Little tidbits of my life

Apple Butter

I received a comment on my last post from Sister Brenda asking for my apple butter recipe. IT is actually my hubby's Aunt Grace's recipe.

We have a couple apple trees and they produce kinda' small apples, but tart and good for cooking.

I pick enough apples to fill a 5 gallon bucket.  This will make 2 batches of apple butter and you will need 2 crock pots if you use the entire 5 gallons of apples.

The following recipe is for only ONE batch (1 crockpot full) of apple butter:

2.5 gallons apples (1/2 the 5 gallon bucket)

3 cups sugar (I decreased this to 2 1/2 cups last batch and liked it better)

1 tsp cinnamon (I double this usually, though)

1 tsp nutmeg

1 tsp vanilla (I used my homemade vanilla in the last batch...YUMMY!...and I tripled the amount

Peel, core and slice apples and put the slices into crockpot till full.  (I use a SmartPot Crockpot)

Pour the sugar over the apples, then add the cinnamon, nutmeg and vanilla.

No need to stir...simply cook overnight (I cook for 9-10 hours in my crockpot) and then get the jars ready to can them in the morning.  Either stir the apples (they will be super tender) or mix them with a blender, depending on your preference of smoothness.  Leave the lid on the apple butter until you have added it to the canning jars so that it will be hot.  (I leave crock pot on warm setting until I spoon it out of the crockpot)

Yields approx 4 pints (a tadbit more if you cooked 9 hours, a tadbit less if you cook over 10 hours...also will be sweeter the longer you cook it, so if you prefer it more tart, go w/9 hours)

I use half pint jars to can the apple butter because there are just two at my house, but for a larger household, you may want to use pint jars.

Canning instructions for apple butter:  wash and rinse 8 half-pint jars and also boil water, then turn heat off and add 8 flaps and lids to the scalding hot water.  Place jars on a dishtowel very close together and fill each jar w/the apple butter, then add a flap and tighten the lid.  It will be HOT, so use an oven mit, or something to protect hand.  Place another dishtowel over the jars and just leave it alone till you hear that WONDERFUL pop that shows it has sealed.

I also recommend this neat little kit that I found at Walmart in the canning section...I threw the box away, but I recall it was blue.  It includes a little gadget w/a magnet on the end that picks up the flaps and lids out of the hot water to make it easier to can...plus the ladle and jar funnel (but wide, like the jar mouth) are perfect size for these little jars...and a ruler that measures up to an inch at the jar lip so you can fill to a precise measurement based on recipe instructions.

NOW PICTURES:  Below is a half-full jar of apple butter along w/the neat canning kit I mentioned above.  (I LOVE gadgets)

This is another pic of the magnetic gadget actually picking up a flap

I posted this before, but since this post relates to it, here is one of my favorite kitchen gadgets:

AND FINALLY, this is a close up of one of our apple trees:

Pool, salsa, apple butter AND health update...

WOW!  I just realized I have not blogged in quite awhile!  It is not like me to not have anything to talk about!  I will have to be quick because it is about to come a storm here!!!

It has been very busy at my house this week.  My parents have come out to help me set up my NEW ABOVE-GROUND POOL!  My rheumatologist had told me that water aerobics would be VERY good for me because my fibromyalgia is so severe. SO my sisters, brother in laws and my parents all went in together and are paying for half the cost of the pool as my birthday present this year!  I KNOW, I was shocked, too!  They told me that they just want to see me get better, so that is why they are all being so extra-generous this year.  I found an Intex metal frame pool on walmart.com on clearance.  It is 24 ft diameter round pool and 52 inches high.  I figured this depth would be perfect for water aerobics...plus it is plenty big for family and friends to enjoy, too! 

My dad should get to take the first dip because he has worked SO HARD this week.  He brought up his tiller and had to level the ground for it.  The slope was about a foot different from one side to the other, so he has been here for 3 days getting it all straightened out!

I also found the above "wedding cake pool steps" on craigslist.com for $100!  The family selling them lived only about 2 or 3 miles from my parents!  This was a real bargain and I am SO GRATEFUL as they will be MUCH safer than the tall ladder you saw in the first picture.  My father is building some sturdy steps and a platform for me on the outside for safety.  My balance is not too great, plus these steps will be useful for water aerobics.

The above pic is salsa and apple butter...YUMMY!!! 

My parents brought along several ripe tomatoes from their garden and my mother and I planned to make salsa.  This week has been really rough for me fatigue-wise, pain-wise and migraine-wise, so she surprised me and made all the salsa by herself while I was either asleep or outside w/my father.  I have REALLY BEEN SPOILED THIS WEEK!

Above is one of my FAVORITE kitchen gadgets, an apple peeler-corer-slicer.  I purchased mine at Linens-n-Things a couple years ago.  This one suctions to the table top, but I have also used one with a C-clamp attachment...GREAT PRODUCT!

My middle sister Lavonda had come over last saturday and I had the privilege of showing her how to use the apple peeler/corer/slicer gadget.  We made some apple butter.  I still had a bucket of apples in the house that we had picked, so I got to teach my mother how to use this gadget and we made MORE APPLE BUTTER!!!  I STILL HAVE LOTS AND LOTS OF APPLES, so I suspect I will get to teach a few more folks how to do this soon!  LOL

HEALTH UPDATE:

I had my 3 month check up appointment yesterday with my rheumatologist.  He did a bone density test and verified that my bones are significantly thinning.  He said for my age (I will be 35 this month) I should be at my prime bone mass, but instead I'm at a low bone mass.  I am still classified as osteopenia, but he said that is not good at my age.  He said to take two Caltrate 600-D a day for a year, then repeat test and if no improvement, then he will put me on some prescriptions for this...I have to take steroid shots for asthma 3 or 4 times a year, plus I had a hysterectomy a few years ago, so I am not really surprised at these results, just hopeful he can do something to keep my bones from getting brittle.  He also suggested I ask my internist to send me to a neurologist and a podiatrist for some other issues that have been going on for years.  He said I have tested positive 3 times for lupus on the general bloodwork they do (last time was a low positive, but still in positive range) so he drew more blood during my visit to test more specifically for lupus.  He seems to think I do not have lupus, but still feels he should do the tests to make sure this is true.  I will keep you posted on everything.  I have also been getting migraines every single day as well as continuing to have the weak/dizzy/spells once or twice a day now, lasting about 30 minutes each time...this is why he wants me to go to the neurologist. 

Thank you for your continued prayers.  I hope you find my blogs much more positive than negative.  I blog as a creative outlet, plus I LOVE to entertain others and make them feel good.  AT THE SAME TIME, I have learned that MANY are affected by fibromyalgia, so I blog about my health issues to get the word out about FM and to help family members who worry about their loved ones with this disease and to make them aware of the true symptoms and what they can do to help them. 

I feel truly blessed to have discovered all my new friends here and I LOVE reading your blogs every day as well!

Teresa