Canning Applesauce

Homemade applesauce is AMAZING! It doesn't even compare to the store bought applesauce.  However, it was pretty time consuming to make and an enormous amount of apples only yielded 3 quarts and 1 pint of applesauce.  I did get the apples at a  great price but if your just doing a price comparison, I believe the stores would have the homemade variety beat. But, if your comparing taste-homemade is exponentially better.

The process is time consuming but not hard.  Here is what I did.

I washed the apples.

Then I cored them(I didn't peel them).

I then cooked them in a huge stockpot with about an inch of water until they were mushy.

Afterwards, I have this really cool attachment for my Kitchen Aid that purees fruits..

See..Look!

Applesauce!

Then, I seasoned the applesauce with some cinnamon and kept it warm so I could can it.  I think next time I'll just freeze it in serving portions rather than can it.

But seriously...It is so good-I'll definitely make it again!

A quick weeknight meal

Here is a quick meal to make on a weeknight when your pooped, or your kids have baseball in an hour, or you have to nurse the baby and still have homeschool lessons to finish up and the dinner you had planned to make just is going to take too much time and that stresses you out to the point where you are contemplating hiding in the closet with a glass of wine and the phone to call whimpering to your husband to please come home....you get the idea..this meal is easy, quick, brainless, and yummy!

First chop up some veggies you've got in the fridge.  Today, I had green peppers, onions, mushrooms and zucchinii(from my garden!)

Then you need some Italian dressing seasoning.  I make my own mix but you can purchase some or even use Italian dressing if you've got it in your fridge. 

Heat up a couple of tablespoons of olive oil and saute your veggies with some of the Italian seasoning-about 2 tablespoons(no body's measuring just put in what you think)

Meanwhile, boil some water and add some whole wheat pasta.  I used elbows but use what every floats your boat...

After your veggies are nice and sauteed, add in about 2 cups of chicken stock.  Mine is homemade but store bought works just fine.

Then add in a package of cream cheese(cubed) and about 1/2 cup of Parmesan cheese(or Romano-which is what I had in the fridge)..see this recipe is forgiving and you can adapt it to what you have!

Bring to a boil and then simmer until the chicken stock has thickened and the cream cheese has melted.  Then throw in your cooked pasta.

Top with some grated Parmesan(or Romano) and serve!

Turkey Carcass Soup

After Thanksgiving the last thing I wanted to think about was more cooking or turkey for that matter but after years of making wonderful stock from our leftover chicken bones, I knew I could do the same with the turkey bones.  So, I froze the turkey carcass (and hoped I wouldn't about it).  Well, Monday it was COLD here, snow was on the ground and my boys weren't feeling their best...I knew I had to make soup.  So, I searched my favorite site Allrecipes.com to see if there was something besides stock I could do with a turkey carcass...this soup!!

It's soooo good!  This picture is from yesterday where I kept in on the burner on low all day.  Nicholas wasn't feeling well so I thought I would have it ready for when he wanted something warm to eat.  I was also baking alot and thought it would be easier to have something ready when Matthew and I needed a baking break (-:

This recipe makes alot!! I still have about 1/3 of a pot left for lunch today and I think I'll freeze the rest for when someone comes up sick.  I also had 4 quart jars of stock saved from it in the freezer.

It's super good, really nutritious and thrifty!!

Turkey Carcass Soup

(adapted from a recipe found on Allrecipes.com)

1 Leftover Turkey Carcass

3 onions, chopped

3 carrots, diced

2 celery ribs, diced

1/2 cup of butter

1 c flour

1 cup of milk

1 cup of  brown rice

2tsp sea salt

1 tsp. chicken bouillion

3/4 tsp black pepper

Place turkey carcass in kettle/soup pot and cover with water.  Bring to a boil and then cover and simmer for several hours(the longer you simmer, the better flavor-I simmered it about 4 hours).  Remove the carcass and cool.  Set aside 3 1/2 quarts of broth for soup(I had more than this that I just froze to use for other recipes)

Remove turkey meat from bones-I was shocked at how much meat we still had on the bones..I estimated about 3 cups of meat!

In the now empty soup pot, saute onions, carrots and celery in butter.  Redue heat, stir in flour until blended.  Gradually add 1 qt. broth and bring to a boil..cook 2 minutes.  Add milk, rice, salt, bouillion, pepper, remaining broth and turkey meat.  Reduce heat, cover and simmer 40 minutes until rice is tender.

I made some whole wheat biscuits to accompany the soup and topped them my favorite way-with butter and raspberry jam!



Makin' vanilla

I made a large amount of homemade vanilla last week.  I've made it before but in small quantities.  Now, I've made a gallon and hope to have vanilla for a long time plus give some away in pretty bottles as gifts.  Real vanilla extract is so much better than imitation and if you need another reason to not use imitation, read this link:http://heavenlyhomemakers.com/why-you-shouldnt-use-imitation-vanilla

She also has a recipe on her site for how to make the extract.  It's super easy!

First you split the beans almost to the top like this....

I had an Ikea jar that was about 1/2 a gallon so I used 40 beans per jar.

Then you fill the jar with a 1.75 liter of Vodka.

Then you place the jars in a dark place like the back of a cabinet or pantry for about 6 months.

After six months, you strain the beans and put the vanilla in jars to use.  It will keep indefinitely!

Venison recipe

My good friend gave me some Venison to try recently.  We had never tried it before and was wondering if it was good enough for Darryl to learn how to hunt.  She gave me some Venison round steaks and I used this recipe I found in the Fix it and Forget it Cookbook(modified slightly).  This was soooo good!  It was even better the second day and Darryl couldn't get enough.  Needless to say, he will be hunting this fall now...(-:
Here is the recipe:

Venison Swiss Steak
2 lbs round venison steak
flour
2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
butter
3 onions, sliced
1 cup carrots, diced
2 cans of stewed tomatoes
1-2 Tbspns of Worcestershire sauce

Cut up the Round steak into bite size pieces.  Combine the flour, salt and pepper.  Dredge the steak in flour mixture and brown in butter in your skillet. Place in slow cooker.  Add remaining ingredients and cover.  Cook on low 7.5-8.5 hours. 

I made some creamy homemade mashed potatoes on the side and it was a man's dream dinner.  I could do no wrong that day.  Enjoy!

Sunday dinner

A little bit of summer in the middle of winter:

Southern style fried chicken
New England Baked beans(in the crockpot..so yummy!)
Georgia Cracker Salad...this is so easy to make and it sounds weird..but it's soooo goood!

Georgia Cracker Salad(A Paula Deen Recipe)

1 sleeve of Saltine crackers crushed into a bowl
Add 1-2 seeded, chopped tomatoes
Add some chopped grean onions
2 hardboiled eggs
Add enough mayonaise to make you happy (-:

It's so good I love it!!

Blessings!

Another Kefir Smoothie Recipe

I'm battling a pretty serious infection right now. I'm on two antibiotics and it seems the infection isn't clearing up(Please include me in your prayers for healing)...Anyway, I knew I needed some serious probiotic help. Probiotics are known for immune boosting and help with infections. I knew I needed large doses of Kefir so I experimented today with a new recipe. The measurements are approximate because I just dumped everything into the blender, so you may need to adjust to your own taste.

3 cups of Kefir
2 heaping tablespoons of cocoa(Carob would be good too)
3 bananas
A large squirt (I'd say about 2 tbspns) of honey (I ran out of raw honey this week-that would have been ideal-had to use the bear)

Blend until smooth. This was really good. It tastes like a shake and had just get a tiny hint of the sourness of the Kefir. If that bothers you, use a little more honey.
Some folks have been asking me about other uses for kefir. I use it whenever a recipe calls for buttermilk or plain yogurt. It's great in pancakes and waffles. I marinated some chicken in it two weeks ago with spices and then baked the chicken after draining off the kefir....it was devine! I'm going to marinate some chicken this weekend with Kefir for fried chicken . It really helps to tenderize the chicken just like buttermilk.
Blessings!
Hope this helps!

My husband takes such good care of me...

And I'm so thankful for him and how hard he works for our family.

We are moving our storage stuff tomorrow to the new town and next week will be moving the apartment. So, Darryl got the truck tonight to load it up. We have a ton, I mean a ton of stuff in there it's really big as you can see it will fill this whole truck..and that's just our storage stuff. We'll have to rent two large units. Anyway, I digress, it's freezing here in N.C. as is much of the Eastern Seaboard. I mean crazy cold. Well, Darryl decided tonight that I should stay in with the boys, he will load it ALL HIMSELF! He really did want me to stay in with the boys out of the cold and said he could handle it...he's so good to me...

Well, I had to find some way to repay him and while it was small in comparison, It warmed him up in that cold. I made homemade hot chocolate. This recipe is sinful. I adapted it from a recipe I found on Allrecipes.com. It just wasn't fattening enough so I had to make it richer. The recipe calls for 6 1/2 cups of water and I instead used 2 cups of water and 4 1/2 cups of whole milk...if your gonna do it...then do it..why wimp out and use all water? I think not! It was so good, as you can see from his smiling face in the picture... So, without further adieu...

Creamy Hot Chocolate

1 14oz can of sweetened condensed milk

1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa

1/8 tsp of salt

1 1/2 tsp of vanilla extract

4 1/2 cups of milk

2 cups of water( you can try all milk if you'd like...I may next time if I'm feeling particulary naughty)

Mix the sweetened condensed milk, cocoa, salt and vanilla extract in a medium sized pot. Add the milk and water and stir frequently. I used a whisk and I think that helped distribute the cocoa and not leave any lumps. Serve with whipped cream or marshmallows. Enjoy!

Yummy Banana Oat Muffins

I made some muffins last night for our breakfast this morning and they were really good! Usually healthy muffins turn out dry, but these are suprisingly really moist. I have another batch of bananas turning dark so I may just make some more tomorrow and freeze them.
Here is the recipe:

Banana Oat Muffins (adapted from a recipe found on Allrecipes.com-I changed some of the ingredients to make it healthier)

3/4 cup of Freshly Ground Hard Winter Wheat flour*
3/4 cup of Freshly Ground Soft White*
1 cup of Oats(the old fashioned, not the instant)
1/2 cup of Sucanat
2 tsp of baking powder
1 tsp of baking soda
1/2 tsp of salt
1 egg
3/4 cup of raw milk
1/2 cup of applesauce
1/2 tsp of vanilla
1 cup of mashed bananas(I mashed three large into the batter)

Combine flours, oats, Sucanat, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a bowl.
In another large bowl, lightly beat egg. Stir in milk, applesauce, and vanilla. Add banana. Stir in flour mixture, just until the ingredients are incorporated. The secret to good muffins is not to overmix-they become dry and tough-so just until everything is wet.
Fill 12 muffin tins with batter and cook at 400 degrees for 18-20 minutes.

*You certainly don't have to use freshly ground flour if you don't have a grain mill. A substitution would be 3/4c whole wheat flour and 3/4 all purpose unbleached flour.
Let me know if you make them and if you like them. I think next time I may add some raisins for a variation or some dried cranberries but they are good on there own as well. Enjoy!

This post is for my dad. You see my lovely step mom ,whom I adore, informed me that my dad is on a juicing/smoothie kick lately. So, I thought I could add to his recipe repertoire one of my favorite smoothie recipes. The boys love it, it's great for your digestion, has Omega 3's up the wazoo...it's just a

great drink...so dad, if your reading this try it!

2 cups of raw milk Kefir (Kefir is kindof like yogurt with live cultures that you let sit on your counter top in raw milk for a couple of days to grow-sounds gross but it's great for you and it tastes like yogurt)

Handful of blueberries

Handful of strawberries

2 bananas

Ground flaxseeds(I buy whole flaxseeds and grind them in a coffee grinder)

Spoonful of raw, local honey

And if I'm feeling particularly healthy that morning, I'll throw in a couple of handfuls of spinach.

You never taste it, it just turns the smoothie green but adds some veggies.

That's it-my favorite healthy smoothie!

Enjoy it-love you Dad!