Deal of the week

I usually get really excited when I can pair coupons with great deals so I get things for free or close to it. Well my deal of the week, maybe even month wasn't free but it was a GREAT DEAL!  I was at Sam's club (which I really wish would take coupons) and I found the little area where they put the damaged items. Normally there isn't too much there as they don't really get returns, or it's damaged food bags which I tend to stay away from.  Well, yesterday was an exception to this, I found a 301oz box of Tide for $14.02!  Why so cheap you ask?  Because where the handle attaches to the Box was ripped and had to be taped!  I think I was more excited about this than I was about the free samples of Cheesecake!

OK I just had to share this to remind people, to check out clearances aisles, and damaged areas, you might be surprised by what you find!

potato soup

One of my favorite things about fall is soups and stews, also with soup season also comes the sales on potatoes and vegetables.  2  weeks ago our local grocery store had 10lb bags of potatoes for $2.99 which is about $2 off.  They also had Large ham butt portions for $0.99 lb which is great because I get about 6 meals out of a 8lb chunk of meat.  This last week they had 2lb packages of celery and carrots for $0.99 each.  Well once I had the am cut apart and frozen I was left with a HUGE ham bone so I stuck it in the freezer so I could make potato soup, and Yesterday was the day I took it out to use. 

Potato Soup
1 large ham bone
2lbs of potatoes peeled and chopped (large pieces)
2 stalks of celery diced
3 carrots diced
1 med Onion diced
1/2 gallon of whole milk

I put the Ham bone in water(just enough to cover) and boil for about 2 hours, after 2 hours I add potatoes and the rest of the veggies. once the potatoes are cooked (45 min or so) remove the ham bone and remove pan from heat for about 15 min then I add the milk.  Don't dump it all in at once add and stir as you go because you may not need it all.  Put soup back on the heat on low until it is warmed through again then serve.  Sometimes I will add extra ham to it, if that is something you want I recommend adding the chopped ham when you add the veggies.

All in all this is one of my favorite soups and ultimately one of the Least expensive to make.

Applesauce

For all my food lovers out there this is by far the easiest and healthiest thing that I do. 

I Live in Apple country, we have a town about 15 miles from me that is the Apple capitol of WI, and has about 12 orchards in a 5 mile stretch of road, not to mention all the small ones around the town too.

Well I have always been a big fan of applesauce so when Braxton was around 6 months old I decided to go to the Orchards, get a bushel of apple and make applesauce.  This was the first time I had EVER attempted anything like this in my life so I wasn't sure what was going to happen.  I did have to do some research first and figure a few things out.
1. What kind of apples work best?
2. Do I want to add sweeteners
3. What is the Fastest method?

To answer the first one I asked the people that work at the orchards since they know their apples and they recommended Cortland.
To answer the second one I looked inside myself and decided NO there is enough natural sugar in apples
To answer the third one I went to my faithful old Ball Blue Book for Canning and looked at a couple of recipes.

Let me just add here that I own a tomato juicer that is also designed for taking peels and seeds out of apples too.  If you don't own one of these you will have to core and peel apples by hand or spend $20 to buy one.  I say buy one if you are making a large amount of sauce.

OK so here is what has to be done.  I slice the apples into quarters and put them in a couple of large pots with a cup or so of water and let them cook for a while. Make sure you stir them so they don't burn to the bottom of the pan.  Once all of the apples seems soft you can scoop them into the juicer/peeler and the applesauce comes out one side and the skins and seeds the other.  After all the apples have gone through this process the sauce needs to be cooked for another 10/ 15 min stirring very often to avoid burning.  If you want to add Cinnamon do it while it is still cooking.



Once they have cooked all that is left to do is put it in jars and process in a hot water bath for 20 min. 
Just Note that once you make your own you will NEVER go back to store bought again.