Any Home Bakers Here?

[wyoDreamer]

I have one of those and used it alot in Wyoming. I would buy a couple cases of apples from a lady whose brother was a trucker. He would bring them from Idaho and Washington. Great prices and beautiful fruit. It doesn't work so good on the apples from my trees here in Wisconsin, they are all different shapes, just not really apple shaped. Crooked cores, scab marks, hail damage. It all makes those crank peelers skip and jump and generally fail at peeling. But I am not going to start spraying chemicals on my ugly, old, heirloom apple sauce trees! Best guess is that the trees are over 25 years old.

 

[Aria]

I have one of those and used it alot in Wyoming. I would buy a couple cases of apples from a lady whose brother was a trucker. He would bring them from Idaho and Washington. Great prices and beautiful fruit. It doesn't work so good on the apples from my trees here in Wisconsin, they are all different shapes, just not really apple shaped. Crooked cores, scab marks, hail damage. It all makes those crank peelers skip and jump and generally fail at peeling. But I am not going to start spraying chemicals on my ugly, old, heirloom apple sauce trees! Best guess is that the trees are over 25 years old.

Hey, Sounds like your talking about our Apple Orchard. We get
apples and eat a few. Floyd decided to STOP spraying. The chemicals are NOT good for us. We certainly cannot use the apple peeler on our Orchard Apples. But the Deer loved them.
And we are ok with sharing. Aria

 

[N F C]

I have one of those and used it alot in Wyoming. I would buy a couple cases of apples from a lady whose brother was a trucker. He would bring them from Idaho and Washington. Great prices and beautiful fruit. It doesn't work so good on the apples from my trees here in Wisconsin, they are all different shapes, just not really apple shaped. Crooked cores, scab marks, hail damage. It all makes those crank peelers skip and jump and generally fail at peeling. But I am not going to start spraying chemicals on my ugly, old, heirloom apple sauce trees! Best guess is that the trees are over 25 years old.

Your trees may not produce picture perfect pretty apples but bet they make good sauce! The prettiness of perfect fruit sure doesn't mean the fruit tastes perfect. I bet a lot of people would be surprised at what fruit looked like 50-60 years ago, before it was all "perfected" through chemistry.

 

[rjohns39]

So true, I made a wonderful crab apple jelly from my crab apple tree and none of them were peeled. I used a steam juicer to get the good stuff out and made crab apple butter from the remains.

 

[R2elk]

That was a heck of a deal Bob!

My mom used to make lots and lots of apple pies (plus other fruit pies) to sell at craft fairs. Dad got one of those metal peelers that clamp onto the edges of the counter and it holds the apple while you turn a crank to get the peel off. Not sure if that's the type you found at Menard's but Dad loved his peeler.

The apple gets stuck on the holder and the apple is rotated against the peeling mechanism. Apparently this version also cores and can slice the apple. This particular model has a suction base.

It is currently on sale at Menards for $7.99

Apple Peeler

 

[N F C]

Does anyone have a good scalloped potato recipe? Mom used to make hers with lots of cheese, but I don't know the rest of it. Online recipes are confusing me.

 

[BullChick]

It doesn't work so good on the apples from my trees here in Wisconsin, ... But I am not going to start spraying chemicals on my ugly, old, heirloom apple sauce trees! Best guess is that the trees are over 25 years old.

Hey, Sounds like your talking about our Apple Orchard. We get
apples and eat a few. Floyd decided to STOP spraying. The chemicals are NOT good for us. We certainly cannot use the apple peeler on our Orchard Apples. But the Deer loved them.
And we are ok with sharing. Aria

Do you guys get any apples without damage? One of my trees began producing this year, and all five were lost to bugs. The deer did get them eventually.

The apple gets stuck on the holder and the apple is rotated against the peeling mechanism. Apparently this version also cores and can slice the apple. This particular model has a suction base.

It is currently on sale at Menards for $7.99

Apple Peeler

The exact one I’ve been looking at.

 

[DigMyChicks]

I rarely use my Kitchen Aid mixer. When my husband purchased the KA mixer I found that it's heavy and bulky, and the blade doesn't mix to the very bottom of the bowl.

Besides, I have my favorite cookie/bread making bowl (that you could only find on e-bay now) and spoon, and seems to work out for me.

I like to use a hand operated rotary beaters too.

Mine doesn’t get to the bottom either and the paddle with the rubber doesn’t scrape real well. I loved it at first. It has had an oil leak in it also which hubby worked on and got stopped. I ordered it factory direct. I just bought a new hand mixer. I mostly use to mash potatoes. It has heavy plastic beaters. Not sure I like it. It is almost to powerful. I think it would work great for cake batters.

 

[DigMyChicks]

Does anyone have a good scalloped potato recipe? Mom used to make hers with lots of cheese, but I don't know the rest of it. Online recipes are confusing me.

I use 1-2 cans cream of chicken and a can of cheddar cheese soup, half n half or milk, grated onion, ham, red potato and some shredded cheddar or American cheese slices cut up into it.

 

[R2elk]

Does anyone have a good scalloped potato recipe? Mom used to make hers with lots of cheese, but I don't know the rest of it. Online recipes are confusing me.

This is the recipe that I use for scalloped potatoes. I prefer it with the ham mixed in. The version that you are talking about seems to be Potatoes Au Gratin which is similar to Scalloped Potatoes but with lots of cheese.

Scalloped Potatoes

2 lbs. potatoes
3 tbsp butter
3 tbsp flour
1 tsp salt
¼ tsp pepper
2 ½ cups milk
1 tbsp butter

Preheat oven to 350°F. Peel and slice potatoes thinly (4 cups). Put 3
tbsp butter in a small saucepan and melt over low heat. Stir in flour,
salt and pepper. Cook over low heat, stirring constantly until mixture is
smooth and bubbly. Remove from heat and stir in milk. Heat to boiling
while stirring constantly. Continue stirring as mixture boils for one
minute. Arrange potatoes in 2 qt. casserole dish in three layers, topping
each layer with one third of the white sauce. Dot with one tbsp butter.
Cover with aluminum foil. Bake at 350°F for 30 minutes. Remove
aluminum foil and continue baking for an additional hour. Let stand 5
to 10 minutes before serving.

Note:

Even better if pieces of ham are mixed in with the layers of potatoes
before baking.