Weekend Highlights & Apple Butter Recipe...

I'll be out this week so I wanted to have a quick post before I left. I thought I would share some of the things we did this weekend with you. I am also sharing the recipe for my mother-in-law's Apple Butter at the end of this post.

Don't forget that the on-line bible study of Behind Those Eyes begins Tuesday. I'm not sure yet if I will be able to post about the first chapter or not. Don't know if I will have access to a computer or the internet this week. If you have joined this study, make sure you post about it, or just follow up with the other women who are participating. I'm looking forward to reading your thoughts with this first chapter.

This was a fun but busy weekend for us. We spent Friday evening with a new couple from our church who are quickly becoming our good friends.

How can we not be friends when they bring a dessert like this to share...

Saturday was then spent with the boys doing work in the yard...

I don't know why Ben loves to wear these tank tops, t-shirts, whatever they are. Really, I call them something else, but I won't go there. He started wearing these under his regular shirts because he didn't like the "feel" of his shirt. Ben is VERY particular about his clothes. I know this isn't the first picture you've seen with Ben in one of these t-shirts. He does have other shirts. I promise.

I spent part of the afternoon talking to my sister, Sarah on the phone and to my friend Kim. Don't you just love a great conversation on the phone? I love catching up, laughing, and being able to share what's going on in my life and to hear what's going on in theirs.

Saturday evening we had Steve's parents and sister over for dinner. I asked Mom P. if I could share the recipe for Apple Butter with those of you who have asked. This really has been somewhat of a "secret" recipe that she was given almost 40 years ago by a friend of hers. Like I said in my earlier post about Apple Butter, she has been making it for a long time. I've never had any that even compare to how good hers is.

Apple Butter~

Fill crock pot with peeled and chopped apples. (Sorry I can't give an exact amount on this. I bought a bushel of apples and ended up filling 2 crock pots with apples and still had enough apples to make about 4 jars of applesauce.)

8 cups sugar

4 t. cinnamon

1/2 t. allspice

1/2 t. ground cloves

Here are a few tips...

~Layer apples and sugar otherwise it's really hard to put 8 cups of sugar on top of all the apples once the crock pot is full.

~ I fill the crock pot about an inch or so over the rim of the crock pot because of how much the apples cook down.

~ The apple butter takes at least 12 hours to cook. I start the crock pot on high for a couple of hours and then turn it to low for the remaining amount of time. If it is kept on high, the apple butter will have a thick consistency.

~ During the last hour of cooking, I stir the apple butter with a whisk to break up any remaining chunks of apples.

~ I place a cookie sheet/pan, or whatever will fit underneath the crock pot to catch any of the juice that happens to run over. It does get really messy and sticky!

Enjoy!!!

Our weekend was then made complete by attending church on Sunday morning. Our lead pastor spoke about the Cost of Discipleship. What it really means to take up our cross and follow Him. I think I feel a post coming on with this one! We then spent the evening with our community group having a cook-out. Like I said, it was a busy weekend!

Friends and family. Is there a better way to spend the weekend?

Be back at the end of the week!