This is what our kitchen looks like when we are in apple pie mode (not to be confused with Apple Pie A La Mode...) Here, Marilyn is peeling, slicing, and mixing, and I, when I am not taking a photograph, am rolling out dough. And then I help with the apples, and we get it done. This photo is from last Saturday, and we completed 6 pies in a couple of hours: one to eat, and 5 for the freezer for future eating.
Gentle Readers, many of you have questioned my sanity where this whole apple business is concerned. Why, you ask, do I continue to make apple things by the truckload instead of getting rid of some of these apples? Well, the short answer is that over the last 29 years of being a wife and mother and homemaker, I have learned the pleasures of domestic life. It took me many years to learn to enjoy work of this sort, but as I submitted myself to God, and learned to look for His blessings in the circumstances of my life, I learned to rejoice in plenty (even in plenty of apples). I learned that if my calling is to be a homemaker, I should work as hard at that as I would at anything else, and that there can be great joy in making things of beauty and use (and delicious flavors) out of otherwise wasted resources. I love knowing that for the next year I can be a generous with the fruit of my hands (literally!), generous to my family, to my friends, and to strangers. I will be better ready to be hospitable, and flex with God's schedule of appointments for my life.
So, Gentle Readers, don't feel sorry for me as I slave-away in my kitchen. I am rejoicing (most of the time, anyway!) And, the labor results in tangible results like the one below. It's a good thing to work with ones hands.
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4 comments:
I think that's incredible. It totally makes me want an apple tree. (Or other fruit-bearing tree.) What's your pie count up to now? Do you have a separate freezer? (I'm assuming so, since I've seen how crowed my freezer is with just basic week-to-week stuff.) How does one go about freezing pies so they aren't freezer-burned when one is ready to eat them?
Shannon: My pie count is up to 27(!) Yes, I have a large (21 CuFt, freezer in the garage. I make the complete pie, slide it into a freezer 1-gallon ziplock bag, and store it. I bake it frozen (after cutting slits on the top) and it works fine. :-)
Being in a stage of life where I have to work full-time outside of the home, I long for the day when I can do more of the homemaking things that you are able to do. But I am blessed with a husband that takes the reigns for me, and works hard at home and takes wonderful care of our child.
I have a friend I promised pies, and here I come to the blog and find pies! Mine, alas, will be made with store bought apples. What kind of shortening do you use in your pie crust?
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