Crock Pot AppleSauce

A week or so ago, I had a crock pot party on my facebook page to celebrate 6,000 facebook fans.

What wonderful recipes were shared!! 

I pinned a bunch of them away on my Pinterest Boards for later, but this one, I couldn't get out of my mind.

I love the ease of throwing everything in the crock pot in the morning, and it being ready after the hustle and bustle of a crazy day!

I have to admit, though, I was really looking forward to my fellow bloggers sharing things you don't usually associate the crock pot with, things like desserts, or APPLE SAUCE!!

 Real Food Outlaws shared this recipe for crock pot applesauce.

I made it the next weekend in one crock pot while a batch of my Beef and Barley Stew Cooked in the other.

It was so good, they gobbled it up and I made it again that following week, while ribs slow cooked away, the apple sauce did the same.

If you click here: Real Food Outlaws

You can see how she cans it, too!!

Crock Pot AppleSauce

adapted from Real Food Outlaws

10-12 apples, peeled, cored and sliced

4 cinnamon sticks

1/4 of a lemon's peel

1 teaspoon lemon juice

The apples I used were pretty big, I used 10 of them, and used 4 cinnamon sticks.  My kids are crazy about cinnamon apples!  If you are using the really small apples that you pick off most home grown trees, you may need to up it some.

Place apples, cinnamon sticks and lemon peel in the crock pot.  Drizzle with the lemon juice.

Set pot to low and cook 5-7 hours.

Remove cinnamon sticks and lemon peel.

With your hand blender and  blend apples, or you could do this in a regular blender, too.

I thought it was pretty good warm, my kids preferred it cold.

Very sweet and tasty and No Sugar!! :)

A week or so ago, I had a crock pot party on my facebook page to celebrate 6,000 facebook fans.

What wonderful recipes were shared!! 

I pinned a bunch of them away on my Pinterest Boards for later, but this one, I couldn't get out of my mind.

I love the ease of throwing everything in the crock pot in the morning, and it being ready after the hustle and bustle of a crazy day!

I have to admit, though, I was really looking forward to my fellow bloggers sharing things you don't usually associate the crock pot with, things like desserts, or APPLE SAUCE!!

 Real Food Outlaws shared this recipe for crock pot applesauce.

I made it the next weekend in one crock pot while a batch of my Beef and Barley Stew Cooked in the other.

It was so good, they gobbled it up and I made it again that following week, while ribs slow cooked away, the apple sauce did the same.

If you click here: Real Food Outlaws

You can see how she cans it, too!!

Crock Pot AppleSauce

adapted from Real Food Outlaws

10-12 apples, peeled, cored and sliced

4 cinnamon sticks

1/4 of a lemon's peel

1 teaspoon lemon juice

The apples I used were pretty big, I used 10 of them, and used 4 cinnamon sticks.  My kids are crazy about cinnamon apples!  If you are using the really small apples that you pick off most home grown trees, you may need to up it some.

Place apples, cinnamon sticks and lemon peel in the crock pot.  Drizzle with the lemon juice.

Set pot to low and cook 5-7 hours.

Remove cinnamon sticks and lemon peel.

With your hand blender and  blend apples, or you could do this in a regular blender, too.

I thought it was pretty good warm, my kids preferred it cold.

Very sweet and tasty and No Sugar!! :)

reade more... Résuméabuiyad

Apple Pie Filling in a Jar

An Affair From the Heart - Apple Pie Filling in a Jar

This year our friends, Don and Gerry had a great apple crop.

They are so sweet to share with us!

Usually when I put away apples, I just freeze them,
this year I wanted to try something different.

I wanted to can them!

So I found a recipe on allrecipes.com, and adapted it to my liking.


I started learning to can last year, when my friend, Betsy and I canned spaghetti sauce.
I then tried my hand at a berry jam and peach ginger preserves.

scrumptious!

We have eaten this over ice cream
(kids said it's like apple pie without crust!!) ...

...and over pancakes!

Don said he would just eat them out of the jar with a spoon!

Apple Pie Filling in a Jar

4 1/2 cups sugar
1 cup corn starch
21/2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon salt
10 cups water
2 Tablespoons Lemon juice
7 quarts peeled and slices apples

(I made mine in pint jars)

Sterilize all of your jars and lids in a canning pot, in boiling water for about 1 minute.  Put on a towel to dry and cool.  Transfer seals to a small saucepan of boiling water until ready to use.

In a large sauce pan, combine sugar, spices and water, bring to boil and simmer until it becomes thick and bubbly.  Stir frequently so it doesn't stick.  Remove from heat. Add lemon juice.

Peel and slice apples and pack into jars.

Pour syrup mixture over apples, and tap jars on the counter to let syrup fall to the bottom.  Fill jars almost to the top.

Make sure to wipe the rims of the jars with a damp cloth to remove any residue.

Place seals from boiling water on top and secure rings, don't tighten all of the way.

Place in a canning pot of boiling water, leaving space in between jars, submerged in water,  and water bath for 20 minutes.

Remove from heat and tighten the rings of the lids, turn upside down to cool on the counter, so jars seal.

An Affair From the Heart - Apple Pie Filling in a Jar

This year our friends, Don and Gerry had a great apple crop.

They are so sweet to share with us!

Usually when I put away apples, I just freeze them,
this year I wanted to try something different.

I wanted to can them!

So I found a recipe on allrecipes.com, and adapted it to my liking.


I started learning to can last year, when my friend, Betsy and I canned spaghetti sauce.
I then tried my hand at a berry jam and peach ginger preserves.

scrumptious!

We have eaten this over ice cream
(kids said it's like apple pie without crust!!) ...

...and over pancakes!

Don said he would just eat them out of the jar with a spoon!

Apple Pie Filling in a Jar

4 1/2 cups sugar
1 cup corn starch
21/2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon salt
10 cups water
2 Tablespoons Lemon juice
7 quarts peeled and slices apples

(I made mine in pint jars)

Sterilize all of your jars and lids in a canning pot, in boiling water for about 1 minute.  Put on a towel to dry and cool.  Transfer seals to a small saucepan of boiling water until ready to use.

In a large sauce pan, combine sugar, spices and water, bring to boil and simmer until it becomes thick and bubbly.  Stir frequently so it doesn't stick.  Remove from heat. Add lemon juice.

Peel and slice apples and pack into jars.

Pour syrup mixture over apples, and tap jars on the counter to let syrup fall to the bottom.  Fill jars almost to the top.

Make sure to wipe the rims of the jars with a damp cloth to remove any residue.

Place seals from boiling water on top and secure rings, don't tighten all of the way.

Place in a canning pot of boiling water, leaving space in between jars, submerged in water,  and water bath for 20 minutes.

Remove from heat and tighten the rings of the lids, turn upside down to cool on the counter, so jars seal.

reade more... Résuméabuiyad

Refrigerator Pickles

My Mother-in-law makes these every summer.

They are SO YUMMY!!

Last year was the first year I tried canning, I did tomatoes, mostly, and also made a peach ginger jelly.

Canning can be time consuming,  but the rewards are so.... well....

REWARDING!!

If you have ever planted cucumbers, and been successful, you know that typically they are 

quite the bumper crop!

Most people are like "seriously, what am I going to do with all of these?!?!"

These pickles couldn't be easier to make.

serve them on a cracker as an appetizer

or just eat 'em out of the bowl like us!

refrigerator cucumbers

Refrigerator Pickles

2 cups sugar

2 cups water

1 cup white vinegar

1 teaspoon canning salt

onion, optional

cucumbers,  about 5 or 6 large. (the ones pictured made half of the recipe)

Put a large pot of water to boil on the stove.

In a small saucepan, combine sugar, water and salt over low heat until sugar is dissolved.

Add vinegar.

Take off heat and cool.

When water in big pot is boiling, drop whole cucumbers in.  

Boil for 5 minutes.

Remove from water, cool a bit, peel and slice.

Slice onion thin, (optional) to taste.

Place cucumbers in plastic containers, layer with onion.

Pour cooled sugar/vinegar mixture over the cucumbers to cover.

Place in your refrigerator, can be eaten in a couple of hours, and will keep for a couple of months!

You can also freeze them, take them out this winter when the snow is blowing!!

My Mother-in-law makes these every summer.

They are SO YUMMY!!

Last year was the first year I tried canning, I did tomatoes, mostly, and also made a peach ginger jelly.

Canning can be time consuming,  but the rewards are so.... well....

REWARDING!!

If you have ever planted cucumbers, and been successful, you know that typically they are 

quite the bumper crop!

Most people are like "seriously, what am I going to do with all of these?!?!"

These pickles couldn't be easier to make.

serve them on a cracker as an appetizer

or just eat 'em out of the bowl like us!

refrigerator cucumbers

Refrigerator Pickles

2 cups sugar

2 cups water

1 cup white vinegar

1 teaspoon canning salt

onion, optional

cucumbers,  about 5 or 6 large. (the ones pictured made half of the recipe)

Put a large pot of water to boil on the stove.

In a small saucepan, combine sugar, water and salt over low heat until sugar is dissolved.

Add vinegar.

Take off heat and cool.

When water in big pot is boiling, drop whole cucumbers in.  

Boil for 5 minutes.

Remove from water, cool a bit, peel and slice.

Slice onion thin, (optional) to taste.

Place cucumbers in plastic containers, layer with onion.

Pour cooled sugar/vinegar mixture over the cucumbers to cover.

Place in your refrigerator, can be eaten in a couple of hours, and will keep for a couple of months!

You can also freeze them, take them out this winter when the snow is blowing!!

reade more... Résuméabuiyad

Triple Berry Preserves - My first attempt at canning fruit

triple berry preserves

After canning tomatoes, and having such great success, I thought I would try my hand at fruit.

I found a recipe for triple berry preserves and broke out my new canning set!

Triple Berry Preserves

(Makes about 10 cups)

4 cups crushed strawberries (about 4 pints)

2 cups crushed raspberries (about 2 pints)

2 cups crushed blackberries (about 1 1/2 pints)

1 (1 3/4 ounce) box Sure-Jell

4 1/4 cups sugar, divided use

1 teaspoon margarine

1 orange, zest of

Directions:

Wash your jars and screw bands in hot, soapy water; rinse with warm water. Pour boiling water over the flat lids in medium saucepan off the heat. Let stand in hot water until ready to use.

To crush your berries, use a hand potato masher. Add strawberries, raspberries and blackberries to a saucepan.

Blend 1/4 cup of sugar with the Sure-Jell powder and stir the mixture into the fruit in the pan.

Add the margarine and orange zest and bring to a full rolling boil (this means it doesn't stop bubbling when stirred) over high heat.

Stir in the rest of the sugar and return to a full rolling boil.

Let the mixture boil for exactly 1 minute, stirring constantly.

Immediately and quickly ladle the very hot mixture into the clean 1-cup jam jars (filling to within 1/8-inch of the top) while wiping jar rims and threads.

Turn jars upside down after the band has been screwed tightly.

After 15 minutes, turn jars upright.

** COOKS NOTES**

This recipe tastes amazing.  I know that the consistency of preserves is not like jelly, so I wasn't expecting it to be thick. But I also wasn't expecting it to be quite so thin, either.

I would recommend that you boil this longer until it thickens up to where you would like it.

Make sure that you wipe the tops of your jars down before adding the lids. This recipe is nice in the fact that you do not need a water bath.  I had two jars that didn't seal when I flipped them over, I turned them upside down again for a few more minutes and they sealed right up!

Again, it was thinner then I had anticipated, but let me tell you, we have had this one ice cream and used in place of syrup on french toast and pancakes and it fabulous!

triple berry preserves

After canning tomatoes, and having such great success, I thought I would try my hand at fruit.

I found a recipe for triple berry preserves and broke out my new canning set!

Triple Berry Preserves

(Makes about 10 cups)

4 cups crushed strawberries (about 4 pints)

2 cups crushed raspberries (about 2 pints)

2 cups crushed blackberries (about 1 1/2 pints)

1 (1 3/4 ounce) box Sure-Jell

4 1/4 cups sugar, divided use

1 teaspoon margarine

1 orange, zest of

Directions:

Wash your jars and screw bands in hot, soapy water; rinse with warm water. Pour boiling water over the flat lids in medium saucepan off the heat. Let stand in hot water until ready to use.

To crush your berries, use a hand potato masher. Add strawberries, raspberries and blackberries to a saucepan.

Blend 1/4 cup of sugar with the Sure-Jell powder and stir the mixture into the fruit in the pan.

Add the margarine and orange zest and bring to a full rolling boil (this means it doesn't stop bubbling when stirred) over high heat.

Stir in the rest of the sugar and return to a full rolling boil.

Let the mixture boil for exactly 1 minute, stirring constantly.

Immediately and quickly ladle the very hot mixture into the clean 1-cup jam jars (filling to within 1/8-inch of the top) while wiping jar rims and threads.

Turn jars upside down after the band has been screwed tightly.

After 15 minutes, turn jars upright.

** COOKS NOTES**

This recipe tastes amazing.  I know that the consistency of preserves is not like jelly, so I wasn't expecting it to be thick. But I also wasn't expecting it to be quite so thin, either.

I would recommend that you boil this longer until it thickens up to where you would like it.

Make sure that you wipe the tops of your jars down before adding the lids. This recipe is nice in the fact that you do not need a water bath.  I had two jars that didn't seal when I flipped them over, I turned them upside down again for a few more minutes and they sealed right up!

Again, it was thinner then I had anticipated, but let me tell you, we have had this one ice cream and used in place of syrup on french toast and pancakes and it fabulous!

reade more... Résuméabuiyad

Canning Tomato Sauces

So many different flavors!!

I heart home grown tomatoes

I will begin this blog by saying that I have a new appreciation for my grandmothers.  We ALWAYS had quarts of canned tomatoes in our basement.  My grandmas always supplied them. 

Wow. 

That's a lot of work. 

I have "put away" vegetables lots of times, corn, tomatoes, peppers, but I have always frozen them.  This year, my good friend, Betsy, asked me to come and can some with her.  I had seen this post from a fellow blogger about basil garlic tomatoes, and shared it with her. She was all ready to join the fun!

Her and her THREE 5-gallon buckets of Roma tomatoes!!

We decided that while we were making one kind, we might as well experiment.  Her spice garden was doing phenomenally this year, so we went to town!

the first two sauces as they came out of the canner

We picked from her spice garden, fresh basil, thyme, oregano and rosemary. I wish I would have taken pictures of all of the herbs!!

They all smelled amazing!!

Now, I will begin by telling you that we didn't measure anything, we made all of these sauces by taste. So, I will tell you how we did it and what is in each one, but you will just need to do it following your own taste buds.

First we washed all of the tomatoes, again we used almost all Roma ones. 

cute lil tomato butt, we can't use you!

Then we quartered them and put them in a blender, liquefied them and poured them into a big soup pot. Then we turned the heat up and let them cook down.  I have to say when they get big pink fluffy foam on top you wonder what you have gotten yourself into!! Ha!

We added a little sea salt and pepper, and when the "pink foam" was gone and the sauce was thickened, we transferred them to canning jars and cooked them to seal them.  One more thing, before we put the sauce in the jars, make sure that you add 1 Tablespoon of lemon juice to each pint sized canning jar for citric acid.

my half of the sauces we made

We made four different sauces: Basil & Garlic, Pizza, Spaghetti and Chili.

Here is the spices we added to each, while the tomatoes were cooking on the stove in the soup pot.

Basil and Garlic

For this one, we just did a base sauce with salt and pepper, and then when it was placed in jars we added fresh basil leaves (4-5 per pint jar) and 2 cloves of garlic.  They would be cooked during the sealing process for 40 minutes, you can remove them or blend them in when it comes time to cook with them.

Pizza

This one we did in smaller jelly jars.  This one had chopped garlic, oregano and basil added to the base sauce while it simmered. I think this one is my favorite, it smelled AMAZING!

Wish blogs had a scratch and sniff...

Spaghetti

We called this one spaghetti, but it would be a good base pasta sauce for about anything.  This one started again with the base sauce, we added chopped onion, garlic, thyme, rosemary and basil. 

 Once it simmered down,

(every time I say that I here this one teacher i had in grade school saying 

"Class.... Simma down now!")

we used a hand blender and pureed all of the onions into the sauce.

Chili

For the chili sauce we used the base sauce and added a little more cracked seasoned pepper corn. Then some red pepper flakes. It had a really nice subtle spice to it, that way if you want to have a milder chili you haven't already spiced it too much.

We figured that using minimal amounts of salt would be good, too. You can always add more, right?

Well, it took Betsy and I from 8:15 AM until 2:15 PM to can all of these, but I had SO MUCH FUN and learned SO MUCH! I thank her for teaching me one more thing... I am lucky to have her as a friend, she pretty much knows how to do EVERYTHING! ;)  Next week... peach ginger jelly!

Yay!!

So many different flavors!!

I heart home grown tomatoes

I will begin this blog by saying that I have a new appreciation for my grandmothers.  We ALWAYS had quarts of canned tomatoes in our basement.  My grandmas always supplied them. 

Wow. 

That's a lot of work. 

I have "put away" vegetables lots of times, corn, tomatoes, peppers, but I have always frozen them.  This year, my good friend, Betsy, asked me to come and can some with her.  I had seen this post from a fellow blogger about basil garlic tomatoes, and shared it with her. She was all ready to join the fun!

Her and her THREE 5-gallon buckets of Roma tomatoes!!

We decided that while we were making one kind, we might as well experiment.  Her spice garden was doing phenomenally this year, so we went to town!

the first two sauces as they came out of the canner

We picked from her spice garden, fresh basil, thyme, oregano and rosemary. I wish I would have taken pictures of all of the herbs!!

They all smelled amazing!!

Now, I will begin by telling you that we didn't measure anything, we made all of these sauces by taste. So, I will tell you how we did it and what is in each one, but you will just need to do it following your own taste buds.

First we washed all of the tomatoes, again we used almost all Roma ones. 

cute lil tomato butt, we can't use you!

Then we quartered them and put them in a blender, liquefied them and poured them into a big soup pot. Then we turned the heat up and let them cook down.  I have to say when they get big pink fluffy foam on top you wonder what you have gotten yourself into!! Ha!

We added a little sea salt and pepper, and when the "pink foam" was gone and the sauce was thickened, we transferred them to canning jars and cooked them to seal them.  One more thing, before we put the sauce in the jars, make sure that you add 1 Tablespoon of lemon juice to each pint sized canning jar for citric acid.

my half of the sauces we made

We made four different sauces: Basil & Garlic, Pizza, Spaghetti and Chili.

Here is the spices we added to each, while the tomatoes were cooking on the stove in the soup pot.

Basil and Garlic

For this one, we just did a base sauce with salt and pepper, and then when it was placed in jars we added fresh basil leaves (4-5 per pint jar) and 2 cloves of garlic.  They would be cooked during the sealing process for 40 minutes, you can remove them or blend them in when it comes time to cook with them.

Pizza

This one we did in smaller jelly jars.  This one had chopped garlic, oregano and basil added to the base sauce while it simmered. I think this one is my favorite, it smelled AMAZING!

Wish blogs had a scratch and sniff...

Spaghetti

We called this one spaghetti, but it would be a good base pasta sauce for about anything.  This one started again with the base sauce, we added chopped onion, garlic, thyme, rosemary and basil. 

 Once it simmered down,

(every time I say that I here this one teacher i had in grade school saying 

"Class.... Simma down now!")

we used a hand blender and pureed all of the onions into the sauce.

Chili

For the chili sauce we used the base sauce and added a little more cracked seasoned pepper corn. Then some red pepper flakes. It had a really nice subtle spice to it, that way if you want to have a milder chili you haven't already spiced it too much.

We figured that using minimal amounts of salt would be good, too. You can always add more, right?

Well, it took Betsy and I from 8:15 AM until 2:15 PM to can all of these, but I had SO MUCH FUN and learned SO MUCH! I thank her for teaching me one more thing... I am lucky to have her as a friend, she pretty much knows how to do EVERYTHING! ;)  Next week... peach ginger jelly!

Yay!!

reade more... Résuméabuiyad