Pioneer Woman at Heart

One Flourishing, Frugal and Fun Family!

One family learning to live off the land, cut back on expenses, and to live a simpler and a more self-sufficient lifestyle.

Adopted Motto

"Eat it up,
Wear it out,
Make it do,
Or go without."
~A Pioneer Sampler, by Barbara Greenwood~

Tuesday, October 24, 2023

Freezing Apples ~ Apple Crisp ~ Baking Powder ~ Local Sage Sausage Trial

 


I finally got around to freezing some of our apples.  They are keeping fresh pretty well in the fridge.  By the way, when the directions say to bang your baking sheet on the counter, it really works.  It freed up the frozen apple slices right away, making bagging it easy.


While the apple slices were flash freezing, I baked us an apple crisp.  A different recipe, and one that was actually in my recipe box.  We haven't baked a lot over the years with apples, due to lack of harvest, but this was good.  No brown sugar oddly.  My husband said it "tastes like apple pie."


I made biscuits a few days ago, and realized they did not rise as usual.  I opened my cupboard to check the expiration date on my baking powder and it literally expired the same day.  I have not been using it as much lately.  Note:  be sure to check your label when buying baking powder, as one popular brand contains bio-engineered ingredients.  It's easy to miss when you are shopping.  Our closest store only had two left on the shelves (of non-gmo), and a bunch of the other two brands they carry.




I decided to taste test the local sage sausage, by making us biscuits and gravy.  I have not made it in a long, long time. Anyway, it tasted wonderful!  We are lucky to have a local butcher.  It is more expensive, but it's not like we eat sage sausage every week.  We will be back to stock up on it for winter.

On a side note, the same grocery store was sold out of the organic butter we buy regularly.  I typically freeze some for winter.  I don't know if any other stores carry comparable butter, but I'm now on the hunt for some.  I start my sausage gravy using butter vs. oil.  What do you start your sausage gravy with?

Update on the butter - 2nd store had one box of organic butter, unsalted was sold out.



2 comments:

Lisa B said...

I use butter if the sausage is lean but have also just used the grease from the sausage if there is enough. I take the sausage out of the pan to drain and make the gravy before adding it back.

Pioneer Woman at Heart said...

Lisa, thanks. I have not tried that yet.