Love Apples

Some love apples. A print I designed the other day.

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I’ve no cards to print this on just at the moment but I plan to make quite  a few once I locate a good blank card source.

Apple Print

Today I spent much of a grey and wet day working at my desk. Drinking warm apple cider, eating apples and working on a designing for a block print card. Just so happened the apple theme won out.

Blackberries (and apples)

My sister and I engaged in some serious blackberry picking this weekend at Good Cheer. Good thing we had boots – the grass is always wet in the mornings.

It’s prickly business, but it’s worth it. You can fill a pot like this in no time.

They ripen so fast, we have to have plans for them. This weekend we made blackberry jam. I also collected the windfall apples and we made blackberry and apple “butter”. (Fruit butter is a thick spread.)

And I came home with a container full of berries and a bag of apples that I have to deal with today. I’m looking around for recipes…

Apple Chutney

Yesterday I made apple chutney for the first time as part of my Christmas gift-making. It was a little time-consuming with the chopping of apples and onions, but fairly straight forward. And as it bubbled away happily it made the whole house smell lovely. I used this recipe I found online. It needs to rest in its jars for about a month so I figure it’s perfect timing (well, maybe a little tiny bit late) for Christmas. I tasted it though, and even right out of the pot it’s quite nice.

I’d say the most fiddly part was the potting and canning. There seems to be differing opinions as to whether or not chutney needs to be put through the boiling water canning process but I don’t really know enough about it to make an informed decisions. Plus, these are gifts, so I wanted to be extra safe. I don’t have a canner, so had to improvise, and do lots of batches. And there was much fussing about with wooden utensils trying to get bottles in and out of boiling water for sterilizing. I felt a little like Edward Spoon Hands, or like I was playing some strange fair game. It would have been slightly easier if I could have used the dishwasher to sterilize the jars before potting, but it was nowhere near full so I couldn’t justify running it.  But I got everything done and well sealed in the end. It does make me consider the need for a canner though. It’s a hard thing to decide because I don’t make much in the way of preserves, but maybe I would if the processing was easier!

But all that is unimportant now and what matters is that I have a lovely little collection of chutney to give away!

Cornucopia

I somehow managed to get talked into teaching a two week Sunday School rotation. It’s not really my thing, but the topic was food,  and that at least is something I’m passionate about. Since it is Thanksgiving weekend, I decided on a simple paper cornucopia craft.

I brought in apples and leaves and pipe cleaners (some corn or wheat sheaves would have been wonderful but I had to make do). I think if you had more time, it would also be quite cute to make different kinds of fruit and veg using plasticine. Then we decorated the paper bags in a basket pattern and while we worked we talked about the harvest, and the Thanksgiving meal. In retrospect, I think my paper bags were a little too big, but I think that children enjoyed it anyway.

Now down to business –  cooking for the Thanksgiving meal! More on that tomorrow.

Adventures with Apple Galette

Peeling apples in my hand-made, wedding shower gift apron. (I think I’m a better cook when I wear this apron.)

I have never made apple pie until this weekend. Strictly speaking it was Apple Galette, a sort of rustic apple pie. The idea was to use up some of the apples we picked on Saturday. I started off with a good deal of confidence but had a few nervous moments when I realized my departure from the recipe (decision to meld a few recipes together) may not have been the best plan. The filling was two juicy and kept leaking out onto the pan, causing the whole pie to sit in a puddle of sticky goo. But in the end, I don’t think it mattered much.  Anyway, I eventually got one large and two medium Apple Galettes baked and after sacrificing the smallest to our immediate pie cravings, got the other two in the freezer. I must do this again. We have enough apples for it, and I somehow feel that pie making is an important skill! (though I reserve the right to recant if I don’t master it!)

(Sorry it’s not a better photo. Forgot to take more and now it’s too late!)