dreaming of stuff

I yarn bombed a pumpkin guys! More to come :D

<3

(via peppermintoni)

I did it guys! I made apple butter for the first time ever!! And tasted it for the first time ever :p And it was really so easy. I’ll give you my recipe. Just be forwarned that it takes ALL DAY!! It’s not labor intensive, but is time intensive…ok…well maybe there’s a little labor involved :p I basically used the recipe from the oh so amazing book Canning For A New Generation by Liana Krissoff and Rinne Allen. Seriously, if you only buy one canning book, get this one. Teaches you how to can and has some amazing recipes with gorgeous pictures. So!

You will need: 6 pounds of apples, 1 1/2 cups sugar, apple cider (I used pure apple juice…the cloudy kind, not the stuff that looks like pee), water, ground cloves (I ground them myself with a mortar and pestle), ground cinnamon, ground allspice, and anise (optional..I hate anise so didn’t use it).

1. Peel and core all the apples (there’s another way of doing this where you don’t peel them but it seems to labor intensive later in the process)

2. Put the apples in a 6 to 8 quart pot and add 4 cups of water and two cups of apple cider (like I said…I used apple juice) Bring to a rolling boil and boil for 30-40 minutes until apples are broken down completely.

3. Once apples are broken down, put the mixture into a blender in batches and blend smooth.

4. Add all of your smooth apple goodness into a crockpot. With that, mix in the 1 1/2 cups of sugar, 1 1/2 teaspoons of cinnamon, 1/2 teaspoon of ground cloves, and 1/2 teaspoon of allspice. If you want you can put 1/2 teaspoon of anise too.

5. Stir it all up really well and let it cook on LOW in the crockpot for 9-12 hours, stirring occasionally when you think of it. You don’t need to stir it super often. Also, leave the crockpot lid cracked so that some steam can escape, but so that the condensation can drip back into the pot as well.

6. After 9-12 hours (I cooked mine about 10 hours), the apple butter should be a fairly dark color and have a silky, thick consistency.

7. Ladle into jars and process in a water bath for 10 minutes (you can find easy instructions on how to do this just by googling “how to can” or buy buying this book which teaches you everything :)

8. Let the jars sit for 12 hours…any jars that didn’t seal properly, stick in the fridge immediately.

It’s really super easy…it just SOUNDS difficult. But you can go about your day while everything is cooking. This recipe is supposed to make 6 half pint or 3 pint jars, but I got 7 half pint jars and 2 full pint jars!!! CRAZINESS! So 9 jars of apple butter all together :) Can’t wait to start spreading it on ALL THE THINGS now!!!

I bought this GIGANTIC gourd at Whole Foods today. I saw it and just couldn’t pass it up. It’s hard to tell here, but it’s probably about three feet long and it’s pretty wide too. I can’t tell you how many dirty jokes have been made since I got it home, lol. When I was walking down the aisle getting stuff to make apple butter (which I’m making right now!), a guy saw it and said “Damn…I hope you got one for your wife too!” Funny how complete strangers can make horribly dirty jokes, lol.