One Hundred Dollars a Month

Yesterday I stopped by Chicken Scraps R Us to buy something, and as soon as I walked through the door,  Produce Guy spotted me.

“Hey Mavis… You’re just in time.  I was getting ready to toss a bunch of scraps.  Let me get them for you.”

“Sweet,” I somehow mustered.

2 minutes later I found myself wheeling 5 boxes of scraps to the car. I quickly loaded them into the backseat, and then I drove off, totally forgetting to make my purchase.

As I was sorting the boxes, I noticed one of them was almost half full of free apples.  I stood there dazed for a good 5 minutes before I realized I was actually going to have to do something with the apples.  I mean, that’s the whole point of picking up free food isn’t it?  Even if I didn’t plan on picking it up, or really had the extra time to do anything with it, I still had to do SOMETHING.  I couldn’t let it just rot on my kitchen floor or in a dumpster now could I?  I think I am officially over the honeymoon stage in my adventures with chicken scraps.  Don’t get me wrong, The Girl and I LOVE all the free fruits and vegetables we are able to salvage {for the record, the HH and Monkey Boy still think we are weird} but it really is a lot of work.

So even if I come off as a little cranky, I still think it’s worth it.  My freezer is proof of that.

So what did I do with all those apples?  I made a giant pot of applesauce of course.  And then I made an applesauce cake.  Because honestly, I didn’t know what else to do.

Spiced Applesauce Cake {slightly adapted from this Gourmet recipe}

Ingredients

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda {15 Cool Uses for Baking Soda}
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1 stick unsalted butter, softened
• 1 cup packed light brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 2 large eggs
• 1 1/2 cups sweetened applesauce

The original recipe calls for a cream cheese frosting.  But I had a bit of leftover butter cream frosting from the cupcake making extravaganza so I used that instead.

Directions

• Whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and spices.
• Beat butter, brown sugar, and vanilla with an electric mixer at high speed until pale and fluffy. Add eggs,  then beat in applesauce. At low speed, mix in flour mixture until just combined.
• Spread batter evenly in 9″pan and bake at 350 degrees until golden-brown and a wooden pick inserted into center comes out clean, 40 to 45 minutes. Cool in pan 15 minutes.
• Frost cake and serve with a scoop of vanilla ice cream if you have it.

Hungry Planet: What the World Eats is a fascinating look into lives of people around the world and what they eat on daily basis.  Amazon currently on sale for $16.49.