Homemade Apple Butter

Here is a recipe I want to try:

Ingredients

• apples -enough to fill your crock pot very full.
• 1 -2 cups sugar (to taste)
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp ground cloves
• 1/4 tsp salt

Procedure

Peel, core and slice your apples. This is where the apple, peeler, corer, slicer comes in handy. It will cut your time in half.

If you are planning on canning apple butter, apple sauce or just plain apples. It really is handy. If you use one, see instructions that came with it.

If you do not have one of these, just prepare your apples the old-fashioned way, with a knife. If you do this with a knife, chop your apples up small.

Put your apples into your crock pot. Fill it up to the brim. The apples will settle quite a bit as they cook and soften.

In a bowl mix sugar, cinnamon, cloves and salt. Pour this mixture over the apples.
Cover and cook approximately 10 hours. Stir occasionally.

As the apples cook you will be able to go from stirring with a spoon to a whisk. They will whisk up nice and smooth.

The color will get darker and darker as the apple butter thickens as well. I love to let them cook good and long. It makes the apple butter so yummy.

Tip: Start these in the evening. Cook on high for an hour just before going to bed. Turn down to low and give them a good stir. In the morning whisk them up.

Let the apple butter cook down to your desired consistency. It will end up with a nice scrumptious browned color. You can leave the lid off for the last hour or two to get a thicker consistency. Fill your jars leaving a 1/4 inch head space. Wipe the rims clean, remove any air bubbles and place your lids.

Read more: http://www.simplycanning.com/canning-apple-butter.html#ixzz1isVDSWNn

Chocolate Cheesecake Candy Cane Bars

Ingredients

Crust:

• 20 chocolate wafer cookies
• 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon ground coffee beans
• 1/4 teaspoon fine salt

Filling:

• 8 ounces semisweet chocolate, finely chopped
• 8 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
• 2/3 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 2 large eggs, room temperature

Glaze:

• 4 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1 teaspoon light or dark corn syrup
• 2 tablespoons sour cream, room temperature
• 1/2 cup crushed candy canes (see Cooks Note)

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line an 8-inch square baking dish with foil. 

For the crust: Process the chocolate wafers in a food processor with the butter, sugar, coffee, and salt until fine. Evenly press the crust into the prepared dish covering the bottom completely. Bake until the crust sets, about 15 minutes.


Meanwhile, make the filling: Put the chocolate in a medium microwave-safe bowl; heat at 75 percent power until softened, about 2 minutes. Stir, and continue to microwave until completely melted, up to 2 minutes more. (Alternatively put the chocolate in a heatproof bowl. Bring a saucepan filled with an inch or so of water to a very slow simmer; set the bowl over, but not touching, the water, and stir occasionally until melted and smooth.)


Blend the cream cheese, sugar, and sour cream together in the food processor until smooth. Scrape down the sides, as needed. Add the eggs and pulse until just incorporated. With the food processor running, pour the chocolate into the wet ingredients and mix until smooth.


Pour the filling evenly over the crust. Bake until filling puffs slightly around the edges, but is still a bit wobbly in the center, about 25 to 30 minutes. Cool on a rack.


For the Glaze: Put the chocolate, butter and corn syrup in microwave safe bowl. Heat glaze in the microwave at 75 percent power until melted, about 2 minutes. Stir the ingredients together until smooth; add the sour cream. Spread glaze evenly over the warm cake and scatter the crushed candy canes over top. Cool completely, then refrigerate overnight.


Cut into small bars or squares. Serve chilled or room temperature.


Store cookies covered in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.


Cook's Note: To crush the candy canes, remove wrappers and place in a resealable plastic bag. Use a rolling pin to roll and break the candy up into small pieces, about 1/4 inch or so.

Ginger Macadamia Biscotti

INGREDIENTS:

• Crisco® Original No-Stick Cooking Spray
• 1 (18.25 oz.) package Pillsbury® Golden Butter Cake
• 1 cup Pillsbury BEST® All Purpose Flour
• 2 1/2 teaspoons ground ginger
• 2 teaspoons grated lime peel
• 1/2 cup butter, melted and slightly cooled
• 2 large eggs
• 1 1/2 cups coarsely chopped macadamia nuts
• 1 cup white chocolate chips
• 1 tablespoon Crisco® All-Vegetable Shortening

PREPARATION DIRECTIONS:

1. HEAT oven to 350°F. Position rack in center of oven. Spray cookie sheet with no-stick cooking spray.


2. PLACE cake mix, flour, ginger, lime peel, melted butter, eggs and macadamia nuts in large mixing bowl. Blend 1 to 2 minutes with an electric mixer on low speed until well blended, scraping bowl often (dough will be very stiff).


3. TRANSFER dough to prepared cookie sheet. With floured hands, shape dough into two rectangles, each 14-inches long by 3-inches wide by 3/4-inch thick, about 4 to 5 inches apart on sheet. Mound the dough so it is slightly higher in the center than at the edges.


4. BAKE 30 to 35 minutes or until firm to touch. Remove from oven and cool on sheet for 10 minutes. Leave oven on.


5. CUT each rectangle into 3/4-inch slices on the diagonal using a sharp kitchen knife, while still on cookie sheet. Carefully turn slices onto their sides. Return cookie sheet to oven.


6. BAKE an additional 10 minutes. Turn oven off and let biscotti remain in oven until crisp; 30 to 40 minutes. Remove from oven and transfer biscotti onto a rack. Cool completely.


7. PLACE white chocolate chips and shortening in a resealable food storage bag. Microwave 30 seconds on MEDIUM HIGH (70% power). Knead mixture in bag. Microwave another 30 seconds on MEDIUM HIGH. Knead. If necessary, microwave an additional 10 to 15 seconds, until chips are melted. Cut a small corner from bag. Drizzle melted white chocolate over biscotti.

Home Made Turkey Soup

• 8-10 Servings
• Prep: 30 min. Cook: 2 hours 35 min.

30 155 185

Ingredients

• 1 leftover turkey carcass (from a 10- to 12-pound turkey)
• 2 quarts water
• 1 medium onion, halved
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 cup chopped carrots
• 1 cup uncooked long grain rice
• 1/3 cup chopped celery
• 1/4 cup chopped onion
• 1 can (10-3/4 ounces) condensed cream of chicken or cream of mushroom soup, undiluted

Directions

• Place the turkey carcass in a stockpot; add the water, onion, salt and bay leaves. Slowly bring to a boil over low heat; cover and simmer for 2 hours.
• Remove carcass; cool. Strain broth and skim off fat. Discard onion and bay leaves. Return broth to the pan. Add the carrots, rice, celery and chopped onion; cover and simmer until rice and vegetables are tender.
• Remove turkey from bones; discard bones and cut turkey into bite-size pieces. Add turkey and cream soup to broth; heat through. Yield: 8-10 servings (about 2 quarts).
• I had leftover spinach from a spinach artichoke dip I made earlier in the day, so I put that in too.  Added some nice color!

Greek Style Vegetable Pasta

Ingredients

1/3 cup olive oil
3 garlic cloves, minced or pressed
1 medium zucchini, halved lengthwise and very thinly sliced
2 tomatoes, seeded and finely diced
12 Kalamata olives, pitted and chopped
6 scallions, very thinly sliced
2 tbsp. finely chopped fresh dill
1 cup finely diced feta cheese
Salt and pepper
1 lb. penne or rotini pasta

Instructions

Combine all the ingredients except the pasta and the salt in a large bowl. Toss and let sit for at least 30 minutes, or up to 4 hours.
Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Salt the water and add the pasta and cook until al dente, about 10 minutes. Carefully scoop the pasta out and add to the bowl with the veggies. Add salt and pepper to taste and serve warm or at room temperature.
Adapted from Main Course Vegetarian Pleasures
Total Servings: 8

Nutritional Information Per Serving

Calories: 317
Carbohydrates: 35.9g
Cholesterol: 58mg
Fat: 15.1g
Saturated Fat: 4.3g
Sodium: 289mg
Protein: 10.1g

Baked Garlic and Thyme

In this version of baked garlic, we season fresh bulbs of fragrant heirloom garlic with thyme. If you can’t consume six bulbs of garlic right away, you can easily freeze the cloves for later use and they keep for several weeks in the refrigerator.

Ingredients

6 bulbs fresh garlic
6 tablespoons olive oil
1 bunch fresh thyme
unrefined sea salt

Instructions

Preheat oven to 400° F.
Gently rub away as much of the papery outer skins of the garlic bulbs of you can, but take care to leave the skins encasing the garlic cloves intact.
Using a good sharp and sturdy knife, chop the very top of the bulbs of garlic off so that you might expose the tops of the individual cloves of garlic.
Place the bulbs of garlic in a clay baker or casserole dish, root-side down.
Dot each bulb with 1 tablespoon of olive oil.
Cover the garlic with fresh thyme and sprinkle the bulbs with unrefined sea salt.
Bake the dish, covered, at 400° F for 30 to 45 minutes.  If you don’t have a covered casserole dish or clay baker, you may tent the bulbs of garlic with aluminum foil.
After about 30 to 45 minutes, when your home becomes fragrant with the rich scent of garlic and thyme, remove the garlic from the oven and allow it to rest and come to room temperature before serving it.  Baked garlic is perfect on its own or with a slice of bread, but it also adds a beautiful, deep richness to any dish in which you would customarily use fresh garlic.
Total Servings: 6

Nutritional Information Per Serving

Calories: 127
Carbohydrates: 4.1g
Cholesterol: 8mg
Fat: 8.0g
Saturated Fat: 3.8 g
Fiber: 0.9g
Sodium: 81mg
Protein: 0.7 g

Huli-huli Chicken!

This is a marinade recipe, so don’t be fussy about measuring. Jus’ do ‘em to taste.

The recipe is enough for about three chickens, split in half.  You can use chicken pieces if that’s what you have. Marinate your chicken for at least a half-hour.

                               1/3 cup ketchup
                               1/3 cup soy sauce
                               1/4 cup brown sugar
                               1/4 cup honey
                               1/4 cup sherry
                               1-2 Tbsp. sesame oil
                               1-2-more pieces ginger root, crushed
                               3 cloves garlic, crushed
                               Worchestershire sauce to taste
                               Sriracha or Asian chili paste (or red pepper flakes) to taste
                               Squeeze a lemon in if you've got one

Brush the chicken with the remaining marinade while cooking over a grill. And don't forget to huli the chicken.