I love sweet awesome candy goodness, but I like to pretend that I don’t want to eat it ALL the time (especially when my kiddo is looking). Admit it… you’ve snuck the candy you JUST told your kiddo they could not eat, after they go to bed. Ha! Or, maybe that’s just me? I mean, she has a crazy sweet tooth and will eat all the candy/chocolate around and then she goes on an insane sugar trip and I lose my mind.
Homemade Apple Pie Butter. Yeah, my label in the photo calls it JAM… I did not notice I put the word “jam” instead of “butter” until I had labeled all my jars…. oh well. Ha! Anyway, this apple BUTTER is delicious. I’ve decided to call it Apple Pie Butter because that is what it tastes like: apple pie. The best part about this is I did NOT add sugar to this. Only naturally occurring apple sugars here, and it is STILL so sweet and tasty. I really want to experiment using this butter in a pie, maybe replacing the added sugar? I’ll let you know how it goes.
I asked, on Instagram, if any of you’d like to have the recipe… and it was a big ‘ol YES. Well, enough babbling… here’s my no sugar added Apple Pie Butter recipe! FYI: you’ll need a crock pot.
(adapted from this recipe on Eating Richly)
- About 25 medium apples (or a mix of small and large)
- 3 tsp. ground cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp. ground nutmeg
- 1/8 tsp. ground cloves
- 1 lemon
Directions:
1. Start coring and slicing apples (I used an apple corer/slicer and trimmed bad pieces with a knife). Toss your slices into the crock pot as you go along. Once your crock pot is full: stop prepping apples.
2. Turn your crock pot on LOW and let those apples cook down anywhere from 8 to 10 hours (this depends on the type of apple you use: softer cooks faster), or when they are soft/mushy. Feel free to stir the apples whenever you’d like (I did every couple hours).
3. When your time is up stir in the cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves.
4. Repeat steps 1 and 2. You just add more apples, mix, and wait. Cook for another 8 – 10 hours.
5. When this time is up, do a taste test to see if you should add more spices, or not.
6. If there’s still room in your crock pot after it cooks down more, add another round of apple following steps 1 and 2. Cook for another 8 – 10 hours.
7. When this time is up, use an immersion blender to puree it. You could use a food processor, but that’s just more dishes… I love our immersion blender. Add the juice of your whole lemon and if you’d like, maybe a little lemon zest. Blend that in real quick.
8. Let this cook down to the consistency you like. We like our apple butter smooth and thick. If it’s not cooking down fast enough, you can crack the lid a little to get some moisture out.
9. If you’re canning this butter, use the water bath method (I let our jars process for 10 minutes). If you are NOT canning… I believe the butter is good in the fridge for 1 – 2 weeks, or store it in the freezer (in a proper freezer storage container).
Side notes:
- Makes: 8 pints
- Cost: For my first round I got all of my apples for free. The lemon was $1. The new lids were about $4? I think. Soooo… it was about .63 cents a pint. I’m terrible with math… but I know this saved me some cash. We normally spend about $6 for a large jar of no sugar added apple butter. The second round I spent $8 on damaged organic apples (I just cut all the bruises off), $1 for the lemon, and more lids for $4. That means it was about $1.38 a pint. Still a great deal (and it’s fun to make).
- The majority of my apples for the first round were Gala. The second round was a variety of apples (since they were on sale). I prefer the first apple butter over the second. Both are still great, but I love Gala apples.
- The best part about this whole canning thing: I have more control over our food. I still had to get the ingredients from the store, but I made it.
I also made some “made with love” canning labels to share with you guys (just in case I’ve inspired you to get canning). I’m in a canning club here in Portland, and we bring 5 jars of our current creation to swap. I LOVE it. I’ll be bringing 5 jars to share for this week. Yay! Click on these links to right click + save the printouts. There are four colors: red, green, tan, and blue. ::personal use only, please::
If you DO end up making this: let me know how it went! Enjoy!
- Chelsey
The other day I found this on Pinterest…. Homemade frickin’ Velveeta cheese. I really love cheese…. It’s pretty much a necessity in my life. I had to make this IMMEDIATELY! I mean, yeah: cheddar cheese is almost the same thing… but there’s something magical about Velveeta. Unlike cheese, it doesn’t turn into greasy mess when you melt it. It’s just creamy cheesy goodness. Toss in some tomatoes or beans into this cheese and you have an amazing dip.
We went ahead with a grilled cheese sandwich for our first Homemade Velveeta Cheese experiment. The result: delicious. We did just plain cheese for our kiddo and added spinach and bacon for us. PLUS, tomato soup. So yummy. This pinterest find is a WIN.
I researched about 5 different recipes and decided this was the recipe for me (I only adjusted the salt and types of cheese amounts). I hope you check it out (unless you hate cheese, then don’t… ha):
1 Tablespoon water
1 1/2 teaspoons powdered gelatin (unflavored)
1 cup colby jack cheese, grated*
1/2 cup sharp cheddar cheese, grated*
1 Tablespoon non-fat or whole dry milk powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon cream of tartar
1/2 cup + 2 tablespoons whole milk
Directions:
- Line a small pan with plastic wrap (with the wrap hanging over the edge). The recipe called for a 5 x 4 bread pan, but I used a 5 x 9 x 1 inch high pan. Worked fine.
- Place the 1 Tablespoon of water in a small bowl and sprinkle the gelatin on top. Let sit for 5 minutes.
- Pulse your grated cheese, dried milk, salt, and cream of tartar in a food processor (about 5 times).
- Bring the milk to a boil over medium heat (it starts to boil pretty quick). When it reaches a boil, remove it from the heat and stir in the gelatin until it dissolves.
- Pour the milk mixture into a liquid measuring cup. With your food processor running add the milk into the cheese mixture. Blend until the mixture is combine and velvety smooth.
- Immediately pour the cheese mixture into your prepared pan. Chill in a fridge for 3 hours or overnight.
This is delicious. I mean… yeah, it’s cheese… BUT, it’s just like Velveeta cheese. There’s something different about Velveeta. It’s creamy and fantastic. This is a wonderful substitute. Let me know if you try it! It’s so good. I mean: cheese. Also…. try and take photos of a grilled cheese sandwich while your kiddo is watching… it’s almost impossible, “Mama, I’m Soooooooo starving hungry.” Ha!
- Chelsey
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If you have a Wednesday post, please feel free to link it up below. And, feel free to link up to these blogs too… Parenting by Dummies, Project Alicia, Jenni from the Blog, and Live and Love Outloud.
I love quick and easy foods. I’d MUCH rather just head to the store and buy something… instead of making it. I’m just not into cooking. Since I’ve had my kiddo I’ve been looking at the ingredients on all those foods I thought were healthy for me, when they’re really not. I cannot pronounce half of the ingredients on most packaged foods out there. PLUS, the majority have corn syrup or sugar added. I prefer to save my sugar intake for when I’m eating pie, chocolate, or cookies.
This brings me to snack time for the kiddo. She’s started preschool this year and can’t bring peanut butter to class (she pretty much LIVES on pb at home). We tried store bought almond butter, she doesn’t like it (I’ll have to make my own, maybe add a touch of honey). I wanted to send her with some sort of snack that had protein and no refined sugars. I googled, I experimented, and finally came up with a granola recipe she loves and I’m comfortable and happy to give to my daughter.
- 7 cups old fashioned oats
- 1 1/2 cups of slivered almonds (optional: food processor them for less crunch)
- 1/2 cup shelled sunflower seeds (optional: food processor them for less crunch)
- 1 1/2 cups unsweetened shredded coconut
- 3 Tablespoons of cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon of nutmeg
- 1/8 teaspoon ground ginger
- 3 tablespoons pure vanilla (check the ingredients, most vanilla has corn syrup added…)
- 1 1/2 cups of no sugar added applesauce
- 1/4 cup honey
Directions:
- Set your oven to 275 degrees Fahrenheit. Mix together all the dry ingredients in a large bowl. Mix together the wet ingredients in a separate bowl. Add the wet ingredients to the dry and blend. You wont the granola just barely moist. Add a bit of applesauce if it seems too dry (blend really well, get the wet ingredients mixed in well).
Place the granola in a 1/2 inch thick layer on 2 cookie pans (make sure the pans have sides, so the granola doesn’t slide off). Bake the granola in the oven for 40 – 50 minutes. Mixing up the granola blend every ten minutes. This will help the granola to cook evenly, and hopefully not burn. The outer pieces of granola will probably cook faster. This recipe made enough to fill two 24 ounce jars and one 12 ounce jar.
When you’re done, let the granola cool and then store in your favorite jar! OR, give these away as gifts for your buddies. You can also add raisins or other dried fruits to the mix, after it’s done cooking. My kid likes raisins and banana chips in the granola.
SO, my kiddo doesn’t like the big giant pieces of almonds and sunflower seeds (she’d eat around them). That’s why I like to process the nuts into small tiny pieces (just a bit smaller than the oats). She doesn’t even know she’s eating them…. bwa ha ha ha <——–evil laugh.
I’ve been eating this pretty much every morning with breakfast. I mix half plain yogurt and half applesauce…. and put a TON of granola in there. So yum.
Enjoy!
- Chelsey
