The Apple Cookbook

"An Apple A Day Keeps The Doctor Away"

I'm sure you've heard that saying a time or two. Apples are a great fruit that's not only healthy, but also very versatile and frugal. 

I can almost always find some great apples on sale at the store. Occasionally we'll also buy a big box of apples from a local orchard and store them for use in the winter. Apples keep well in a dry, cool place, but with all the cooking and baking, the never last very long at our house. 

In this apple cookbook, you'll find recipes that range from sweet to savory including:

• Apple Walnut Salad
• Blue Cheese and Apple Salad with Balsamic Vinaigrette
• Chicken Apple Skillet
• Delicious Stuffed Cornish Hens
• Apple Stuffed Pork Chops
• Baked Pork Tenderloin with Apple Glaze
• Cranberry and Apple Pork Tenderloin Medallions
• Pork Chops with Caramelized Apples
• Old Fashioned Apple and Sausage Stuffing
• Crockpot Pork Roast with Apples and Sauerkraut
• Easy Apple Butter
• Quick and Delicious Apple Streusel Pastry
• Crockpot Apple Cobbler

Order the Book on Amazon

I've been hinting that I am cooking up something fun and exciting with Tracy from MomsInABlog.com. It's finally ready and I'm excited to announce....

Homemaker's Hutch Magazine

It's a digital magazine we are putting together each month full of fun recipes, crafts and helpful tips and ideas. This first issue is packed full of 50 pages of fun stuff. 

Here's what's you'll find in the October issue:

• Pumpkin Patches, Carving and Painting Pumpkins
• Fall Favorites - Family, Festivals and Falling Leaves
• What Apple To Use For What
• Fall Produce Guide
• Homemade Halloween Costume Ideas
• Candy Corn Crafts
• Easy Kids Crafts For Halloween
• Fun and Spooky Halloween Recipes
• Pumpkin Recipes
• Crockpot Baked Apples
• What Do I Do With All This Harvest
• Halloween Cupcakes
• Smoothie of the Month
• Sugar Soaks and Honey Lemon Scrubs
• Homemade All Purpose Cleaner
• Easing Into The Holiday Season

Ready to give it a try? 

Subscribe to Homemaker's Hutch for $2.99 a month.

Most casserole dishes are made in the oven in a piece of bakeware made for creating casseroles. But did you know you can also make casseroles in your crockpot? Here is a simple and delicious recipe that I have been using for years! Quick and delicious casseroles in your crockpot will not only cut down on your time in the kitchen, but it will also help save you money in the process.

"I wonder if I could cook that in the slow cooker..." Have you asked yourself this before? Many of us with slow cookers have eyeballed them and wondered if we could cook our favorite recipe(s) in them. Often, you can. But before you just throw everything into the slow cooker and hope for the best, there are some general principles you should consider as you adapt your favorite recipes for the slow cooker.

1. Temperature

In most slow cookers, "Low" is around 200 degrees F, and "High" is about 300. Cooking takes about twice as long on Low as it does on High.

If the recipe you want to convert calls for a quick baking time, then you can probably get away with a few hours on Low or one to two hours on High. If your recipe calls for long oven baking or stove top simmering, then you can probably get away with 8-10 hours on Low (a standard cook temperature and time for roasts and red meats).

2. Liquid

Slow cookers produce very moist heat. This means your recipe will retain more moisture than it would if it were baked in the oven. So a good rule of thumb is to reduce the amount of liquid in your recipe by about half. However, if you're cooking rice or some other grain, then you should use an amount of liquid that is just shy of the standard amount.

3. Oven versus Slow Cooker

Here is a handy guide for oven times converted to slow cooker times:

Oven: 20-30 minutes

Slow cooker: 1 1/2 to 2 1/2 hours on High; 4 to 6 hours on Low

Oven: 35-45 minutes

Slow cooker: 2 to 3 hours on High; 6 to 8 hours on Low

Oven: 50 minutes to 3 hours

Slow cooker: 4 to 5 hours on High; 8 to 18 hours on Low

4. Know What Holds Up

Roasts, brisket, and flat steak stand up well to long cooking, usually requiring 10 to 12 hours on Low or 6 to 8 on High. But vegetables don't usually hold up so well, especially ones like snow peas and broccoli.

If you want to adapt a meat recipe that has vegetables in it, you can add them toward the end of cooking time. However, if you combine meat and chopped vegetables that are more dense, like chunked carrots and potatoes, then you can usually cook the whole dish for 8 to 10 hours on Low.

Poultry cooks more quickly than red meat, and fish cooks faster than both.

Ready to adapt your own favorite recipe? Give it a try and let me know what you made and how it turned out.

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