All-Day Apple Butter

I tried this recipe at school for our Apple day. It was very yummy.

5 1/2 lb. apples - peeled, cored and finely chopped

4 c. sugar

2 tsp ground cinnamon

1/4 tsp ground cloves

1/4 tsp salt

Place apples in a slow cooker. Combine sugar, cinnamon, cloves and salt; pour over apples and mix well. Cover and cook on high for 1 hour. Reduce heat to low; cover and cook for 9-11 hours or until thickened and dark brown, stirring occasionally (stir more frequently as it thickens to prevent sticking). Uncover and cook on low 1 hour longer. If desired, stir with a wire whisk until smooth. Spoon into freezer containers, leaving 1/2 in. headspace. Cover and refrigerate or freeze.

(found on allrecipes.com)

New Idea

So the Rachael Ray plan didn't work out for me. It was much too costly. So instead I'm going to try making recipes from my Grandma Bice. The last time I was in Wisconsin for a visit I worked at typing out her favorite recipes. They are all pretty short and sound really good. I'm still working at finishing typing it all. There are a lot of recipes! I think with these recipes I can afford to make them more often than the recipes by Rachael Ray.

So here it goes. Hope I get one up soon. And I hope that I can actually commit to this! :o) We'll see how it goes.

Food processor

I was so excited the other day to make a new Rachael Ray recipe. Bought all of the ingredients and went home to make it. Came to find out that I needed a food processor to make it.... Problem! I didn't have one. Grr. I was so frustrated! So instead of the whole mushroom burger thing I just made the pasta salad that I was supposed to make with it. The salad turned out really well. I loved it and had a ton of left-overs. :o) Yay for left-overs! Here is my "attempt to be artsy" picture.

Since then my parents gave me a Magic Bullet for my birthday. I love my Magic Bullet! It is my new favorite appliance. Mostly I make smoothies in the morning. They are so easy and yummy! I'll make another post about my favorite smoothies soon. Have a great weekend! (Yes, it is almost here!)

major fail!

Ok here is the big oops I made in cooking last week. I was making some spaghetti and Alfredo sauce (out of a jar) last week. Kinda boring to begin with so I thought I'd cook a chicken breast to make it a little more interesting. I pulled my bag of chicken breasts out of the freezer and checked the bag to see how I should cook it. That is when I discovered I could microwave it. Sweet!! Easy and fast! I followed the directions to a T and didn't really pay much attention to it. There was my big mistake! Here is the end result. :o)

yup...a very dry, very shrunken, very hard piece of chicken.

Sad times!! Wont' be doing that again. I have no idea how it went bad, but it went very bad. I think I'll stick with using the oven from now on when making chicken.

Amazing Pancakes

My family came over the other day for brunch and I made Lemon Ricotta Pancakes. They are amazing! The recipe comes from William Sonoma and they turned out so well. Almost forgot to add an ingredient, but it all worked out just fine. I forgot to take a picture so you'll just have to take my word for it. :o)

So I know it has been a while since I have posted on here. I really want to commit to this endeavor, but the problem I am having is money. I can't afford to buy the "fancy" food in the recipe book I chose. Not all of the ingredients are "fancy," but some of them are a little more pricey than just getting ground beef and frozen chicken breasts. I am going to continue cooking out of it, but it will not be every week.

I think I'll post about other recipes I am making in between. Since I still have fun cooking. :o)

The other problem is that I do not have access to the internet when I am at home. I'll have to plan certain times to post when I am at school or my parent's house.

All this to say, no worries, I haven't stopped cooking. :o)

Day 2

This week's meal turned out great! It seemed a lot simpler than the recipes from Day 1. I still wasn't able to do it in 30 minutes, but I'm ok with that.

Julie, my sister, came over while I was cooking and took a bunch of pictures. While I was working Danika, my niece, kept turning the kitchen light off. And then laughing. It was quite entertaining.

Ok, the food...

The Super Sloppy Joes were really tasty. I'd never made sloppy joes before and I didn't know that there was brown sugar in them. What a great flavor! Unfortunately I didn't check the rolls I was planning on using and they weren't good anymore. My fault. We had to use sandwich bread which worked, but we didn't try to hold them. That kinda goes against the name of the food. Haha!

(I like how you can see the steam in this picture)

The recipe for the Deviled Potato Salad said to grate the onion. I've never even heard of that, and it is hard to do. It gave the potato salad a really nice strong onion flavor. Yum. My sister told me to rub my hand on my stainless steel sink and it took the smell off my hand. Amazing.

Here is the entire meal.

After a while we had the Root Beer Floats.

Awww, I love root beer floats.

I think the meal turned out really well. And I'm looking forward to eating the leftovers in the next few days. :o)

Until next week!

Preview to Day 2

This week I decided that I’m going to have to skip around the cookbook a bit. Every once in a while I’ll have to do that in order to use recipes that fit with my budget. There are certain times during the month that I will be able to spend more money on food and other times when the money is a little tight. So I am skipping around, but making sure I use all of the recipes.

Tonight my sister is coming over again for dinner. We are planning on watching “Confessions of a Shopaholic” and eating my next Rachael Ray meal.

This week’s menu is:

Super Sloppy Joes

Deviled Potato Salad

Root Beer Floats

I’m pretty sure the Root Beer Floats won’t be too hard for me. If they are then I really have a problem. She says to scoop the ice cream and hang it on the edge of the cup. When you are ready to drink it you knock the ice cream into the root beer. I’m wondering if that is a technique or just something that will look good.

Off in the margin there is an option for the Potato Salad. Instead of using mayo I think I’m going to use reduced fat sour cream. That way it is a little healthier.

I’m feeling hungry just writing about the food. It looks pretty basic to make and I think I might be able to do it in a shorter amount of time than I did the last meal.

Day 1

So last night I made my first Rachael Ray meal.

Oh wow, it turned out so good!

I started cooking about 45 minutes before my mom,

sister and niece came over. I wasn't sure how long it would take me to cook it all. It was a good thing I started early too, because I didn't finish until 5-10 minutes after they got there. But that's ok, I'm learning.

One thing I learned was that I need to read ahead in the recipe as I am cooking. I read through the recipe, but not right before I cooked it. So I found myself realizing that I should have been doing things sooner. For instance: I didn't have the mu

shroom sautéed before the burg

ers were finished cooking.

As I was cooking I had to laugh because I am so messy when I am working in the kitchen. I had the flour mixture for the onion rings everywhere! It was funny.

The Sirloin Burgers with Mushrooms, Swiss and Balsamic Mayo were very tasty. I used provolone, because I forgot to buy swiss. Either I bought the wrong mushrooms or Rachael Ray loves lots of mushrooms on her burgers. The recipe called for 12 baby portobellos and I cut up 6. Six mushrooms was even too much. The recipe didn't tell how much steak seasoning to use on the meat so I guessed. I think I could have added more, but it didn't hurt the flavor of the burger.

We all loved the Balsamic Mayo. My sister and I aren't big Mayo fans, but adding the balsamic makes it really good. It is nice to have leftovers of it too! I used it on a ham sandwich for lunch today and oh yum.

Next came the Thick-Cut O-Rings and Spicy Dipping Sauce. It had been a while since I had onion rings. And I have definitely never made them before. It wasn't too bad. It was messy of course, but they turned out really well. The only problem is the smell from the deep frying. Anyone know a good tip of getting that smell out of the kitchen? I've had my windows open and candles lit all day and it still smells slightly. I don't think that will stop me from making them again, but I probably won't make them very often.

The spicy dipping sauce had a nice kick to it. It was great with the O-rings, but you could totally use it with french fries or sweet potato fries.

I wasn't a big fan of the NY Egg Creams. It was kinda like an Italian Soda (which I usually like). I don't know, maybe I made it wrong. I didn't have any tall glasses, so it is possible that the measurements were wrong. But I tried it. :o)

Overall it was a great meal. I really did learn a lot. I think my goal for next week will be to read ahead and plan better as I am cooking the meal. :o)

Preview to Day 1

Just went grocery shopping for the ingredients I will need tomorrow night when I cook. I totally talk to myself when I’m shopping. I laughed at myself a few times. I had to call my mom to ask a few questions. Are scallions the same as green onions? Yup! I thought they were, but I didn’t want to get the wrong thing. :o) I had to ask the guy in the meat department about the ground sirloin I was supposed to get. I felt a little funny, but once again I was glad I asked. He was just restocking it. If I hadn’t have asked I would have ended up with ground beef, which is not the same thing. This might be basic for some people, but I had no idea. Now I know, which is one of the reasons why I am going through this cookbook. Already it is paying off and I haven’t even cooked anything yet!!

So here is what I am making tomorrow night (Friday...It took me a little while to post this).

Sirloin Burgers with Mushrooms, Swiss and Balsamic Mayo (Just realized I forgot to get the swiss)

Thick-Cut O-Rings and Spicy Dipping Sauce

NY Egg Creams

This menu says to make the NY Egg Creams or Black and White Shakes. I opted for the Creams because I don’t have a blender.

The only part I’m a little skeptical about are the mushrooms. I don’t mind mushrooms, but they aren’t my favorite. My sister is coming over to eat with me and I told her she had to try the mushrooms. (She hates them) I’m so mean.

Well, hopefully by Saturday you will hear all about how it went on Day 1. I’m excited and feeling hungry already. :o)