Quick and Easy (No stir, almost) Cranberry Sauce or Jelly

Ingredients:
1 bag cranberries (OG generally require less sugar)
1 can frozen apple juice concentrate
10-16 whole cloves OR a few dashes powdered clove
Pinch of salt
Cane Sugar/Cream of tartar to taste

For jelly, add a little beef gelatin in there too.

Using a stainless steel pressure cooker, add all ingredients to the cooker, mix and seal the lid.
Bring to 15 lbs of pressure and  turn off.  Wait until the pressure is naturally released and remove lid (this is about 10-15 minutes in total.)  Stir to break any whole berries, correct for seasoning (I like tart, some like syrup sweet) and serve at room temperature.  Can be made ahead, keeps for weeks.

P.S. Don't forget to fish out those whole cloves, if using.

Simply Delish

Cheese and an Apple

Food doesn't have to be complicated or fancy to be tasty, nourishing and balanced.  We came in from a walk to day, hungry, tired and HOT.  Yeah, it's only 50 degrees...but compared to the 10 degrees we've been having, it's a little warm.

We sliced up an apple per person and about 2 oz of cheese.  I had a super sweet Arkansas Black Apple with 4 pepper Chevre spread on each slice.  Fabulous!  I love the combination of the sweet and savory.  For those that aren't familiar, Chevre is the goat version of Cream Cheese...without the guar gum and other fillers usually added to commercial versions.

Also good with the Arkansas Blacks is a nice chunk of Havarti.

Cheese and an apple is also  my go to food for traveling as good cheese doesn't need to be refrigerated, just kept from getting too hot.

P.S. I am so impressed by the keeping qualities of the Arkansas Blacks.  We brought home a box of them and they got left in the back of the truck too long and the chickens discovered them...unbeknown to me.  They got stored in the basement in their box, hen pecks and all.  All of them, except for one, are still in great condition...aside from the pecks of course.  We just cut those parts off and enjoy a sweet, crisp, DENSE apple going on 2 months later.

Simple Lives Thursday
Pennywise Platter Thursday 
Fight Back Friday

Apple Beef Green Curry Stew

I put up 4 cases of applesauce in the past week and had one jar that broke its seal the next day.  Rather than reprocess a single jar, I put it in the fridge for more immediate use.

Here's what I did with that jar...after a few nibbles, that is. ;)

1 pint of homemade beef broth
1 pint of water to rinse broth jar (or as needed)
about 6 potatoes, shredded
1 pound of beef, cut in small chunks
4 TBS Gelatin
1 can of crushed pineapple (optional)
1 can of coconut milk
1 pint of homemade applesauce
or fresh cut apples
1/2 jar Thai green curry paste
unrefined sea salt to taste

Pennywise Platter Thursday
Zero Waste Food Challenge
Fight Back Friday
Simply Lives Thursday 
Monday Mania

Ooh applesauce...or is it pie filling?

Applesauce with Nectarines

This is my FIRST attempt at canning...looks good, doesn't it?

I followed the guidelines from here:
How to Make Homemade Applesauce
We like chunky in our household, so I decided to skip the grinding part, left the peels on, and fed the cores to the chickens.

Ingredients:

Coconut Oil 
10 lbs Nectarines
10 lbs Pristine Apples
10 lbs Ginger Gold Apples
Sucanat/Cream of Tartar Mix 
(1/4 tsp CT/TBS sugar)
Unrefined Sea Salt

Yield: 8 1/2 quarts

I put oil on the bottom of the pot to cover and prevent scorching.  I don't know that it was necessary, but I like to sneak it in where possible.  I filled the pot, with room to stir,  and set it on low with the lid on and went and did other things.  When it was mushy, we had some for lunch.  I just mixed in a little gelatin for protein and....viola...a complete meal.  WOW! Exquisitely yummy!  Totally NOT like anything store bought.

After lunch and with renewed motivation, I started filling jars.  I put it in my HOT jars from the dishwasher and placed them in the canner. My first batch only filled 3 jars.  My second batch filled 5 jars.  I had expected twice that amount...at least.  I suspect I may have cooked a lot of the water out.  I will  be having another go today with the rest of fruit.  I intend to have these on hand for emergency food....either the  "I'm hungry RIGHT NOW" type of emergency or the "power's out during an ice storm" emergency.  It mixes hot or cold with gelatin and can be reheated easily on the wood stove.

1 jar didn't seal due to too much space from the looks of it.  We were FORCED to eat that jar right away....with extra coconut oil and gelatin. Butter would work too.  Theses were store bought OG apples, picked under done.  I am so looking forward to tree ripened apples.

Two for Tuesdays
Tuesday Twister
Pennywise Platter Thursday
Simple Lives Thursday
CANNING WEEK 2011