Category Archives: Pickles, Canning and Freezing

Crockpot Apple Butter

Posted on September 10, 2012 | 3 Comments

OOPS! I received an email from my friend, and loyal reader, Cheryl. “Did you perhaps leave out an ingredient in your Apple Crisp recipe? I have a very nice apple soup cooling in my kitchen”, she wrote. Oh no! I immediately looked up my Autumn’s Caramel Apple Crisp recipe to see what in the world I had done I couldn’t see anything amiss, so I just had to make another pan of apple crisp. Both the Chief and my Sous-chef dish-washing mom say “THANK YOU” for another pan of this unbelievably great caramel apple crisp.
Apples are plenty at this time of year and I do love making apple crisp. Even though I have made this recipe many times I did worry something was wrong when Cheryl’s crisp turned out to be apple soup. I use Granny Smith apples and so did she. I used Turbinado and brown sugar, so did she.
Caramel — the same. Bottom line – I have no idea why Cheryl’s apple crisp turned into soup. I can only guess that it has to do with the difference in juice in the apples. OR that she lives in Nebraska and I live in Tennessee. Yes, that must be it. Anybody else have any ideas? If you do, please share — we want to know!! BTW - if you choose to make this caramel apple recipe, you may want to adjust the sugar depending on the apples you choose. If your apples start out sweet, decrease sugar a bit. On to apple butter – and hopefully NO soup!

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If you don’t have a tried and true method for making applesauce Click HERE for a tutorial from Pick Your Own.org. They are one of my favorite sites for step-by-step guidelines. Next step for beautiful apple butter …
My slow cooker is 6 quarts. I filled it with 4 quarts of homemade applesauce. Brown sugar, turbinado sugar, and spices are added. This applesauce cooks for 8 to 10 hours and during that time it turns into the most lovely color of dark brown.
At this point the applesauce has cooked down and really thickened. My Chief Culinary Consultant claims this is the very best he has ever eaten. Blush.

Apple butter can be placed in jars and refrigerated for up to two months. Placed in the freezer for up to one year. OR you can water bath the jars as I did, and store for even longer than a year We like slathering apple butter on bread, like this Homemade Wheat Bread

or yummy pancakes or even a biscuit or two!

You can view the recipe and PRINT from my Tasty Kitchen Recipe Box!

~Blessings, Catherine

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Posted in Dessert, Fruits, Pickles, Canning and Freezing, Sauces. Jams. and Spreads

Tagged apple butter, apple sauce, caramel apple crisp, crockpot apple butter, slow cooker recipe

Weekend RoundUP with Squash Relish

Posted on August 3, 2012 | Leave a comment

Last spring my neighbor Gaye was telling me about a squash relish that she makes and serves with pinto beans and cornbread. Growing up in Nebraska my mom would make white navy beans and ham with cornbread, but it wasn’t until I married my Southern-born husband that I actually cooked pinto beans. I was a very, very picky eater as a child (wish I were a little pickier these days!) and beans were never of any interest to me. I have had a good 20+ years of practice making pinto beans and cornbread and today I like them. I asked my main-man-gardener if he would grow some yellow squash so that I could make this relish. The idea of a tasty relish on the side with pinto beans intrigued me.

The squash grew beautifully and I bought sweet Vidalia onions to use in the relish. Sweet peppers, red or green are good in this recipe too. Ours weren’t quite ready from the garden when I canned the relish so I didn’t use them this time.

I diced the squash and onions, added some canning salt and let them sit overnight. The salt brings out the liquid in the squash and then is drained off.

Vinegar, sugar and spices are added and then everything is simmered for about 30 minutes.

At this point the relish is ready to be canned. I like to can. I get a lot of satisfaction when the jars are cooling and I hear the little ping –plunk – plunk – as the lids are sealing.

I am by no means an expert canner but since I want to share some of my best canning recipes with you, I suggest that you follow experts on “how to can”. I like to use my Ball Blue Book or the best website I have found is at PickYourOwn.org. This website has a huge amount of information and follows the latest updated techniques as outlined by the USDA.

This batch makes 5 pints, so you’ll need 5 pint-sized canning jars with lids and rings. The relish is canned using the water bath method. Each pint will serve 4-5 depending on how you are using the relish. This relish is a good choice to serve with chicken, fish, pork or beans!

PRINT Squash Relish Recipe from my Tasty Kitchen Recipe Box

Recipes from the kitchen this week include a side dish pie, a dessert pie and awesome birthday cupcakes!

Yummy Vidalia Onion and Parmesan Tart
TWD:BWJ Blueberry-Nectarine Pie
Black and White Irish Cream Cupcakes with Bailey’s Cream Frosting

Many Blessings and Happy Cooking ~ Catherine

“Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.” James 1:22 NIV

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Posted in Cake, Dessert, Fruits, Pickles, Canning and Freezing, Pie, Sauces. Jams. and Spreads, Side Dishes, TWD:BWJ, Vegetables

Tagged bake, Baking, canning, Chocolate, cupcakes, Dessert, onion pie, relish, squash relish, tuesdays with dorie, Vidalia onions

Good-Bye July with Frozen Hot Chocolate & Weekend RoundUP

Posted on July 27, 2012 | 2 Comments

Good-bye July! I know we still have a couple of days left of July but I never mind seeing it in the rear view of my memory. Since July is typically way hotter than I like, I never mind saying goodbye. What it means to me is that I survived another southern summer month of July and that I best be deciding what kind of birthday treat I am going to make for my Chief Culinary Consultant who will be celebrating a birthday next week I have narrowed it down to - chocolate. Actually, for the Chief’s birthday chocolate is a given. I’ll let you know next week where it goes from there Speaking of chocolate, did you see this post from The Brown Eyed Baker for Frozen Hot Chocolate!
Michelle put together a recipe of hot chocolate from scratch, put it in the blender with ice and milk and came up with this awesome frozen hot chocolate. Me? I hit the EASY button, took out a packet of Swiss Miss, added 1/2 cup milk, blended well. Then I blended in 1 cup of ice and topped with whip cream. The whole process took less than 1 minute and my family was d-e-l-i-g-h-t-e-d with this summer treat!I hope you are having fun this weekend and enjoying all that the summer sun has to offer. If you are looking to spend a little time in the kitchen, don’t forget about these fun dishes.

Green Bean Buddies
Apple-Blackberry Crostata

And, if the garden, or your neighbor, has blessed you with a bag of fresh cucumbers you may be needing this recipe: Crispy Cucumber Freezer Pickles

“Good will come to those who are generous and lend freely, who conduct their affairs with justice.” Psalm 112:5 NIV

~Happy Cooking and Sweet Blessings, Catherine

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Posted in Appetizers, Dessert, Pickles, Canning and Freezing, Pie, Salads, Side Dishes, Vegetables

Tagged Baking, crostata, cucumbers, Dessert, frozen hot chocolate, green beans, pickles, Pie, side dish, summer hot chocolate, vegetables

Crispy Cucumber Freezer Pickles

Posted on July 26, 2012 | Leave a comment

When my neighbor, Kathy, called and asked me for a good freezer pickle recipe I said, “can you freeze pickles?” She laughed and said “I hope so! I have waaaay too many cucumbers but I don’t want to can them.” Okay. Freezer pickles. I began searching for recipes and much to my surprise — I found lots of them! I was so shocked and kept thinking, “won’t they be soggy after freezing?”
This process starts out by slicing up cucumbers, onions, red peppers and green peppers. The vegetables are then covered with a sugar, salt, and vinegar mixture. I added celery seeds and started the marinating process. The mixture is covered and refrigerated for 3 days with a stir each day.
At the end of the 3 days the pickles and veggies are placed in freezer containers. I quickly put them in the freezer to get them frozen as I was still suspicious that the cucumbers would be crispy afterwards.

I left them in the freezer a week or so. I let them thaw in the refrigerator and I’ll be — they are nice and crispy, very tasty dripping with the sweet and sour of the sugar and vinegar! The onions and red pepper stays crisp as well. If you have access to more cucumbers than you can eat fresh, but you don’t want to mess with the pickling and canning process … not to worry. FREEZE THEM! When I asked Kathy how she liked her freezer pickles she reported she has already made two batches and they love them!

PRINT Crispy Cucumber Freezer Pickles from my Tasty Kitchen recipe box.

I am reading through Proverbs right now and got to wondering how the book got its name, Proverbs. Wikipedia says: A proverb (from Latin: proverbium) is a simple and concrete saying popularly known and repeated, which expresses a truth, based on common sense or the practical experience of humanity. They are often metaphorical. A proverb that describes a basic rule of conduct may also be known as a maxim.

Proverbs is one of the books of the Bible that is good to read over and over. Each time I do something new jumps out at me and sticks in my memory. I pray it is a blessing to you also.

Proverbs 10:3
The Lord does not let the righteous go hungry, but he thwarts the craving of the wicked.

~Happy Cooking and Many Blessings, Catherine