Homemade Apple Butter

It's Wednesday! And Boss's Day!  And we're halfway through the work week!

OK, enough excitement for now; I've got a busy day ahead of me. On the agenda for today: a run scheduled, teaching three classes, taking a trip to the mainland after work (mattress shopping and running shoe shopping), and supervising knitting group this evening (for work). 

When I've got a busy schedule, I love recipes that come together with minimal effort. This recipe for Homemade Apple Butter (that I found here) is no exception. Just prep the apples, toss them into the slow cooker with cinnamon and some liquid, and come home to a house that smells amazing and an awesome spread for your toast! It's such a treat and is so much better for you than the jellies and jams that are loaded with added sugar.

It all started with some apples from my trip. I used about 3 pounds of apples, which ended up being about 9 of my apples.

Next, I peeled, cored, and sliced the apples. I placed the apple slices into my slow cooker along with 1/2 cup water and 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon. I then gave it a good stir to coat the apples and distribute the cinnamon.

 

And after 5-6 hours on high or 8-10 hours on low, it looked like this:



 

To get a smooth apple butter, puree the apple mixture in your blender or food processor.

With this recipe, I was able to completely fill a pint sized mason jar and I had just enough left over for my toast! The apple butter will keep in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks.



 

You might be wondering what the difference is between apple butter and apple sauce... I certainly was! Apple sauce has a very light color and the cooking process is fast. Apple butter, on the other hand, is a dark caramel color from the spices that are added and the much longer cooking time. Apple butter is also has a thicker consistency than apple sauce.

 

 

What's your favorite thing to make with apples?

 

While Babe loves apple pie, apple crisp kind of makes my heart sing!

 

 



Homemade Pizza Crust

I've expressed my love of the bread machine on this blog many times. My love has recently increased exponentially. I've finally tried the Pizza Dough setting and ohmygosh it is so good. In fact, the family has decided that we definitely prefer it to all frozen pizzas and we even prefer it to the fresh pizza at some of the local pizzerias.

This pizza crust comes together relatively quickly with the help of my bread machine. Just pour in the ingredients, select the pizza dough setting, and let it do its thing! The machine handles the rising and kneading processes and really saves you a lot of time.

If you have a bread machine that has a dough setting, give this recipe a try on your next pizza night!

Don't have a bread machine? No worries, Pioneer Woman has you covered with a great homemade pizza dough recipe.

Ingredients:

Makes two regular size large pizzas or six small pizzas.

1 tsp. dry yeast

16 3/4 oz. (3 3/8 cup) bread flour

1 tbsp. powdered milk

1 1/2 tbsp. sugar

1 tsp. salt

1 tbsp. butter

11 3/4 fl. oz. (1 7/8 cup) water

2/3 cup tomato paste or pizza sauce, for brushing on top of pizza

3 cups Mozzarella cheese, for sprinkling on top

Your favorite toppings

Directions:

Beginning with dry ingredients first, place the first seven ingredients in the bread machine (the yeast will go in the yeast dispenser if there is one).

Select the pizza setting. Press start.

Once the bread machine signals that the process is completed, remove the dough from the pan and place on a lightly floured surface until it becomes elastic and springs back when touched.

Divide the dough into the desired sizes (2 large or 6 small) and place dough balls in a warm area for 10 minutes.

On the pizza stone or pizza pan, shape the dough ball into a flat circle and spread out the dough evenly over the pan. Prick the dough with a fork (making lots of little holes) so that the crust doesn't puff up. Let the pizza crust rest for 15 minutes at room temperature.

 

While the dough is resting, preheat your oven to 340*F.

Brush each pizza with the tomato paste or pizza sauce. Sprinkle each pizza with cheese and top with desired toppings.

 

Bake for 15-20 minutes.

 

 

Enjoy!

 

A Rainy Day + Killer Circuit Workout

I'm sure that many of you are aware of the government shutdown. If you're not, I'm guessing that you don't have TV. Or Internet...

 

Anyway, this means that most of the gorgeous landscape around me is closed, as much of our island is a national park. Fortunately for me, I know of a few private beach access points and I can still take in all the fall glory that our island has to offer.

 

Our beach walk the other night was breathtaking to say the least. On a rainy day like today, it's nice to be able to look at photos of a beautiful day!

 

And cruddy weather is the perfect time to brew some coffee and cuddle up on the sofa with a good movie... I think I'll be renting The Great Gatsby. I think I'm the only one who hasn't seen it yet.

Thank goodness I just re-stocked my coffee supply! The best coffee in the universe - Dancing Turtle

 

But if it's not raining where you are and you happen to be looking for a fun workout idea, here's a circuit workout I taught last week. It was a lot of fun and definitely made me sweat! I may have even felt a little sore from the burpees...

 

 Let me know if you try it!

 

 

 

What's your favorite rainy day activity?

 

Trip Recap

Hello, hello. I hope you all had a great weekend. My weekend was far too short, but it was good to get back into a routine with work today. I taught three classes this morning and had a fairly easy day after that, so I can't complain!

 

We spent the weekend in Virginia (Williamsburg to Charlottesville to Staunton and back) retrieving/delivering furniture for a good friend. Babe and I had the chance to visit Carter Mountain Orchard, have some time away from the island getting to go to stores we don't have (lots of time in Barnes & Noble, a trip to Trader Joe's, Anthropologie, and a few others), stuffing our faces with too much junk food, and we even got some great furniture out of it!

 

While the mountains weren't quite yet in their full Fall glory (It was in the upper 80s while we were there), we did get to see a few leaves that had changed colors. We simply love the mountains no matter the season; it was gorgeous!

 

 

Chipotle- we don't get to visit this place enough!

 

 

The guiltiest pleasure of the trip... a Mini Vermonster to share

 

World Market



 

Apple Cider Donuts



 

Falafel and pickled turnips @ Aromas Café

 

 

Chicken Shawarma Wrap @ Aromas Café - loved the flavors!

 

 

The food at Food for Thought was delicious and it's such a neat restaurant

 

Grandma's Meatloaf



 

Jamaican Jerk Chicken with Mango Salsa

 

I've told myself that I won't get on a scale for at least a week! We definitely indulged on this trip, but hey, that's what "vacations" are for!

 

What did you do last weekend?