Applesauce!

My last post told of my adventures in apple harvesting and a simple bread-machine recipe using some of my bounty. Over the weekend I used some more of the fruit to make applesauce. I found an easy recipe in my trusty old Deborah Madison Cooks at Home cookbook. After peeling and slicing the apples I put them in a big pot with a bit of water, lemon juice, honey, brown sugar, cinnamon, and ground cloves. Madison suggested using sugar or honey, and cinnamon or cloves, but I knew more was better in this case. I let the ingredients cook on the stovetop until the apples broke down into a chunky sauce.

 We had some as a side dish for the tuna steaks with mushroom sauce James made for dinner, and also used it as a topping on our waffles the next morning.

The last bit of sauce was added as an ingredient to a big skillet cake that we shared for breakfast on Monday.

Of Apples and Libraries

Many years ago (perhaps 14?) we planted two apple trees in our backyard. A few years ago we noticed one apple on one of the trees, and expected that there would be more, but, alas, we waited in vain. Then, a few weeks ago, James came in from the yard with a surprise. He had picked five apples off one of the trees. And a few days later we noticed that the tree was bursting forth with fruit.

We were undeterred by the fact that they were too high for us to reach because Pam knew that the Maxwell Library (where she works) had an apple picker that could be checked out! Off we went to the library and returned with said picker and with such Pam picked a basket full of apples! Of course we returned the picker the next day because that's how libraries work.

Of course it is no good to pick backyard apples without using them in a new recipe! 

We marvel that our 21-year old bread machine still works. And fortunately the tattered manual includes a recipe for Apple Walnut Loaf. Still more good news - we already had walnuts, as well as all the other ingredients we needed. This was a "Quick Bread" so it needed no yeast and only took 100 minutes in the machine once everything was in the pan. 

Fresh from the machine!

We both enjoyed a slice with a dollop of vanilla ice cream!

Brownie Sundaes

On Saturday we planned a picnic dinner to take to the Westport Rivers Sunset Music concert. We reprised a favorite from last summer - Ham and Havarti Sanwiches with Peach-Mustard spread and had stopped at the Huttleston Marketplace in Fairhaven beforehand in hopes of buying some good bulkie rolls from Cyd's Kitchen. Alas, they had no rolls, but the proprietors did manage to talk us into buying some sweets for dessert - brownies and "brookies" (a combo brownie/chocolate chip cookie bar - which was divine)!

We still had two brownies left on Monday, and I (Pam) realized that we had some vanilla ice cream in the freezer. All we needed was some chocolate sauce in order to make brownie sundaes for a special Labor Day treat. I knew we had some cocoa powder in the cupboard, so I checked online for a simple chocolate syrup recipe. Allrecipes came through with an easy recipe that included only ingredients I already owned.

A perfect treat for a hot end of summer day. So glad I thought of it!