Slow-Cooker Apple Butter and Apple Sauce

 This is the time of year for all things fall and you will often find apple butter simmering at my house. I don’t can my apple butter, I just make a batch, and we eat it up or give it away. I love the way it fragrances the whole house so I don’t mind making a new batch every few week. With this easy recipe it is effortless to cook a nice sized batch. It makes me love Fall even more!

Here is some Fall Color near our home at Rocky Mountain National Park.

The only real work to making slow cooker Apple Butter and Apple Sauce is prepping the apples. I let the crock pot/slow cooker do the cooking so I don’t have to watch it. Often I throw them in just before I go to bed and let them finish off during the day!

 I do peel  and core my apples,   but I often peel them in one long strip so I can put the peels in the pot until it is done cooking and then just pull them out. If you have a food mill you could cook your apples unpeeled for the same effect. There is a nice flavor in the peels but it is fine to leave them out and still have a yummy result!

How to make Apple Sauce at the same time as Apple Butter

The same basic method is used for making either apple sauce or apple butter in the slow cooker.  Apple sauce is just cooked less time with less spice.When I make apple sauce I sometimes just use apples and a bit of apple cider or juice with perhaps a little lemon juice and a cinnamon stick or bit of spice. If the apples are not sweet enough I may add just a little sugar.  

  

When I want to make apple sauce at the same time as apple butter I add juice or water and lemon juice rather than vinegar and just a bit of cinnamon and sugar at the beginning of the cooking. For Sauce I usually use the full cup or so of apple juice in the process.  I take some of the apples out for the apple sauce after about 6 to 8 hours  and then add  extra spice and cook the rest of the apple mixture longer for apple butter.

Which Apples should be used

The apples used should be good for cooking with so any good baking apples are great.  I like a variety but choosing only one kind is great too and fun for a flavor change. My favorites are a mix of granny smith for tartness and perhaps honey crisp, when it is on sale, for sweetness with one other such as Braeburn, Jonagold, Pink lady, Jazz, Crispin, Rome, jonathon, winesap  or  gold delicious to round things out. I don't use red delicious which can get mealy and lack flavor for cooking.  I have thrown in a few Gala apples when they are in the basket. I also use any home grown apples I can get my hands on since they are free!  Honestly, any apple with a strong flavor can work in a mix.It is not like pie which requires an apple to hold together after baking.

Uses for Apple Butter 

While apple butter gets used up quickly on things like bread or biscuits there are other ways to use it. Mix it into oatmeal or yogurt. Top pancakes with it. Bake it into muffins. bars, cookies or cakes. 

Apple butter is an easy way to make desserts like apple crisp or apple pie amazingly flavorful, spicy and juicy! Just mix in 1/2- 3/4  cup of apple butter into the raw apples and then continue recipe as usual.

Another delicious but less common use for apple butter is as a glaze for meats such as pork tenderloin, ribs, ham, roast chicken. You can also make a dish of pork chops, chicken pieces or turkey cutlets with apples butter, apples, onions and potatoes. I will post that recipe next.

I have posted an apple butter recipe before but I have made a few changes so here is the updated version.

 Slow-Cooker Apple Butter and Apple Sauce

About 8 cups of apples, usually a variety is nice but one kind is fine-granny smith, honey crisp, Braeburn,  Jonagold , Rome etc  

1 cinnamon stick

½ -1 cup apple juice, cider  or water optional (not everyone adds liquid)

2 TBSP apple cider vinegar OR fresh lemon juice, optional

½ to 1 cup brown sugar, more or less if desired

1 tsp. cinnamon

1/4 tsp ginger

1 tsp. pumpkin pie spice

¼ tsp. nutmeg, optional

Prepare apples by peeling. If you want, you can peel long strips so you can leave the peel in for the first half of cooking. Simple remove them after the 6-8 hour cooking time.

Place apples, cinnamon stick, lemon juice and apple juice or water and sugar if you are using it into a crock pot. Cook for 6- 8 hours or so until apples are very soft. Mash apples up a bit with spoon or masher. If you would like to have apple sauce you may remove some of the mixture now and let it cool. You can use a blender if you want to make it smooth or just mash it further for chunky applesauce.

Leave the lid of the crock pot slightly ajar and cook on low for another 3-4 hours until apples are completely softened, thickened and a nice caramel color is achieved. Add extra liquid if needed during cooking process.

Blend with a hand-held Immersion blender or puree in batches in a regular blender. Or you could mash well with a masher.  The texture should be thick and smooth. You may push it through a sieve if it has too many unblended bits.

 If the apple butter is too thin, leave the lid off and the crock pot on high for an hour or so. Or you could simmer on stove in another pan. Basically, the apple butter is done cooking when a ribbon drizzled over the surface keeps it shape.

Serve on biscuits, rolls, baguettes, or other bread or cakes. Stir into cake batter, yogurt,  ice cream or pumpkin pie filling.  Add it to oatmeal. Stir into apples before making apple crisp or apple pie. Use it as a glaze for Pork or chicken. Spread it on a ham, turkey, cream cheese or peanut butter sandwich. Or just eat it with a spoon 

This can be made without crock pot in a large heavy pan. Cook on  low on the stove top, stirring often. I cook it on a bit higher temperature so it gets done faster and I do it during the day so I can watch to pot.  Since you will be opening the lid you will want to use more juice or water. You could also put the apples in a covered cast iron pot or other oven proof cookware and cook over night at 225 F. I usually finish it on the stove top and while I don't recommend it but you could still bake for last part to thicken by turning the heat up to 325 F or so and cook uncovered, stirring and checking often until the consistency is correct.  

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Bran Muffins

Bran Muffins can be a great start to the day or a treat anytime.  Of course, these are not for people who need gluten free but they are a good choice for daily whole grain with lots of healthy fiber that your body needs!

 I have been limiting carbs for a while but my cholesterol went up so I am adding carbs that have a good ratio of fiber to carbohydrate starch and sugar. For me, the jury is still out on how to lose weight and keep healthy while doing it but I don’t think the high protein low fiber diet is as great as I hoped it would be. I did lose six pounds but my blood tests did not look so good so back to the drawing board!

This recipe does have a decent dose of sugar in it, and you can cut it back, but I want to make something people will actually like to eat and these bran muffins are so good that I am often asked to make them. Sweetness does help. But feel free to dial back the brown sugar to 2 or 3 TBSP and the molasses to 1/3 to ½ cup and leave out the dates if you are trying to keep these lower in calories or with less sugar.

Bran Muffins

¾  cup flour, unbleached

1 cup whole wheat flour

1 1/4 cup wheat  bran*

3 TBSP flax meal

1/3- ½ cup brown sugar

½  tsp salt

1 ¼ tsp soda

1 tsp cinnamon

1 cup milk or buttermilk and 1 cup yogurt OR 2 cups buttermilk

1 egg

3 TBSP melted butter or oil

2/3 cup molasses

½ cup applesauce

½ cup crushed pineapple, well drained

1/3 cup dates, finely chopped, optional

Preheat oven to 350

In a large bowl combine flour bran, sugar, salt, and soda. Mix well. In another bowl add buttermilk, egg molasses butter or oil, applesauce, pineapple and dates. Add the wet ingredients all at once and blend together just until well mixed but don’t over stir.

Grease or line muffin tins and fill about 2/3 full. Bake about 20 minutes.

This makes about 24 regular size muffins.

*It can be a little hard to find wheat bran. I found it at Natural Grocers so perhaps you will need to look at more natural type stores.

Meatballs with Sauces for Appetizer or Main Dish

Here is my favorite recipe for meatballs with various sauces.   This recipe makes light and tasty little meatballs that are great appetizers especially in a favorite sauce. They are also delicious additions to spaghetti or soup. These are good served  over rice and veggies drizzled in a sweet and sour sauce too! I like making these for appetizers with an easy sauce. I have included a couple different ways to serve these tasty meatballs at the end of the recipe. My favorite is the simple Saucy Meatball Appetizer. This is easy to make a usually a hit. I know that grape jelly seems like an odd inclusion but it really does work. If you want it even simpler just use the jelly and chili sauce, which is a popular recipe found many places.

I have been hesitant to put this recipe up here because it has so many optional ideas but if you are okay with making some choices I think you will enjoy the basic ideas here!  :-) 

This recipe is meant to be a guideline, feel free to adjust and play with it.  It makes a large amount but it can easily be cut down or increased. The recipe calls for 1 lb of meat and 1/3 of each of the other ingredient so it is easy to adjust the amount. These freeze very well, both cooked and uncooked! So it is a good idea to make the full recipe and keep some on hand for a quick meal later!

Meatballs with  Sauces for Appetizer or Main Dish

3 lb. ground meat I prefer ground beef, 90% lean (It is optional to substitute ½ to1 lb or more lean turkey or chicken or sausage in mix.)

2 -3   eggs -- well beaten

1-1 ½   cup panko bread crumbs, dried or fresh bread crumbs* or cracker crumbs,--Whole grain choices work great!

2 TBSP water

 2- 3    cloves garlic, pressed or minced, or 2 tsp crushed garlic paste

1 onion, minced, ( skip if you hate onion J )

½  cup or so  ketchup

  2 -3  tsp  salt or seasoning salt (less if you add salty cheese or soy sauce or if you want lower sodium)

 1 ½ - 2   tsp ground pepper

  2 tsp dried herbs, thyme and marjoram, or any desired  herb blend (Greek, Italian, Asian whatever flavor you need) or use 3 TBSP fresh herbs if desired

 

Optional add-ins---Choose one or more of these if you like, but make sure they are go well together and compliment the flavor you are hoping to achieve and the sauce you use.

1/2   bell pepper, minced – optional

3 TBSP Fresh parsley mint or basil, minced

 1- 2   tsp onion powder

            1/2 tsp Nutmeg, freshly grated

           3 tsp+ Worcestershire sauce

3 tsp +soy or teriyaki sauce

1-2+  tsp, crushed red pepper

1-2+ tsp of hot sauce or Sriracha

3 tsp ginger paste

            2-3  tsp. balsamic vinegar

    Mix all ingredients except meat in a very large bowl. As soon as everything is well blended, mix in meat and blend thoroughly but gently. It is best to use your hands rather than a spoon for this. I put on food service gloves but clean hands are fine. Do not over mix or mixture will be tough.

 Preheat oven to 400 degrees or use convection oven at 375 F,  

Using small scoop or spoon, gently form 1 to  1  ½ " balls.  The size can be adjusted to how you are using them. Scoop half to full scoop and slightly press it into scoop and move it around a few times.  Keep it light, don’t smash or press too firmly.

Cover a baking sheet in foil or parchment paper. Place the meatballs on baking sheet; they can be close but not touching.

 Bake about 15 minutes until browned and firm but, not too dry.  Check inside one or use thermometer to make sure they are done.

You may also cook in a fry pan with a bit of olive oil to prevent sticking. Over medium heat add oil and meatballs.  Don’t overcrowd pan and don’t turn often, just let them brown and then turn.

 Generally this will make somewhere around 60 meatballs.

Once they are cooked you may place them in whatever sauce you choose or you can serve these with a warm barbeque or sweet and sour sauce to dip in.

Variations- 

ITALIAN VARIATION- Try 2 lbs. beef and 1 lb. hot or sweet Italian sausage.  If desired,  add and 1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese, an extra tsp. of Italian seasoning, 1-2 extra cloves of garlic, and perhaps a 1 tsp. crushed fennel seed , optionally, to the meatball recipe.   I use these with a marinara or other tomato based sauce.  I like Italian style with spaghetti or other pasta or as a nice sandwich with melted mozzarella.

   SAUCY MEATBALL APPETIZER- This recipe can be increased just use 1 lb. of meat or one third of the total recipe per this amount of sauce. If using the whole meatball recipe then triple the sauce amounts.  Combine the following in large pot or a slow-cooker and cook until bubbly---    - 1/3 to ½ cup chili sauce, 10 oz. grape jelly, ¼ to 1/3 cup barbeque sauce, 1/2  tsp smoked paprika and ½ tsp garlic powder or 1 tsp of garlic paste. If you want it spicier you could use 1-2 tsp of Asian garlic chili paste or 1 tsp or a few drops of Sriracha . Heat cooked meatballs in sauce. Serve warm from crock pot or pan.

CRANBERRY SPICY- SWEET MEATBALLS- Make a batch of meatballs but use only about half  or less of the onion, herbs and garlic in the meatball mix. These are nice with plenty of parsley in the meatball mix. Then use half of the meat balls for this dish and freeze the rest. Combine the following in large pot or a slow-cooker: 1Tbsp. brown sugar, 2  tsp. lemon juice, 1-2 tsp. balsamic vinegar, 1 16 oz. can jellied cranberry sauce, 1 cup chili sauce, 1-2 tsp Sriracha,  1 tsp or more ginger paste, optional.   Serve as appetizer or over rice.

Dried Bread Crumbs --To make dried bread crumbs, use French, Italian or other bread that is slightly stale. Slice and cube. Heat in the oven until fairly dry or toast carefully under broiler. Break into fine crumbs in food processor or by hand. You may wish to add a couple tsp. of dried herbs to season them. Store cooled crumbs in air tight container. You may freeze them.

TO FREEZE MEATBALLS- Place cooked or raw meatballs on a cookie sheet lightly cover them with plastic wrap or clean foil. Place on freezer shelf until frozen. If using foil you may wrap them up in foil (which you could later use for reheating)  and then package in Ziploc freezer bags  and store for up to three months. To Thaw, unwrapped and lay uncooked meatballs on a tray in fridge and then bake. Allow cooked meatballs to thaw partially then heat them in sauce or for a few minutes until hot in oven . 

Recipe By Denise Birdsall

Make-ahead Baked Peach French Toast

Colorado palisade peaches are in season so it is the perfect time to make this Peach French toast. What a delightfully sweet and satisfying brunch dish! This Baked French toast is extra nice because it is a make ahead recipe that is put together the night before and left in the refrigerator so that the flavors meld! It is awesome to have a delicious breakfast ready without having to prepare it in the morning.

 There are two ways you can make this French toast. I sometimes make this with the bread on the top like I did today. But this recipe is also great with bread as a bottom layer with the egg mixture and then the peaches placed on top.

Make-ahead Baked Peach French Toast

5-6 peaches

2/3 cup brown sugar

1/3 cup butter, unsalted

½ tsp vanilla

1 tsp cinnamon

2-3 tsp. corn starch blended into 1-2 tsp of water

9-12 slices of French bread, about 1 “ thick, enough to  cover the 9x 13 baking dish. Alternatively, bread may be torn into cubes.

6 eggs

½ cup whole milk

½ cup half and half

1 TBSP  sugar

1 tsp vanilla

¼ tsp nutmeg

½ tsp cinnamon

¼ tsp salt

First peel the peaches by washing them, and place them in a pot of boiling water for 1-2 minutes and then transfer them to a bowl of ice water. Remove the peaches and then slip the peach skin off.  Slice peaches into about ½ “ slices.

Heat butter in pan, add brown sugar and stir until dissolved and then add peaches, spices and vanilla. Add corn starch to water and mix before stirring it into peach mixture.

Pour peaches into 9 x 13 inch baking pan.

The bread slices may be torn into pieces or left in slices.

Press bread slices or pieces on to peach mixture.

Beat eggs and mix in milk, cream, sugar and vanilla and pour over bread. Sprinkle with spices. Cover tightly and place in refrigerator overnight or for about 8 hours.

In the morning, remove the pan from the refrigerator and let it come to room temperature while preheating oven to 350.   Bake uncovered for 30 to 35 minutes until puffy, toasty  and golden brown.

Serve immediately with maple syrup or whipping cream if desired.

Creamy Easy Lemon Curd

    Lemon curd is a delight!  It is a creamy, tangy, sweet, custard-like topping or spread. It can be used in tarts or pies, on cakes or scones, with fruit, or just eaten up by itself!!

          

       As I am writing this I am spooning up the last remnants of a batch I recently made for my daughter’s bridal Tea. This batch was simply perfection. But I must confess, I have made many batches that were indeed less than perfect. I want to share with you ( and to remind myself as well) what I did this time that seemed to work so well in creating silky, sweet-tart, creamy lemon goodness!

       I have most often used lemon curd recipes that I found from Ina Garten and more recently one from Alton Brown . Both of these are on foodnetwork.com. and I look to both of them often when I need a recipe!  The recipes each has for lemon curd are rather different from each other.

      Ina Garten’s recipe found on  http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/lemon-curd-recipe.html  makes a wonderful light, tart curd that has a nice body and is fairly easy to make. She begins with processing lemon zest into sugar and then transferring this to a mixing bowl and creaming with butter before adding whole eggs then lemon juice. She then cooks this all up in a saucepan over low heat.

       Alton Brown whisks egg yolks and sugar over a double boiler then adding juice and zest and finally removing from heat and adding cut up butter. http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/lemon-curd-recipe.html

        I have had pretty good luck with Ina Garten’s recipe and it often turns out perfect but there have been times that some of the egg white cooked into bits that ruined the smooth texture. However, I think I like the method of creaming the butter and sugar and then adding eggs and lemon before cooking it in a pan rather than over boiling water. I think it comes out creamier and is less inclined to separate. Ina’s recipe is easy to make but I wanted to try some other options.

        I like how Alton Brown’s recipe uses egg yolks. So I wanted to try Ina’s recipe with all yolks or 4 yolks and 1 whole egg. I also wanted to strain the curd after it was done because as fine as I get the lemon zest, it still added a bit of graininess to the finished texture and I wanted the curd to be velvety smooth.

        So here is my latest recipe for super creamy, not too tart lemon curd born from the blending of the lemon curd recipes from two of my favorite chefs.

         While searching for how all yolks or all whole eggs effects lemon curd recipes, I came across this article just now and it has some good information in it about making a fool-proof lemon curd-- http://www.finecooking.com/articles/foolproof-lemon-curd-method.aspx

Check it out!!

       It says that eggs whites cook at a lower temperature and so are more prone to coagulation. This is the science behind using all yolks and some people also think that the flavor is better with yolks. I also like to use yolks because I can then have the whites to make something else that can go along with lemon curd like meringue or angel food cake!

Creamy Easy Lemon Curd

About 3 large lemons (or 4 smaller ones)

1½ cups sugar

1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter, room temperature

5 large egg yolks

½ cup lemon juice

pinch of salt

Zest the lemons.  I like to use a fine plane grater or a small zester and grate just the yellow outer peel, not the white pith. If the pieces of zest are too large you may chop with a knife. I large food processing bowl add sugar and lemon zest and pulse until well blended.

Pour this lemon sugar into the bowl of a mixer and add butter. Cream together until light and fluffy. Add egg yolks one at a time and mix well. Add salt and lemon juice and beat until everything is well mixed. It may look grainy or even curly but it is okay.

Pour into a saucepan over low heat and cook while stirring often until lemon mixture reaches around 170 degrees using a candy thermometer or just below a simmer. The curd should be thickening, creamy and shiny smooth.  This will take around 20 minutes. Remove from heat .

Place a sieve over a glass bowl; the sieve does not have to be too fine. Press lemon curd through the sieve. If you don’t need it to be too creamy you could skip this step.

Store covered in refrigerator for up to a week or it can be frozen for a month or two.

Quick and Easy Chicken and Veggie soup

I think that Chicken Soup is the best medicine! I was sick this weekend and I really wanted some homemade chicken soup. But I did not have the energy to be up trying to cook a batch of my famous chicken soup that takes hours to make and lots of effort!

I knew I had a package of Red Bird organic lean ground chicken in the fridge that needed to be used so I decided to make a quick Chicken Meatball soup. I put on a mask and scrubbed my hands ( so my family could have some soup without my cold germs :-)  and put this together  in just a few minutes! It simmered a bit and was wonderful! I even sent my sweet husband off to buy a box of organic, free range low sodium broth and he came back so happy that he found it! Anyway, this soup was delicious, even without homemade broth and helped me feel so much better.

I love the Redbird brand of chicken that is organic and their ground version is great for making this fast. I did not have to cut up chicken so this could come together easily and quickly. I did not even form the meatballs, I just used a spatula to cut the ground chicken into little squares and gently turned them to brown. You could form the meatballs for a prettier soup but this was just great and fits with the whole idea of quick and easy!!

I added all of my healing foods for a sore throat, congestion and cough....ginger, garlic, rosemary and lemon. I also included good nutrition with some sweet potato and hearty kale with the fresh goodness of parsley. Since I trying to limit carbs, I just added a little bit of pearl or Israeli couscous.I thought the round balls of couscous would go well with the meatballs.   I am normally all about the noodles in chicken soup I left them out because, I am so excited to say,  I am finally losing weight by limiting carbs and eating more protein! I could have skipped the couscous but since this is all I ate that day, I thought it would be okay to include it!

Quick and Easy Chicken Meatball Soup with Kale, 
Sweet Potato and Parsley

1 – 1 ½ lb. ground lean organic chicken, red bird preferred

1 TBSP ginger paste

2 tsp garlic paste or 3-4 cloves garlic pressed

1 tsp red pepper blend or other spice

1/2 tsp each of garlic powder and onion powder

½ tsp crushed rosemary

1 sweet potato, cut into thin, small pieces for quick cooking…   plus any other vegetable you prefer.

5-6 cups chicken broth, homemade or boxed, organic, low sodium

1 cup white wine or water

1-3 TBSP lemon juice, optional

6 large kale leaves, de-stemmed and chopped into bite size pieces

2/3 cup or more chopped parsley, flat leaf preferred

Salt and pepper to taste

½ cup cooked Israeli or pearl couscous or other small pasta or rice

garnish with extra parsley when serving

Brown ground chicken, breaking it into little square “meat balls” and gently turning occasionally to brown evenly. You may of course form meat balls but this quick method works for quick,easy soup J

Add ginger, garlic and spices.

Add sweet potato or any other vegetable that take a longer time to cook (carrots, potatoes, etc.). Sauté for 4 minutes.

Add broth and wine or water and lemon juice

Simmer till sweet potato is tender, about 15 minutes or so

Add kale; cook 1 -2 minutes until kale is tender. Add parsley or fresh herbs and remove from heat. Serve!

Oatmeal Pecan Lace Cookies--Delicious, Flour-less,Gluten-free and lower calorie cookies!!

These light, thin, lacy and chewy, crisp cookies are flour free so they can easily be made gluten free by using gluten free oats. They are best with butter but if they need to be lactose free they can be made with other oils. 

On top of that versatility, they are whole grain, high fiber and lower in calories than other oatmeal cookies because they do not have flour. This recipe is adapted from one my friend got from Weight Watchers, but I am not sure exactly where she got it. But I have adapted this and really love these chewy light cookies that are pretty and delightful! 

Best of all, the texture and flavor of these cookies are wonderful!!! 

Oatmeal Pecan Lace Cookies

2  1/3 cups uncooked rolled  quick oats (choose GF if needed)   *

1/3 cup old fashioned oats*

1 TBSP ground flax seed, optional

 1 cup dark brown sugar, packed      

 2 tsp baking powder    

¾  cup pecans, finely chopped or any other nuts ** 

½ tsp table salt      

2/3 cup unsalted butter, melted***    

2 large eggs, beaten    

1 tsp vanilla extract   

Preheat oven to 350ºF and cover 2 cookie sheets with parchment paper or silicon mats (Sil-Pats)

Mix oats, sugar, baking powder, pecans and salt together in a large bowl until well incorporated.

Add butter, egg and vanilla to oat mixture; mix well.

Refrigerate dough for at least 45 minutes or overnight.

Drop teaspoonful of batter onto prepared cookie sheets and slightly flatten each out, leaving at least 2-inches between each cookie.

Bake cookies until beginning to brown and edges turn golden brown, about 10 to 14 minutes. Leave them in the oven util nice and brown but they do go from perfect to very done quickly so keep an eye on them.  

Let cookies stand on cookie sheets for 2 minutes then carefully place on  cooling rack until completely cooled. These cookies are best eater soon after baking but may store in airtight container with layer of wax paper between cookies if needed. Be gentle with these cookies, they are delicate.

Yields 2 cookies per serving.

Notes

*For the oats I like to use mostly quick (not instant) oats. These are chopped a bit. If you only have larger old fashioned type oats put 2/3’s of them in the blender for a quick chop. I also add old fashioned oats for texture. You could add up to ½ cup or so if desired.

If you like the cookies denser, you could put half of the quick oats in the blender for a few seconds.

If you don’t have old fashioned use all quick oats.

**You can substitute any kind of nut for the pecans. I leave almond slices whole if I use almonds. Make sure to chop other nuts finely.

*** For dairy free use  2/3 cup of non-dairy margarine like smart balance or coconut oil Or a mix of one of these with a bit of shortening or olive oil.