The Reece's Pieces: Pi Day 2012

Is it officially Pi day, or Pie day? I have been confused since the 14th. On March 14th, 2010 David asked me to marry him. And I said yes. :)

David has many fond memories of when he was serving as a missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Germany. One of the desserts he fondly remembers is applesauce topped with whipped cream. It just so happens that around this time I got a craving for homemade applesauce, so I made my way to the Farmer's Market and bought A LOT of apples, but only for $75 cents a lb!

There are were 1-3 apples in the pot by the time I remembered to take a picture. These are York apples and according to the apple chart at the market these are especially good for applesauce. I agree, how convenient. (Pardon the shadow).

They are very sweet and crisp, but for some reason they are rather odd to eat out of hand. For one thing they are huge (think my two fists put together) and they bruise easily, but bruising is completely ok, if not welcomed a bit, in applesauce making. I roughly followed the recipe found in Kirsten's cookbook (the American Girl doll).

Cutting AND pealing the apples was exhausting. My hand was cramping at the end, but I did it in the name of love. And hunger. And I did it all by hand, with the exception of the apple slicer that fit only five of the apples. If I do say so myself, I got pretty good at peeling! Previously I felt my peeling skills were lacking--I was neither quick nor accurate.

I tried to get a picture that demonstrated how many apples were in my tall pot.

This is what the applesauce looked like after cooking and mashing. I used a potato masher because I prefer chunky applesauce. I was worried the applesauce would be on the sour side, but to my amazement it was incredibly, naturally sweet. No sugar added!

I also made purple potatoes that I found at the market the same day. I was so disappointed I couldn't capture the true color of the potatoes. In this picture they look much darker than they should be. And certainly more ominous.

After I cooked and peeled the potatoes they looked like this. It is still the wrong shade of purple; they should be much more vibrant.

This picture is a little better, but the lighting is too yellow.

For dinner we also had sautéed green beans and sparkling apple cider that has been sitting in our fridge since early January. The purple color is a bit better in this picture.

And of course we had applesauce and whipped cream for dessert. I was SO excited to surprise David with the applesauce. The only food item he has raved about to me more is quark (pronounced kvark), which is a type of cheese.