the week in review

The crab apples trees are ready to bloom!

It's been a while since my last post, so I thought I'd write an update.

I've been sick for over a week. Last Saturday I started with a scratchy throat. I thought, "OK. I'm getting a cold. This sucks, but no big deal." Wrong. Sunday I woke up feeling like I had razor blades in my throat. Every time I swallowed, I wanted to cry and die at the same time. It hurt in my ears, my glands were swollen, and I had a bad headache and a little congestion in my throat. This last for FIVE days. I went to the doctor for a strep test and it was negative, of course. (I was actually hoping it was strep so I'd get some antibiotics and it would be gone.) I tried things that I found online, such as a spoonful of honey. The relief lasted about three minutes. Honey is way too high in sugar for that to be a go-to option, so I scrapped that. I tried gargling with salt water and also mouthwash. Neither helped. I tried throat numbing spray and lozenges. Those helped slightly.  Wednesday night I was so desperate I started Googling:  "will dilaudid work on a sore throat." Dilaudid is the narcotic that was prescribed when I had the tummy tuck in February. I had some left and decided to save it for an emergency. I scrapped the idea of taking the dilaudid, since I didn't feel like I'd get much bang for my buck. I stuck with Tylenol and/or ibuprofen and DayQuil, which I used throughout the week and seemed to help take the edge off at least. I drank a lot of tea, too (in case anyone cares, my favorite is Bigelow Constant Comment).

So, on Thursday I then started with a cold. Wonderful. I was headed out of town to meet my cousin and since I didn't actually feel that bad anymore, I went. I continued with the cold medicine and switch to ibuprofen. I felt mostly OK. Much better than earlier in the week, anyway. I rested off and on in the hotel room, drank a ton of water, and used Halls throat lozenges when I didn't have water. My throat was pretty sore by the end of each day, but, again, not nearly as bad as earlier in the week.

Yesterday I'm driving home and it feels like I have something in my eye so I start rubbing it. By the time I got home, I had some discharge and my eye was tearing. It continued all evening and then started swelling and getting red. Bob thought it was pink eye. Fabulous. I've never had pink eye so I had no idea what it looked or felt like, or that it's highly contagious. Today I wake up and my eye is sealed shut from all the gunk (I know, TMI). It was also swollen and getting itchy. I decided to go to the walk-in clinic near my house, rather than waiting for tomorrow for the doctor. Diagnosis?  Pink eye. The doctor prescribed some eye drops, which I'm now taking.

Is there any bright side to this week+ of misery? Yes. I got to see my favorite cousin and we had a good time.  My incision is almost closed, which means I'll be headed back to my trainer soon.  And today I'm wearing pants without my compression garment. I tried going without it a couple weeks ago when I was wearing workout capris, but it was irritating to my belly button. For several weeks I've been going without it once I change out of my regular clothes, but still wore it with my work clothes. Seems to be OK now, though. Getting there!

This is my lawn. I love the Springtime when the lawn is covered in white and purple flowers. I know they technically weeds, but they look pretty. Shortly after I took this picture, Bob mowed over them with the tractor. 😥

It's gorgeous today and all the trees and flowers are in bloom. My two baby apple trees are blooming, as well as the established ones. The baby trees, although they are budding, will take several years to bear fruit.

Here are my two established apple trees. I think they're McIntosh, but I'm not sure.

Here's are the fruit clusters. I'm really hoping I have a big harvest this year. I got none at all last year.

This is my Liberty apple tree. When planting apple trees, it is recommended to plant several
different varieties so that they cross pollinate and produce more fruit.

As you can see, it's budding.

Here's my baby McIntosh apple tree.

It's budding, too! I wonder if it will produce any fruit this year?

My garden is blooming, too. Ignore all the dead stuff. I haven't gotten out there to weed yet. I have lots of daffodils, some tulips coming in, the poppies are starting to grow and the phlox is blooming nicely.

I have lots of frogs in my little pond. They all squeak and then jump in the water as soon as they see me coming.
I was able to take a picture of this guy, though.

Now that Spring is here, it's time to bury Felix's ashes. I'm thinking I may put him next to Thomas's grave. I'll need to find more kitty statues. I find them at tag sales typically and use them as grave markers. 

This is Thomas's grave. I got the two kitty statues at the Stratford Cat Project semi-annual tag sale last year. 

I'm hoping this illness goes away very soon and that this week is a better week. Have a great week, everyone!

homemade apple pie: putting all those apples to use

I was feeling extra motivated today, so I decided to make a homemade apple pie.  I'm guessing it's because Daylight Saving Time ended (read:  It's Daylight Saving Time, people, NOT Daylight Savings Time) and I have an extra hour today.  I really think this is my favorite day of the year:  I get an extra hour of sleep, although I always wake up at the regular time anyway; I get an extra hour to get things done; and the day goes by very slowly.

So, I'm finally putting my apples to use.  I have many bags of apples in the freezer already; however, since I still have tons of them to peel, core and slice, I decided to use the fresh ones, which will help reduce the amount of apples in the fridge.

I felt so motivated by the longer day that I made pie crust from scratch for the first time!  Plus, I forgot to pie pre-made crust when I was at the store this morning, so I didn't have any choice if I wanted to make pie today. It wasn't difficult to do, but I've always been afraid to make it.  From what I've read and heard, it can be fussy and it has to be worked just right.  In addition, the butter and water must be very cold.  It wasn't difficult to mix, but I had to be very careful not to overwork the dough--that makes a tough pie crust.  I found it difficult to roll it into a circle, but I guess that will come with practice. The bottom crust wasn't very pretty, but the top one came out better.  I made two extra crusts to freeze, so I can throw a pie together much faster next time.

I used a combination of two recipes:  King Arthur Flour's Apple Pie and a recipe from Taste of Home.  I made King Arthur's crust and the filling from the Taste of Home recipe.  Why?  Because I didn't have two of the ingredients for the King Arthur recipe.  (Are you really that surprised?)

I was happy with the results.  The crust was flaky and light, the filling had good flavor, and the apples were still intact.

So, here's the pie before baking:

 And here's the pie after baking:

And here's a slice.  It's a bit of a mess, because I cut it before it was 100% cool.  I ate a small piece, but it's got a lot of sugar so I can't eat much of it.

homemade cinnamon applesauce

This past weekend I harvested more apples from my apple trees.  There aren't many more I can harvest using a ladder and apple picking pole, so I only got about 30; some were gorgeous and others were not so gorgeous.  I gave a whole bunch to my coworker so she could make apple pie; she's a great baker.  I kept the uglier ones for myself.  Even though my coworker would have to peel them for the pies, I just didn't feel right giving her spotty-looking apples.

I then got to looking online for any recipe that would use a whole bunch of apples, since I have so many of them.  I didn't want to make a recipe that only calls for two or three apples, so I figured my best bet would be apple butter or applesauce.  Applesauce seemed easier, so that's what I went with.  I found a recipe on The Pioneer Woman website.  (For anyone that doesn't know who The Pioneer Woman is, her name is Ree Drummond and she has a show on the Food Network.  I like her recipes and she's very funny.)  I wanted to make it my own, though.  Bob likes cinnamon with his apples, so I decided to mix it with another recipe I found for cinnamon applesauce and see what happens.  I also wanted to reduce the sugar so I would be able to eat a small amount of it without feeling nauseous.

I peeled, cored, and chopped six pounds of apples, which amount to about 3.5 pounds of usable apple.  I threw them in the pot with some water, the juice of a lemon, some brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, and vanilla, and cooked it for about 20 minutes.  My stove uses propane, which runs hotter than electric or natural gas, so my cooking time was faster than what the recipe stated.  And you can adjust the cooking time if you'd rather have crispier chunks of apples, or want apples that completely break down and dissolve. 

The results were delicious!  The applesauce was a mix of smooth and chunky, had a warm brown coloring, and tasted like cinnamon and nutmeg.  It wasn't too sweet, either.

I was only able to eat about 1/4 cup before feeling a little nauseous; even with reducing the sugar, it still packs about 32 grams of sugar per 1/2 cup.  I decided to freeze it in two batches:  one for a friend and one to pull out when we want it.

Homemade Cinnamon Applesauce
Makes about 12 1/2 cup servings

Ingredients
6 pounds apples, peeled, cored, a cut into chunks (I used McIntosh)
1 cup water (you can use apple juice or cider if you want)
Juice of one lemon
1/3 cup brown sugar, packed
1 tsp cinnamon, more or less to taste
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp nutmeg

Directions

Combine all ingredients in a large pot and cook over medium heat for about 25 minutes, or until desired level of doneness.  Once the apples start really breaking down, it's your call as to what you consider "done."

I didn't think I'd fit them all in there...

...but they cook down a lot.  This looks about right to me!

Yum!  Ready to eat!

Here's the recipe from The Pioneer Woman website:  Homemade Applesauce

apples....delicious, but dangerous

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When we bought the house last year, we didn't realize we had apple trees in the back yard. I remember seeing "fruit trees" in the listing, but didn't think to ask about it. Last fall we discovered we have two apple trees behind the garage. We had no idea what kind of apples they were and we didn't try them. Thinking back, I don't even remember seeing apples all over the ground. I'm sure there were--I doubt the trees waited until this year to produce.

Anyway, we have lots of apples this year and they've started to drop from the trees. I decided to taste one, but since I haven't eaten many apples in my lifetime, I couldn't figure out what kind it was. I knew it wasn't Fuji, Red Delicious, Golden Delicious, or Granny Smith; I know those varieties well.  I scoured the internet trying to figure out what kind of apples I have. I posted a picture on Facebook, too. It's been determined that I have Macintosh apples.

Now that I know what the variety, I've become a little...enamored...with the fact that I own apple trees and they actually produce edible fruit that tastes good and won't kill me.  I know, I didn't grow them myself. But I didn't kill them either (I'm a notorious plant killer). So, I have a lot of pride in the fact that I own apples trees, they're alive, and producing fruit.  And I love that I basically have breakfast, lunch, and dinner sitting right outside my back door, if I'm so inclined.

Everyday I go outside and scour the ground for good apples, since the ones still on the trees aren't ripe enough yet. (I'd love to know how I'm going to pick them all, since the trees are really tall.) I get home from work, drop my bags on the top of the recycling bin, and go out back to grab some apples. As I pick them up I check for bruises, holes, spots, and any kind of split.  If one has a few spots or a bruise, I just polish it on my shirt and take a few bites off the good side--I have to make sure they're ripe, of course. ;)  Then I toss it into the field for the deer to eat. I usually do this to at least five apples. By the time I'm done, I'm not hungry for dinner anymore.

The only thing I don't like is that the apples seem to drop fast. The other night I picked up six buckets full of apples that had dropped to the ground. They were either rotted, damaged, or half eaten (the deer like to munch on them).  I tossed them all into the field behind the house; I'm sure some animal will eat them.  Then I went back there the next night and it was as if I hadn't picked them all up the night before.

And these things drop without warning, too. It was like dodging bullets trying to pick up the apples while standing under the trees; one needs a hard hat for this job.  I bent over to grab one off the ground and then one hit me on the back.  I thought Bob had thrown one at me, but he hadn't. An apple fell from the tree I was under. Scary, because it could have hit me in the head. At one point, one started falling and it took ar lest six others with it. Luckily I wasn't standing in that spot anymore. When it comes time to harvest I think I need to invest in a hard hat or a bike helmet!