A Little Taste of Home for the Christmas Holidays

Today I got a little fire lit under me.  I managed to get my floors mopped, bathroom cleaned, and then I decided I'd better get movin' on my Christmas duties...Christmas is almost two weeks away! 

Each year our family gives a small Christmas gift to those who are part of the ministries we oversee at our church, or who minister to our family in some way.  This year I planned to use homemade canned goods from the abundant apple harvest as a little taste of home for the Christmas holidays for our friends.

In the Fall I canned about 30 small jars of apple butter, and several large jars of applesauce. 



Apple Butter



Applesauce


I think canned goods are pretty just as they are, but when giving them as a gift I want them to have a little something special.  I found these pretty 5" fabric squares the at the Wal-Mart, 100 for $10.  There are 5 different coordinating prints included.  I looked at other fabric and figured it may be cheaper to cut my own squares, but sometimes weighing the cost of my time is well worth the cost of convenience.  Obviously, convenience won this time.




Here are the 5 coordinating fabrics in the Fabric Cuts I chose.


In my basement I had quite a few extra canning lids.  So, one fabric square and one lid per jar...



Makes quite a stunning display!



This basket is for my neighbors.



These are for church.

With help from one pair of little hands and my own of course, we soon had all the fabric squares and canning lids attached.  My daughers' teacher is diabetic, so that's the reason for the one jar of applesauce.  Everyone else gets the ever so sweet apple butter.  Yummy!

Apple Crisp Modified

I enjoy spending time in the kitchen whether cooking or baking.  Somehow it's relaxing for me to get my creative cooking juices flowing. In my 6 years as a domestic engineer, I've adopted my own cooking motto.  When lacking an ingredient or two, "modify."  When there's an undesirable ingredient or two, "modify."  And so, my cooking motto has become "modify, modify, modify."

Many times I have a general idea what I want to make, but can't find a recipe that is exactly what I'm looking for or that I have all the ingredients on hand.  So, I modify the recipe until I get the desired results, and then jot down my new and improved modified recipe! 

As I entered my kitchen purposed to make apple crisp, I began my usual modification process.  I won't bore you with all the in between details other than I first tried a recipe called "Best Apple Crisp Ever" and it was by far Not the best ever!

In my opinion, Not the "Best Apple Crisp Ever"

  However, I will provide my successful final results.

Apple Crisp Modified, out of the oven and ready to eat!

Apple Crisp Modified!
(This recipe is enough for a very full 9x13 glass baking dish, and is non-dairy.)

20-30 Apples (I used apples from our trees of course, but you may use whatever types of apples you prefer.)
4 Tbsp. lemon juice
1 cup granulated sugar
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 tsp. ground nutmeg

Topping: (Courtesy of my Aunt Sabrina)
2 cups flour
2 cups brown sugar
2 cups quick oats
a couple pinches of salt
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 cup vegetable oil

Preparation:
Core, slice and peel apples.  I use one of those handy apple coring/slicing tools, then peel the slices and cut out any undesirable parts of the apples.  Since the apples I use are from our trees and we don't use pesticides, I cut out any bad spots from bugs, bruises, etc.  Next, toss the apple slices in a very large bowl with lemon juice.  You may want to toss them periodically as you slice them.  This keeps the apples from turning brown.  However, if the apples turn brown it shouldn't change the taste of the apple crisp.  In a small bowl, combine the granulated sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg.  Add the mixture to the sliced apples and toss until apples are evenly coated.  Pour the coated apples into a 9x13 glass baking dish.
In a large bowl combine flour, brown sugar, oats, salt and cinnamon.  Add oil and mix until the topping is crumbly.  Sprinkle the topping evenly over the apples.

Apple Crisp ready for the oven!

Bake at 375 degrees fahrenheit for 30-45 minutes on the center shelf of the oven.  I fill my baking dish very full, so I bake the crisp for the entire 45 minutes.  The topping should get a little brown, but not burnt.  Serve the apple crisp warm or room temperature with your favorite vanilla ice cream.  I am partial to Breyers Vanilla Bean.  My husband uses an organic soy non-diary frozen dessert called So Delicious creamy vanilla.  I've even been known to eat the leftover apple crisp cold out of the fridge.  Yes, it's that tasty! 

You will find what you prefer, and perhaps you will "modify" my recipe!

Time to Make the Applesauce

As a kid I always looked forward to eating my mom's warm homemade applesauce.  There is nothing in the store bought realm that can compare.  Since we have apples this year, how could I resist making my own?  It's time to make the applesauce!

I didn't have one of those cool apple corer slicer tools, so I went about things the old fashioned way, I used a knife.  What I learned, making applesauce is a labor of love.

Once I got all the apples peeled, in the pot they went!  I used a large 8.5 quart copper bottom stock pot, and added about 6 cups of water.  I read to use about 1/4 cup water per apple when making applesauce.  I wasn't so exact as to count how many apples I had peeled (Really I forgot), so I used my best guess and eyeballed the amount of water.  Apples, are you ready to meet your destiny?

I heated the apples on high until they began boiling.   Then I reduced the heat, keeping the apples still bubbling, and put the lid on the pot. 

Still cooking...  I checked the apples periodically with a fork to see if they were soft.  I didn't time the apples, but I kept checking them once in a while.  There's plenty of liquid, so no burning to worry about.

Here they are, soft and ready for applesauce!

Last year my oldest daughter and I made a small batch of applesauce for a home school experiment.  We used forks to mash the apples.  This works easily and requires no special equipment.  The applesauce is chunky, but still very tasty!  (My husband laughs at me every time I use that word.  Tasty!)  Since my kids are quite picky, I decided to go with smooth applesauce this time.  My food processor is pretty small, so blender was my appliance of choice for ease of use.

I put the apples in with a ladle, making sure not to overfill the pitcher, and allowing the apples and liquid room to blend.  Within a few minutes I had warm homemade applesauce!

Some for now, and some for later.  Yum... makes you want some right now doesn't it?

Apples, Apples, and More Apples!

Although we've lived in our 1928 farm house for three and a half years, this is the first year I've purposed to pick apples from our three apple trees. 

Aren't they pretty?

 I vaguely remember our first year here.  Could it possibly be due to sleep deprivation?  We moved here in the late winter with our one-week-old and 21-month-old daughters.  I doubt picking fruit from the trees was on the top of any of my lists that year.  Our second fall we had a big storm which wiped out the apple blossoms, no apples that year.  The third fall, another storm with ridiculous wind which literally knocked all the apples to the ground.  I remember taking the girls outside, attempting to pick up apples, but most of them were bruised beyond being usable for anything.  I think I made one small batch of applesauce and an apple pie.  

Which brings us to fall 2010.  This year we have Apples!

This is our Gala Apple Tree

I am not an expert of apple varieties whatsoever, but I did look it up and there are hundreds of varieties grown in the United States.  If you're interested in learning more, check out All About Apples.

Of our three trees we appear to have a Gala apple tree, some sort of tree with an identity crisis, and another that may be a variety of Red Delicious?

Identity crisis, Red Delicious or Golden Delicious?  My best guess, it may be a grafted tree.

  In an effort to make best use of the resources God has given us, I decided to make applesauce and freeze it in our deep freezer this year. 

Apples are you ready to meet your destiny?

More to come... making Apple Crisp and Applesauce!