Blogging from A to Z Challenge - B

It's easy to think of bees as annoying pests. Many kids are petrified of them; they tend to make their homes in places you wish they hadn't; and for some, their sting can be deadly.

According to the New Agriculturist, however, bees are good pests to have. Many fruits, vegetables and oilseeds depend upon bees for pollination. Livestock depends upon bee-pollinated forage plants. They also state, "bees pollinate about one-sixth of the world's flowering plant species and some 400 of its agricultural plants." Pretty impressive for a little pest.

Bees are the only insect that produces a food eaten by man--honey! And, according to the Benefits of Honey website (Who knew there was one?), "Honey is the only food that includes all the substances necessary to sustain life, including enzymes, vitamins, minerals, and water; and it's the only food that contains "pinocembrin", an antioxidant associated with improved brain functioning."

Our pastor raises honey bees on his farm. This is also where we get our free range eggs. I'm glad we began buying from him, because I honestly might never have thought about the difference it makes buying fresh and local otherwise. I was a consumer okay with using the convenience of the grocery store for everything.

What fresh and local foods do you enjoy?

This post is part of the Blogging from A to Z Challenge. You can find a list of other participants here. 

A to Z Challenge Coming in April!

Last year, thanks to Stephen Tremp, we learned of the Blogging from A to Z Challenge. Taking place during the month of April, you blog through the alphabet daily, with Sundays off for good behavior. I had a ton of fun in 2011, so I signed up for this year's today at http://www.breakthroughblogs.blogspot.com/p/blog-page.html

Hope you'll join us.

April 2011 A to Z Blogging Challenge

What is the A to Z Challenge? It’s blogging a letter of the alphabet every day the month of April (with Sundays off for good behavior.) It begins April First with the letter A and ends April 30 with the letter Z.

I found out about this challenge from my friend Vanessa at Coffee and a Keyboard. Since I am technology challenged, I haven't figured out how to easily copy the blogs with links to this site, so if you want to see who else is participating, check in with my friend action and suspense author, Stephen Tremp at his blog. Before I participate in the next one, I'll have to ask Stephen or my chum Ellen at Confessions of an Overworked Mom how to make this work. She's amazing when it comes to blogging.

Some bloggers choose a theme. My only theme is going to be to promise that whatever I write about will not be 100% book related. It's long been my goal to make this a blog about family products, but limited time hasn't allowed me to reach out to many sponsors. Hopefully this will help move things along.

Today's post is for the letter:

A is for apples. This is our family's favorite fruit. We each eat at least one apple a day--usually Gala, Granny Smith, or McIntosh. According to Produce Pete, the McIntosh is America's most famous apple. I honestly hadn't eaten anything other than a McIntosh until I was an adult.

One of our girls, the Lil Diva (9), likes her apples after they've sat out on the counter a bit. The other, the Lil Princess (7), refuses to eat apples unless they are cold and rock solid from the fridge. The two girls and their father will eat the skin, but I prefer a naked apple. Each fall I buy a 1/2 peck and make homemade applesauce. I was told adding brown sugar and cinnamon to the recipe is the French way to make it. That's possible, as I never saw it made any other way growing up.

Here's a recipe for applesauce from my Betty Crocker's 40th Anniversary Edition Cookbook. I received this book as an engagement present.

4 medium cooking apples, pared and each cut into fourths
1/2 cup water
1/4 cup packed brown sugar or 3 to 4 tablespoons granulated sugar
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg

Heat apples and water to boiling over medium heat, stirring occasionally; reduce heat. Simmer uncovered 5 to 10 minutes, stirring occasionally to break up apples, until tender. Stir in remaining ingredients. Heat to boiling. Boil and stir one minute.

I often double or triple the recipe depending upon how many apples I use, but I go light on the nutmeg because it can be an overpowering spice in large doses.

They also have a microwave recipe, but there is nothing like the smell of apples cooking on the stove. It's not the same in the microwave.

What kind of apples do you eat? Does fall mean harvest time and apple picking in your area? Do you use apples in unusual ways in your recipes?