A Jen Too Many

Right. I keep forgetting about this. Need to post. Tamping that down into my brain. Hopefully, one of these days, it'll actually stay in.

We have our new heat pump installed! Although, while it's absolutely wonderful to have heat and air conditioning available at the flick of out programmable thermostat, both my husband and I commented on how nice it was to have all the windows open. I really enjoyed feeling the breeze. There's something special about fresh air. I need to remember that and not get too much into the habit again of just leaving everything closed.

I've been canning applesauce today. I bought a Roma strainer* a couple of years ago, which has made it possible to make so much applesauce in no time at all. I used it this spring for crushing my strawberries for jam, too. It worked very well, since all I had to do was rinse the berries and throw them in the hopper. No more picking the leaves off the top and going around with stained fingers for days! And with applesauce - no more peeling and coring! I wash the apples, quarter them, throw them in my turkey roaster and bake them in the oven until they're soft. Then I let them cool and run them through the strainer. The only hard part is heating the applesauce back up until it's hot enough to put in my canning jars.

I only got 7 quarts done today, but I should be able to get a lot more done in the next week or two. My goal is to have two or three dozen - 2-3 quarts/month. My family really, really loves applesauce. This won't be enough to keep them completely happy, but it should help out a lot.

Right now, though, I'm tired. I'm going to spend the rest of the evening doing nothing beyond amusing myself. Maybe I'll watch a Loki video.
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*If you happen to be in the market for a strainer, this is where I got mine from, and trust me, it's the best deal online. It's unbelievably cheap for what you're getting.