APPLE BUTTER THE EASY WAY

Crock Pot Apple Butter

-By-

Neil Waring

Revered Wyoming Chef, an outdoor cooking expert, admired woodsmen, author, and honored citizen.

At one time I was more active on this blog, hard to be less active than I am now at the rate of one post each year. What happened? I ran out of things I could cook. It seems I spent much more time on my Wyoming Fact and Fiction blog and my western writing blog. These days. For long-time followers, I also write, sporadically, on a gardening blog. But I’m back, today something new.

Late summer in Wyoming and many other parts of America it is apple picking time. It’s not hard to find free apples in any neighborhood. This year I made one of my favorite’s Apple Butter. On a cold winter morning, almost nothing tastes better than Apple Butter on Toast.

Pick them off the tree or pick them up from the ground

Ingredients

Apples :-)

Sugar – brown or white granulated, I prefer brown

Cinnamon, ground allspice, ground clove

That’s it, my friends

Crock Pot Apple Butter

1.  Get some apples, if you are lucky someone might bring you a sack or basket full.

2.  Peel apples. I like to see how many I can peel in one long peel like my dad used to do. Answer 2, not bad. Don’t remember how many apples I had eight or ten I guess.

3.  Cut apples into chunks, small ones. How small? Approximately ½ inch pieces.

4.  Keep peeling and chunking until the crock pot is full. I use a small 2-quart cooker for this.

Ready to cook

5.  I do not believe extra water is needed, but I put in one tablespoon in the bottom to start. I like to cook everything high and fast, pretty hard with a slow cooker, but add the water to make sure the bottom pieces do not stick and burn. Not sure how they could with me checking and stirring ever hour – but, you never know.

6.  After one hour on high, add one cup of brown sugar, two teaspoons of cinnamon, one teaspoon of allspice, and ½ teaspoon of ground clove.

One hour after adding seasonings

7.  Turn to low and let it cook. I check every hour or two and mash any large chunks I see with a fork.

8.  After six hours I turn the pot to warm – the lowest setting and leave it alone overnight.

9.  Spread on toast and enjoy. Keep refrigerated after opening. If you are not hot water sealing the jars, refrigerate all of the butter. Don’t worry it won't last long.

Yum - Ready to eat

Apple Butter Notes – adjust the sugar, cinnamon, clove and allspice to your taste. Many recipes call for twice this amount of sugar, but it seems over the top sweet to me with this much sugar. I love the flavor of clove, but if the butter has too much it will make your mouth feel a bit numb, not sure it that is good or not. How do I know this? Let's just say through experimentation.

Good Luck – My wife uses this in various baked goods, and it makes everything taste better, try it on hot dogs, delicious. Maybe!

Final Note – Do people still call them crock pots? I think in the past twenty years, or so they have become slow cookers. No matter still makes great apple butter and don’t call it jelly.

Nice to be back

Here is a link to my books - Note - gardening book coming soon!

Beans-Taters & a Boiled Egg

 Beans-Taters & a Boiled Egg

This is fun and tasty dish, works great with BBQ or when camping, we like it anytime and can be used for breakfast, lunch or supper. I say that about most all of my dishes because I am lazy and if I make too much – hey, eat some more for the next meal!

 Boil two potatoes and two eggs. The potatoes should be baseball size or a tad more, leave the skins on. I leave the skins on for two reasons.

First – I tell people it is healthy that way.

Second –I hate peeling potatoes it takes me away from the TV for way too long.

Drain the water from the potatoes and pour in a can of red beans. Peel the eggs and set aside

Add salt, pepper, paprika, sage, and a touch of sugar. (Some like a touch of BBQ sauce)

Continue to stir and let the entire concoction heat through.

Serve on a plate with a boiled egg sliced in half.

This makes a serving for two – one potato and half a can of beans and one boiled egg per plate.

Sounds funny tastes great – try it, best side dish ever with pulled pork or brisket, beats the heck out of those canned baked beans.

Pile it on the plate knock back a couple of Iced Teas or diet sodas and enjoy, YUM!

Bit of Winter in the Air Here

 

 

 

 

 

 

Honey Grilled Chicken

Sweet Honey Grilled Chicken

By

Neil Waring

Revered Wyoming Chef, outdoor cooking expert, admired woodsmen and honored citizen.




My Favorite Picnic Spot in the Park

This stuff is so easy that anyone can do it. That’s why I’m posting this, even this old food cooker can get this one right. The best part is that it can be made on the backyard grill or out at a favorite picnic area, mine is Guernsey State Park. Everything tastes better cooked outside.

I like to buy the chicken breasts in the portion size bag. I usually buy the giant bag of 6 oz. breasts. Frozen chicken tenders also work great for this, no, not the kind with all the stuff already on them that you warm in the microwave. These are naked, skinless, frozen pieces of real chicken. If you are a wing person, buy the skinless, boneless, dark meat chicken portions.

I season liberally (both sides) with my own concoction of salt, pepper, paprika, sage, thyme, and coriander. Make sure you have thawed the chicken first. This need not be a big deal, thaw in the microwave, that’s what I do—because I always forget, or want this chicken at the last minute.

-Ingredients-

Enough chicken for however many want chicken, let’s say chicken for four (I love alliteration)

·        4 Chicken Breasts

·        The seasoning from above

·        The special sauce

·        A good hot grill, heat ur up good, really good

Special Sauce Recipe – and I am not kidding about this, it is super. So what is it? Your favorite BBQ sauce and pure honey at a ratio of 1 to 1. For those of you that were math challenged, as I was, that means, equal amounts of BBQ sauce and honey. Easy!  Melt it together in the microwave, this will only take 20-30 seconds.

Now don’t get in a hurry with the sauce, it goes on when the chicken is mostly done.

Put your chicken on the very hot grill, it should mark the meat nicely. Turn in two minutes and mark the other side.

When clear liquid starts to bubble through it is ready for the sauce. Sauce one side, turn after a minute or so, turn and sauce the other side, turn once more. The BBQ sauce should blacken around the edges of the meat.

Serve on hamburger buns, hotdog buns, or whatever you have. Goes great with chips, potato salad and a fine, chilled, diet soda.

This is so much easier than doing hot wings and tastes even better.

Part of the reason I love summer – cooking out, burning some meat!