Crockpot Apple Butter

As I mentioned a few posts ago, I have really been slacking on the "cooking front" this past month.  When it is hot outside, I just want to walk away from the oven and let my husband do the grilling for awhile.  Luckily, I was just accepted into the Secret Recipe Club so I will have lots of inspiration to try some new recipes!

Curious to know more about the Secret Recipe Club?  Each month you are assigned to another member's blog and you get to choose one recipe from it to make and share.  The fun twist is that you can't tell anyone whose blog you have - it's a secret, shhhh - until you finally post about it.  You can read all about it out here!  Thanks for the description Lisa!


This month, I was matched up with Chelsy at Mangia. 

Chelsy has a lot of healthy recipes to choose from with quite a few meatless options to try.  I also really like that she has some Paleo options.  My husband and I do CrossFit and the Paleo diet is a great partner to get your body in top form!  I admittedly struggle with the diet part because I do love me some carbs!  I will definitely be back to try more of her Paleo recipes in the future.

Even though the weather has been well over 100 degrees the past week, my mind has already moved on to Fall weather..  Labor Day marks the season opening for nearby Oak Glen apple orchards.  This is a great area that has at least 8 different apple orchards to visit.  They have good down-home cooking at the local restaurants and a lot of weekend events.  But as with everything in Southern California, it is beyond packed on the weekends.  I mean "not a parking spot to be found for miles" packed!  So I headed there during the week to pick up the ingredients for Chelsy's Overnight Homemade Apple Butter.

Here are some pictures of our trip to Oak Glen!

Snowline Orchards apple varieties:.  Love the old signs!

Found some Jonagolds.....let's get cooking!

Overnight Apple Butter

Ingredients

7 Jonagold apples (Chelsy used Pink Ladies)
2 1/2 cups apple juice
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
2 TB. Mexican Vanilla (I had to grab some at the local Mexican food store, but I am sure any good quality vanilla would work!)


Directions 

Core and slice all of the apples.  Use an apple slicer to make this step easier!





Add the sliced apples to your crockpot

In a mixing bowl, combine all of the remaining ingredients - apple juice, brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, vanilla. 

Pour the liquid over the apples in the crockpot.

Note: I am a HUGE fan of the crockpot liners that keep your crockpot clean.  If you use one for this recipe, just combine all of the ingredients in a bowl before dumping into the crockpot. 

Turn the crockpot on low for 12 to 14 hours - I split the difference and went with 13 hours

Turn the crockpot off and let the mixture cool.

Pick out the remaining apple skins and discard.  You can see how easy it is to spot the skins in the picture below!  The skin will peel off super easy after it has been cooked, just be sure to toss the skins....we don't want that in our finished product! 

Transfer the remaining mixture into a food processor or blender and puree.

Pour the apple butter puree into individual canning jars.

How cute would this be packaged as gifts in the short canning jars?  Just add a cute label and a fun ribbon!

Thanks for the great recipe Chelsy!

Johnny's Garlic Bread Seasoning - Homemade

If you checked out my last post for Cheesy Baked Zucchini, you will see how I substituted a homemade garlic seasoning for the Johnny's Garlic Bread Seasoning that I could not find in any of my local stores.  Thanks to the wonders of the internet and a great recipe blog community, I was able to find this great subsitute using ingredients that were already on hand.  I LOVE when this happens!  Anytime I can skip a trip to the grocery store, I am a happy camper :) 

Johnny's Garlic Bread Seasoning - Homemade Version

Ingredients

1/2 c. powdered Parmesan cheese

2 tsp. Kosher salt

2 Tb. garlic powder

2 tsp. oregano

2 tsp. basil

2 tsp. marjoram

2 tsp. parsley

 

Directions

 

Mix it all up and put into an airtight container and store in the refrigerator.  It doesn't get any easier than that! 

 

I just used an empty parsley container that already had a shaker lid attached.

 

Ideas:

Mix this seasoning with some softened butter and spread on breadsticks or some thick Texas Toast and either bake or broil. 

This stuff is great to have on hand!

Recipe from http://www.ourbestbites.com/2008/04/garlic-bread-seasoning/

 

 

 

Cheesy Baked Zucchini

This past month has definitely confirmed what I have always told people....I am a cool weather cook.  I love to make slow roasted pot roasts, hearty casseroles, creamy pastas.....everything that is basically too heavy to eat when it is 100 degrees outside.  So this explains my absence in August.  I have been watching my husband grill our dinners more often than not!  I apologize :)

We missed our chance this year to get our own garden growing, but a visit to my friend Gina's ended with some tomatoes, zucchini and some yellow squash looking thing (still need to investigate what to do with that one!). 

So first up is a zucchini recipe that actually let me try out two new recipes for one dish!  I found this recipe for Baked Zucchini with Mozzarella on one of my favorite recipe blogs - Jamie Cooks It Up!.  The pictures really tempted me, but unfortunately my pictures did not turn out too great so I "borrowed" this photo from Jamie's blog. 


Cheesy Baked Zucchini


Ingredients

2 medium (or 4 small) zucchini
Johnny's Garlic Spread Seasoning or make your own here
Salt
2 cups mozzarella cheese


Directions

Slice up your zucchini into 1/2 inch rings.  The above amount are really just a guideline.  They provide for about 6 servings.  I only had one small zucchini, so that is what I used for the two of us!

Lay the sliced zucchini flat on a cookie sheet.  Sprinkle with the Johnny's Garlic Seasoning and a bit of salt. 

Note: I was not able to find Johnny's Garlic Seasoning in any local stores, so I found a recipe to make my own here.

Bake at 350 degrees Farenheit for 10-15 minutes or until crisp tender.

Take the pan out of the oven and set it to broil.  Sprinkle the zucchini slices with some mozzarella cheese.

Add the pan back into the oven to broil for about 3-5 minutes.  Be sure to keep a close eye on them so they don't burn to a crisp!  Just broil them until the cheese gets a nice brown color.

These are great served as a appetizer or a simple side dish!

Enjoy :)



recipe from http://jamiecooksitup.blogspot.com/2010/07/baked-zucchini-with-mozzarella.html