Crock pot pumpkin apple butter! (No peeling!)

...And so the pumpkin obsession continues! This was kind of an experiment :) I just replaced some of the apples with fresh pumpkin puree in a normal apple butter recipe. I had to add a little bit more honey, because the pumpkins aren't quite as sweet, but it worked well!

I've been looking for an apple butter recipe that uses honey instead of sugar and doesn't require peeling. And yesterday, Health, Home, and Happiness blog posted THIS simple crock-pot recipe for apple butter that uses honey without peeling the apples!

So I just decided to replace some of the apples with fresh pumpkin puree. And I increased the honey since pumpkins aren't very sweet. And added nutmeg and cloves, because every pumpkin deserves some nutmeg and cloves :) So here is what I did:

Ingredients:
6 apples, cored and sliced
puree from 2 small pie pumpkins
1/2 cup water
1 cup honey (you might need more if your family is not used to minimally sweetened food :)
Cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg to taste (Sorry; I never measure :)

Directions: Put everything in crockpot and cook on low for about 12 hours. At this point you will have apple-pumpkin sauce. Puree with blender or food processor til smooth and place back in crockpot on lowest setting with lid cracked for another 4-6 hours. Stir every hour or so and it will darken and turn in to apple -pumpkin butter! Freeze or can as you would apple butter.

Home-made Enchilada Sauce

For my freezer stocking task this week, I planned to make a bunch of enchiladas. However, when I went to the store to buy the ingredients, I couldn't find a sauce without soybean oil or HFCS, two things I try to avoid as much as possible. So I decided to look for a recipe to just make it myself. I chose this one because it uses cocoa powder as a secret ingredient and, well, that just sounded like a yummy idea to me! I also used home-made chicken stock instead of the water to give it more nutrients and flavor. It turned out just fine and I will be using this from now on!

Ingredients

• 3 tablespoons chili powder
• 3 tablespoons flour
• 1 teaspoon cocoa powder
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic salt
• 1 teaspoon oregano
• 3 cups water
• 1 (8 ounce) can tomato sauce

Directions: Combine all dry ingredients in a small bowl. Stirring constantly, slowly add enough of the water to make a thin paste. Pour into pan and add rest of water. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until mixture thickens. Stir in tomato sauce.Use in your favorite enchilada recipe. The amounts on the ingredients are very flexible. For instance, if I am feeding my kids who do not like"spicy", I will halve the chili powder and double the tomato sauce. Experiment to suit your taste, but don't leave out the cocoa!

*For a quick meal, we will soften a corn tortilla in a bit of hot oil, drag it through the sauce, and lay it flat on a plate. Cover it with grated cheddar cheese, sprinkle with chopped onions and sliced black olives. Then cover with another softened sauced tortilla and melt the cheese in the microwave for 1 minute on high.

Pineapple marinade

I've been wanting to switch from our normal Italian dressing marinade to something more healthy and found this recipe at one of my favorite blogs. I LOVE anything with pineapple so I think I'm going to love it! I hope to try it this week :)

Ingredients:
• 10oz canned pineapple in its juice (about 1/2 a can)
• 1/2 sweet onion roughly chopped
• 1/4 cup soy sauce
• 3 cloves garlic
• 1/2 cup olive oil

Blend until thoroughly mixed. Marinate the chicken for several hours. Bake at 375 for 45 minutes to an hour. To grill chicken, heat the grill to medium heat, cook for three minutes per side, then move to indirect heat and grill for an additional 45 minutes, with the lid closed. As leg quarters tend to be fattier than breasts, watch for flare ups.
Use a thermometer to ensure the leg quarters reach 165F.

When grilling, I like to use some of the marinade as a baste. It’s important to note that this is marinade I set aside for this purpose. Never reuse any sauce or marinade that has touched raw meat.

Recipe found at: http://www.home-ec101.com/pineapple-grilled-chicken/

Homemade Spaghetti Sauce

Ingredients
Roma tomatoes
2 cloves garlic
½ bell pepper
1/2 zucchini, sliced
1 t oregano
1 t Italian seasoning
1 T EVOO (extra virgin olive oil)
1 T Coconut Oil
1 t salt and pepper


Directions
1. Stew tomatoes in large pot
2. Once soft, spoon tomatoes into food processor and add zucchini, bell pepper, garlic, seasonings, and oils.
23. Puree and store as you wish. I am not into canning (yet!), and so wish I was! I will store this sauce and use it for spaghetti, pizzas, lasagna or any other “Italian” dish!

Found at: http://www.5dollardinners.com/2008/09/homemade-spaghetti-sauce.html

Yummy Tomato Cream Sauce

After making Bow Ties With Sausage, Tomato, and Cream, I realized that the sauce would be great on lots of other things and is super duper easy! It tastes similar to something I had in a restaurant over grilled chicken and pasta. Basically, all you need is 1 1/2 cups heavy cream and 2 cans diced Italian tomatoes (make sure you get organic diced tomatoes, or you will be eating HFC!) And if you use raw milk, you can just scoop the cream off the top to make this sauce! If you want more flavor, you can ad in some sauteed onions and garlic. Basically, just simer until the sauce thickens a bit and then serve over whatever sounds good to you!

Mark's Favorite Marinade!

Almost every time we go home to visit my folks, they fix us beef tenderloin with this marinade because they know Mark loves it so much! Keep in mind that my Mom never measures; I had to pull her leg to get her to write down approximate proportions :) She pretty much just does it to taste.

Ingredients:
1 cup olive oil
1/2 cup Dr. Pepper
1/4 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup teriaki sauce
2 Tbs. lemon or lime juice or both
1 Tbs. minced onion
1/2 tsp. garlic powder
1/2 tsp. Worchestershire sauce or A-1 sauce
1/4 tsp. Thyme or oregano or Allspice (depending on your preference)

Directions: Marinade meat at least 1/2 hour before cooking

Beth's Homemade BBQ Sauce/ Sloppy Joe

This has great flavor and can be used in whatever dish you use bbq sauce in. It also makes a delicious Sloppy Joe!

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cup chopped onion
3 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 cup butter
10 oz. tomato paste
1 cup vinegar
1 cup honey
1 cup mustard
1/2 cup soy sauce
2 Tbs. chili powder
1 T cumin
1/2 Tbs. crushed red pepper flakes

Directions: Saute onions and garlic in butter. Add everything else -- simmer uncovered on low for 30 minutes. Stir frequently. Makes about 1 1/2 quart. You can add it to browning meat to make an easy sloppy joe! (Sauce can be canned using the inverted method.)

Easy Home-made Alfredo

I'm trying to make every thing from scratch these days so I was excited to find this easy alfredo recipe:

1 stick butter
1 1/2 pkg. cream cheese
1-2 tsp crushed garlic, to taste
up to 3 c. half and half (I just use my raw milk that has cream in it :)
3 oz parmesan cheese

Make it like a white sauce. Melt butter in saucepan over med/high heat. Add cream cheese, cut in small pieces a little at a time. Add garlic, heat and stir until smooth. Slowly add cream and parmesan cheese, constantly stirring. Cook about five minutes.

http://24hourmenu.blogspot.com/2008/08/karens-alfredo.html