Natural Homemade Living

For me, homemade applesauce is another one of those items that once you've had homemade, the stuff in the jars just doesn't cut it! Both of my grandmas made applesauce without a recipe. I had some notes from them that helped me remember the process. I used organic ingredients, but you don't have to. I would recommend using sweeter apples so you don't need as much sugar. This is super delicious! Ingredients : 6 pounds apples (about 12-16 medium apples) peeled, cored and sliced 1/2 c water 1/2 c white sugar  1 tsp ground cinnamon 1/2 tsp allspice 1/4 tsp ground cloves Directions : I used organic apples, honeycrisp and gala. Peel, core and slice the apples and put them in a large pot. Add the water and sugar. Cook over medium heat for about 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. Stir in the spices and simmer over low heat until the liquid has cooked into the apples. Remove from the heat and cool for about an hour. I like to use jars to store the applesauce in the refrigerato...

I love strawberries and in the summer I like to go pick them when I can.  I usually end up with more than I can eat before they start getting overly ripe. I found this for freezer jam on the Ball jar box and have been enjoying it all winter. I have also used this recipe with frozen strawberries that I have thawed, when they aren't in season.  I like to put strawberries in my yogurt and in desserts, so I pureed some to freeze and made freezer jam out of the rest.  For the Jam you will need: 4 Cups crushed strawberries 1 1/2 C sugar, I used about 2/3/ c (or to taste) sometimes I use Agave instead of the sugar 5 T Instant Pectin  (optional- for thicker jam more like jelly) Makes 5 (8 oz) jars Stir sugar and Instant Pectin in a bowl. Add strawberries. Stir 3 minutes. Ladle into clean jars. (I like the plastic Ball jars, but the glass jars can be used as long as they are freezer safe). Let stand until thickened, about 30 minutes.  Serve, refrigerate or fre...

Finally a few minutes alone with my computer! It is a beautiful fall day in the Midwest and I am still feeling blessed to have fresh produce from my garden! I am still harvesting peppers and tomatoes. Today my plan to can some salsa but I have been busy roasting tomatoes. This is a great plan if you are short on time or you don't own any canning equipment. When we were camping a couple of weeks ago, I brought some roasted tomatoes and we had the fanciest sandwiches ever, well the children thought so! I'll share our fancy sandwich recipe in a few days. I absolutely love to freeze the roasted tomatoes to make sauces at a later date or use them during our cold winter months for pasta sauce, chili, soup, tomato sauce, pizza sauce, ketchup and tomato soup. I like to season mine slightly but you don't have to. The key is to roast them on a low heat in the oven. Steps to roast tomatoes : Wash and rinse tomatoes (as many or as few as you like). Prepare a baking sheet wit...

If you have 15 minutes and a couple of ingredients, you can make your own blueberry sauce or jam without using sugar or pectin. My inspiration for this recipe actually came from a recent yogurt experience. I ran out of homemade yogurt and didn't have an extra minute that day (for real - lol) so I had to buy yogurt to get me through the crisis situation. I have issues with store bought yogurt, which is why I make my own. Here's the recipe in case you haven't been following us, Simply Homemade Yogurt . If I have to buy yogurt my favorite is the brand Kalona but this week I spotted the "Noosa Yoghurt" and it looked really good. It had blueberries on the bottom and what looked to be a nice creamy yogurt on the top. I usually dislike yogurt with fruit on the bottom because they have too much sugar and syrup, but the Noosa yogurt was delicious! The yogurt was creamy and the fruit was real! So as I savored every bite of my store bought yogurt, I thought there must b...

I thought my garden was officially done for the summer but last week I realized that I had not picked my carrots yet! I froze most of them so I could have sweet, delicious garden carrots this winter. Freezing Carrots: Wash your carrots. Cut them in pieces, I sliced mine so I can use them for soups. Start a pan of boiling water, slice the carrots and boil them (blanche) them for 3 minutes. Drain the hot water. Pour the carrots into a bowl with ice cubes and cold water for 3 minutes. I measured mine 1 cup per bag and used my handy dandy ziploc vacuum gadget. Place them in the freezer until you're ready to use them for soup, casseroles, carrot cake, steam them or use them in your favorite carrot dish! Love and peace, ~ Simply Tammi

I do not buy pumpkin in a can, because I'm pretty sure I can taste the can, but I do enjoy the occasional pumpkin treats! So finally this year I decided I would make my own pumpkin puree - no cans! It is simple and so healthy for you. These are sweeter than the larger carving pumpkins. I started with 2 pie pumpkins. They are smaller pumpkins and they usually say specifically "pie pumpkins".  Mine cost $1.99 each. So throw away your cans and make your own pumpkin puree! It's worth the time and the cost! These are the best for everyone's favorite bars Simply Homemade Pumpkin Bars ! Pumpkin Puree : I washed my pumpkins in warm water first, then cut them in half. I started at the top next to the stem and used a serrated knife to cut it in half. Scoop out the seeds and the stringy stuff part. Place the pumpkin halves upside down on a parchment paper lined baking sheet. Bake at 350F for 45 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool. Using a spoon, ...

It seems there a million ways to freeze corn and I have tried at least half of them. When we lived on the farm where there was an abundance of sweet corn (thank you neighbors), I would spend a whole day freezing sweet corn. And who wants to spend a whole day on the weekend freezing corn? After a couple years of this time consuming activity, I mastered a process that works great for me. It's relatively messy free (well you know it is corn so it is a little messy), less time consuming, and I don't necessarily need any helpers, although it's so much more fun to have family or friends helping! This is how it works for me: My first rule is clean, clean, clean. Everything must be clean! I use one of my kitchen sinks to cool the corn after it has cooked, so you must clean, disinfectant, and rinse your sink. I start with hot water and baking soda and scrub, scrub, scrub! Then I spray vinegar and tea tree oil, leave it on for a few minutes, then rinse with hot, hot water. Ok -...

I felt like I hit the jackpot this week - Colorado peaches $.99 a pound! For me, the process to freeze peaches is simple and relatively messy free. I also prefer freezing over canning peaches. You don't need a lot of fancy stuff for this little project either. I bought a lug of peaches but you can freeze any amount. I buy them a few at a time and freeze them throughout the season. Last summer I bought the cheap little vacuum gadget with the baggies and I love it!! It was on clearance and I got the gadget with the baggies for about $3.00. I also bought some gallon bags and use those for freezing corn and apples. This is my peach freezing process: Ripe peaches (as many or few as you want) Containers or plastic bags Fruit Fresh - I use about 1 T for each cup of peaches I start with a large bowl filled with hot water and place about 8 peaches in the bowl for a few minutes. Then I transfer them to another large bowl filled with ice and cold water. After they sit in the cold water f...

The other day the Farmer's Market had pickling cucumbers and fresh dill available and I just couldn't resist, I ended up buying 4 pounds of cucumbers and a couple bunches of dill.  I found several recipes that I had used in the past and adapted a little from all of them to make these refrigerator dills. They were ready to eat about 2-3 days later. This recipe made 6 quarts of crunchy, delicious pickles! What you need: Jars, I used Quart size 4 pounds pickling cucumbers or you can use regular cucumbers if that's what you have fresh dill, I used about 3 heads per jar(2 on bottom and 1 on top) fresh garlic, I used one clove in each jar one large onion sliced 1 Tablespoon of sugar per quart jar For the brine: 12 cups water 5 cups white vinegar 1 cup salt, I used sea salt but you can use pickling salt also Bring brine to a boil. In each quart jar: add 1 slice of onion, 1 clove of garlic and 2 sprigs of dill on the bottom, then put in the sliced cucumbers...

The warm days remind me of summer, fresh fruit and produce. I decided I would make some fresh peach jam, no canning involved! I am making a small batch to test the recipe. It turned out great! I was happy because I wanted something different to add to my yogurt but my husband wants to use his on ice cream! I used the recipe from the freshpreserving.com . Ingredients : 1 2/3 cups fresh peaches, peeled, pit removed, and chopped (I used frozen Colorado peaches from last summer and I thawed them out first) 2/3 cups white sugar 2 T instant pectin 1 T lemon juice, the directions said bottled lemon juice but I used 1 T from a fresh lemon Stir in chopped peaches, sugar and lemon juice in bowl and let stand 10 minutes. Add pectin gradually, stirring to prevent clumping. Stir 3 minutes.  Ladle jam into clean freezer jars, let stand 30 minutes then  refrigerate or freeze. I used Ball plastic freezer jars, leave 1/2 inch headspace to allow for expansion during freezing. Refrige...

I recently found this recipe when I was organizing my recipe book, I had forgotten I had it.  It instantly took me back to the days when I would go visit my Grandma and Grandpa, their house always smelled like fresh baked bread. She would serve these sweet pickles with our meal. Mine turned out just how I remembered them. There is no cooking or canning involved. They are simply, Refrigerator Pickles. 7 cups unpeeled, sliced, cucumbers ( I used about 5 large cucumbers) 1 sliced onion 2 c sugar 1 c white vinegar 1 t salt 2 t celery seed I made 2 quarts and 1 pint but you could put them all in one large gallon jar. I put the cucumbers and onions in the jars and then poured in the mixture, it seemed very dry and doesn't cover the cucumbers all the way, but as they sit, they shrink down.  I called my sister because I was sure the recipe had to be wrong but she said she remembered going to Grandma's and helping her shake the jars to mix and cover the pickles.  After ab...

Meyer Lemons If you love the Meyer lemons but can't eat them all while they are in season, you can juice them and put the juice into an ice cube tray and freeze. Once they are frozen you can leave them in the tray or put them into a freezer bag or container. To get the most juice from your lemon, you can roll it on the counter before cutting or pop it in the microwave for about 10 seconds. Just make sure to strain before freezing to remove seeds and pulp. You can also freeze the zest for later use.  Angie