The Great Apple Sauce Give-Away

(See bottom to win a free jar)

Howdy. I attempted to make apple jelly. So I bought a bunch of apples. About 12 apples. I ate half of them the following week, had to buy more apples the next weekend, and then started making jelly. I used York apples (on right) and Fuji apples (left). I bought them from the Fair Food Philly stand in Reading Terminal Market. (read: from a local farm)

I cut up the apples. I ate some of the cores. Bonus!

Then I grated the peel of an orange, and measured out a teaspoon of cinnamon and about 8 cloves. Then I put them on this shiny metal hexagon for your viewing pleasure.

Well, in order to make apple jelly, you have to make apple juice first. So I put the apples and spices all in a big pot with some water, and boiled the apples until they were soft and floating in juice. Then I turned off the heat, and ran an errand. But when I came back, something wasn't quite right.

I mashed it around in a strainer for a bit, watching little drops of juice fall into a pan. And as I mashed, it dawned on me that it looked a lot like apple sauce.

Donde esta 'apple juice'?

Hey, life is full of unexpected surprises. I wanted some jelly for my toast, but there was no going back at this point. I guess when life gives you apple sauce, can it!

So I did.

Free give-away: See that little tiny jar on the right? I want to share with you how awesome local, fresh produce can taste without any additives other than some spices. I am willing to send to one lucky person -free of any costs or commitments whatsoever- this oops baby jar of applesauce. It's safely preserved through the canning process, so it can be shipped with no worries about spoilage.

I'll send it to the person who can find the funniest Google search auto fill-in phrase that begins with common words like "and" "if" "how", etc. Submit your entry by posting the link to your search in the comments section below.

For example, I typed "if you want t" in the google search bar.... and one of google's suggestions was this Ready? Go!

Exotic Hot Chocolate

Every now and then, I get the notion that should like to 'cleanse' my system. In the interest of everyone's time, I'll just say that it's not as intense as it sounds, and usually just involves drinking lots of water and not eating any solid food for a day. But this time around, I thought - hey, I should ACTUALLY try to do this right, it might be refreshing. Well, that led to internet researching. The internet promoted this 'lemon tea diet'. Ooo, sounds nice. It was a cocktail of lemon juice, maple syrup, and cayanne pepper. Perfect! I'm a fan of all that! Then I read on... "drink only this tea, water, and maybe some peppermint tea. If you're new to fasting, a 5-8 day fast is recommended. The fast shouldn't be continued past 10 days." What? Gandhi? "If you feel faint, sit down IMMEDIATELY."

Anorexics feel faint sometimes too. I ride a bike to work. And that was the end of that idea.

I'm not saying I would never enjoy a good fast. In fact, I hope I do someday. But someday when I have less moving around and thinking to do. I went home that day, having enjoyed a few cups of fresh lemon water, and made hot chocolate from scratch.

Started by simmering some milk with a couple of chilli peppers in it

Used some dark chocolate and semi-sweet chocolate chips from Trader Joe's.

Grated the zest of a mandarine. Let the milk simmer for 7 minutes or so and then...

Took the utmost care to melt the chocolate on low heat, stirring constantly

Added the milk VERY gradually so that the chocolate would dissolve in the milk... as it would otherwise form a granular appearance. Also added the mandarine zest.

I enjoyed the swirly patterns of the added milk until it had a liquid consistency of which I approved.

I added the teeniest pinch of cayenne pepper, and served it in a white mug. I did not take a picture of the final product (bad food blogger!) so you'll just have to imagine what very thick, rich hot chocolate lookes like. It had a little kick from the zest and cayenne pepper, but also a full/roundness to it from the chili pepper that seemed to balance the intense sweetness of the chocolate.