Homemade Apple & Pear Sauce + Cinnamon Apple & Pear Filled Pastry…

I never posted photos of the Apple & Pear Sauce which I made back in September 2011… So here they are.

Unknown Apple Variety

I harvested a bunch of Apples and Pears from our garden. We have a bunch of trees, so I just take a couple here and a couple there for a mixture of different Apples, Pears and Asian Pears.

Various Apple & Pear Harvested

Just dump them into the sink and wash them in a pool of water.

Washing Apples & Pears

Skin them… You can leave the skins on, but I like the Apple and Pear sauce without the skins. Chop them up into pieces.

Apples & Pears Skinned and Chopped Up

Place the sliced Apples and Pears into a big pot with about a teaspoon of cinnamon and some sugar. I usually put about a quarter to a third of the amount that the recipe calls for because my Mom doesn’t like it too sweet. You can also add a little bit of lemon or use honey instead of sugar… You can find various recipes online.

Ready to Make Apple & Pear Sauce

Set the stove between medium and high until the Apples and Pears soften and releases its liquid (I don’t even add water). Once it starts to bubble, reduce the heat to low… then just continue to mix, mash and cook it down until it’s a consistency that you like. I like a little bit of fruit chunks, so I don’t cook it too long. It will get darker as you cook it more.

Reduced Apple & Pear Sauce

Once done, I place them in prepared canning bottles and boil the bottles according to the canning instructions. Once cooled, these should last for a while.

Bottled Apple & Pear Sauce

We have ours stored in the pantry and sometimes when I feel like making a simple and quick pastry, I’ll open a bottle and fill biscuit dough (from those refrigerated tubes) with about a teaspoon of sauce. Fold the edge together to enclose the filling and crimp the edges.

Filling Dough with Apple & Pear Sauce

Then roll the dough in cinnamon sugar and bake. Eat while warm because once they cool down, the pastry may get soggy.

Cinnamon Sugar Apple & Pear Sauce Filled Pastry

Corrugated Plastic Panels Replacements…

At one side on our house, we have a bunch of succulents that are under corrugated plastic panels to protect them from rain.

Succulent Area (Before)

The only problem is that the plastic panels is opaque green and creates a shade over the succulents. My Mom suggested we get clear corrugated plastic panels to allow more light to come in… We didn’t have a vehicle to carry the panels from the store to our house, so we haven’t been able to replace the panels… until this morning when I asked my niece if she could drive us to the local home improvement store. They fit perfectly inside the van and I finally was able to replace the green ones.

Succulent Area (After)

Now the succulents will have more light and hopefully will grow better.

What’s this?… Unknown Tree at St. Vincent Parking Lot…

I saw this tree with reddish leaves on a tree at our church’s parking lot (Northern San Francisco Bay Area/zone 9b).
Anyone know what this tree is?

Unknown Plant (Photo 2 of 3)

I also have another photo here.
I saw some seeds and collected some.

Unknown Plant (Photo 3 of 3)

[Update] It’s Purple-leafed Hop-bush – Dodonaea viscosa ‘Purpurea’ (Family: Sapindaceae)