Years ago, I found a recipe for simmering scents that bring a sense of the holidays to our home. I made a batch recently. I love that the ingredients are all-natural and incorporate my favorite holiday smells. There are no exact measures on this for the ingredients. If that makes you uneasy, the photos will help. Once you get more adventurous, play around with various amounts of this or that and see what scent gets the emphasis.
Add the following ingredients to a small saucepan or pot:
Lemon slices
Orange slices
Rosemary sprigs (I cut some from our backyard plant)
Vanilla (a few drops)
Water
I also add:
Cranberries (I toss in a handful mostly for color)
Cinnamon stick
Whole cloves
Ingredients gathered and ready to go in the little pot to simmer.Everything is in the pot, ready for the water.After adding enough water to fill the pot at least halfway, place the pot on the stove. Set the heat at medium to bring it to a boil. I also set the timer for 3-minutes so I don’t forget it and get busy elsewhere in the house
Bring it to a boil. The cranberries will pop when their skins burst. I don’t think I caught that sound on the video. No cranberries were harmed in the filming.
I bring it to a rolling boil and then turn the heat to low. Just watching this video calms me. I can almost smell all the delight.Once it’s on low, keep an eye on it. You don’t want it to boil dry. You can add more water along the way. Always clean your stove before photographing a close-up.
I often turn the burner off, and the smell continues to waft as the brew cools down. Then I don’t worry about it burning dry. I use the same mix for a few days, just adding water and reheating it.
Turn on some holiday music and fill you home with the sounds and smells that can bring simple joy, even in these uncertain days.
Since 2020 has had so many lowlights, I figured this was the perfect fall for me to also cut back on seasonal sweets for health reasons. Why not make things even more miserable? I can go one autumn without homemade desserts like apple crisp, apple pie a la mode (topped with a little cheddar cheese), and Disneyland apple slices with dipping caramel. My waistline will thank me, even though my sweet tooth feels abandoned. But then we come to homemade applesauce.
Slow cooker applesauce to the rescue. I love making applesauce in the fall in the slow cooker, with plenty of apple and cinnamon scents wafting through the home. I eliminate the added sugar, often as an experiment to see if it turns out sweet enough. After all, when I bite into a raw apple, I don’t sprinkle sugar on it. It is plenty sweet on its own.
When I was a fourth grade teacher, as did many of my teaching colleagues, I’d make slow cooker applesauce in the classroom every fall. The apples would soften and warm all day long and the classroom smelled much better than usual. Many teachers do this for Johnny Appleseed Day, which may be a celebration merely to give a theme to making homemade, or classmade, applesauce during the hours of academic life. What a little sweet treat for the students in the afternoon!
Here is the recipe I used this year. I used all the apples we had around the kitchen. I’m not sure of the brands. I don’t peel them either. We like a more rustic applesauce around here. And I love skipping that step. I did not add any butter.
The recipe is from WW (Weight Watchers).
The first batch of apples I cut into were bad on the inside. You can read more about that here. I had to use other apples. These are said to not taste great. One bad apple can spoil the whole bunch, contrary to the popular saying.
I substituted other apples and washed them off to use.Squeezing the fresh lemon juice to add to the apples.All chopped and piled into the slow cooker.Looking through the lid, slow cooker on low, and the cinnamon sticks stand at attention like little spice soldiers.
The sweet and cinnamon aroma filled the afternoon, building anticipation of a homemade evening treat.
Such a rich color and flavor!
Later that night, we enjoyed small bowls of homemade, delicious, chunky, rustic applesauce and added some whip cream, just to add a little pizazz. The applesauce was sweet enough, even without the added sugar.
Fall foods and cooking are part of the season, even in a pandemic. I am grateful for these simple traditions and pleasures. Next up, butternut squash? Perhaps. We’ll see.
Wild Chin Hair 