The Smell of Cider and Donuts

Cinnamon and Apples. Donuts and Cider. A slight Crispness in the Air.







Someone flipped the switch, it's fall!

I love, love, love fall!  Already the nights are getting a crispness about them that tells us the leaves are soon to be turning. Time to bunker down for warm and cozy mother nature seems to be saying.

Even Morning Glory the chicken is glad the summer is over!

Let me be the first to say I'm glad to see summer go this year. It was a hard summer to say the least. For almost three months we had no rain and for those of us still on wells, that means a very scary proportion. In the nineteen years we've been here, it has never been this dry and hot!  Water had to be conserved for animals and people so needless to say, the garden suffered horribly and we've only got a handful of tomatoes to show for it. I've lost two of my fruit trees and got very little in the realm of our raspberries and no grapes. At the peak of the drought, we were 9 inches below where we should have been! Thank goodness we have finally started to get rain. I don't feel 100% better yet but it's getting better.

So goodbye and good riddance to Summer 2016!

On to Fall!

This is the first year I really didn't can much due to the water situation. Typically I buy tomatoes to supplement my garden supply for canning anyway but with a bushel being $16 this year, I only canned once then wondered if it was even worth it at that price. I always feel better however knowing what my family is eating and I do have a serious canning addiction.

Today was our visit to Rob's Apple Orchard for a bushel of apples. Northern Spies are my apples of choice as my Great Grandmother S always said that they were the best for canning and baking but I found out today they will not be available for another two weeks and I want to can NOW! Needless to say I bought a bushel of 20 oz'er an proceeded to make and can the copycat recipe for a Famous Market Restaurant's Apples. I must have gotten this recipe of the internet at some point but needless to say, it's a keeper that I make every year and it's too good not to share. I've scaled this up to canning portions and while I was a tad exhausted, it was a good kind of exhausted... the kind that you know you accomplished something.

Famous Market Restaurant's
Copycat Dessert Apples

(Scaled up for Canning, Makes 5-6 Quarts)

24 apples
16 tsp butter
5 1/3 c water
4 Tbsp flour
3 cups brown sugar
2 tsp cinnamon
8 tsp cornstarch
dash of salt

For canning:

Fruit fresh
Lemon juice
Water

Peel all your apples and submerge them in water spiked with 1/4 lemon juice, enough to cover apples.

In a large pot, melt your butter. As it is melting, begin putting in your brown sugar. As that begins to melt together pour in your water with the remaining ingredients. Cook it for about five mins until it all starts coming together in a wonderful syrup. Once it does, put in your apples and stir until coated.

Fill clean and warmed canning jars. Put 1 tsp of Fruit Fresh in each canning jar. Use a kitchen knife around the edges to eliminate any bubbles in the jars. Wipe down the threads and top of the jars. Boil your canner lids in a separate saucepan and with tongs, place on the cleaned jars. Immediately screw down your canning lid and submerge them into your canner. I processed mine in a pressure canner for about 30 mins. Remove from canner and place on a room temperature surface (I usually put them on a towel on the counter. (I would not place them on a glass top range.) Check that all the lids have sealed the next day and proudly put them in your pantry to enjoy in lunches, as desserts or anytime the need arises! Enjoy!