On Wednesday, third grade garden day, my third grader wakes
up with a stomach ache. He
complains of this particular complaint with enough frequency that I usually
make him go to school for main lesson and if he still remembers that he has a
stomach ache at recess time, he can come home. Usually by recess, it’s gone. But there were enough nocturnal rumblings from that corner
last night justify a day off. For
him.
Unfortunately, it’s the busy holiday season and no one can
sub for me in the garden, so the boy home from school has to go to school with
me.
He brings his drawing pad and
a blanket and we make him a little nest near my workstation.
The garden can’t spare an adult today:
it’s apple day. We have multiple sharp objects for peeling and slicing, plus,
as a bonus, boiling hot applesauce to put into boiling hot jars.
All hands on deck.
(This year we did apple day at the
school with apples brought from a parent’s trees, but to get a sense of it, see
last year’s apple day.)
My station is applesauce cake, the position of least
danger. No knives or peelers,
mostly just measuring cups and spoons, to intersect cleanly with the measuring
segment the kids are doing in math.
We get the cake mixed, and Wild Child points at me, “Um, YOU
are BLEEDING.” Somehow, in my
little station of round objects, I have gashed my knuckle, as if just knowing
that there are people peeling apples within 100 feet is enough to take off some
skin. WC then starts a
chorus of “Ooooh, gross!” and immediately takes advantage of the fact that I
have turned my back to wash off the blood and grab a band-aid; WC leads the
group over to the little pond where they immediately all break off chunks of
ice so they can then yell about how cold their hands are.
I make them
wash their hands so they can get the batter into the pan and then the
oven. “Why do we have to wash our
hands AGAIN?” they whine, clutching the chunks of pond ice. “Um…” I roll my eyes. “Why don’t you think about that as you
walk to the sink?”
Once the cake is in the oven, my little sick guy lurks near
the baking warmth and good smells.
Poor thing, he won’t be able to have any of the cake that will go back
to class as celebration for the teacher’s birthday.
Fortunately, by midday we determine that we have peeled and
chopped enough apples to shut down the sharp objects workstation, freeing up an
adult to relieve me in the kitchen, and they send us home.
We pick up my kindergartener and head home to make our own
applecake from the same recipe.
And by the time it gets out of the oven, steaming warm spice, we all
feel better.
Applesauce Cake
(makes 2 9-inch pans or 1 Bundt pan with extra for a couple
of little cake-lets)
Preheat oven to 350.
Grease & flour pans.
Cream (forks in the garden, mixer at home):
2 sticks butter
1 1/2 cups or
less brown sugar (use less if your applesauce is sweetened)
Beat in:
2 large eggs
Mix:
3 cups flour
(in the garden we use 100% whole wheat, at home we did 2
cups white and 1 whole wheat)
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp cloves
1/4 tsp nutmeg (fresh grated in the garden—may well explain
the gashed finger)
Ginger to taste (optional)
1 tsp salt (reduce if your butter is salted)
Stir flour mixture into wet ingredients in 3 parts, alternating
with
2 cups homemade chunky (or just any) applesauce
In the garden, we added some crushed walnuts to the
top. At home, we stirred in three
cut up apples that were getting old in the fridge. In other words, add whatever you want.
Bake anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour depending on your
pan and oven.
If you feel fancy (we did), sprinkle with powdered sugar.
Share and enjoy.