Brown sugar applesauce

A favorite each autumn in apple season is eating fresh homemade applesauce. There is just nothing like it. Apples are readily available for low prices at this time of year. So if you are used to eating canned applesauce, try this recipe.

I switched to using dark brown sugar as we really like the taste but you can use white or light brown sugar if you prefer. I do not measure often when I cook as I just see and smell if it is correct. Try this recipe as it is so simple to make your own...

Brown sugar applesauce

7 or 8 sweet apples (I used Elstar)
3 or 4 tablespoons dark brown sugar
1 or 2 tablespoons white sugar
cinnamon to taste (I put in about a teaspoon I think as we love this spice)
1 tablespoon water

Core, peel and cut apple into chunks. Place in a pan with a heavy bottom. Mix in dark brown sugar, sugar, cinnamon and water. Bring the mix to high heat almost boiling. Now turn back the heat to simmer low until apples are soft and so tender that they mash as you stir the applesauce. 4 servings

It really is that simple and tastes amazing. Once you eat homemade applesauce, there is no going back. *grins*  Turn this into a wonderful dessert by placing a serving from the applesauce in a bowl. Add a ball of vanilla ice cream and drizzle with maple syrup. The apples combined with the nuttiness of the maple syrup make this a taste of the autumn harvest.

Bon appitit or eet smakelijk!
Heidi

Roasted chestnuts

It is autumn and time to gather things that give us the taste of the season...

We took a walk in the woods in the north of Holland and found chestnuts aplenty.

Luckily, I had a rain hat in the pocket of my coat. I turned it inside out and we filled it with our harvest. Be careful of the prickly shells while you get out the chestnuts.

Once home, I cut a cross into the side of the chestnut and put some in a 200C / 400F  oven to roast for about 15 minutes or until they pop open as shown in the photo. Be sure you do check on them as they can burn easily. Let them cool slightly and peel them. 

That evening I added them to our meal. Combine Brussel sprouts, potatoes, onion, bacon bits and chestnuts all tossed in a hot pan with olive oil for a truly autumn taste. 

Bon appitit or eet smakelijk!

Heidi

Bess's Log Cabin Quilt

Another children's literature book and just a delightful one! This story by D. Anne Love tells the tale of a girl Bess who is alone with her mother in the west while her father is taking families on the Oregon Trail. Her father has not come back when expected and she anxiously awaits his return with her mother. Mother has come down with swamp fever and it falls to Bess to help nurse her back to health while fending off Indians and a man who comes to collect a loan to her father. Bess has only just learned from her mother how to make a quilt...a log cabin quilt. She decides to enter it into the town fair quilt contest to try and win the money needed to pay her father's loan and save the farm.

This is the second time I have read this sweet story of a little girl's courage and I can highly recommend it for its endearing characters.

Happy reading!
Heidi

Behind the Attic Wall

Behind the Attic Wall is child's fiction by Sylvia Cassedy. A little orphaned girl named Maggie is sent to live with her great aunts Harriet and Lillian after being sent away from yet another boarding school. She is thin and pale and not very versed in being social. Her Uncle Morris seems to have a very special understanding of her. She hears voices from behind the walls and eventually discover a secret room in the attic where two dolls and a china dog are alive. I do not want to say much more to spoil the story in the off chance that you would want to read it.

The books started off to seem a fun read but turned very eerily strange to me. If I had a child, I would not want her to read it. The book ends abruptly and unclear I think for the ages of children it is intended for.

Happy reading!
Heidi