Easy, Homemade Cinnamon Apple Butter

I am not fortunate enough to have my own apple trees, but should you be so lucky, I'm sure you have an overabundance of apples this time of year! Or maybe you know someone begging to get rid of their extra apples, but you're not sure what to do with them all. Well, I've got you covered with this incredibly easy, homemade apple butter recipe! If you've never had apple butter before, then you need to fix that. Apple butter is thicker than your average apple sauce, and in my opinion, much more tasty. You can use any type of apple you wish, but this is the perfect recipe to use up those apples in your backyard!

About a month ago, I visited my grandma out on her farm. Not only did I come home with a huge haul of fresh veggies from her massive garden, but I grabbed as many apples off her apple tree that I could without seeming greedy. Unfortunately, with the heat and the long drive home, not all of them remained crispy or appetizing for eating as is. Not wanting to waste them, I decided to try my hand at making apple butter. After perusing many, many recipes on how to make it, I realized how easy it was going to be and I got to work!

The beauty of apple butter is the apples can be soft, bruised and of any type. Crab apples work great too, or really, you could use any apple variety of your choosing. The apples from my grandma's farm are sweet and delicious so I was confident I wouldn't need much sugar for the butter. I highly recommend when making this recipe, that you follow the less is more rule. Taste your butter as it's simmering and sweeten accordingly. Some recipes I came across utilize an obscene amount of sugar! But then again, some apples are going to be more tart than others. I prefer my apple butter to be more on the savoury side, but to each their own!

Easy, Homemade Cinnamon Apple Butter

4 pounds of apples (seeded, cored and quartered)
2 cups of water
1/3 cup of brown sugar*
1 tbsp cinnamon
1 tbsp vanilla extract
1 tsp lemon juice
1 cinnamon stick (optional)

Directions:

1. Seed, core and quarter your apples, but leave the skins on

2. Add apples to a large pot and add 2 cups of water. Bring to a boil. (The water will not cover your apples entirely, that's ok!)

3. Once a boil is reached, turn heat down to low. Simmer apples for 15 minutes until they are soft and mushy. You should be able to easily mash the apples with a fork.

4. If you have a high speed blender (I used my vitamix) then add the contents of your pot to it. You could also use an immersion blender here. Blend the apples on high until smooth. With a powerful enough blender, you won't need to strain out the peels this way. If you don't have a high speed blender, then you will need to strain the apples through a fine strainer.

5. Place the pureed apples back into the large pot. Add the remaining ingredients and bring back to a boil, then reduce heat to low and simmer for 30-60 minutes to allow the apple butter to thicken. If you want an extra kick of cinnamon, you can throw in a cinnamon stick or two as the pot is simmering. Different types of apples contain different amounts of pectin, so one type may yield a thicker butter than another.

6. Remove cinnamon stick (if used) and divide apple butter among mason jars. My batch yielded about 6 cups of apple butter. I placed the lids of the mason jars on while the apple butter was still hot which creates a pretty solid seal. Your apple butter will last in the fridge for at least 2-3 weeks. If you prefer, and have the necessary equipment, you could properly jar the apple butter for a longer shelf life.

*As your butter is simmering, you can taste it for sweetness and add brown sugar as you feel it's needed. 

Confession: I enjoy my apple butter straight out of the jar, much like you would apple sauce, but oh my goodness, it is so much more delicious! Spread on toast is another lovely way to consume it, or even mixed in oatmeal or Greek yogurt. There's no wrong way to enjoy it!

Camping at Writing-on-Stone Provincial Park

Last weekend, we took Sully on his very first camping trip. We talked about going camping all summer, but there never seemed to be a weekend that worked and sites book up so far in advance. I'm not an experienced camper by any means, but it's something that both Jim and I want to make a part of our children's lives. I think camping is a great learning and life experience, especially tent camping! We may have only gotten out once this year, but I already feel better prepared for the years to come!

Thanks to some recommendations from a coworker of Jim's, we decided to camp at Writing-on-Stone Provincial Park. We wanted something with a different landscape and somewhere new in the province we hadn't been before. We were also confident that because Writing-on-Stone is so south, we'd probably luck out with warmer weather so late in the camping season. And luck out we did! During the days, the temperatures hovered around +30C (86F), and while our first night was pretty chilly, our second night was really warm.

Anyway, the drive to the Park is about 3 hours for us, so we decided to make the mini-vacation a bit longer and got a hotel room in Lethbridge for the night before. Which means, it was only about an hour from the hotel to the campsite which was perfect. We stopped to see Albertosaurus and climb the hoodoos at the Milk River Visitor Information Centre on the way.

The campsite is located just down the hill from the Writing-on-Stone Visitor Centre, and is nestled amongst the hoodoos and the Milk River. It's not visible at all from the road so it was quite a pleasant surprise when we arrived. Our site we booked was huge, and really well shaded, which I was very happy for. There's a day area for visitors, with lots of green space, picnic tables and a playground. There's a little store where you can by some amenities like firewood, ice and ice-cream, and right beside it is flush toilets and pay-showers. The rest of the toilets in the campground are pit toilets (but very clean). 

We spent two nights camping and I easily could have spent a third night there. Sully fell asleep both nights in his play-pen, but ended up in bed with us usually around 1 a.m., which actually worked out well since he's a little furnace and kept me nice and warm! Our days were spent hanging out around the fire - seriously, Sully was entertained for HOURS just picking up and throwing rocks, washing rocks in the dish basin, collecting pinecones - flirting with the little girl at the campsite next to us.

We also visited the playground and went for lots of walks. There's actually a really nice beach down by the river, and although there was a water advisory, most people still went in, either to swim or float on it. There are also trails starting at the campground that will take you up through the hoodoos and to the visitor centre. Or you can drive up to the visitor centre and hike from there. There are also guided tours you can pay for. Honestly, it was much too hot for this pregnant momma to do any hiking during the day, but we did explore the Battle Scene trail one evening. Of course, my fear of rattle snakes was at an all time high the entire time we were out on the trails, but thankfully, we didn't spot any! 

All in all, it was a fantastic trip and it's amazing that everything went so smoothly. We didn't forget anything major, we all enjoyed ourselves and I only had to get up to use the washroom the first night! #pregnancywin And of course, it goes without saying, it was great to disconnect (no cell service down in the campsite!) and just soak up all the time with my little family.

We will definitely be back to camp there again next year!

P.S. If you missed it - I talked all about what food we ate while camping in this post from last week!


Do you like camping?

Are you a tent or trailer camper?

Oh Baby....It's A...!

So before I get to the information I know you are all just dying to know, I have to tell you a little story about these photos.

Several weeks ago, my good friend Alison offered to take the photos for me. I wasn't about to hire a photographer for this and I thought it would be super fun to have a friend take them for me. We brainstormed a bit on how we wanted to do it and settled on using balloons. So we picked a date to meet at a park, I picked up the balloons on the way and I figured the rest would be easy. Wrong! Do you know how hard it is to work with balloons?! Pinterest makes it look SO easy, but even the slightest breeze sends those balloons into a frenzy. Add to that a toddler who is more interested in throwing rocks on the train tracks and then some funky lighting in the trees as we tried to get away with the wind, well, we had a lot of laughs! At one point I even said to Alison, I think these pictures would make an awesome Pinterest fail post, haha!

Anyway, I'm forever grateful to Alison (and her kiddos!) for being a good sport about it and still capturing some great images for me! Thanks, Alison!!

Oh right...we're having a GIRL!!! ;)

We were so certain we would have another boy if we had a second child, and as much as I would love for Sully to have a brother, I would be lying if I said I didn't really want a little girl. I did have a pretty good feeling that this baby is a girl as this pregnancy has been different than when I was pregnant with Sully, so when my suspicions were confirmed at our ultrasound, I cried tears of joy. And then I felt sad that Sully wouldn't be getting a little brother. Oh, pregnancy hormones!

At the end of the day, I only pray for a healthy baby, but Baby Girl, we are so excited to welcome you into our family at the end of this year!