everybody's cooking

It seems like lately everyone is cooking...some recent posts about food...

Leya over at Curious Bird makes granola
Angry Chicken makes crepes
Cheila is always cooking.... and taking splendid photos of said food..

Is it the harvest season inspiring us all? What have you been cooking?

easy canning and very easy apple sauce

I was always cautious about canning I thought it was too complicated. Then for my birthday I got a huge stainless steel stock pot and we had to do something with all of the apples we picked. So I tried it and turns out it is pretty easy, just time consuming. Now I am obsessed with canning, I currently have beets in the oven waiting to be pickled and canned. I'd like to share with you my apple sauce recipe it is so easy even if you just want to make enough for one sitting; sans canning. It is so delicious, I had some for breakfast and lunch!

Apple Sauce
About 16 small-medium apples (I used McIntosh) cored and peeled and cut into quarters
3cups water and 1cup brown sugar (or brown rice syrup for sugar free apple sauce just increase the amount of syrup by 1/4)*
Cinnamon be liberal with it
A dash of All Spice (this is the trick, just enough but not too much to overpower it)

Place all of the above items in a non-reactive pot and bring to a boil. Turn down to just below simmering until the apples have become mushy. Remove from heat and mash until desired consistency.

To can:
Sterilize mason jars and lids. Place jars and lids in a pot of simmering water. Simmer for a few minutes take off the heat and leave in the hot water until ready to fill.

Take jars out using tongs and shake excess water from jars. Fill them with apple sauce leaving a little room at the top. Wipe off excess food along the rim with a wet clean towel.
Place lids on.

Using the same water as you had sterilized the jars with (just to save water) place a rack at the bottom of the pan (a cooling rack will do) or if you have one of those fancy canning racks. Bring the water to a rolling boil, (not fully boiling) and be sure that the jars are covered by at least one inch of water. Let sit for ten minutes. Remove and cool.
After about 12-24 hours you can check the seal to be sure the air was removed by tapping the top of the jar with the bottom of a tea spoon, if you hear a high pitched sound your golden, if it is a dull thud sound bad news.

Happy canning! And, let me know if you used this recipe if there is any thing you did to make it even better.


*I have yet to try this out so I can't say how it comes out, if I had some at home at the time I would have done 1/2 and 1/2.

Happy Fall and...

...happy birthday to me! I really enjoy having my birthday on or around the autumnal equinox. It is interesting to think about the significance of birth dates and how important they are in defining who you are, at least for me. I think that the equinox speaks to the sort of person I am...incorporating balance and equality (in a variety of ways) into my life. So, in celebration I am going to take some time out and thank my mama for giving birth to me and celebrate the day at home quietly reading on my porch. Ron and I did some seasonally appropriate events over the weekend to celebrate!

this is what happens...

when you let us outside with a tripod and some time to kill....

We began by taking a nice photo by the barn... and we ended up with this...

my best arabesque

and our attempt at jumping....

...and landing. We couldn't get the timing right.

the number is three....

This photo is from our honeymoon three years ago..... I like the little tiny Ron in the right corner. It is hard to believe three years have gone by, happy anniversary Ron, I love you!

the nephew is three....and sporting a new cape!

My sister knows how to throw a party....

There was new cape wearing... (look at the summer feet)

dancing and singing....

mountains of gifts....

big people playing with said gifts......


and, the uncle and brother cleaning up after, yep that's how we Monta(lino)'s roll