The sky — it fills me with awe — and it fills up my camera roll too.
The electric wire hampers my sunset shots here at the cottage, but I take them anyway.
But sunrise on the other side — there’s nothing but hills and sky and sometimes beautiful color.
Linking up to Graydaysandcoffee for iPhriday iPhotos.
Traditional Apple Butter is cooked over a low flame for very long time so that it’s spiciness can be cooked into the apples until they are creamy and spreadable and delectable.
It takes a lot of apples, peeled apples, and a lot of time and burnt pans in the process. I’ve read that traditional cooks used copper pennies in the bottom of their kettles to keep the apple butter from sticking. That’s probably the best use for pennies that I’ve heard lately.
The last time I made apple butter, I peeled a mountain of apples; then I cooked the apples for a very very very long time; and from that mountain of apples I ended up with about 3 pints of apple butter. It didn’t seem like a practical way to use my apple harvest.
Traditional apple butter also calls for stupendous amounts of sugar.
Now, about sugar — I’ve seen lots of recipes lately that call for just apple juice as a sweetener. In my humble opinion, apple butter without sugar is tasteless. I don’t put much in — only a half cup or so in each batch — and I use fair trade organic sugar so I don’t have to feel so bad about it. :-)
So in the interest of modern time-saving and apple saving, I decided to try two new ways of making apple butter. For the first batch I cored the apples but did not peel them. I added about 3/4 cup of water to the bottom of the pot and basically just steamed them for about 10 minutes — roughly chopped, unpeeled, but scrubbed, apples. When they were soft, I put them through my Victorio Food Strainer ($50 on Amazon, and the best time-saving device in the world.)
Just look how thick this stuff is and it hasn’t even been cooked yet!
The next batch, I baked whole apples in the oven. 
Aren’t they cool looking? Not what I expected at all. I just dumped the whole pan in the hopper of the food mill and again, got thick apple puree.
I put the thick puree into glass pans, added a bit of sugar, lots of spices, and baked them in a low (300-325) oven for an hour or so. Check it and stir it, and taste it after an hour. I added whole cinnamon sticks to one batch, and I really liked the extra pizazz.
I wish I could tell you the yield, but I was haphazard about it. (Yes, it’s true, I am sometimes haphazard when I cook.) But I can tell you that it was much more than three pints.
And it’s lovely to tuck in a Christmas present.
I’ve been feeling rather like a scrooge these days.
The world’s a mess,
it’s dark december,
and why should i buy more stuff to give to people who already have too much stuff
when so much of the world doesn’t have enough…
The cure?
Decorate your tree with old ornaments and don’t buy a single new one. Be sure to take pictures of the beauty.
Go Christmas Caroling at a nursing home; spend your Christmas money on local kids who won’t get many presents; buy hats and mittens and scarves and donate them to the local Salvation Army; buy food for your local food bank; if you go out to eat this season, tip your server generously as a Christmas present; make gifts of food to give away instead of buying things; or alternately, give gifts from Kiva, World Vision, or Heifer International; visit that friend you’ve put off visiting, because you will regret not doing it someday. I know this to be true.
And thank God for your blessings. Your health, your wealth, your family, your house, the food on your table, the beauty around you…
Including a well-behaved kitty cat who loves the Christmas tree, and doesn’t bother those low-hanging ornaments.
I’m joining up with iPhriday today. Use your iPhone to take some pictures and post about them.
the circle of life 