, but I'm referring to one in particular) that sells 3 large bags of apples for £1. Obviously, they're the older ones, the ones that are likely to rot faster. Usually that's no big deal, because the kids eat them like they're going out of style. But for some reason they weren't eating them as fast these past few weeks, and I had a few (okay, more like a dozen) that were going to end up in the bin if I didn't do something with them. So the skin-flint polock in me cried out "make applesauce!!!"
So I did.
Only I didn't do one thing. I didn't add sugar. I did that on purpose, though. I've been trying to make my family eat healthier (if I make THEM eat healthier, then *I'll* eat healthier). And Caitlin's put on quite a bit of weight lately, too. So I made unsweetened applesauce. The thing is, though, it tastes just fine without the sugar. I gave the kids what I couldn't fit into the jar (I only had the one jar to put the stuff in) last night after dinner, and they loved it.
Only now I have a craving for French Toast the way grandma used to make (okay, she probably still makes it that way, but she's 7,000 miles away!!). Bad, bad mom. ;)
On a totally different note....
Lexi had a birthday on Friday. She turned 7. SEVEN!!! Yikes!!!
As I do with all of them (Hub, too) when it's their birthday, I let her pick what she had for dinner and what kind of cake she wanted. Once again, she wanted Mince & Dumplings for dinner, with cream cheese mashed potatoes (it's the only way I can get this kid to eat mashed potatoes!). It turned out okay, but there wasn't as much gravy as I would have liked. Of course, if I had a measuring jug (Hub left mine at the old house when we moved and I haven't been able to find one in a reasonable size since), I wouldn't have had so much trouble.
And Caitlin actually made Lexi's cake. She'd stayed home from school (she's been getting really bad headaches - I suspect she's inherited my migraines), and since I'd bought cake MIX - where you only have to add egg & water - I let her have at it. Obviously I supervised the whole thing, but I have to say she did pretty good. Lexi'd asked for chocolate cake with strawberries, but I couldn't find any chocolate cake mix at the local supermarket. However, I did manage to find a can of strawberries in syrup, which I thought would go quite nicely. (And judging from the amount of compliments we got, I'd have to say I was right.)
One thing surprised me, though. The kids' aunt Sarah actually came with Vicci. Apparently Kirsty was going to come (I'd seen her in the afternoon [she goes to school near us and has to walk past our house to get to and from] and she'd told me she was coming), but she ended up going to bed. Not that I mind - I have no problem whatsoever with the two of them coming to family functions such as birthdays. I had a real problem with them when we all lived together, but I think that was mostly to do with the fact that we had 11 people living in a 3-bedroom house. But they're family, for cripes' sake. What my mother-in-law doesn't seem to realize is that I'm willing to put my personal feelings aside for my children's sake. I don't even like her, but if she'd wanted to come, I would have welcomed her with a smile on my face. It's called being polite, and I'm more than capable of it.
Money's been a little tight lately, what with us having to shell out extra money on rent (although we don't mind with THIS house - it's actually WORTH the extra money), so she didn't get a whole lot in the way of presents from us, but she seemed to like what she did get. I left Daddy in charge of getting the presents so I could concentrate on cooking and baking, and he got her a Horrid Henry book, The Goonies DVD, and a Watership Down DVD. She got some Dr. Seuss and more Horrid Henry books from her aunt Vicci, and a cute little backpack with ponytail holders from her aunts Kirsty and Sarah. The little greedy bugger keeps asking me if she's going to get any more presents!!!
The reason she got so many books is.... well, her. She can read quite well (she already had one Dr. Seuss book that she's read from cover to cover more times than we can count!) and she was complaining that she didn't have anything else to read. So we put the word out that she wanted books.
It's funny. I asked her one day, "are you a nerd?" She got this really contemplative look on her face and after a moment said "yeah... a little bit." *lol*
Labels: applesauce, birthday, cooking, Lexi
posted by nukkingphutz at 11:28 am
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home