Tasty Tuesday

This week it's all about apples! Fall is here and that means lot of apples. We went apple picking at our friend Pam #2's house on Sunday afternoon. I came home with 40 lbs of apples!

I started this batch of apple butter this morning and the jars are now in the canner. I ended up with 6 half pint jars. I loved how easy this was. I cut the sugar down to 2 cups, because the apples I used were on the sweet side. I used my immersion blender to blend it all together in the crockpot before I canned it.

Crock Pot Apple Butter

Ingredients

• 5 1/2 lbs apples, peeled and finely chopped
• 4 cups sugar
• 2 -3 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/4 teaspoon salt

Directions

1. Place apples in a large bowl.
2. Combine sugar, cinnamon, cloves and salt.
3. Pour over apples and mix well.
4. Place in crock pot, cover and cook on high for 1 hour.
5. Decrease heat to low; cover and cook on low for 9-11 hours or until thickened and dark brown.
6. Stir occasionally.
7. Uncover and cook on low for 1 hour longer.
8. If desired, whisk until smooth.
9. Spoon into freezer containers, leaving 1/2-inch head space.
10. Cover and freeze.

These baked apples were great on top of ice cream. They would be great on top of pancakes or waffles and I used them for some baked french toast.

Hot Baked Cinnamon Apples

Ingredients

• 10 apples, cored, peeled and sliced thin
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 2 teaspoons lemon juice
• 1 dash salt
• 1 dash nutmeg
• fresh whipped cream or ice cream

Directions

1. Place cut and peeled apples in a mixing bowl and gently mix all the ingredients together.
2. Put apples in a non-stick pan, and cook covered for 45 minutes at 375°F.
3. Stir at least once every 15 minutes.
4. Once they are soft, cook for another few minutes to thicken the cinnamon sauce.
5. I like to put everything into my baking dish and then mix it since there is less to clean up.

And, another crockpot recipe... this applesauce is really tasty!

Slow Cooked Cinnamon Applesauce

Ingredients

• 3 1/2 lbs granny smith apples, peeled,cored,and sliced
• 1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
• 1 1/2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Directions

1. In a 3 1/2-quart electric slow cooker, toss together the apples, brown sugar, and lemon juice.
2. Cover and cook on the high heat setting 3 hours or until the apples are very tender.
3. Mash up the apples with a potato masher.
4. Stir in the cinnamon.
5. Serve over vanilla ice cream, if desired.

Sambie 2

We have a friendly little calico cat in our neighborhood that likes to visit us. We call her Sambie 2. The boys love it when she comes to visit, like she did this morning. I gave her some chicken skin I had saved for her. She really gobbled that down!

In other news, Hudson is obsessed with roller coasters. The trip to Cedar Point put him over the edge. He likes to draw roller coasters, build roller coasters from Legos, look at the roller coaster book and the Cedar Point map.

Brooks is crazy about Silly Bands. He got several from birthday parties and he likes to trade them with his friends.

Tasty Tuesday

I had some tostadas in the pantry that needed to be used up, and I had a couple bags of chicken breast in the freezer, so I decided to make this recipe. It was really tasty and made a lot. We've already had it 2 days on tostadas and I still have a huge container left. Tonight we're going to make rice bowls with it, and probably make burritos or quesadillas with whatever is left. Btw, I threw in my chicken frozen, and cooked it on high for a few hours, and then turned it to low.

Chili Lime Chicken

• 1 can (4 Oz. Can) Diced Green Chilies
• 4 cloves Of Minced Garlic
• 3 Tablespoons Chili Powder
• 1-½ Tablespoon Lime Juice
• 1 whole Diced Medium Onion
• 2 pounds Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts *I used 2.5 lbs*

1. Add chicken and onion to a slow cooker that is at least 3 1/2 quarts in size.
2. In a bowl, combine green chilies, garlic, chili powder, and lime juice. Pour over the chicken.
3. Cover and cook on low for 5 to 6 hours.
4. Remove chicken from the slow cooker and shred. Mix in 1/2 cup of juice remaining in the slow cooker to the shredded chicken.

When I stopped by my favorite Mexican grocery to pick up limes and tomatoes, I also grabbed a bunch of cilantro for 50 cents. When I got home, I wasn't sure why I had bought the cilantro because I was making guacamole and not salsa. Any how, I found this rice recipe and made it to go along with the tostadas. I've only eaten at Chipotle once in my life, but supposedly this is like Chipotle's rice. Next time I make this I'm going to try Basmati rice instead of regular long grain rice.

Cilantro Lime Rice

• 2 cups Water
• 1 cup Long Grain White Rice
• 2 whole Handfuls Fresh Cilantro
• 1 whole Lime, Juiced
• 1 whole Jalapeno, Seeded, Rough Chopped
• 2 teaspoons Salt, More Or Less For Taste

Bring water to a boil, add rice and simmer until all the water is absorbed. Meanwhile, in a food processor, process cilantro, lime juice, jalapeno and salt until finely minced. Cool cooked rice to room temperature, add cilantro mixture and toss until rice is completely coated.

And, another recipe from Tasty Kitchen. I made these muffins for breakfast Sunday morning, along with some scrambled eggs. They really did taste like donuts!

Muffins That Taste Like Donuts

• 1-¾ cup Flour
• 1-½ teaspoon Baking Powder
• ½ teaspoons Salt
• ½ teaspoons Nutmeg
• ½ teaspoons Cinnamon
• ⅓ cups Oil
• ¾ cups White Sugar
• 1 whole Egg
• ¾ cups Milk
• _____
• FOR THE TOPPING:
• ¼ cups Butter
• ⅓ cups White Sugar
• 1 Tablespoon Cinnamon

• 1-¾ cup Flour
• 1-½ teaspoon Baking Powder
• ½ teaspoons Salt
• ½ teaspoons Nutmeg
• ½ teaspoons Cinnamon
• ⅓ cups Oil
• ¾ cups White Sugar
• 1 whole Egg
• ¾ cups Milk
• _____
• FOR THE TOPPING:
• ¼ cups Butter
• ⅓ cups White Sugar
• 1 Tablespoon Cinnamon

Combine flour, baking powder, salt, nutmeg and cinnamon.

Combine oil, sugar, egg and milk. Add dry ingredients and stir only to combine.

Bake at 350 degrees for 15-20 minutes. Meanwhile, melt the butter in a bowl. Combine the white sugar with the cinnamon in another bowl.

Shake muffins out while still hot. Dip muffins in butter, then into the sugar/cinnamon mix. Let cool.

Rocking Roller Coast

We headed up to Cleveland on Labor Day weekend to meet baby Mylo. What a sweet baby! The boys liked holding him, but really liked playing with Beck.

Saturday was rainy and chilly, so we just hung around Jess & Dan's house, except for a trip to the West Side Market where we got fixings for dinner.


Sunday afternoon we went to Hudson Ohio for the Taste of Hudson. Hudson seemed pretty amused to be in a town with the same name as him. There was all sorts of yummy food and lots of fun stuff for the kids. Brooks loved seeing all sorts of animals at Jungle Terry's show, and even got to help hold a python!

Monday we loaded up the family truckster and headed to Cedar Point. Ryan and I hadn't been there since our infamous trip 5 years ago. The boys were in awe when they got their first glimpse of all the roller coasters in the skyline. We had a great day there. The park wasn't crowded and the weather was nice. The boys rode a lot and didn't complain once about all the walking. Hudson said his favorite ride was the Junior Gemini roller coaster and Brooks liked the Woodstock Express best. My favorite is still Millennium Force!

Last Race

Ryan has his last race of the season on Sunday at Kickapoo State Park in Illinois. Memaw and Pawpaw met us there and we hiked into the woods to get a good view of the race. It was fun to see the racers zoom by so close to us. Ryan had a good race and finished 6th in his class of 11. We're proud of you!

Wordless Wednesday