Up to. . . Up to?

What have I been up to? I started my class in Provo the beginning of October. It's the master gardener class through the USU Extension, and I love it!!! I'm having so much fun!! It's great getting out 2 days a week, but I tell you I'm falling behind in all my house work.

I have finished up the written part of my vegetable report on Rhubarb. Now I just have to get the PowerPoint wrapped up.

I have also been scanning in all my pictures. It's good to have all that done and know that it's all been backed up.

Apple Butter

This year we picked almost 1 bushel of apples from our little tree. The poor thing was all tipped over from the weight of the apples that Dennis had to tie a stake to the tree to keep it supported upright.

I have been looking up apple recipes and found some really good ones that I'm excited to try out. The first thing we made with them were caramel apples which mostly ended up a flop or a glop. . . of caramel at the bottom of the apples. We did have a couple that looked pretty good, but I need to work on my application technique because they weren't pretty. They sure were tasty though. Let me assure you that they didn't go to waste.

Our second product was apple butter. I've never made apple butter before but this recipe was so simple and easy and used a lot of apples that I had to give it a try. It's also a crock pot version so double bonus. After two batches my hands are pretty tired from all the pealing and chopping, so I think we'll take a break and move on to number 3. I have a 1/2 bushel of peaches to use still so maybe we'll have to make it peach pie filling and come back to the apples.

APPLE BUTTER

from allrecipes.com

Ingredients

• 5 1/2 pounds apples - peeled, cored and finely chopped
• 4 cups sugar
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/4 teaspoon salt

Directions

1. Place apples in a slow cooker. Combine sugar, cinnamon, cloves and salt; pour over apples and mix well. Cover and cook on high for 1 hour. Reduce heat to low; cover and cook for 9-11 hours or until thickened and dark brown, stirring occasionally (stir more frequently as it thickens to prevent sticking). Uncover and cook on low 1 hour longer. If desired, stir with a wire whisk until smooth. Spoon into freezer containers, leaving 1/2-in. headspace. Cover and refrigerate or freeze. I actually processed mine for 10 minutes in a water bath.