a veg life

Ever since apple season has come around again, I've felt the urge to try my hand making apple butter. After reading a number of recipes that involve using a crock pot (my favorite easy cooking appliance), I knew it would be easy! Here's the recipe I followed, using a mix of Granny Smith, Fuji, and Gala apples.  Crock Pot Apple Butter thanks to Kathryn T for help with this recipe! 16-20 apples, cored and cubed (as many as it takes to fill your crock pot) 1/2 c apple cider  1 tbs cinnamon 1/2 tsp nutmeg 1/4 tsp cloves 1/3 c sugar Fill the crockpot with apples and sprinkle spices and sugar on the top. Stir to mix and cover. I set my crock pot to high for about an hour, to get everything started and then switched it to low. Stir every few hours, if you can.  I started my apple butter around 7:45pm and switched the crockpot to low an hour later. I stirred about once an hour until I went to bed. I let the apples cook overnight, and then switched off the slow ...

Delicious either way! Sometimes, you just have to bake. There are times where I just get the craving to put something in the oven and try something new! In absence of pumpkin to add to my latest endeavor, I decided I'd try out a potential Thanksgiving breakfast idea. My Aunt Sue and cousins Ryan and Lindsey got us some awesome doughnut pans for the wedding. I've only used them once before, and when I was digging around for a muffin tin, these bad boys where on top. So, I figured, why not give them a try? We bought a few bags of fresh cranberries at Whole Foods around Christmas time last year--at 99 cents a piece, they were a steal! I tossed them in our freezer, and pull them out occasionally. I found a recipe online to use as a base--typically, I enjoy adjusting a changing a recipe to make it more my own, but I try not to mess around too much with baked goods, as there is so much chemistry involved.  Lately I've noticed that the things I bake come out very moist--alm...