I forgot to tell you

Oops! I forgot to add this little trick at the end of my last blogpost.

So, you peel and core and, if you have one of those amazing apple peelers like this one, you likely have yards and yards of these apple peels.

Here is a great little recipe for those skins!

1.     Turn your oven on to the lowest its lowest setting.

2.     Put your peels in a large bowl.

3.     Mix in some honey and cinnamon (my four-year-old just dug right in with her hands).

4.     Let them bake all day – seriously, like twelve hours or so – making sure that you check on them and stir them. When they are dry, you will have made delicious – APPLE CHIPS!

~Now, go impress your friends and family!

It's Autumn and Apple Butter

This weekend my family visited a local apple orchard. I’m going to plug them here because they are family-owned, have fantastic apples and boast an amazing, possibly first-in-the-nation apple tree maze – yes, you heard that right.

We’ve been enjoying a fantastic autumn here in the Midwest – it is the kind of autumn that requires sweaters in the morning and evening, but tank tops in the afternoon when the sun shines its brightest.  (Why can’t this weather stay FORVER?)

OK, so I am going to do this post because it always irks me when I read fantastic ideas for upcoming holidays or seasons, but the event happens the next day and you can’t possibly have all the materials ready that night. So, here it goes:

Apple butter is simply amazing. There really is no better condiment in the fall. Once the scent temps your nose, you must have it. And, despite what some might think, it is incredibly easy.

This (and apple pies, of course) has become an annual tradition. It is fun, relaxing, tasty and begs you to share!

I can my apple butter, but you also can freeze it. I also use a pretty generic recipe ~ I am sure you can find one completely similar on the Internet, but this is what I use, and I have refined it over the years.

 

1.     Peel, core and slice (or have your little ones peel, core and slice) 5 lbs. of apples – I use all different varieties. This year, I used Cortland and Jonafree.  (I used a scale, because once you core that apple, it takes a remarkable amount to tip the scale at 5 lbs.!)

2.     In a separate bowl, measure out 4 cups of sugar, 3 tsp. of cinnamon, ¼ tsp. ground cloves, ¼ tsp. salt and 1 Tbsp. (or more, if you are like me) vanilla extract. Mix.

3.     Pour the apples in your crockpot.

4.     Top with the dry mixture.

5.     Turn the crockpot on high for an hour.

6.     Stir and turn down to low for approx. 10 hours.

7.     Mix and use an immersion blender to create a smooth mixture.

8.     Turn on high for another hour.

9.     Can or freeze.

10.  Enjoy, save or gift your friends.

I hope you have an opportunity to try this out. If you do, let me know how it turned out.

I’ll leave you with this ~ If you have some fantastic fall weather wherever you are, head outside and enjoy it! If you live near an orchard and are able to pick your own apples, do it – it makes a great date, it is lovely to do as a couple, it makes a great learning experience for children, and it can be a relaxing experience when your children have grown and left the house.

Enjoy your autumn!

If you want to know what to do with miles of apple peels, visit this blogpost to make apple chips!

To walk

I haven’t posted for a while, but I find myself at the anniversary of September 11.

It is my first instinct to look back on the evils and the loss of life - to remember those taken too soon. As I watch the news coverage again, I find tears spilling out.

But I also find hope.

I find hope in those who were first responders. I find hope in those who continue to live despite loss. I find hope in those who dropped future plans to defend our nation.

I initially wrote a post about where I was that day, but I have lived so much since September 11, 2001. I have grown. I have learned.

I’ve learned to look more deeply into the eyes of those I pass, to smile more genuinely at those in the coffee shop, to offer help to busy moms at the park who seem so overwhelmed, to chat with the elderly sitting in waiting rooms yearning to talk to someone – anyone.

I have wept in the funeral pew for friends who have taken their own lives. I have held tight to the shoulders of family, friends and strangers who suffered abuse. I have watched helplessly as students allowed their lives to be derailed, methodically, decision-by-decision.  I have seen my own life affected by my own poor choices. I’ve felt unforgivable. I’ve felt unlovable.

There is a severe hurt that lurks in so many of our hearts, and it is that hurt which causes us to make decisions we do not intend to make – how else can we explain such evil in our world? It certainly isn’t love that motivates these poor choices; it is hurt.

As a Catholic, I know that we are called to walk alongside those we encounter – to meet them where they are. We are called to listen to the broken and to laugh with the joyful. We are called to love ourselves, so that we can more fully love others. We are called to tell others they are loved – wholly and absolutely -- by God.

We are called to walk – because the journey is long and the journey is hard, but to have someone to walk with us – that makes all the difference.

I choose to walk.