Two weeks ago, today, I gave a shot at making crabapple butter. My husband remembered his mother making crabapple butter and how good it tasted and asked if I would make some. I had read all over the internet that it is a lengthy process but after my husband picked all the apples, I dove in. First of all, it starts out just like applesauce, which I have made several times. After you get your applesauce mixture you add sugar, cinnamon, and other spices. I wished I would have written down what I used cause it actually turned out tasting really good. I guess this is one time where dump and taste wasn’t a good idea because I have a recipe that turned out good and don’t have a recipe – Agh! Anyways, the part of making crabapple butter that I didn’t like was standing over the stove for such a long time. You have to cook it down to a thickened state, on a lower heat, stirring, stirring, and stirring. I cooked it for a little over three hours, stirring every five minutes. This might be my husbands first and last batch. I know, I say that thinking that when the crabapples come back on next year, I will be at it again.
Friday, October 4, 2013
Thursday, October 3, 2013
Pickled Beets
Monday and Tuesday were more days of canning. I’ve said it before, but pickled beets are about the prettiest thing when bottled. That deep, rich purplish color just cant be “BEET” – ha! Earlier in September I bottled 21 quarts and got another 21 quarts this week. A lot of people don’t like pickled beets but we sure do. We actually set them on the table for most all our evening meals. Beets are very low in fat and cholesterol content and are claimed to contain powerful nutrient compounds. It takes a bit of time to get them ready for the bottles but we sure do enjoy them.
Early Snow Contrasts
Woke up to a bit of snow on the ground this morning and it has been snowing off and on all morning. How things look and how things feel are sure different! It looked so pretty out my window this morning and then when I went outside to take a few pictures, I sure didn’t like how it felt. The beauty of it though, is I get to hibernate in my warm house while looking out my windows at the contrasting beauty. The contrast of the greens, reds, and white are a bit of eye candy – Yes!
Wednesday, October 2, 2013
Halloween/Thanksgiving Pumpkin Goblets
This past weekend, my husband and I went to Idaho Falls where we met with our daughter to go to the temple. After the temple, we went to Red Robin for some gourmet burgers. My husband opted to get fish and chips but my daughter and I shared one of their burgers with steak fries. Their fries are really good and they served them with a sauce they called “Campfire Sauce”. This sauce was so yummy that I came home to see if I could find a copycat recipe on the internet. All the copycat recipes had basically the same ingredients. This one claimed to be the best….. 1/2 cup Hickory Sweet Baby Ray’s BBQ sauce mixed with 1/2 cup Mayo. After eating, we said goodbye to our daughter then went to a few stores. I went to Ross Dress for Less and as soon as I walked in the door, I came across the cutest Halloween goblets. I knew what I was going to do with them right away. I wanted to put candles in them and put them on my entryway desk.
When I got them home, I put green half beads in the bottom, that were left over from our daughters wedding. I also bought some candles at Ross’s that I nestled down in the beads.
I didn’t want to light the real candles so I got some LED tea lights, measured how big they were then cut holes out of the center of my candles and placed the tea lights inside the candles. The tea lights I had on hand have rings/ridges around the top which I thought diminished the realism of them so I’m looking for others that will look a little more realistic.
I think the pumpkins on the goblets are wonderful. The are outlined with some gold that almost looks like it was soldered on. They came in three sizes but I just purchased the small and medium sizes. You know, where they aren’t carved or spooky pumpkins, I think I will keep them up and use them for my Thanksgiving decorations, too. Love them.
