Easy Apple Butter

Traditionally, Apple Butter is made in a slow cooker and take about 12 hours to prepare. Thanks this techniques from Simple Recipes we found an alternative method that quick, easy and it cuts the time to roughly 2 hours. Here's our recipe for Easy Apple Butter.

Ingredients:

2 1/4 cups of apples chopped

1/2 of an Asian pear chopped (optional)

1/4 cup of cider vinegar

1/2 cup of water

1/2 cup of sugar

1/4 tsp of cinnamon

1/8 tsp of ground cloves

1/8 tsp of mace

1 juice of a lemon + grated rind

Prepartion:

1) Chop apples and asian pear

Cooking Stage 1

1) In a large pot, add chooped fruit, water and vinegar, and cover, bring to a boil, then reduce heat to simmer. Cook apples until they're soft or for 20 mins. Then turn off heat.

2) Then transfer cooked apples to a blender. Blend, then add spices and blend again. Make sure everything is pureed.

Cooking Stage 2

1) Pour blender contents into a large pot. Leave the pot uncovered.

2) Cook pureed apples on low meduim heat. Stir constantly to prevents burning. Cook until it is thick and smooth, this should take about 1-2 hours.

3) Turn off heat and let it cool. The transfer contents into a glass jar, and refrigerate.

Viola! Quick and Easy Apple Butter ^^

- makes a 13oz jar

[ This recipe can be used for canning- to learn more click here ]

Fig-Habanero BBQ Sauce

It's fig season, time to make Fig-Habanero BBQ Sauce. This sauce will add that special something to any grilling event. The original recipe can be found at The Beer Store. As they say beer makes everything better ~.^

[CAUTION: Remember to ALWAYS wear latex or vinyl gloves and protective goggles. The oil from the peppers can burn your skin. Don't touch hands, nose, face when handling peppers.]

Ingredients:

1 TBSP of olive oil

1/2 medium onion coarsely chopped

1 small habanero pepper ( to reduce heat use 1/2 habanero pepper)

1/2 cup cider vinegar

1/4 cup molasses or honey or brown sugar (we used brown sugar)

2 cups fresh figs chopped and stemmed

1 bottle (12 ounces each) of gluten-free beer (we used RedBridge)

* optional * Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

Directions:

1) Prep figs, onion and habanero pepper [ Remember to wear gloves & goggles ^^]

2) Warm 1 TBSP of grapeseed oil over med-high heat in large saucepan.

3) Add onion and habanero pepper. Cook for about 6 minutes.

4) Add vinegar and brown sugar. Bring to a boil, stirring occasionally. Add the figs while stirring.

5) Return to a boil, then reduce to a simmer.

6) Cook for 10 minutes. Add the beer, and bring to a boil.

7) Then simmer for 15 minutes. *optional* Season with salt and pepper.

8) Puree the mixture using a handheld blender, standing blender, or food processor.

* To adjust the consistency by adding a little water or boiling to reduce the mixture
** To adjust the flavor to your liking- add salt, pepper, habanero peppers, vinegar, or brown sugar.

Now, fire up that grill! Get ready to use your Fig Habanero BBQ sauce! Tailgating season is just around the corner ^^

This post is dedicated to Nina Paley.

Classic Habanero Salsa

    It wouldn't be Habanero Week without salsa! This recipe is from Lisa Fain, author of the Homesick Texan. Lisa wasn't kidding; this salsa is fierce! It's very versatile; use it to turn up heat on your other dishes ^^

[CAUTION: Remember to ALWAYS wear latex or vinyl gloves and protective goggles. The oil from the peppers can burn your skin. Don't touch hands, nose, face when handling peppers.]

Ingredients:

1 tablespoon olive oil

2 large carrots, chopped

2 medium-sized red tomatoes, cut into quarters

1/4 of 1 Spanish or Red Onion, cut into strips

2-3 habanero peppers, cut in half [ this salsa is hot hot, if you wish to reduce the "heat reduce the amount of habanero peppers]

3 cloves of garlic, cut in half

Juice of one lime

2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar *

Directions:

1) Prep ingredients. [Remember to wear gloves when chopping habanero's]

2) Heat the oil in a skillet on medium heat. Add the carrots and let them cook for about five minutes. Then add to the skillet the onion, tomatoes, habaneros and garlic cloves and cook, stirring occasionally.

3) Transfer skillet contents to a blender and add lime juice, cider vinegar and pulse (can add a bit of water, a tablespoon at a time if it’s too thick.

4) Add salt and pepper to taste; if desired.

* The original recipe uses white vinegar, which can come from corn or wheat. We used cider vinegar instead, because it's distilled from apples.*

The Gummy Showdown!

Get ready for the Ultimate Gluten-Free Gummy Showdown! We chose 3 brands: Tasty Baby, and Yummy Earth- the 2 top brands; and the new comer, De-Lish -a Duane Read product. The gummies were reviewed and rated by: Taste, Texture and the Gummy Factor, on a 5/5 scale.

Tasty Baby Organic Fruit Snacks-

If mother nature created fruit gummies, this would be it! The taste and texture are in incredible harmony, there's only word; perfection. Tasty Baby comes in 3 varieties: mixed fruit , superfruit and sports gummies. It's like they say, "Mom knows best" ^^

Taste- 5/5 Texture- 5/5 Gummy Factor- 5/5

Yummy Earth Organic Gummy Bears-

Yummy Earth has an outstanding reputation for top quality products. This is one of the best tasting allergy-free gummies one will come across. Apparently, the texture and gummy-factor are below average. We were very surprised, and some what horrified. It feels like extra soft candy, instead of a gummy bear; but the amazing taste more than makes up for it.

Taste 5/5 Texture- 3/5 Gummy Factor- 2/5

Duane Read's-DeLish Organic Gummy Bears/Gummy Worms [Gluten-Free]-

Why do we love this product? It's economical, and it's one of the first allergy friendly products that's widely available. Given the limited available of allergy-free snacks. The fact,that a person can walk into any Duane Read drugstore to buy allergy-friendly gummy treats, is truly priceless. Love, Sour Gummy Bears? Then this product is for you! The rest of the flavors are also delicious; especially the gummy worms. As for texture and gummy factor, it's slightly above average. The gummy bears are a bit soft, and the gummy worms are the hard kind. Never the less, it a good start.

Taste- 4/5 Texture- 4/5 Gummy Factor- 3.5/5

The Winner : Tasty Baby Fruit Snacks

Habanero-Pineapple Jelly

 Were kicking off Habanero Week with this amazing Habanero-Pineapple Jelly recipe. (courtesy of Finger Licking Foods) This jelly will electrify your taste buds; it's hot & spicy with a sassy side of sweet and tangy. Spread on your morning toast and you'll never look at breakfast the same way again ~.^

[CAUTION: Remember to ALWAYS wear latex or vinyl gloves and protective goggles. The oil from the peppers can burn your skin. Don't touch hands, nose, face when handling peppers.]

Ingredients:

2 habanero's orange peppers (which ever color you like)

1/4 cup chopped orange bell peppers

1 cup of cubed pineapples

1/4 apple cider vinegar

2 tbsp lemon juice

1 cup of sugar

*Pectin*- Each Pectin box has there own set of directions. For this recipe we used Pomona's Universal Pectin. According the directions use: 1 1/2 tsp of pectin powder and 2 tsp of calcium water.

Directions:

1) Chop up habanero's and Bell Pepper [ Remember to wear gloves & goggles ^~^ ]

2) In a blender, combine, habanero's, bell pepper, pineapple and cider vingear, and lemon juice. Blend until it looks like smoothy.

3) Pour in a small pot, and bring to a boil on high medium heat. When contents are bubbling then add pectin and calcium water.

4) Stir, the mixture should start to thicken. Once mixture seems thick, switch to medium heat and keep stirring.

5) Once mixture reach jelly like consistency turn off heat and let it cool.

6) When cool transfer jelly to jar and refrigerate.

-Make 12 oz

Habanero Safety Tips

BEFORE we start cooking with Habanero's here are some safety guides

1) How to Stem & Seed Habanero Peppers

2) How to Cut a Habanero Pepper

3) How to Treat Habanero Pepper Skin Burns (Just in case)

*Remember to ALWAYS wear latex or vinyl gloves and protective goggles. The oil from the peppers can burn your skin. Don't touch hands, nose, face when handling peppers.*

courtesy of eHow.com

It's Habanero Week!! Bring on the Heat!

Welcome to Habanero week! Starting today, were celebrating the spiciest ingredient: the chill pepper. Stay tuned, because these recipes are HOT, HOT, HOT!

Quick Habanero Facts:

- Experts think it originated in Cuba, "Habanero", means "from Havana".

- The Hanbanro is grown, in Costa Rica, Mexico, Texas, California.

- The Scoville Scale is used to measure "heat" in peppers. Habanero range from 300,000- 500,000 Units. It's 30-50 times hotter than Jalepenos.

- Contrary to popular belief, the seed are not the hottest part of the pepper. Capsaicin, the substance that produces heat, is located near the skin or inner walls of the chill pepper.

- Capsaicin is also an ingredient used in over counter cream to ease arthritis, and joint pain.

(sources: Mojave Farm & The Doctor Oz Show)

- The hottest peppers on record are: Bhut Jolokia, Naga Viper Chili, Infinity Chili, and the hottest of them all: Trinidad Scorpion Butch T from Australia.

(source: Wikipedia)