Buttermilk, Apples and Oranges

We picked up a carton of buttermilk on markdown, so I've been putting some yummies in the freezer for future use.

There are buttermilk pancakes...

...'donut' muffins...

...and cranberry-lemon-pecan scones....

...and we still have buttermilk. Today I think I'll do some biscuits, perhaps some waffles too.

There were lots of apples in the crisper, so I quartered a bunch, tossed them in the crock pot, and cooked them all afternoon. In the evening I ran them through the food mill and made 11 cups of applesauce. We have a lot of canned applesauce, but I'm just freezing this batch. I didn't take any pictures, but it looks like applesauce, so nothing much to see, hee hee.

I also made orange marmalade for the first time ever.

I simply followed the instructions in the Ball Blue Book, and it came out just beautiful. The first taste of bitter/sweet/orange intensity immediately transported me to my Grandma's little kitchen table back in Indiana. She loved orange marmalade, and we used to have it with toast at breakfast...sometimes in the afternoon as well. Grandma has been on my mind more than usual of late, probably because I've been unpacking all the beautiful Christmas things that she made. The marmalade brought back a lot of happy memories.

The house was so warm and cozy from the canning, and the scent of oranges and spice made it extra nice. I think that from now on, I will freeze fruits in the summertime and make jams and jellies when the weather is cold. The 'free heat' was a nice bonus, plus we have more time that we are indoors this time of year. Win-win!