A few thoughts.

Hi! Yes, it's been quite a while since I posted anything. I *have* been cooking... I don't take enough pictures though and then I don't feel like I have anything to post, when there's not a photo to go with it.

But here are a couple of things I've been thankful for lately, in my kitchen:

New garbage can. I picked one up at Costco not long ago, it is similar to this one but a little different. It was $50; it's stainless steel with a black lid, and battery-operated.... the lid goes up when you gently kick the pedal at the bottom, and then after about 5 seconds the lid goes back down smoothly on its own. We love it!! It looks nice, it works great, having it be hands-free-but-with-a-lid is fantastic, and the dog can't ever get into the trash (which is a big deal -- I can trust her a lot more around here now).

On Saturday I single-handedly turned 280 apples into 34 quarts of applesauce. I do this once a year, and every year I think to myself, "This is a HUGE pain and not cheap either; why do I do this? I'm NOT doing it next year!" but then the next fall I end up buying apples and doing it again anyway! I make my applesauce with nothing added: no sugar, cinnamon, etc, and I make it smooth/fine like store-bought applesauce. We love it and the kids just inhale it. And secretly, I kind of like canning :)

I have always used a labor-intensive system for milling the cooked apples, such as one of these. BUT -- I got a Cuisinart last Christmas and I decided to give it a try for my applesauce this year. HALLELUJAH!! Wow -- my Cuisinart blends up a big pot of cooked apples in a manner of mere seconds, while my hand-crank food mill used to take... oh I don't know how long, but just ages! Plus, with a food mill I was left with a thick fibrous pulp that I would just end up throwing away. With my food processor, every bit of the cooked (peeled/cored) apples goes into the applesauce. What a dream come true! I found that even though I was still on my feet making applesauce for probably 10 hours on Saturday, my thoughts of "I'm never doing this again!" were much less strong since I had my handy Cuisinart to work with. And, the parts can all go in the dishwasher = super easy clean up!

One final note. My four children are ages 7-11. Lately, they have all been pretty good about eating their dinner - regardless of what it is. Their palates have definitely become less picky. I attribute this partially to the fact that I have never given my kids a choice of what to have for dinner. If it's something strange that they don't think they'll like (or that they truly dislike), I have always still made them eat at least SOME of it. We have suffered through plenty of long, drawn-out nights at the dinner table where one or more stubborn child has to stay in their chair until they have eaten the measly two or three bites I've told them to eat. We've had our share of our kids throwing tantrums, gagging (real and completely fake), pleading, attempts at negotiation, etc. But by and large we have stuck to our guns and our children have as a result been exposed to a variety of foods. I do not understand why some parents have the standing policy that a PB&J sandwich is always an option if the child doesn't like the dinner that is served. In some instances I can understand (like if you're with guests and don't want to create a scene), but not on a regular every-day type of night. If you have young children, hang in there! Keep feeding them a good variety of foods for dinner, and I promise you that some day soon they will stop fighting you about it and there will come a time when they actually start to appreciate your cooking! Now, I'm not saying that my children never complain about dinner. But they have gotten so much better about it, and most nights I actually hear a few unprompted thank-you's, even from my 11-yr-old son!

{off my soapbox now...}