Use it up...

Well, I'm feeling slightly more optimistic today. I'm feeling kind of proud of myself for saving some very spongy apples from the compost pile. By compost pile, I mean the place under a tree in the backyard where we dump food waste, or slop, as my grandparents called it. Both were children of the Great Depression and very frugal. I love the saying from that era: "Use it up, wear it out, make do, or do without."

They would be proud of our applesauce, and I am proud, too. We cored and peeled about a dozen manky apples, added some bottled lemon juice, and set them on the stove to boil at lunchtime. Mashed 'em when soft and added salt, sugar, and cinnamon and nutmeg. It tasted kind of weak and watery at this point, so we went back upstairs to work, leaving it at a slow simmer. It smelled voluptuous, by the way.

I just tasted the resulting thick and light brown applesauce, and it is not only passable but darn tasty. Nutmeg, freshly grated, is my new favorite spice. So go find some manky veggies and make soup, or make some questionable-apple-applesauce.