Apple Butter

Another one of my fall favorites is apple butter. Growing up it was a staple, especially in the autumn when the apples were in season. If you ever get the chance to make this, please do, because it is so delicious and unique a spread. And it's fat free! The "butter" just refers to its spreadable consistancy like peanut butter. If you'd like to read more of my musings on this wonderful stuff, read about it on my homesteading blog HERE.

Apple Butter*

6 pounds tart cooking apples, cored and quartered (18 cups) (I also like to use different types of apples to give it a more complex flavor.)

6 cups apple cider or apple juice (If you can, use apple cider - the non-see through kind usually only available when in season. Cider just has a richer flavor.)

3 cups sugar

2 tsp. ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp. ground cloves

1/2 tsp. ground allspice

1. In an 8 or 10-quart kettle or large pot, combine apples and cider or juice. Bring to a boil; reduce heat. Cover; simmer for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. Press through a food mill. (You should have about 13 cups pulp.)

2. Return pulp to kettle. Stir in sugar, cinnamon, cloves, and allspice. Bring to boiling; reduce heat. Simmer, uncovered, about 2 hours or till very thick, stirring often.

3. Spoon hot apple butter into hot, sterilized pint or half-pint jars, leaving a 1/4-inch headspace. Adjust lids. Process in boiling-water canner for 5 minutes. Allow to cool. Once opened, keep refrigerated.

Makes about 8 half-pints.

Beef Stew

In honor of my wishful thinking that autumn were here, I've decided to post my favorite beef stew recipe. I actually only have one recipe, but it's turned out so wonderfully every time I make it that I haven't tried looking for another. I made some just yesterday and it's just so warm, filling, and savory - and it goes great with a chewy, crusty baguette and a hunk of yummy cheese! (Side note: I tried a new, lovely French cheese called Belvedere Tomme. It has an apple cider rind and a hint of apple flavor to the cheese which was also very fragrant, but it was oh, so delicious. It's so much fun trying new cheese!) Okay, on to the recipe.

Beef Stew*

1 pound beef or pork stew meat (I get whatever is on sale)

2 Tbsp. cooking oil

3 1/2 - 4 cups vegetable juice cocktail (I have to open a big can of the juice, so I try to use as much of it as I can!)

1/2 cup chopped onion

2 tsp. instant beef bouillon granules or Better Than Bouillon Beef Paste (the paste is awesome!)

2 cloves garlic, minced

1/2 tsp. dried basil, crushed

1/2 tsp. dried thyme, crushed

2 1/4 cups cubed, peeled potatoes

2 cups sliced carrots

1 cup sliced celery

2 Tbsp. all-purpose flour

1. In a large saucepan brown meat in hot oil. In a medium to large pot put in the meat cubes, add juice cocktail, onion, bouillon granules, garlic, basil, and thyme. Bring to boiling; reduce heat.

2. Ladel out a cup of the beef stew broth into a small bowl and whisk in the flour. If the paste is too thick, add a little more broth until the paste is smooth. Pour the paste into the pot, whisking to blend well. (This paste will get the stew to thicken.)

3. Cover and simmer 1 to 1 1/4 hours for beef (30 minutes for pork) or till meat is nearly tender. Add potatoes, carrots, and celery. Cover; simmer 30 minutes more. Skim fat if needed.

Makes 4 main-dish servings.

*This recipe is adapted from the Better Homes & Gardens Cookbook.

Jalapeno Cheddar Bread

Ooooooh, heavenly! I think this is the best tasting bread I've ever made, and that's saying something for me who has had so, so many loaves of bread fail into miserable little bricks.

I used this amazingly easy recipe featured in Mother Earth News magazine for "Artisan Bread in 5 Mnutes a Day." But before I stirred all the ingredients together, I tossed in some tiny diced jalapenos (from my garden!), and some shredded sharp cheddar cheese. It was so amazing! And not that spicy, which is good, because I can only handle so much heat. The jalapenos are important becuse they add such a delicious, wonderful flavor which the sharp cheddar compliments so well. TRY IT!

Jalapeno Cheddar Bread

Put bread ingredients in the bowl according to the bread recipe.

Before mixing, add in 1/4 - 3/4 cups of diced jalapenos depending on how hot you want it. (After baking, a lot of my jalapeno bits lost their heat.)

Shred about 1 cup - 1 1/2 cups sharp cheddar cheese and toss into the bowl. Stir, making sure to coat the cheese with the flour so the shreds don't stick all together. Mix according to bread recipe directions. Chill until ready to bake. Follow the rest of the bread recipe.

**Bakers note: I have had this bread come out doughy before. The best way to avoid this is to take the bread's temperature! As soon as it reaches 190º F deep inside the loaf, you know it's done.

Sticky Chicken

You want super easy and super yummy? Try this recipe out!

Sticky Chicken

1 lb. chicken breasts, skinned and deboned (or 2 regular-sized cans of chicken, drained)

1 cup apricot jam

1 cup fat-free Catalina salad dressing

1 pkg. dry onion soup mix

1. Cut chicken into thin strips. Saute in a skillet coated with cooking spray until lightly browned.

2. Combine remaining ingredients; mix well. Pour over chicken; bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer 10 to 15 minutes leaving lid slightly ajar. Serve over rice with your favorite veggies on the side.

3. Makes 6 servings.

Food Tip #1

So, I don't know how many food tips I have to offer, but I thought this one was worth mentioning. We'll see if I can think of some more to add to the list.

I don't know about you, but I am a person that is perfectly willing to eat the ends of loaves of bread... if there's no other bread in the house. I like crust. I just like the middle slices better, that's all. So what ends up happening is that bread packages with 2 end pieces accumulate in my fridge for weeks and (more realistically) months. Since they're refrigerated they don't get moldy too quickly either. After awhile, though, digging around the multitudes of bags gets annoying so I haul out my food processor and all the bread ends. Then I grind them all up into crumbs and Voila! Bread crumbs for future recipes. Then I put them all in a ziploc bag and stick them in the freezer until they're wanted. Or they get shoved to the back only to be forgotten all over again. Those poor bread ends...

But really. Having a fresh (frozen) supply of bread crumbs is a very smart thing to have and you don't have to buy these.

Cherry Pie Filling and Cherry Preserves

I had to write about my latest cooking escapade - canning cherries. I'd never done it before in my life, but when you get a canner for Christmas and have friends begging you to pick as many cherries from their tree as you can, then you get me - completely amitious. I think everything turned out rather well and I'm so proud of myself! I'd say that canning the preserves is far easier than canning pie filling because preserves requires chopping the cherries up in a food processor while the pie fililng requires you to blanch the cherries in water and to keep them hot while you make the filling. Yikes! I was surprised I had enough bowls.

Also, one important note: If you are ever going to make homemade fresh or canned pie filling don't use cornstarch! I mean it. Just don't. I canned apple pie filling last year using cornstarch and now it is all clumpy and separated. Instead, you should use this wonderful product called modified corn starch. It makes the most amazingly smooth and thick pie filling - just like you'd pour out of a can. It's just so much easier to work with and it's a lot more stable for canning. Give it a try! (I found it in the grocery aisle with the regular cornstarch.)

Anyway, here are some pictures:

The Cherries. Aren't they beautiful?

The pitted cherries floating in water and lemon juice. (Pitting takes a long, long time!)

I didn't get a picture of the cooking cherries, but here is the pie filling in the canner. Because of our elevation they had to cook for 40 minutes!

The finished cherry pie filling with a small jar of cherry preserves on the right. You can tell a big difference between the pie filling where I used water (on the left) and where I used cherry juice (in the middle). The flavor was quite different too. I can't wait to see how different they taste in a pie or a crisp! Yummy!

If anyone is interested in the recipes I used, just let me know. I have to transcribe it with my notes from the huge and overly detailed webpage from where I got it.

***And a BIG thank you to Clair and Damon for donating their cherries to me! :-) ***

Watergate Cake

Yes! Watergate inspired a cake. Actually, I think it was thus named because this recipe uses pistachio pudding and pistachio pudding became uber popular about the same time as the Watergate scandal.

Anyway, I absolutely love this cake. And I'm not a huge cake fan. There's something about pistachio pudding in a cake that makes me giggle.

So, without further ado -

Watergate Cake*

1 white cake mix

3 eggs

1 pkg. instant pistachio pudding (dry)

1 cup oil (or do 1/2 oil, 1/2 applesauce for less fat)

1 cup 7-Up

1/2 cup pecans, chopped

1/2 cup flaked coconut

Preheat oven to 350º F.

Prepare a 9x13-inch pan according to instructions on the cake mix box. Mix ingredients in order given, making sure to combine everything well. Pour the batter into the pan. Bake for 30-40 minutes until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool completely before frosting.

Frosting:

1 small container whipped topping

1/2 cup pecans, chopped

1 pkg. (3 oz.) instant pistachio pudding (dry)

In a medium bowl, dump in the whipped topping and fold in the chopped nuts and dry pudding mix until well combined. Use to frost the cooled cake. Keep frosted cake in the refrigerator.

*Adapted from a southernfood.about.com recipe