On Wednesday I received my first delivery from Hometown Harvest, a CSA type of delivery service for local or regional fruits, vegetables, and other goods.  I was quite pleased with what I received, which included ten pounds of seconds apples from Hollabaugh Bros. in Pennsylvania.

Today was the first “normal” day we’ve had, with all the snow this week, so once Bennett was off to school and we were home again, I started on the apple sauce.   For seconds, I was impressed with the quality. I only had a tiny bit that needed to be cut away! I’ve had more loss from grocery stores apples.

After cooking and processing the apples through my Kitchen Aid, running the pulp through a second time, I ended up with 3 pint-and-a-half jars, 2 quarts, and another half a quart which was put in the fridge for immediate consumption.

The applesauce was fairly thick, and while I left enough head space, I had 2 jars siphon.  they still sealed, but with lots of bubbles.

While I was filling jars, the sun came out and cast rainbows all over my kitchen from the prisms hanging in the window. 

My other kitchen window was looking so bare, especially with the bright white snow outside.  I pulled out the kite paper I’d bought before the holidays and made my first window star.  I had a couple of hiccups with gluing on the wrong sides of a couple of pieces, but once it dried and I could put it up in the Window, it looked quite nice.

Happy New Year!