Sundays in the kitchen

There are three things I really like to do on Sunday afternoons (and in this order): take a nap, cook/bake, and walk around the block with my family. Today I got to do all three of those things! I enjoy cooking and especially baking, more on Sundays because David is around to entertain the kids while I'm in the kitchen. On normal days if I start dinner before David is home, I'm interrupted a million times which can make for some frustrating cooking experiences. But on Sundays I can start and finish a recipe, usually, with no interruption.

After I got home from church, I put some porkchops and vegetables in the crockpot to make Pork Chop Succotash for dinner. I made a skillet of cornbread, sliced up some tomatoes and cut up some watermelon. With dinner done, I could move onto the fun stuff. I made another batch of those banana muffins my friend Rozlynn makes (because they are that good). I actually bought a batch of bananas and waited for them to turn brown so I could make these again. In the past I've usually only made banana bread/muffins when I have had bananas that have gone bad without me trying to let them go bad!

I've also been in an apple mood lately. I made an apple pie last Sunday and was ready for more apple something today. I have been wanting to try a recipe that I actually got from Rozlynn's mother-in-law several years ago. It's called Apple Pie in a Jar, but the recipe with the jarred apples actually makes an apple crisp. A delicious apple crisp. I bought two bags of Golden Delicious apples at the store last night, pulled out five of my Mason canning jars this afternoon and went to work. This really wasn't a lot of work for several jars of dessert I now have sitting in my pantry. They will be good, quick, go-to homeade desserts. All I will have to do now is put the jar of apples in a pan, make a quick crumb topping and bake. I love it. I also made the cakes for a red velvet cake I'm taking to a cookout at David's office tomorrow. I'll make the cream cheese frosting and frost them in the morning when I get home from my walk/run and try not to lick the beaters. :) There are also beans soaking for me to do some homeade baked beans in my pressure cooker in the morning. That's the other thing we're taking to the cookout. I have gazillions of bags of dried beans. So I'm trying to use those instead of buying canned beans, and my mom has a really good baked bean recipe for the pressure cooker. Hopefully mine will turn out as good as hers.

While eventually I want to share with you all my stepmother's red velvet cake recipe, tonight I'm going to focus on the Apple Pie in a Jar. I had a lot of fun making these, and the kids even helped me some. I think I'm really going to like this canning thing. Hopefully our garden will be bountiful.

Now, for Apple Pie in a Jar, courtesy of Pat Forester.

Peel and slice apples in wedges (made so much easier when using this Apple Peeler/Corer/Slicer.) One of the best kitchen inventions, ever. (Thanks to my honey and my kids for helping me peel all the apples! It was a team effort!) Of course I have the Pampered Chef version, though there are others. If you want to keep your apples from turning brown, place them in salt water while you peel all the apples and make the syrup. (My peeler/corer/slicer did my apples so fast today that I didn't have to put them in salt water and they never turned brown. We peeled two five pound bags of apples in less than ten minutes!)

Before putting apples in jars, wash and shake off excess water. Fill the jars with the sliced apples.

Pour syrup over apples in jars up to 1" from the top.
Wash off rims of jars; put on washed tops and rings.

Cover jars with water in a large stock pot
and cook with a rolling boil for 25 minutes.
Take out and cool on a wire rack before storing in your pantry.

Syrup (I was able to do 5 one-quart Mason jars with this syrup recipe).

4 1/2 cups sugar
1 cup cornstarch
2 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
1 tsp salt
3 Tbs. lemon juice
10 cups water

Mix your dry ingredients together in a large stockpot and then add the water. Stir well and cook until thick and bubbly. Take off the heat and add lemon juice. Pour over the apples while still hot. Wipe the jars off and seal with tips and rings. Place into big stockpot (my stockpot was able to hold four quart jars at once), cover completely with water and cook with a rolling boil for 25 minutes.

When you get ready to make a crisp, pull a jar of apples out of your pantry and use this crumb topping recipe.

Crump Topping

1 stick butter, softened
1 cup self-rising flour
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
dash of cinnamon

Mix together with hands to make clumpy. Put filling in a 13 x 9 pan. Put crumb mixture on top of filling and bake at 350 degrees until golden brown. Come on now. You know you want some. With a big ol' scoop of vanilla ice cream. Yummmm!