Smoked Vanilla Porter coming in 3 weeks!
Tag Archives: homemade
Apricot Butter!
For those that have apricot trees, I’m sure there are so many that you don’t know what to do with them!
We recently acquired some from my future in-laws, and as they were sitting in our fridge, I was trying to figure out what exactly to do with all of these yummy fruits…
Of course, my go-to is butter. Who doesn’t love to spread fresh homemade fruit butter onto your toast, pancakes, muffins, waffles, oatmeal or on top of some ice cream! Yum!
Here is the recipe, it is quite simple!
You’ll need:
40-50 small apricots
1 cup organic raw sugar
1.5 cups coconut sugar
1 teaspoon nutmeg
1 tablespoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon allspice
1 dash ground cloves
1.5 teaspoon lemon juice or apple cider vinegar
How-to:
1. Rinse apricots!
2. Cut apricots into halves or thirds, remove pits and place into slow cooker.
3. Add all sugar, spices and lemon juice and stir it in!
4. Keep stirring until all sugar is mixed in.
5. Turn slow cooker on low for 8hrs.
6. Once finished, use an emulsifier to blend contents.
7. Take the top off, turn off slow cooker and let it cool for an hour or until room temperature. This will help thicken the consistency.
8. Can, and enjoy as desired!
🙂
Millions of Peaches…
We recently acquired quite a few peaches from Tom’s dad’s house. Of course I had a lot of ideas of what I could make but unfortunately time doesn’t allow for that many!
My first thought was a peach sauce or jam. I think I shall call it saucy peaches.
It is one of those, throw it together, set it and forget it kind of recipes! Here’s the deal!
You’ll need:
We had 15-20 small, ripe peaches.
Use 8-10 med-large peaches if you’d like as well.
2T water
1-1.5T cinnamon
1t nutmeg
3T of local honey (you can use more depending on the level of your sweet tooth)
Dash of nutmeg
Dash of cloves
2t Apple Cider Vinegar
1. Rinse then cut into small cubes WITH the skin on. Gotta love that fiber!
2. Add to crock pot.
3. Add all other ingredients to pot.
4. Stir to get those spices soaking into the peaches.
5. Set on low for 8hrs. (I like to do this at night so I can wake up to the wonderful smell in the morning!)
6. With a potato masher, mash peaches to the consistency of your liking. You can also use an emulsifier if you’d like also.
7. If you like it sweeter, add more honey!
8. Nom nom. Can it!
I’ve put this into my oatmeal, yogurt, cereal, on top of ice cream, bread, have used it for baking and added it to sauces.
Mmm Bone Broth… That’s right. I said Bone Broth.
Bone marrow broth is so delicious, useful and healthy! I promise.
The combination of high quality meat bones and water is what consists of bone marrow broth. For hundreds of years, and in many cultures, bone broth has been known to be easily digested, healing to the gut, nourishing for your blood and bones and to prevent connective tissue and bone disorders. Bone marrow broths are especially good for those with IBD. The broth is so easy on your system! It’s also great for weight loss, replenishing your red blood cells, strengthening the kidneys and having anti-inflammatory properties. Winner! Sold!
The natural bone broth I’m talking about is not sold in stores. It’s so simple to make, and has so many health benefits that it’s hard not to make it!
I will usually make bone broth I’m a crockpot. It depends on the purpose of your broth – whether you want to use it while cooking, as a soup base or just keep it as a simple broth. Many times I will add herbs, garlic, and onions if using it in a soup. When doing this, it is so flavorful that you hardly need to add anything extra!
Here we use beef bones, however, you can use any kind of bones you’d like. I’ve also combined chicken, beef and duck which has made rich and flavorful broths as well.
Now for the recipe.
5-6 grass fed beef bones (marrow bones if possible)
2 medium-sized onions
4 carrots thickly diced
4 celery sticks
3 cloves of garlic
Fresh herbs of choice (we used thyme, oregano, rosemary, cilantro, and chives)
3t Apple Cider Vinegar
1t sesame oil
1t black peppercorns
1. Rinse bones.
2. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
3. On a foil lined tray, place bones in oven uncovered for 20 minutes. This brings out extra flavor in the bones before simmering!
4. While the bones are roasting, dice vegetables.
5. After the bones are done roasting, place on the bottom of the crockpot.
6. Add vegetables, garlic and herbs on top of bones.
7. Add peppercorns, sesame oil, and apple cider vinegar.
8. Cover ingredients with water.
9. Cover and summer on low for 24-48hrs.
10. Wait until broth cools. Strain. And pour into jars for storage!
Note: If using beef bones, it’s ok to reuse them again. Maximum time for simmering is 72 hours. If using chicken bones, do not simmer for more than 24 hours.
Use an ice tray and freeze the broth for one ounce cubes for cooking!
Add veggies and protein for soups!
Or just drink it straight up. 🙂
Traeger Ribs
Smoking some delicious ribs tonight! We actually buy the preseasoned ribs at Costco and then add my homemade BBQ sauce towards the end!
We may try something different tonight… Smoking them for an hour or two and then grilling with non-direct heat.
Recipe to follow!
Nourishing Zen 