Apple Butter

This was the first time I've tried this & it turned out really well.

First peel and core your apples. (Would be much faster if you had one of those neat crank peeler things, but we don't.)
Then slice them & put into a crockpot. I really didn't count how many apples, as they were on the small side. It filled up my 5 qt crockpot to over the top.
Then turn on high and allow to start cooking down a little. The lid just sat on top of the apples for about an hour or so and then it started going down.
When lid can fit right, sprinkle with 1 T. ground cinnamon, 1/2 tsp ground cloves, 1/4 tsp salt, & 4 cups white sugar.
Stir occasionally & turn on low. Allow to cook for about 8 hours or so until it looks brown & tastes yummy.
Put into jars or freezer containers. Refrigerate or freeze.
It is pretty thick, but really yummy!

Possibilities

Life's filled with possibilities

that challenge us each day

To take a chance, try something new

see things a different way

And it's thru these special moments

that we learn to change and grow

To explore the special gift

of who we are and what we know

For it's not until we try

that we find out what we can do

So don't wait until tomorrow

to discover something new!

What a lovely sight

A view from my Mom's kitchen...

Good lookin pickles & tomatoes!

Food Storage...

Hubby helped me put the food up yesterday which made it much easier & fun. So we can now add to our list:

4 pints + 4 half-pints Apple butter

3 gallons Sliced peaches (frozen)

5 Quarts + 1 pint more pasta sauce

9 pints more enchilada sauce

Today I'm going to shred up the zucchini and put into freezer bags. I do this in 2 cup portions as that is the amount I use for soups, zucchini bread/muffins & for zucchini cornbread.

Zucchini cornbread (or could be called fritters)

1 c. corn meal

1/4 c. flour

1 level tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. soda

1 tbsp. sugar

1 tbsp. buttermilk

1 c. shredded squash (1 cup if fresh, 2 cups if frozen & squeeze all the water out that you can)

Mix dry ingredients real well. Add enough boiling water to make stiff dough. Add buttermilk and squash. Mix well. Drop by spoonfulls into a hot cast iron skillet with hot oil. Cook until golden on both sides.

This is great by itself or served along side a bowl of soup, red beans & rice, or beef tips & rice!

4th of July Harvest

Today will be spent dealing with this harvest!

A simple home-cooked meal

Last night for supper we had a great meal. Just about the entire thing was grown by us, again...I'm not bragging, I just love saying that!
Pork cutlets in tomato gravy, mashed potatoes, & corn on the cob.

Pork cutlets in tomato gravy

1-2 lbs of boneless pork cutlets (you could also use round steak)
about 1/2 cup flour (enough to coat the meat)
salt & pepper
1 can of tomato soup
1 can or cup of milk

Pound cutlets so they are fairly thin.
Roll in flour & sprinkle with salt & pepper.
Fry in a little oil in a skillet until there is a brown "crust". They won't be all the way cooked.
Then lay them into a long casserole dish.
In a bowl wisk together tomato soup & milk.
Pour over the meat.
Cover with foil & bake for about 1 hour.

~Enjoy~

Long Weekend

My husband is off of work until Monday so we're looking forward to a long weekend spent together.
Today I need to make a trip into town to do a couple of errands & then back home.
I gave away a bunch of tomatoes the past couple of days so no canning for me today. I am guessing that in about 2 days I will be doing some more though. I'm thinking I will do pasta sauce or perhaps try ketchup. I would need to find a good recipe though as I've never made that before. Not sure if it would be worth the trouble as ketchup is pretty cheap. Of course, there would be the non-preservative/chemical benefits though so we'll see.
I am trying the best I can to keep things we cannot pronounce or don't exactly know what they are out of our meals. My mom has been telling me about the dyes in food having bad effects on children. ~My children aren't hyper or anything, but if it's not good for some kids it's probably not good for any!
I'm also going to get out my good old Nurishing Traditions book & plan out some of those. They are a bit time consuming but when you do some of the things for a while you see it's not that big of a deal.
So hope ya'll have a great weekend...I know we will! :)