Apple Butter!!!

It's almost fall!  That means my husband takes over the TV to watch football (even if he doesn't like either team playing), leaves are changing colors, the weather is getting cooler... Wait, I live in Florida so forget the last two things.  It's still 90 degrees here.  So I am trying to make my house as fall-ish as I can by surrounding myself with Autumn decor, pumpkin everything and and sometimes I turn the A/C down to 70 so it gets a little chilly in my house.  Is that weird?

The past few weeks I've received so many apples through the organic co-op that I use (Link to Annie's).  My family just doesn't eat apples fast enough to consume the mountain of apples that have been sitting in my fridge.  I'd hate to see them go to waste, so I decided to make my first ever batch of Apple Butter.

This recipe does include a lot of sugar, but it makes a large batch and as long as you don't eat a whole jar of the butter it is still healthy.

Ingredients (try to use organic ingredients whenever possible!)
3-4lbs of Organic Apples, peeled and cut into quarters
1/3 c. apple cider vinegar
2c white sugar (you can substitute 1c raw local honey - I am going to try it next time)
1c brown sugar
1tsp cinnamin
1tsp nutmeg
1tsp cloves
Dash of salt
Mason Jars (my batch of apple butter filled five small mason jars)

Directions
1.) Peel, core and cut the apples into quarters.

 2.)  Put the apples into a crock pot.

3.)  Pour apple cider vinegar over the apples.
4.)  Add spices and sugar.
5.)  Stir everything together.
6.)  Cook on high for 3 hours, stirring occasionally.
7.)  Cook on low for 5 hours, stirring occasionally.  You will notice a lot of juice.
8.)  Blend some of the apples in a blender with some juice from the crock pot.  Put into a bowl and repeat until you've blended all of the apples and juice.
9.)  Put the mixture back into the crock pot and cook on low for one hour.
10.)  Boil a large pot of water.
11.)  Place jars without the lids into the boiling water and boil for 5 minutes.
12.)  Remove the jars from the water - be careful because they will be VERY hot.  Place the jars onto a towel to cool a bit.
13.)  Pour apple butter into the jars.  Place the lids on the jars.
14.)  Allow the jars to cool a bit.
 15.)  Refrigerate (you can store your apple butter in the refrigerator for up to six months)

Delicious Apple Butter!

I enjoy my Apple Butter with Cottage Cheese.

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Cauliflower and Leek Soup

A few months ago I joined a local organic co-op.  Every week I pick up my share of different organic fruits, veggies and eggs.  What I love about it is that I get to try different foods that I probably wouldn't have tried if I just simply bought my produce at the local grocery store.  So far I've tried a watermelon radish, pluots and broccolini.  I'm happy to say that even my picky Charlie liked the pluots!

Last week's share included leeks.  I honestly had no idea what to make with leeks.  I can't recall if I ever ate a leek before, and for some reason whenever I hear the word "leek" I confuse it with "leech."  Ew.  So I decided to look up some recipes, but most of them include potato leek soup.  I wanted something low calorie/low carb and I was thrilled when I found cauliflower and leek soup because cauliflower just happened to be included in my produce for the week also.

I altered the recipe a bit, but I will include a link to the original recipe at the bottom of this post.

Ingredients:
2tbsp organic olive oil
3tbsp organic butter
2 organic leeks, chopped
1 large head of organic cauliflower, chopped
3 cloves of organic garlic (I use a garlic press)
8c of organic vegetable borth
salt and pepper to taste
1c coconut milk

Here are my leeks.

The recipe called for three leeks.  I am so glad I found a youtube video that showed me how to cut the leeks and which part of the leeks to use.  I was going to cut up three of the green leaves, but that's not right!

First, chop off the green parts.  You can save them and use them in a stock if you'd like, but I didn't.

DO NOT CUT OFF THE STEM!  Cut the leeks length wise into fours (does that make sense?).  Then rinse them very good to get rid of any dirt inside.

Chop up your leeks.  (Now you can get rid of the stem!)  Put it into a large pot.

Chop up your cauliflower and put it in the pot with the leeks.

Add the garlic, olive oil and butter.  Sautee over medium heat for 10 minutes.

Add 8 cups of vegetable broth.  Bring to a boil.  Lower to a simmer and simmer for 45 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Remove from heat.  Season with salt and pepper.  Blend with a hand mixer until smooth.

I substituted heavy cream for coconut milk.  Add 1 cup of coconut milk and blend until smooth.

 Enjoy!!

For the original recipe, please visit thttp://allrecipes.com/recipe/low-carb-cauliflower-leek-soup/his link:  http://allrecipes.com/recipe/low-carb-cauliflower-leek-soup/

For more information on the local organic co-op that I use, please visit:  https://www.anniesbuyingclub.com/buying_club.cfm

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