Growing! Growing! Growing!

A summer shower came through this afternoon and as quickly as it crossed over the mountains, it disappeared again. When the sun came out, my daughter and I went out on a scavenger hunt.

Today's theme: Things we can eat! Have a look at what we found!

Tomatoes!

Summer apples!

Blueberries!

Figs!

Mulberries! (at back) foreground= NOT edible!

Fall apples!

Patio Herbs!

Annual November Harvest Feast

Hello and I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday!
Just wanted to share this year's feasty frenzy with you
(and a secret recipe from down South):

• Hickory smoked turkey
• Southern cornbread dressing
• Homemade cranberry chutney
• Chipolte-Sorghum sweet potatoes
• Naked Green Beans
• and Mom's homemade Pumpkin pie

In the American South, we do not eat bread stuffing. We eat cornbread stuffing! And here's my secret recipe just for you!


Southern Cornbread Dressing:

1 pan skillet cornbread (recipe below) cooled and crumbled

1 (8 ounce) can cream-style corn

2 eggs, beaten

1/2 cup milk

1/2 cup butter

1 onion, finely chopped

2 celery, finely chopped

1 tablespoon minced garlic (not dried)

1 tablespoon fresh thyme

1 teaspoon dried basil

2 teaspoons dried oregano

2 teaspoons salt, or to taste

1 teaspoon ground black pepper

3 cups chicken broth

• 1 cup dried cranberries (or chopped apples if you prefer)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Lightly grease a 9x13 inch baking dish.
2. In a saucepan, add butter, onion, celery, garlic, thyme, basil, oregano, and chicken broth and bring to a boil. Cook until celery is al dente.
3. In a medium bowl combine crumbled cornbread, creamed corn, eggs, milk and dried cranberries; stir until moistened.
4. Mix in the saucepan ingredients and season with salt and pepper. Pour into prepared baking dish.
5. Bake in preheated oven for 20-25 minutes, or until golden brown.

Basic Southern Cornbread:
2 cups white self rising cornmeal
2 eggs beaten
2 cups buttermilk
2 tablespoons bacon grease or vegetable oil


Directions:
Mix all ingredients together and pour into a greased cast iron skillet. Bake 30-40 minutes at 400 degrees F or until golden brown.


Enjoy!

Homemade Applesauce

It's fall in the South and that can only mean one thing! It's apple time!

Only one hour away from the South's greatest apple orchards, each year we take a day and go up to the mountains to get apples. This year we came home with a bushel of yellow delicious and a half peck of granny smith's. I intend to use the granny smiths for various recipes. They keep a long time and will last the winter through. However, the yellow delicious are a bit more perishable and thus need to either be eaten, canned, or dried.

And that is what we did. We ate lots- gave away lots, dried a few, and made applesauce with the rest.

Here is the process of making homemade applesauce.

Step 1. Wash and peel your apples. I do not have one of those fancy apple peelers (although it is now on my Christmas wish list) and did by hand.

Step 1: Wash and peel your apples

Step 2: Core your apples, cut them up into pieces, and put them in a deep stock pot. I add a little ascorbic acid to prevent browning and as a preservative. Add about 1/2 to 1 cup of apple cider or water (more or less may be needed depending upon your batch size).

Step 2: Cut up your apples into small pieces

Step 3: Cook on medium-low heat for approximately 1 hour. (Again, more or less time may be needed depending upon your batch size.) Stir occasionally to prevent burning.

Step 3: Cook until soft. You can see the pot contents have been reduced to almost half.

Step 4: Can in sterilized jars in a water bath or pressure canner. Here is a link to the site I reference most often when canning anything.

It's just that simple. If you want a smoother applesauce, use a food processor after coring and cutting up the apples. There is no need to add sugar to this recipe. If you use the right kind of apples, your applesauce will be naturally sweet.

I used approximately 16-20 apples in this batch and ended up with 1 quart and 3 pints of applesauce. My 20 month old eats it like it's going out of style! She loves it! And- no artificial preservatives (ascorbic acid is a naturally occurring substance) and I know EXACTLY where it came from!

Canned pint of applesauce