Falling for apples

Well the 14th came and went, which means I didn't get to post my Daring Cooks challenge...but have no fear, I'm posting today. Yesterday was just one of those days, when everytime I wanted to sit down and do my post, something else came up - like my dog getting sprayed by a skunk...seriously - I'm not kidding and it was TERRIBLE!!! It took me all day today to "de-skunk" my house!

Okay, well onto the challenge. The September 2010 Daring Cooks’ challenge was hosted by John of Eat4Fun. John chose to challenge The Daring Cooks to learn about food preservation, mainly in the form of canning and freezing. He challenged everyone to make a recipe and preserve it. John’s source for food preservation information was from The National Center for Home Food Preservation. If you're interested in the recipe used for the challenge you can check it out HERE.

I chose to go with the freezing method, mainly because it saved me from going out and looking for the items needed for the canning method. Although, now that things are finally starting to settle down from the move, I think I am going to try some canning in the near future.

The first step was obtaining the apples. For this job I employed two wonderful little workers to help me out! They did a fabulous job, and I not only had enough for a full batch of apple butter, but I still have enough left for at LEAST one apple pie! YUM.

The whole process (minus the picking time) took less than two hours. To get the right consistency I did it in two parts. After the apples were cooked down and in a "mushy" state, I buzzed them in the food processor, returned them to the pot, and let them cook on low for awhile to thicken them up. It was at this point (the applesauce stage) I removed some of the mixture and put it aside for my boys to eat this week. With the rest I took out small batches and buzzed it in my blender to get it nice and smooth. Once all was buzzed, I cooked another 20 min or so just to get as much liquid as I could out and called it good.

I have to say it turned out really nice. I've been enjoying it on toast for snacks and such, and think I will use one of my freezer packets for a pork tenderloin later this week.

So there you have it, my DC challenge for September. I'm glad I was able to get this one done. With the move I had to miss out on all the fun, but now I'm back...well until we move again that is :P.

Hope all of you wonderful people are having a great week so far!