Happy Fall Y'All!

I'm officially ready for fall. Yesterday, I made a triple batch of Pumpkin Pie Spice! I'm now ready for Pumpkin Spiced ANYTHING! And. If you check out my Pinterest Fall Board, you will see that I'm not kidding!

Spiced Cranapple Butter

The flavors of fall. Apples and cranberries. I was recently thumbing through my Ball Canning recipe book and found a recipe for Cranapple Butter. Immediately, I was in heaven! Cranberries and Apples combined to make a spreadable butter. M-m-m-m-m-m-m-m! After a quick trip to town, I was peeling apples and cooking down my yummy butter.

Feels Like Fall

It FEELS like fall is here! YAY! My absolute FAVORITE time of the year! This cooler weather is not supposed to last long though. Back up to the 90's by the end of the week. I really want to take advantage of this weather, so what am I doing today?

Spicy Garlic Dills

 

I'm still doing a bunch of pickling. I did another batch of Pickled Peppers the other day. I also did a couple batches of pickled cucumbers. The first batch is based on a Baby Kosher Dill recipe from Summer in a Jar by Andrea Chesman.

 

Pickled Peppers

It's that time of year.....canning season! Okay, okay....if you've read some of my posts, you probably know I do some canning all year long. I guess I should re-phrase that by saying NOW is the perfect time to take advantage of the abundance of fresh produce available (either from your garden or local growers).

Tea and Honey Jelly

Last week, I mentioned (in this post) the canning books I've been reading. I found a fun (new-to-me)recipe in Canning for a New Generation for Tea Jelly. This book really inspired me to do a little canning. I know, I know. It's winter. But believe me, if you check out this book, you too will be inspired to do a little canning (in fact she has a fabulous section on winter canning recipes)!

Crazy Simple Fudge

If you read this post where I rambled on about sweetened condensed milk (and the lack of it), then you will already know that this must be the fudge I was talking about making. I absolutely LOVE this recipe! It's ALMOST foolproof. I say ALMOST because I can mess up just about any recipe depending on any number of variables. BUT. It's so close to foolproof (and FAST) that I'm going to share it with you today.

Now It's Crunch Time

Yesterday was my day off. And. It was a flurry of activity around here. Last minute sewing and baking. Enough to finish off the three potted trees (seen above and mentioned in this post and this post) and three plates of holiday goodies to go with. Oh yeah, and deliver.

Kandy Kane Kahlua

Recently I saw this post for making Candy Cane Vodka. M-m-m-m-m-m-m. It sounded so good. I've also been wanting to make some Kahlua for some gifts. I got to thinking.....wouldn't adding candy canes to the Kahlua be good? So. That's just what I did!

Make Your Own Pumpkin Puree

 

We got pumpkins in at my work Friday. SO, I thought, I should make up some pumpkin puree to freeze. I could have canned it, but, it has to be pressure canned and I really didn't have the "thyme" to do that this weekend. I haven't made pumpkin puree in awhile, but I LOVE pumpkin recipes (well, except pumpkin pie, for some reason, can't stand pumpkin pie) and wanted to have some on hand for fall recipes.

The BEST Way I Know to Freeze Sweet Corn!

 

 

If you LOVE corn smothered in butter......you're going to LOVE this method for freezing sweet corn! When I first heard of this method (because it's not really a "recipe"), my husband and I would get together with one of our neighbors and some mutual friends for a "corn freezing party". We would set up a "corn assembly line". The guys would husk the corn. Us gals would do the prep work. Then everyone would pitch in and do the packaging and clean-up. At some point during the day, there was always potluck food involved. It made for a fun, productive day!

 

Canning Tomatoes

I've spent the last couple of days canning tomatoes. I so enjoy the whole process of taking fresh picked tomatoes and turning them into canned goods that we will enjoy all winter long. There's just something very satisfying about this.

How to Freeze Zucchini

It's that time of year.....zucchini season! I have found a lot zucchini recipes that I want to try. It's getting close to fall (and our first frost). Fall and winter are my favorite time to cook and bake. Not to say I don't cook and bake during summer, but I hate to heat the house up and do my baking in the bbq.

Very Berry Vinegar (and vinagrette, too)

In case you're not a food label reader, you may not realize that a lot of processed foods have added sugar. When I started the no flour no sugar diet, I had read that there were LOTS of products that have added sugar.

A Healthier Chocolate Chip Cookie

It's my Birthday AND National Chocolate Chip Cookie Day! To celebrate, I thought I'd bake up a few chocolate chip cookies. I've been sticking to my no flour no sugar diet really well. Okay, unless you count my birthday dinners out with friends. I did eat salads, but I sort of fell down on the wine and dessert portions of the meal. But, otherwise, I've been sticking to the diet pretty good.

How to Make Oat "Flour"

While processed flours aren't allowed on the No Flour No Sugar Diet (that includes rice, potato and corn flours), whole grains are. Brown rice, barley and oats can be eaten on this diet. Some of the No flour no sugar recipes that I want to try, use oats as a filler.

When You Need a Chocolate Fix

Even though the No flour no sugar diet is going well, every once in a while, you just NEED something chocolatey! I had found some interesting no flour no sugar recipes on Pinterest (how did we survive without Pinterest?). This Frozen chocolate yogurt recipe looked easy (and yummy).

Cranberry Bog Bark

I thought I'd share one of my favorite quick-to-make holiday candy recipes. I got this recipe from a co-worker YEARS ago and I make it every year around the holidays. It is SO YUMMY!

Spiced Cranberry Jam

 

It's our first snowy day of the season. I decided I wanted to make up some of this yummy sounding Cranberry jam from The Self Sufficient Home Acre. I thought it would be a nice addition to the gift baskets we make for our neighbors. I also thought it would be very good to substitute the cranberry jam for the apple butter in these Apple Butter Bars. I hope to try this, but, I've gotta get the cranberry jam made first!

Apple Butter Bars

I don't know what it is about fall and baking. They just seem to go together. I made these Applebutter Bars the other day and they were So-o-o-o good! I thought I would share the recipe with you (in case you wanted to do a little fall baking of your own).