omg. apples.

so for laurel's birthday we went apple picking in woodstock, il. it was magical and you can see pictures here. the point is when we got home we had an incredible amount of apples. even with laurel taking home a lot we still had a ton. raul made cider and i made apple butter. and that took care of those pesky apples.

so if you have a bunch of apples just hangin' around your house causin' trouble, take care of them with these recipes!

raul's spicy cider

.5 peck of apples, it's about 16 apples, yeah, i don't know what a peck is either
3 tbs cinnamon
2 tbs nutmeg

core your apples. be careful, don't stab your hand. put them in a food processor and mash 'em up. after they're processed squeeze them through cheese cloth. this is messy. you just want the juice and not the skin. collect all the juice in a big pot and add spices. do it to taste - you can use cloves or whatever you like. cook on low until it simmers. don't boil it though. drink up. cute cinnamon stick, optional.


apple butter
just so you know, this isn't butter. sadly. it's just melted apples that give the appearance of butter. i don't like the name apple butter because it's really just apple preserves. no one calls strawberry jam strawberry butter. ugh. regardless. this stuff is good and easy to make!

.5 peck apples - you know
cinnamon, sugar to taste

core and slice apples thinly. put them in a crock pot and cook them on low until they're mush. keep checking. it smells great! once they're really mushy. stir them up. it's weird - they're melted! add spices. i say to taste because i didn't measure but just drop some in and taste it and add more. spoon into clear jars (i just an old honey bear jar. not the plastic one. this one says bron's bee co. and it cost $9, yikes!) and let them sit on the counters with the lids on but not sealed. once cooled stick them in the 'fridge. share with friends!

after these you'll be tired of apples just in time for them to go out of season!

enjoy.

love,
keighty

wow. it's been a while

i used to ride my bike everyday and then one day i broke my foot. then i got married yada yada. then i just stopped riding my bike. i rode it to work today and it was hard and i was really slow and got really sweaty. 

that is like this blog. i lost the internet. then got busy. you get the idea. 

anyway. i'm back and i'm already getting sweaty so it's going to be great. 

first up: banana cranberry apple cider muffins

1.5 c sugar

.5 c butter

2 eggs

1 tsp. baking soda

3 tbs water

3 c flour

1 tsp. baking powder

.5 tsp salt

1 1/3 c. apple cider

3 ripe bananas - ripe means brown and mushy, folks

dried cranberries, 2 small handfulls?

cream butter and sugar, add eggs, one at a time. add soda, water. mix together dry ingredients. add flour mix and cider alternately. add bananas and cranberries. drop into a muffin tin and bake them til they're done at 375. 

this is a perfect time to mention that raul got me a present. so we registered for that stand up mixer of my dreams. sadly, we didn't get it. but! macy's is really cool about your registry and they give you a hella discount on the stuff you didn't get. plus, get this, they were having a sale. so raul comes home really sweaty and out of breath and i didn't get it and he didn't explain. i didn't for one second think that he ran home, though, never. anyway. he carried the mixer all the way from downtown. ah! anyway. here's a picture of the beauty. 

i made those muffins with that sweet ass mixer. ugh. i'm too excited. oh and those cool decals are of montreal, from ellyn. great wedding present! 

more to come! 

love,

keighty

internet is down...

so i have a lot more recipes to add but i have no internet. i'm at a coffee shop and only have a few minutes before work. but soon, friends, soon.

let's just say laurel got me an immersion hand blender and raul bought a standing mixer... so things are gonna get crazy.

hope to write soon!

love,
keighty