My New BFF

Say hello to Florence.  Florence the food mill.  You can call her Flo, for short, but she might tell you to kiss her grits.

I recently received a Visa gift card from the phone company for $100.  And I was ecstatic because up til now, I couldn’t afford my beautiful Florence.  But there she is.  Sittin’ on my counter in all her glory!

Now some of you are probably wondering why I dream of kitchen gadgets and why I actually give them names.  Well, I dream of them because they make my life in the kitchen, which is where I spend A LOT of time, a heck of a lot easier.  I name them because I am weird.

And in case you are also wondering what you do with a food mill, let me just tell you that there are lots of things, but there are a few specific reasons that I wanted one.  First, my apple butter prep time will be cut in half or better.  It is very time consuming to peel, core and chop 3 pounds of apples by hand.  With my Florence, I can simply steam the apples a few minutes to get them soft and then run them through the food mill where they will be smushed to smithereens, the peel and seeds removed and all that I’m left with is fresh applesauce.  It will make apple butter much much easier.  And I can also have fresh applesauce whenever the hootie hoo I feel like it!

Another reason I had to have one is for making things like tomato sauce, spaghetti sauce, salsa, tomato juice, etc. using the fresh tomatoes from my garden.

And finally because I like to jam.  Blackberry that is.  And probably strawberry too.  I purchased 2 additional screens, one for salsa making and one for berries, which means that those pesky little seeds in blackberries and strawberries will be long gone from my jam!  Yay!!

You can use it to make pumpkin puree, vegetable juice, grape juice, baby food, mashed potatoes…the list goes on, people!

I really want to leave ol’ Flo right out there on the counter where I can gaze upon her any time I feel the urge, but alas, Brian does not share my love for her beauty, so I will be packing her away for now.  But Kroger has blackberries on sale this week, so…