Author: Connie Brannen

Categories
Dessert Water Bath Canning

Making Candy Apple Preserve

The sweet pink juice from two bags of apples, getting ready to be turned into a pint jar of candy apple preserves.

Good morning everyone.

Today, we are under a flood watch for North Florida in my town. Our weather seems to change with the days that go by. But I will look for joy in this day. Even if it’s to think about what day it is. Happy Valentine’s Day to all the world and I hope that your day is sweet!

I promised you this recipe and here it is. This is not for the faint of heart and those that would expect plenty. This is for the one that gets pure enjoyment of seeing something change from scraps into a jewel of a preserve. It will make you a pint of preserve for a lot of effort, but the end result is oh so worth it. Like a fine meal, somethings take more effort and time and then they are unforgettable.

Otherwise you would need an apple tree, which I don’t happen to have. But if I did? You can already guess, what I would do!

Ok, onward to the recipe.

2 bags of McIntosh apples peeled and cored and sliced. (slices made applesauce recipe).

Take the cores and peels and put them in a large deep pot. Boil this on med-high for 1 hour with the lid on the pot. And then remove the apple peels and core from the juice. Using a sieve, mash the apples through the sieve to get everything that you can get out of the apples. Using a spoon to scrape beneathe to sieve to get the pulp also. Keep going through the apples with small amounts at a time, added to the sieve to work with. Discard the peels when you can’t get any more juice or pulp from them. Add this juice back to the pot and add 1 cup of sugar. Add 6 cups of water. Boil forever on high while stirring all the time.

Use a candy themometer and aim for 220 degrees F. When the temp reaches there, it takes forever to get there as the added water is being boiled off.

Right when it reaches 220 degrees, stir in 3 TBSP of cooking sure gel. Have a whisk ready to whisk out the lumps. Boil only for 1 minute. Watch out for popping as it will burn you. This is why that you use a tall pot.

Next you put a big pot of water with enough water in it to cover your jelly jar by 2 inches over the top. Have this boiling as you get your supplies ready.

1 pint jar with a seal and rim

tiny dish of vinegar with a paper-towel

jar funnel and a ladle jar lifting tongs

dish-towel folded on the counter near the hot pot of water.

Have everything very clean and ladle some boiling water into your jar to make it hot like your preserves. Pour out the water now. Put preserves in your workspace and ladle them into the pint jar. Wipe the rim of the jar with the vinegar and napkin. Put on the seal and rim and close the top just finger tight, which is medium, not cranking down.

Use tongs to place in boiling pot of water. ( I have a clean dishrag in the bottom of my pot as I did not use the silver ring). Time when it is at a rolling boil for 10 minutes. Turn off the heat and let the jar stay in for 5 minutes more. Then take out and sit on kitchen towel to cool.

This is for a special treat like maybe a cream cheese bagel with apple preserves or over ice cream or what ever you come up with. Thanks for your visit today. Stay a while if you can and do come back again as I post on Tue-Thur and Saturday. Thank you again. Connie B.

#CONNIEBRECIPESWISDOMFORPENNIES

Categories
Breads Breakfast

Old Fashioned Cinnamon Toast

Good old cinnamon toast was a childhood favorite of mine. #cinnamon-toast #breakfast

Good morning everybody! Of course, it’s lunchtime, here. But, my mind is on this morning and a knock on my door. I almost fell out with the surprise that was waiting there for me. For Me? It was a Valentine’s Day surprise and boy, was it.

I was not expecting to get anything for Valentine’s Day and here is a big bouquet of beautiful flowers. Here is a photo of them.

It is a beautiful and overcast, rainy looking day for North Florida today.

Everyday is beautiful to me and I hope that yours will be also.

I wanted to revisit the past today, so here is a simple recipe from my child-hood past for you. Thou, mama never used hot dog buns. I do not like to waste food so the hotdog buns were it!

Some kind of bread

1/4 c sugar

1/2 TBSP cinnamon

soft butter

Mix sugar and cinnamon in small container.

Toast your bread and butter it lavishly and spoon some cinnamon sugar mixture over top of toast and shake off, what does not stick to the toast. Now enjoy! I am tempted to fix me some for lunch, just so I can smell the awesome aroma, wafting through my house!

I am sorry that this is such a simple recipe but sometimes the simple things in life are the best. If you haven’t tried this one, then I hope that you will. And if you have, it just might bring back some memories from your past.

Thank you for stopping by today. Take a little time and browse if you wish. I will post again on Tue-Thur and Saturday. Thanks again, from Connie B.

#CONNIEBRECIPESWISDOMFORPENNIES

Categories
Fruit Homemade

Crockpot Applesauce

Good morning to everyone. Yesterday, changed from a foggy morning (like this morning) to an 80 degree sun shiny day. I expect that today will be the same. I did notice that while on the back patio, having me cup of coffee and watching the birds fly over, that ants are building up their nest on my paving stones. So that means that a gully washer is coming. Which is heavy rain. It’s funny, what the insects will tell you.

Like some of the first insects to arrive will let you know that spring is on the way. The ladybugs along with the bumble bees and butterflies will tell you that. Also if you garden, the bumble bees seem to come out at 10:00. I used to have a garden full of trellised green beans and if I was late picking them, then I had to say “move over Mr. bumble bee” and I will be gone quickly.

Enough about the stories you will find in nature, throughout your life. If you would only look for them.

Today is the day for the homemade applesauce recipe. As I am only one, this made enough for myself, so you will find that the taste can not be beat but the amount that you get out of two bags of apples is what you see in my photo.

Two bags of McIntosh apples or Winesap apples. Any apples will do, but these are my favorites as my Daddy was a produce man, and I know my fruits and veggies, well.

I used a large apple corer/slicer and cored the apples into slices. Then I poured 5 TBSP of lemon juice into each of 2 large bowls. You save the scraps if you want to make candy apple preserves or jellies. So then I peel all the apple slices and save the peels and cores in one bowl and apple slices in the other bowl.

Turn on a large crock pot and pot the apple slices in it. Add 3/4 cup of water and cook on high for 2 or 3 hours, while stirring and checking on, every 30 minutes. This is all that I do. I do not need to add any sugar as they are already sweet and tart for some of the very best natural apple sauce.

As for the peels and cores and lemon juice, put them in a freezer bag to keep and I will give you the recipe for candy apple preserves very soon. It will make 1 1/2 to 2 jars of goodness.

Thank you for visiting today. Please browse and share with your friends and come back soon if you wish. I post on Sat-Tue and Thursday. Thank you from Connie B.

#CONNIEBRECIPESWISDOMFORPENNIES

Categories
Sandwiches Seafood

Leftover Fish

#fish #sandwich

Hello, hello, hello on this foggy Florida morning. You could almost slice it with a knife. Makes me think of that song that has (cuts like a knife). Now that song is stuck in my head for the rest of the day!

This post is for the fish sandwich lovers, all over the world. I would normally go for the burger, but not with this fish sandwich on the menu as a choice. I absolutely love this sandwich.

My last post had the recipe for the fish. So this is what I did with the leftovers. All I had to do was heat it up very slightly and slap a piece of cheddar cheese on it. I toasted a hamburger bun and made up some homemade tartar sauce with some of my canned bread and butter pickles. (PS if you can some of these, use medium to small cukes). As the large pickles that I used for canning bread and butter pickles, ended up with tough rinds so I just cut off the rinds and made up my tartar sauce.

As you have, by now guessed. This recipe is for the tartar sauce. Bread and butter pickles with mayo and a dash of lemon juice is all that you will need to make up this fresh and yummy tartar sauce for a very nice fish sandwich. You could change up the pickle type if you don’t like the bread and butter pickles. But to me, this makes the sandwich!

Thank you for your visit to my blog today and I do hope that you will try this recipe and share it around with good people. I will post again on Sat-Tue- and Thursday. So feel free to browse and come back often. Connie B. #CONNIEBRECIPESWISDOMFORPENNIES

Categories
Seafood

Fish Fried

#fish #fried

Hello, to all, from a rainy North Florida day. I hope that all is well with you and your families. Here’s a recipe to help, cheer you up.

This is a fish and chips recipe that I found on-line. It comes from a cowboy by the name of Kent Rollins so the credit for this awesome recipe goes all to him.

As you can plainly see, I had coleslaw instead of the chips that would have also been really good, I imagine. For the ingredients, I used codfish

1 package of Cod

1 tall beer (the beer is for the recipe).

1 c flour (self-rising). 4 tsp baking powder

1/2 c cornstarch 1 tsp Greek Seasoning and 1/2 tsp salt

1/8th c cornstarch

Oil for frying in a cast iron pan (or other pan).

Cut the fish in half, into strips.

I rinse all my meats and fish before I prepare them. So lightly rinse the fish and then use lots of paper towels to blot the fish completely dry.

The next step is to have the oil heating up in the frying pan to a medium- high.

Have a plate with 1/8th cup of cornstarch on it. Use a medium bowl to mix everything else in. Have the oil at 350 degrees.

Batter the fish with the cornstarch and then batter with the wet batter and slowly add to the hot frying pan. Cook until brown on one side and then flip the fish and fry the other side.

This plate of fish was so good that I enjoyed it with no sauces on it. Just fish and coleslaw!

I do hope that if you have never tried fish fried this way, that You will try this recipe out. It favors Long John Silver’s fish recipe.

Thank you for visiting me today and do browse around to see more of my recipes while you are here.

Feel free to share my recipes with your friends and families if you wish. Thank you again. Connie B

.#CONNIEBRECIPESWISDOMFORPENNIES

Categories
Meats

Crockpot Pork Loin

#recipe #meat #porkloin #crockpot

Hello everybody, from North Florida, rainy morning. I hope, your day is good.

I, just wanted to share my pork loin roast that I cooked in my crockpot, with you. It turned out so tender and full of tasty spices. On to the recipe, now.

I found a five-pound, small pork loin on markdown for six dollars and this is what happened to that little pork loin roast. First, I rinsed it very well and then I sprinkled my seasonings on it. These are the ones that I used with my recipe.

1 tsp Accent

1 tsp Cavender’s Greek Seasoning Rub the spices on pork.

I left the fat on the pork loin until it was cooked and then I removed it with a fork before I used said fork to shred the pork loin. Although, it hardly needed to be shredded as it fell to pieces.

After, I seasoned the pork loin roast, I just put it in my crockpot that was turned on high. I added a cup of water that I poured down the crockpot side wall. I wanted the seasonings to stay on the meat.

I just walked away for 4 or 5 hours and let the crockpot do its magic. It was one of the best that I have ever cooked. I kept enough out for a couple of BB pork loin sandwiches and portioned the rest out into freezer bags that also had a little of the one cup of broth that it made.

Now, I have some real good shredded pork that is cooked and ready for later days. P.S. I did check on the liquid amount in the crockpot at the half-time of cooking. It was fine as always, but you don’t want to burn this pork loin, so check anyway.

Thank you for stopping by and feel free to browse and share with your friends, if you wish. I will post again on Tue-Thur and Saturday. Connie B. #CONNIEBRECIPESWISDOMFORPENNIES

Categories
Breads

Seymour Has Left The Building

Hello to everybody, on this North Florida, glorious rainy day. I wish the very best for you today. I call this a glorious day, because God is sending rain for all the garden crops and it is the best water that you can find for your garden.

I, always lived on a farm for many many years and I planted many gardens over those years. It never ceased, to amaze me, that God would send the rain on that very day for my newly planted garden. So, this is why I call it a glorious day!

Ok, enough reminiceing in my past, on my gardening days. Onward to why Seymour did not work out to stay here. It was me that had the problem, and not Seymour! The sourdough yeast starter (named Seymour) did fantastic and grew richly and smelled yeasty fine.

It just took so many times of leting it rise and then baked flatter than I wanted to see my bread. Don’t get me wrong, it tasted great with hot slathered butter. But as for time wise, I have too many other things going on, to put that much time into one project. So Seymour has indeed, left the building.

I do not want to discourage you from making a sourdough yeast starter and then, making the bread. It is a wonderful process! I am just into so many things on any given day. Like water-bath canning or pressure canning or dehydrating. Then there’s sewing and blogging on this blog that takes a lot of time to prepare for. Along with food bombing photos and off loading from my camera to pictures and then on to this blog.

Also, since Facebook made a change from groups to group. It used to be that I shared one post with many, but now, I have to share 10-12 shares, instead of one share for all 12. So everything takes time.

I will put this under my breads category so you can find out about the sourdough starter, named Seymour.

Thanks for stopping by and do browse while you are here. I will post again on Sat-Tue and Thur. Connie B .#CONNIEBRECIPESWISDOMFORPENNIES

Categories
Air-Fryer Recipes

Kentucky Kernel Fried Chicken

#Recipe #Fried #Chicken

Hello to all, from this cold North Florida night. I hope that you are tucked in, warm, and cozy in your bed. We may have some snow, in the morning when I get up. I will have to go outside and see.

Today, I have a simple recipe for some good fried chicken that I call Kentucky Kernel Fried Chicken because that is the name of the breading flour that I buy in Walmart.

I cooked this in my little air-fryer and dipped the chicken in a dipping sauce called Sweet & Tangy Beijing Sauce, on my plate. The sauce was sweet, tangy, and hot too. It cleared my sinuses, kind of hot. But it was really good.

First, put foil in the bottom of the air-frier for grease catching and easy clean up of your air-fryer for when you are done cooking with it.

Ok, now for the recipe. I prepared 2 chicken thighs at a time and they were big thighs. I sprinkled with Greek Seasoning and accent and then I used 3/4 c of seasoning mix, to coat the thighs well.

I used my olive oil spray bottle to spritz both sides of the battered chicken thighs with. Then I turned on the air-frier and it came on at 370 degrees and I set the timer for 22 minutes. When the timer went off, I turned the chicken and set it again, for 22 minutes.

You can see the results for yourself in the photo. It made some good chicken that I enjoyed very much.

If you go to buy an air-frier, remember your household size before you pick one out. For more than one person, you will need a larger air-frier. But my little one is just right for me

Just thought that I would show you some air-frier results for today’s recipe. If you have one then I hope you will try this recipe.

Thank you for stopping by and do come back for more recipes, if you wish. As always, browse while you are here and share my recipes with your friends and family if you want to.

Thanks again. Connie B.

#CONNIEBRECIPESWISDOMFORPENNIES

Categories
Seasoning

Movie Theater Popcorn

Popcorn, Just Like at The Movie Theater.

Good morning to all, on this cold North Florida day. Where ever you are, I hope that you are not snowed in to much. I do remember the North Carolina winters from years past! So I am wishing that your day goes well for you and all your family.

Many years ago, while at a movie theater, I was told the popcorn butter recipe and I have been using it ever-since then. There is nothing like hot buttered popcorn with a movie and a coke. It is one of this world’s little comforts to me. So here it is folks!

Oops, I did not talk about my glass microwave popcorn bowl! I picked it up at a thrift store years ago and I love it. It reminds me of the Mr. Koolaide cartoon icon.

Ok, back to the recipe now.

For 1 person, I use a 1/4 cup measurement of popcorn

Melt 1/3 stick of butter and then add in 1/2 TBSP of coconut oil.

Put the popcorn in your popper and add in 1 TBSP of this oil mixture to pop the popcorn with. Save most of the butter-coconut oil for pouring over the top of the popcorn when popped. You do not have to use it all. Add salt now and you are ready to eat.

I do hope that you will try this as it is one of my favorite past-times, while enjoying a good movie at home.

Thank you for your visit. You do bring me joy to see that you are browsing through my recipes on this little blog. I will post again on Thur-Sat and Tuesday. Connie B.

#CONNIEBRECIPESWISDOMFORPENNIES

Categories
Meats Pressure Cooker Canner

Hearty Beef Stew

A hearty roast beef stew with carrots and potatoes galore.

Hello to everyone from this grey sky and rainy looking day in North Florida. I hope you’re cooking something good today!

Here is my recipe for a roast beef stew that I cooked up, last week.

I had canned roast beef in my pressure canner in pint jars that roughly hold a pound of meat in each jar. So I used two jars. And going through the canning process, they tenderized so much that you hardly have to chew it and your meat and broth is already prepared for you. Roast is so easy to can if you ever wish to try. Just look under canning in my categories and you will see the step by step by step of how to do it.

Ok, so you start with two pounds of meat already cooked up with the broth from cooking.

Use a large pot and boil all ingredients except for the meat for 20 minutes to cook the potatoes and carrots in your meat broth or a half of the pan filled with water.

Chop up 1 large onion Chop up 6 carrots

Wash-peel and chop 4 large potatoes.

Use 2 pints of canned tomatoes or store canned tomatoes, juice, and all..

1 tsp garlic powder 1 tsp accent 1 tsp salt 1tsp pepper

I really enjoy this recipe and I hope that you will, also. Thanks for dropping by and come again if you wish to. As always, share with your friends and family. I will post again on Tue-Thur-and Saturday

.#CONNIEBRECIPESWISDOMFORPENNIES