Preserving apples- part 2

yum , more applely goodness! now that we have completed the apple jelly and syrup you are left with a whole lot of apple pulp.

If you have a mouli, lucky you! nows the time to use it. If not you're in the same boat as me and need to push the apple pulp through a sieve with a spoon.

It takes time and elbow grease but you end up with beautifully smooth applesauce. It's that simple. You can eat it, freeze it, bake with it, feed it to the baby of the house or you can go a step further and make apple cheese. I divided the mixture into 2, froze one lot and made apple cheese with the other.

Apple cheese

Apple cheese is like a solid apple paste. Called a cheese because of the way it should slice. It also goes perfectly with cheese and pickles.

Apple cheese is also easy to make - weigh your apple sauce ( i had 500g) and add sugar (you need about 3/4 of the apple weight) so i used 350g sugar. Add to a pot and simmer, simmer, simmer. This can take a while and needs frequent stirring. It will go glossy and a darker caramel brown. The apple cheese is ready when you draw a spoon through it and it leaves a clear gap.

Pour into moulds ( i use little tubs or bowls) and store in the fridge. All going well it should set firm like a soft cheese for slicing and hold it's shape when pushed out of the mould. Give it overnight in the fridge before eating to aid the setting.

So there you have it, 4 products from 1 batch of apples - Apple jelly, apple syrup, apple sauce and apple cheese.

I hope you will give this a go, it really is so simple to do and the results are so much better than the store bought stuff ( if you can even get it!).
Feel free to email me if you have questions or need any advice. Preserving is a wonderful tradition i hope more people will get involved in.
See ya all xx

Preserving apples- beyond boiling part 1

Everyone who does preserving has probably at some point bottled some apples. It's such an easy way to quickly use up surplus fruit. But a recent post from over the way at Inner pickle reminded me of the other wonderful things you can do with apples. And as it happened i had a bag that needed using up.

Wanting to make the most of these apples i came up with 4 recipes from one batch of stewed apples - jelly, syrup, sauce and cheese.

First up cut all the apples seeds, skins, cores and all and chuck them into a pot with some water. I had 3kg of apples and added 8 cups of water. Boil away until the apples are soft and well cooked. Allow to cool a little, then get set up to strain the juice from the apples.

Tip 1 - use a bigger pot than you think you need as the apples swell a bit and rise to the surface - as you can see.....

This is how i drain my apples but there are many ways to manage this. Get a large bowl and put a sieve in it. Line the sieve with clean muslin cloth and pile in the apples and juice. The juice will drain through the muslin and collect in the bowl below. If this is all you have you can leave your apples to drain overnight wrapped in the muslin or you can string it up on something and let the liquid drip through (as above).

Because i had such a large batch of apples i used both methods. Apples wrapped for the night.

Tip 2 - Make sure your bowl for collecting juice is big enough to not touch the muslin wrapped apples as the juice level rises.

Leave to drain overnight.

In the morning measure out your juice - i had 10 cups. I used 8 cups of the juice to make the same jelly recipe from inner pickle - seen here. This recipe was pretty good but i found it needed a long boiling time to reach a gelling point - about 1.5-2hrs. It made about 6 cups of jelly.

I always boil my jars to sterilise them and then fill them while the jars and liquid are both very hot and seal them immediately. Preserving guidelines recommend a waterbath method to be safe but i don't do this with my jams and jellies which are made with low risk ingredients and are eaten in well under a year.

From there it is a quick hop, step and jump over to making syrup - whatever liquid you have left measure into a pot with 2/3C sugar for every 1 cup of liquid. Bring to a gentle boil and cook for 20mins, stirring frequently. The liquid will become thick and syrupy. Then turn off the heat, cool and pour into clean bottles and store in the fridge for up to a month.

It looks like liquid gold doesn't it? Just beautiful and delicious on pikelets, scones or toast. You can use it anywhere you use honey. It has a light fruity sweetness that is just delectable. hmmm icecream, put it on icecream too!

I'll be back over the next few days to show you the finished jelly, applesauce and apple cheese recipes all from the same batch of apples.

Till then, sweet appley dreams. xx

Slow living - Month 7 - 2012

Linking up again with Christine at Slow living essentials for month 7. This is a chance for me to review the month past and the small changes i have been making in my life.

{Nourish} - Make and bake as much as possible from scratch. Ditch overpackaged, overprocessed convenience foods and opt for 'real' food instead. Share favourite links/recipes/tips from the month here.
Cooking from scratch, this is an easy one almost everything i make is from scratch but a few highlights this month would have to be homemade cordon bleu chicken, beer bread and our adventure into cheese making. 

This camembert is still ageing and will be ready for tasting next week, yah! very excited. I'll be sure to let you all know what it's like.


{Prepare} - Stockpile and preserve. Freeze extra meals or excess garden/market produce. Bottle/can, dehydrate or pickle foods to enjoy when they are not in season. Aim to reduce dependancy on store bought items
There hasn't been a lot of excess around here in the middle of winter. I did recieve this week from my mum some bulk stewed apple for freezing but my own efforts have been on the quiet side. We have been eating a lot out the freezer though, including frozen capsicum and corn from summer.

{Reduce} - Cut down on household waste by re-using, re-purposing and repairing. A ladder into a strawberry planter? A sheet into a dress? Share ideas and project links here, allowing others to be inspired.
Old partly made quilts have been pulled out this month and finished off with leftover fabric. It feels good to finally complete some of them. One has been sent off to the quilter this week and i should have it back to share soon.

{Green} - Start (or continue!) using homemade cleaners, body products and basic herbal remedies. The options are endless, the savings huge and the health benefits enormous. 
Aromatherapy has featured heavily this month. It's probably that closed in feeling you sometimes feel in the middle of winter after days of rain when you feel the need to freshen up the house. Patchouli, lemon and basil oils to lift the mood. Pine, Rosemary and Teatree to clear the airways and ward off the persistent coughs and colds we have had lately.

{Grow} -  What's growing this month? What's being eaten from the garden? Herbs in a pot, sprouts on a windowsill or and entire fruit/vegetable garden -opt for what fits space and time constraints. Don't have a backyard? Ask a friendly neighbour or relative for a small patch of theirs in return for some home grown produce, they may surprise you! 
Nothing much is growing here still, just a bit of silverbeet and this week our first cauliflower of the season. There is a lot of lemons on the neighbours tree that have been calling out to be made into syrup though.
This week has been all about preparing for spring, weeding, laying hay and generally tidying in preparation for the busy spring growing.

{Create} to fill a need or feed the soul. Create for ourselves or for others. Create something as simple as a handmade gift tag or something as extravagant as a fine knit shawl. Share project details and any new skills learnt here. 
As always there has been a lot of creating going on - crochet flowers, bunting for presents and birthdays, more patchwork and cake decorating to name a few.

{Discover} - Feed the mind by reading texts relevant to current interests. Trawl libraries, second hand shops or local book shops to find titles that fill the need. Share titles/authors of what is being read this month. 
Everything i've been reading this month has been wonderful escapism fiction. Sometimes it's nice to lose yourselves in a good book. I read every night and can't remember a night i haven't. Recently i've been loving the Elm Creek quilter's novels - light easy reads about a family and thier history all told through the work and symbolism in thier quilts. Yes, very craft geek i know, but they really are lovely books free of the extreme violence and nastiness many books routinely contain. If you haven't read them already give them a go.

{Enhance} - community: Possibilities include supporting local growers & producers, help out at a local school/kindergarten, barter or foodswap, joining a playgroup or forming a walking or craft group. Car pooling where possible and biking/walking instead of driving. Even start up a blog if you haven't already - online communities count too! Or maybe just help out someone trying to cross the street! The rewards for your time are often returned tenfold.
Our craft group continues to meet every 2 weeks and has become a fun group of regulars getting together to stitch and chat. I'm really enjoying the feeling of community and craftiness the group brings.

{Enjoy} - Embrace moments with friends and family. Marking the seasons, celebrations and new arrivals are all cause for enjoyment. Share a moment to be remembered from the month here.
Celebrating my son's first birthday was a highlight this month. That boy is the joy of our lives and it was so much fun giving him a fun day of friends, bubbles, balloons and cake.

Now onto the next month..... hmmmm...... sourdough, grandma's recipes, quilts, sock puppets......

xxx

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Party like you're 1

Celebrating my son's 1st birthday over the weekend reminded me of how much fun kid's parties can be. I mean tapas, wine and jazz music is all very nice but you gotta love a party with balloons, bubbles, cake and cherrios (that's a small sausage over here, not the cereal). Not to mention all the gleeful squealing and smiles from the little one's when they see the bubbles and balloons. It really is the definition of joy watching thier little faces. Like many 1 year olds Cohen was more interested in the paper and crawling around looking at everyone than presents. He was however excited to have a piece of cake and was quite grateful to crawl into his cot with his blanket at the end of the day. As i was to crawl into bed at the end of the day.

It's funny how many people said to me, ' i bet you're glad that's over with', it struck me as a bizarre idea that somehow the party was a hassle i had to work through. I can't think of anything i'd rather do than celebrate another year with my baby boy and the little family we have created. 


Thank you my baby boy, you are the light of our lives. 
xxx

Loving.... Grateful..... My baby turns 1

So much to love and be grateful for.

One year ago our life changed and became so much richer with the arrival of our beautiful little boy, Cohen. It has been a year of pure joy and love, frustration, delight, sleeplessness nights, tears and cuddles. It has been an amazing journey and i am so grateful for every moment.

Those beautiful blue eyes and cheeky grin really brighten my day. I often wonder what i used to do with my time, everything seems so much more precious and meaningful these days. Right i'm off to sort through the party pictures from yesterday. I'll see you all tomorrow with a few favourite pics.
Take care everyone. xx

2 days to go!

This week in the lead up to the little man's first birthday everything seems to be floating by. Things to buy, stock the cupboards, baking and sewing have all been keeping me busy. Tonight more family arrives and it will be time to relax back with family and enjoy the upcoming party on Sunday.

There will be lots to show you after the big day has passed, so i'll see you all in a few days when things have slowed down.

Have a great weekend everyone, so excited! party!

xxx

Beer bread 2.0

I had a great blog post all planned about beer bread to post last night. The dough looked so delicious and bubbly but it came out of the oven like a rock. lol gotta love that. I figured it wouldn't be a very inspirational post so today i made beer bread 2.0. Although i'm not sure what went wrong with the first loaf i did get some advice from the resident beer expert. And when i say expert i don't say that lightly if there is anything this man doesn't know about beer and it's flavour and character notes it's not worth knowing. He takes his beer very seriously!

So today with some advice about beer types i made another loaf, this time with a sparkling ale which apparently will add more malty flavours and give the bread more depth. Gotta love that man, we're a great team.

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C 

Into a bowl goes 

450g wholemeal flour

1 T baking powder

1/2 t salt

1 t honey

350ml beer ( a stronger beer like an ale is best) 

Mix together to a soft dough

Grease a bread pan or loaf tin. I'm lucky enough to have this terracotta bread basin my mum bought me a few years ago. It's made by the local potters where she lives.

In goes the dough.

The whole lot then goes unto the oven, hmm yours might be slightly cleaner than mine. Good thing Dad is coming for a visit. Have i ever mentioned how my Dad, along with being a Jack of all trades, is the ultimate oven cleaner?

Cook for 40mins and allow to cool slightly in the pan.

Turn out onto a cooling rack to cool fully. I love that perfect roundness the bread basin gives.

Kinda looks like a giant muffin.

This malty loaf is perfect with cheese and pickles and went well with some leftover onion soup i found in the freezer. Perfect for cold, sick days at home.

Take care people.