Awesome sauce!

Today me and Kate (other friend named Kate!) made homemade apple sauce!! Kate is a canning professional and this was my "introduction"to the wide world of food preservation.

FIRST, get a lot of apples. Wash with a produce wash if available. The main thing about canning is cleanliness. Anything you can do to keep things sanitary is good.

NEXT, peel and core your apples. We had this fancy apple peeler from Pampered Chef. It didn't always work though ... but it sure helps with hand cramping from the regular peeler.

Put your apple pieces in a big pot with about 2 inches of water. Cook until soft (about 20 minutes or so.) 

Drain your apples and puree in a food processor (things are starting to shape up --- and smell AMAZING.) 

Re-heat your pureed applesauce in a pot until it gets to 200 degrees F. In the meantime, boil your lids and gather your jars. The jars should be freshly washed and sanitized with heat in the dishwasher.

Fill your jars with a funnel to about the bottom of the lid (do not over-fill.) Return them to a boiling water bath with the lids on and cook another 20 minutes to seal and pressurize.

Allow jars to cool and you will hear them "popping" as they contract and seal up nice and good :)

NOTE: You can certainly add sugar, cinnamon ... what have you. We kept them simple since the apple variety was pretty sweet on its own.

ENJOY! :) 

Celebrating a SHORT work week :)

Oh happy day!

Today is my Monday! (Usually, it's my Tuesday...even though it's Wednesday) But that just means that I have a 4-day work week!! :) Hooray!

Yesterday was a teeth cleaning down in Montgomery County...so I took a sick day to allot for travel times :) It was nice though. Got a LOT of etsy done, and am feeling a bit more relaxed heading into the week.

So, to celebrate, here is my breakfast!

Blueberry-topped waffles with maple syrup. I think the meal ending up costing around $20....10 for the syrup **real maple syrup, and the berries ** organic. And the waffles were by Kashi--so they were around 3 I think.

Ah well. Living a little, eh?

And guess what happens next week!?!?!?!? Amanda, Ella and Max are coming for a visit!! (my sister and family) YAYAYAYAY!!!

Here is her blog where you can see my super-cute niece in action on Easter! 

yawn....

Did you all survive Daylight Savings? I got up real early this whole weekend...seemed to help a bit.

Now, my normal late hours/sleeping in is going to feel even worse though!

Here is a fun recipe called Sausage and Egg Casserole that I made for brunchy goodness :)

(From Allrecipes.com--my favorite cooking site!) 

INGREDIENTS:
1 pound bulk pork sausage
6 eggs
2 cups milk
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground mustard
6 slices white bread, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
1 cup shredded Cheddar cheese

DIRECTIONS:
1. In a skillet, brown and crumble sausage; drain and set aside. In a large bowl, beat eggs; add milk, salt and mustard. Stir in bread cubes, cheese and sausage. Pour into a greased 11-in. x 7-in. x 2-in. baking dish. Cover and refrigerate for 8 hours or overnight. Remove from the refrigerator 30 minutes before baking. Bake, uncovered, at 350 degrees F for 40 minutes or until a knife inserted near the center comes out clean.

history in a box

Some of you may know about my slight obsession with genealogy. I've never done research or anything like that. It's more photos and knic knacs.....A tube of lipstick I took from my Nana's bathroom... a crochet needle from Grandma ...pictures of my Grandfather in his Army uniform .... Papa's favorite biscuits.

And this brings me to my newest project: Recipes.

My mom has this great old box full of handwritten recipes, most from her mom (Nana). I decided I need one, too. So I'm transferring over my notebook full of clippings and Internet print-outs onto handwritten cards.

I made this green box and bought bunch of index cards....let the hand cramping begin!

And, as a special treat, I am pleased to present: Nana's Saltine Candy!

Ingredients:

35 saltine crackers

1 c. butter

1 c. brown sugar

12 oz. semi-sweet choc. chips

1 c. chopped pecans

Line a pan with crackers. 

In microwave, heat butter and brown sugar 4 minutes, stirring after 2.

Pour evenly over crackers.

Bake 15-20 minutes in a 350 degree oven.

Spread immediately with choc. chips (use spoon or spatula to spread) and top with nuts.

Refrigerate for at least 2 hours. Break up and serve!