|
05-23-03
Well, folks, I finally have located a recipe for Apple Butter that uses butter! Here it is: |
|
|
05-23-03
Well, folks, I finally have located a recipe for Apple Butter that uses butter! Here it is: |
|
|
Cinnamon Apple Butter
2kg (4lb) cooking apples
1/4 cup (65g) butter
1 cup sugar
3 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
5 whole cloves
1 1/4 cups (300ml) water.
1. Peel, core and chop the apples.
2. Put into a large saucepan with the
rest of the ingredients and cook over a low heat until the apples are
very soft.
3. Remove the cloves.
4. Beat the mixture until smooth and
creamy.
5. Bring to the boil, then pour into
warm sterilised jars and seal immediately.
Now, there is a recipe here for
Apricot Butter, so I thought I might include it:
Apricot Butter
60g (2oz) dried apricots
pinch of baking soda
boiling water
1 cup castor sugar (which is not as
fine as icing sugar)
1/4 cup (65 g) butter
2 eggs, beaten
1 1/2 tablespoons lemon juice
grated rind of half a lemon
1. Chop the apricots and put into a
bowl with the pinch of baking soday and just enough boiling water to
cover. Allow to stand for 1 1/2 hours. Drain but reserve
the water.
2. Rinse the apricots in running
water and put into a saucepan.
3. Cook in as little reserved soaking
water as necessary until tender.
4. Press through a strainer.
5. Add the sugar, butter, eggs, lemon
juice and grated rind.
6. Put into the top of a double
boiler (one saucepan inside the other -indirect heat) and cook over
simmering water, stirring constantly until thick.
7. Pour into warm sterilised jars and
seal immediately.
Now these two recipes differ from
curd. If there are any ingredients or methods, please don't
hesitate to e-mail me for clarification on [email protected].
The following links are from items last week, enjoy:
The Friesian heifers have gone.
We sold them earlier this week, and, phenomenally, if we had had any
other variety of heifer than Friesian, we would not have sold them for
the great price that we managed. The bull calves need fattening
a bit, and the market is flat given the drought situation in most of
the country. We could have sold at least one of the heifers to
China, but we couldn't be bothered de-horning the poor beasties, and
they require, as Brian elegantly puts it, "de-titting".
I'll leave that to your, no doubt, vivid imaginations. I have to
tell you, Brian has been brought up on a Dairy Farm, and has no
great love or respect for our bovine friends, but he almost paled at
the thought of de-titting them. Yuck! I don't think I
could come at it, either, and I can be pretty mercenary where animals
are concerned. But suffering should be, ALWAYS, minimized.
So - no goats, no heifers, three of
the four kittens have now found homes, the roosters have GOT to be
next. Gorgeous as they are, we have far too many for
requirements, and there is one in particular who makes it his habit to
go near the bedroom window in the afternoon, usually when Brian is
sleeping prior to his going on a 12 hour night shift, and crowing as
if the end of the World is nigh. And keeps crowing.
Usually, if I hear the little fester, I chase him back to the
paddocks.
I think we might top Don Juan and Don
Two. They are beautiful roosters, but I don't think they are
attached to any specific hens, and I much prefer hens to roosters.
I'm good, but even I can't squeeze a rooster hard enough for it to lay
an egg, and even if I could, when would I have the time?
The sudden influx of money from the
sale of the heifers, like most things on a farm, has already been
spoken for. Most of it will go to Brian's Mum to pay for the
tractor loan. The rest will probably go to fixing the ute,
although I am hoping like crazy that there will be enough for
incidentals like desexing the cat, paying school fees etc.
It's "Virus with a
Vengeance" time in the Western Districts, and every family has at
least one member currently down with a leaky nose and a jackhammer
head. Isn't it an amazing coincidence that the onset to peak of
the orange season coincides with the winter miseries? God is
good. Brian has been suffering, but he is allergic to oranges
and getting him to have a vitamin pill is a bit like giving a pill to
a cat (check the laughter section, this may be included as this weeks
offering).
Our bread supply has slacked off from the usual source, but praise God! we have been blessed in getting some from another source, and the lessening of large, bread eating four legs has meant more for the others in any case. Muppet has a peculiar bray, as though he is clearing his throat prior to letting out a good "moo", but it never happens. His horns a lengthening on either side of his head, but he is still lovable enough, and much prefers to be hand fed to just having the stuff chucked out in the paddock.
I had trouble keeping the dogs away
from the cat food. I had a piece of corflute in the door way of
the garden shed (the garden shed door does not work), and they would
knock it over to get to the food, wolfing it down in typical
starved-of-all-food-I-had-better-eat-while-I-can fashion, leaving, of
course, none for what they deem to be third class citizens or cats.
So I experimented with tent pegs to
hold down the corflute in the doorway, but that didn't work, and in
the end, I just lined up the corflute with pre-existing holes in the
galvanised iron of the shed walls, and nailed it on, and then draped
an empty woven sack over the corflute, which enables the kittens to
get in and out whenever they please.
Oh, a little hint when washing
clothes: I have found that when I use a roll-on pre-wash stain
remover that it is far more effective (particularly on Brian's
collars, which resemble coal miner's outfits after a solid shift) if I
scrub briefly with either the scourer side of a scourer sponge (after
cleaning out the scourer if it has been used anywhere else for any
other purpose, I don't want to increase my woes!) or scrub with a
fingernail cleaner. Much better!
Night Sky
The air is crisp
my ears are so cold
diamond stars play cat-and-mouse with
clouds
the moon glows, its corona a halo of
jewelled proportions
I hear the wind in the she-oaks
and my heart relaxes and sighs
I float in the reassurance of
the continuation of life around me
It rains and the cold drops hurry me
inside to the warmth of the fire
and the relief
provision for my needs!
Dominus tecum,
Leonie
|
