Oak Glen 2011

Today Alan and I drove up to Oak Glen and got our apples and other goodies for the fall.....yesterday it had rained heavily so there was snow...below are a few snapshots I took.....

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our first stop was at Los Rios Ranch....the walking trail was open so we took a stroll, being careful not to slip from the melting snow....

one of the side trails was called California tree lane....there we saw many types of pine trees..including  this beauty......there are also California Redwoods planted there that were huge....

It sounded like it was raining from the amount of snow, ice and water dripping off the trees........there were few people as we went early...so quiet and beautiful...the snow crackling whenever we took a step....

I took this photo from a floating bridge out on the pond.....the temperature was in the high 30s......we carefully walked back toward the shops, and only met about two couples walking their dogs...it was so peaceful. Such a wonderful day trip away from the maddening crowd.

We then went inside to get warm and look over all the goodies....here are some of the tasty preserves, syrups, and such......

Many different varieties of apples to buy.......and we did get 2 bags of the rare and delicious Arkanas Black apples....they had a limit......

 There is also a small room used as a gift shop with apple related merchandise.......I didn't get anything..as I have so much already but it was fun looking.....

We also brought home two bags of Pippin apples for pies and a gallon of fresh apple cider which is delicious...
Oak Glen is only about 45 minutes from our house and well worth the price of gas for a day trip....we often forget how close it is....they are  having a Apple Butter Festival the weekend of Thanksgiving which would be fun as there will be little bands playing and song fests going on  the entire weekend, hay rides too.....
Before I go wanted to post this cute sign that was inside the restaurant (which serves pulled pork and roast beef sandwiches grilled on an outdoor smokehouse barbecue)

Applesauce and Food Mills

 
Yesterday, I canned some applesauce from the last of the apples from Oak Glen...homemade applesauce is so easy to make and so good, amazing really....some I seasoned with cinnamon and others I left plain.....I think I have about 6 qts and 8 pints..enough for us until next fall, not!... applesauce is  popular around here!...I don't think I need to write out a recipe..but if you haven't made it before, its so easy...I use a food mill, so just half the apples, cutting out any buggy spots (I only found two or three in these apples), you don't need to peel or core these...cook them down in a big pot with a little apple cider to keep it from burning, cook until soft and then run the apples through the food mill which removes all the peels, cores, seeds, etc. and leaves you with nice applesauce. Then I just cook it down a little, stirring occasionally..you can add sweetener if you like, cinnamon, some people like to add those little cinnamon candies if you're not on a sugar free diet..they not only give the sauce a nice cinnamon taste but a pretty color.....then I can it in hot jars, and process for about 10 minutes or so....

A food mill is an essential...and very useful in several ways...its also good when making mashed potatoes, getting the seeds and skin out of tomato puree..we don't like alot of kitchen gadgets but this is so useful, we used it for our fig and plum preserves too....makes jam making so much easier.....we found ours at Bed Bath and Beyond. its one of those things that you buy once and use forever.....sadly we lost ours in the fire....so its been fun replacing things...our old one didn't have but one disc....improvement!

they run the gamete on prices..so check around...I've seen them as low as $35 and as high as $80 +....they are stainless steel, dishwasher safe, and usually come with two or three different sized discs..easy to use and comes all apart for cleaning.....Every kitchen should have one....

On Facebook, I found a awesome page and then a website that anyone with young daughters or granddaughters might enjoy....Its called Raising Homemakers....many schools do not have home economics any more...and so many mothers have to work now, girls  don't have the skills that young women used to have.....mothers too!

Thanks for all the giveaway sign ups....I have a few more surprises to add to the box so whoever wins will be getting a treasure trove of goodies.....