Pear-Apple Butter

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Shannon had requested the recipe for the Pear-Apple Butter I made last week or was it this week? I can't remember, oh well. Here is that recipe:


Pear-Apple Butter

4lbs tart apples
4lbs pears
1 cup orange juice (I used a non-pulp, non calcimated version)
.25-.5 cup water, if needed
2 tbsp grated orange peel
2/3 cup sugar
.5 tsp nutmeg
.25 tsp cinnamon (if you want)

1. Prepare your pints/quarts as needed for canning along with the caps and rings. Keep hot.
2. Wash apples and pears, quarter and place in a 6 quart pot. Pour orange juice over fruit, cover. Stirring occasionally, cook over low heat until fruit is soft. If mixture gets too dry (mine didn't, in fact I had a lot of liquid from the fruit) add .25 cup to .5 cup of water, if needed.
3. Press through food mill or sieve, discard seeds and skins. Put puree back into pot, bring to a boil. (you do need to do this, otherwise it takes the puree a long time to get up to heat in the crock pot)
   
4. Place puree in crock pot along with orange peel, sugar and spices. Mix well, turn crock pot to high and place lid on crooked, so that most of the heat stays in and helps to cook it down, but yet most of the steam can get out. Cook till sauce mounds up on a spoon, or till you like it. Stir occasionally.
   
5. Pack into hot jars, remove air bubbles, wipe rim of jar with a clean damp cloth, adjust caps and rings. Place in canner.
6. Process in a boiling water bath canner; pints 20 mins, quarts 30 mins.
7. Recipe yeilds about 8 pints.
8. Enjoy!

I also wanted to include a wonderful soup recipe that I think I've posted before, but it's really good for those who want to watch their wastelines, their money, their time and their health. It's also really good for pregnant women. As it's high in protien, 20% daily needs of iron and 12g of fiber. It's a great all around recipe. It's my Lentil-Veggie Soup. You can throw all of this into the crock pot in the morning, cook on low, or you can put it in soup pot and in about an hour have really great soup. Very suitable for fall.


Lentil-Veggie Soup - Obtained from The Biggest Book of Slow Cooker Recipes by BHG

1C dry lentils
1C chopped onions
1C chopped celery
1C chopped carrots
2 cloves garlic, minced
.5 tsp dried basil
.5 tsp dried oregano
.5 tsp dried thyme
1 bay leaf
2 14oz cans of vegetable or chicken broth (3.5 C) (I buy the bouillon, or use my homemade, the stuff in a box or a can is expensive)
1.5C water
1 14.5oz can italian-style stewed tomatoes (or just diced, stewed, crushed, whole chopped, whatever you have on hand)
.25c snipped fresh parsley (I've never used the fresh, just used dried added with the other dried herbs)

1.Place everything in a crock-pot. Stir. Cook on low for 12 hours or high for 5-6. Discard bay leaf. Stir in parsley if using fresh.

Oh, this is really good with parmesan cheese sprinkled on top.

165 Calories (0g sat. fat), 0mg Cholesterol, 713 mg Sodium (you could reduce this by using a homemade stock or finding a reduced sodium stock), 30g Carbo, 12g Fiber, 11g Protien, 126% vita A, 20% vita C, 7% Calcium, 20% Iron.