Date Night with the Farmer's Wife

Chris and I were playing farm couple last night when we underwent our almost-yearly autumn tradition--canning applesauce!

Over the weekend, Soren and I went apple picking at a local organic orchard, so I wanted to preserve most of the half-bushel we bought rather than try to keep up with devouring dozens upon dozens of these tasty treats.  One does tire of apples after eating a few dozen, believe it or not.

And since Jude will start eating solids over the winter, I thought some organic applesauce was in order for his first tastes of the sweetness of food.

After the kids were in bed, we headed to the kitchen for a few hours of together time. Not the most romantic date, but at least we'll enjoy the fruits (pun intended) of our labor over the cold months.

I did the cooking and prepping of the jars while Chris worked his magic on the food mill.

If you've never used a food mill before, it's great for making applesauce without having to peel hundreds of apples.  You just core them, chop them, toss 'em in a pot to cook, and then run the cooked apples through the food mill.   The food mill essentially mashes the apples through a sieve and leaves all the chewy bits behind.

After about 2 1/2 hours, we had a yield of 12 jars of pink applesauce (from cooking the apples with the skins on).  And it's delicious!

We're currently taking suggestions for more conventional date nights, and of course for babysitters too!