Sleep over!

On Saturday afternoon the grandkids came over for a sleep over. 

Cailin (who is turning 5 in December) loves helping Papa do the dishes. She's become pretty handy with the scrubbies! 

Joey is more into arguing with Siri on Grandma's iPad than helping out around the house.

Mary Beth helped me put the finishing touches on the afghan I made for the Basset Hound Nationals raffle. I should do another post to catch up on the afghans I've finished recently.

In the morning we took the kids to the YMCA to go swimming. They LOVE being in the water and Sunday mornings it isn't real hectic.

After swimming was the obligatory lunch at McDonalds.

There is nothing better than spending time with the family! Since Mary and the kids moved out it is especially fun to spend time with them.

Apples!

I think fall is my favorite season. I do look forward to the newly blossoming spring flowers...and the summer warmth hanging at the beach. But fall is absolutely my favorite! Maybe growing up in Anoka - the Halloween Capital of the World - has instilled this love within! 

One of the best parts of fall are the apples. In my mind there is nothing like freshly picked apples to munch on. To make apple crisp with. To make apple pie with....you get the idea.

Last week I had the chance to visit Pine Tree Apple Orchard. 

Loaded with Harrelson Apples. These are dwarf trees making it possible to have more trees in one area and making picking a little easier. 

Newer part of the orchard where a trellis system is used

I did purchase some apples (and cider oatmeal raisin cookies and wild rice pancake mix and....) to can. I decided to do apple butter and apple sauce. I tried a new recipe this year for the apple butter using my crockpot. What an easy way to do it and boy did the house smell LOVELY! I think its intend is to let them cook overnight but I started in the morning. Here is the recipe I used:

Ingredients:

• Enough apples to fill your crock pot- use a variety of apples for a blended taste
• 1 - 2 cups sugar (to your taste preference)
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/4 teaspoon salt

Peel, core and slice the apples and fill the crockpot to the brim. They will settle during cooking. Mix the sugar, cinnamon, cloves and salt in a small bowl and pour over the apples. Cover the crockpot and cook on low for a good 10 hours. Stir now and then. If you leave the cover slightly ajar the moisture will escape thickening up the mixture. After some time use a whisk instead of a spoon to stir up. If you want to thicken up the apple butter leave the lid off for the last hour or two. 

Once the apple butter is at the consistency you want its time to can. Pour the apple butter into your sterilized, hot jars leaving 1/4 inch head space. Wipe the rim clean and place the lid and ring on the jar. Process in a hot water bath for 10 minutes. You can also put in containers and keep n the fridge for 2 weeks or freeze for 2 months or so. Canning keeps it so much longer.

This has been a productive canning season so far! The 3 jars in the front are the apple butter. 

My grandkids adore apple sauce. I decided to try making and canning some of my own. I think it turned out perfectly!

I used the apple sauce recipe from the Pioneer Woman, Ree Drummond. It is delicious! 

Homemade Applesauce

Prep Time:

 15 Minutes

 

Cook Time:

 25 Minutes

 

Difficulty:

 Easy

 

Servings:

 12

P

Ingredients

• 6 pounds Apples, Peeled, Cored, And Cut Into 8 Slices
• 1 cup Apple Juice Or Apple Cider
•  Juice Of 1 Lemon
• 1/2 cup Brown Sugar, Packed
• 1 teaspoon Cinnamon, More Or Less To Taste
•  Optional Ingredients: Nutmeg, Maple Syrup, Allspice, Butter

Preparation Instructions

Combine all ingredients in a large pot and cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, for 25 minutes.

Carefully puree in a food processor or blender (don't fill too full; split into two portions if needed) until smooth.

Store in the fridge and serve by itself, over pork chops, over ice cream, over pancakes...or any place where applesauce is needed! If canning use the hot water bath method and process for 10 minutes.

Nummy! And the grandkids totally approve! 

Salsa!

I love love love salsa! But not the hot hot hot stuff. Yes, I am a wimp. I decided to try my hand at canning some salsa so I could have that fresh from the (Farmer's Market) garden taste during the Minnesota winter.

I'm also going to warn you - I didn't really use a recipe. I looked at a couple and had some suggestions from a canning pro (thank, Mary!) but the gist of it was just throwing things in that looked good.

When I asked what kind of tomatoes were the best I was told to use Romas. They are meatier and not as seedier. I used a variety of peppers and onions, fresh garlic and even tomatillos. Don't forget about the fresh cilantro and limes! I LOVE the cilantro/lime taste combination. There are other things you can add as well like corn, mangos...use your imagination!

It was also recommended that I skin the tomatoes. Do you see how many I have? How the heck was I suppose to do all that in one day? Blanche the tomatoes first - OK I'll give it a try.

Put the tomato into the boiling water for a short time. Now - I waited until I noticed the skins start to split a wee bit. If I weren't mushing them to kingdom come anyway I wouldn't have done it that long. But it was still only a minute or two. Immediately put the blanched tomato into the cold water. Just do a few at a time or else you will end up with tomato soup - and thank you for not asking how I know that.

Amazingly enough the skins just slid right off the tomatoes! Talk about easy-peasy-lemon-squeezy!

I put the tomatoes in the food processor and munched them up a bit. I did NOT do that with the rest of the ingredients. I hand chopped those so the salsa would have some substance and not be soupy. You may wonder why I have no photos between this point and the end result? It has something to do with a VERY hot pepper - my mouth - a lot of running and screaming - and a gallon on milk. 'Nuf said.

I put the munched up tomatoes in a pot. Added the various peppers, onions, tomatillos, crushed garlic, fresh chopped cilantro, fresh squeezed lime juice, salt and sugar. Mind you - I had to taste it to make sure I liked it especially with the sugar and lime juice. The degree of fire will depend on what kind of peppers you use. This topic still holds painful memories so I'm skipping specifics. I brought the final product to a boil and then simmered (stirring frequently) for about an hour to reduce it. Some folks will drain liquid from the tomatoes at the beginning.

Once done I processed by packing the salsa into heated jars leaving 1/4 inch head space. I tapped the jars gently on the counter to remove air bubbles and immediately placed the hot lids and rings on the jars. Do them one at a time in order to make sure you can get the seal right. I also put mine in a hot water bath for about 10 minutes each just to be sure they sealed. I finished off the whole process my letting them cool in a place that is draft free. I love hearing the popping of the lids as they seal. Only one didn't seal (or maybe it did and I was a but anxious) so I fridged it and had some once it was cold. NUMMY!!!

Zucchini Bread

I have always loved zucchini bread. I've never been too good at gardening. I should restate that. I can grow weeds very well! Its the things I want to grow...zucchini being one of those things...not so much. I am always appreciative if I am offered some of the fresh stuff and will never say no! 

I use a very simple recipe. First, the ingredients: 

• 1 cup Oil
• 3 whole Eggs, Slightly Beaten
• 2 cups Grated Zucchini
• 2 teaspoons Vanilla Extract
• 2 cups Granulated Sugar
• 3 cups Flour
• 2 teaspoons Cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon Baking Soda
• 1 teaspoon Baking Powder
• ½ teaspoons Salt

I often times add other things like walnuts or raisins. Have even grated some carrot a time or two. But this time it was just as the recipe says!

Preheat oven to 350ºF. Grease and flour 2 loaf pans (this makes a double batch of bread).

First things first: grate the zucchini! 

In a large bowl, combine oil, slightly beaten eggs, grated zucchini, vanilla and sugar.

In a separate bowl, combine flour, cinnamon, baking soda, baking powder and salt.

 Gently add the dry flour mixture to the egg batter, stirring until completely combined. Once fully incorporated, pour batter into prepared loaf pans and bake for about 1 hour, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the loaf comes out clean.

Serve warm with butter! Very simple and delicious!

Click here for a printable version of this recipe

Pickles

I've never canned pickles before. For whatever reason I've always been a bit intimidated by the whole process. That includes the growing of the veggies (or whatever) to can. Did I mention I am the anti-green thumb? I think this is why Farmer's Markets were created! What a deal I got on a ton of canning pickles!

So...first thing I did was make sure I washed the jars, rings and lids. I made sure to put them on the sanitize cycle and had it finish about the time I was ready for them so the jars would be nice and hot. Put the new lids (I also put in the rings) into boiling water to prepare them for dealing.

After I scrubbed the cucumbers (see the picture above) it was time to cut them. Whether you slice them or not its a good idea to get that stem end off. If left on it can release enzymes that will make for mushy pickles. Blech! I decided to do a variety...sliced, speared and left whole.

I nearly forgot to mention! As I am doing this I have the pickle juice on the stove and am bringing it to a boil. Once at a boil it will be kept on simmer. At the end of this post will be the link to the recipe so you'll get the nitty-gritty ingredient details.

Time to pack the heated jars. A side note: I do these one jar at a time...in the following picture it isn't looking like that but trust me - in the end its what I done did!

Packing goes like this: fresh garlic clove on the bottom, cucumbers packed in tightly, fresh dill head and finally the boiling pickle juice filled leaving 1/4 inch head space. You don't want air bubbles so I gently (and I do mean gently) tap the jars on the counter. Take out a lid that you have in boiling water and put on the jar and use a ring to tighten down.

This is what it would look life if you wanted to put them in a boiling hot water bath. You don't need to do that necessarily with this method as long as you have sanitized everything and used HOT jars and lids and juice...but in case you want to really make sure the jars seal you can do it in a hot water bath for about 10 minutes. Sometimes the pickles turn out a bit mushy because you are essentially cooking them more.

Once the canning process is done it is important to let them cool in a draft free area. Being that I don't have a draft free area I lay down a bath towel, place the finished jars on it and then cover the jars with another towel. You can kind of see that in the next picture of the final products.

I usually just ignore them over night - and jump with every POP of the jars' sealing themselves - and in the morning check to see if they have sealed. You can tell if they have by pressing on the lids. If there is NO give they are sealed. If there is some give put them in the fridge and eat first. they are still okay to eat. Mark the date you made them on the top and you might want to notate which kind of pickles they are. The longer they sit the more pickley the become.

I can tell you that my youngest daughter has given these a 2 thumbs up (and apparently has been coming over and nabbing even more jars).

Click here for the Sweet Garlic Dill Pickle recipe - Enjoy!

Yesterday afternoon and evening we had sleet followed by about a foot of snow.  Between that and the winds it seems we have yet another day off school. Perfect day to work on crochet projects. 

Here are some of the crochet projects I have already completed. If there is a pattern online I will link it as well.

Mile-A-Minute Afghan

Shell Stitch - twin size

I have never tried the African Flower before but have always wanted to. I'm thinking of an upcoming raffle that might be the perfect place for me to donate it to. So, Let's begin...

I'm using an "H" or 5.00 mm hook for this project along with a variety of colors. Kind of a fun way to use of some of the extra yarn I seem to always have stuffed away.

Chain 5 and slip stitch at the first chain to form a ring. 

Chain 3 (this is going to be counted as the first double crochet).. 1 double crochet. *Chain 1, 2 double crochets - repeat from the * 4 more times. You should end up with a total of 12 double crochets in groups of 2 separated by a single crochet. Join with a slip stitch to the top of the first chain 3. Change colors.

Slip stitch in the the space to the right of the chain 3 in the previous ring. In the same space double crochet, chain 1, 2 double crochet. In the following 5 chain 1 spaces on previous row: 2 double crochets, chain 1, 2 double crochets. Slip stitch to the top of the first chain 3. When you are done there will be 6 sets.

Slip stitch into the next chain 1 space. Chain 3. 6 double crochets in the same space for a total of 7. In each of the next chain 1 spaces 7 double crochets. Change colors.

Single crochet in the top of each of the next 7 doubles form the previous row. At the space created by the sets of double crochets make a long double reaching down 2 rows to form the flower. (7 singles, 1 double, 7 singles, 1 double, etc). Change color.

Double crochet in the next 4 - the 4th should be the middle of the petal. 1 single crochet and double crochet in the same space. Double crochet around until you get to the middle of each petal. In that do 1 double, 1 single, 1 double. Finish off.

If you would like to add another round of color repeat the previous row.

Weave in ends and sew hexagons together using a whip stitch.

Once I have more progress I will update this post. 

Spring has sprung

Finally!!! Its been awesome outside the last couple of days and the grand-kids are having a blast playing outside.

 

2013 Bark For Life

I want to thank everyone who donated to Team Basset (and to me). With your generous support we raised $1,210!

Go Team Basset! Sue with Henry and Lisa with Gracie, Tank & Bones. 

I was also honored with being the top fundraiser!

I wasn't able to get any photos of the walk because I also was invited to carry the survivor's banner with three other awesome women! I'm sure there will be photos to come that I can share.

The walk wasn't the only thing happening. There were vendors for shopping, the MN School of Business Vet Tech students were on hand doing free nail trims, and lots of fun!

Registration

Time for a drink

[caption id="attachment_410" align="aligncenter" width="800"] The ceremony[/caption]

I hope you will help me make this even BIGGER next year!