Slow Cooker Sweet Potatoes

Photo Credit: Wikipedia

Over the Thanksgiving holiday I visited an aunt and uncle in Delaware. While we were there, my aunt gave me some sweet potatoes that she was afraid might go to waste at her house. And as I have told you before, I adore sweet potatoes. So, I was glad to take them home with me.

Obviously this recipe is meant to serve a crowd and is perfect for the holidays. But, even though I had no crowd to serve last week, I made them up any way knowing that I could freeze the leftovers for later. So we had them for dinner and I mashed up the rest to use in Sweet Potato Muffins and Sweet Potato Cake. I’ll tell you more about the cake tomorrow.

Slow Cooker Sweet Potatoes

6 medium sized sweet potatoes

1 ½ cups unsweetened apple sauce

2/3 cup raw sugar (or brown sugar)

3 Tbsp. melted butter

1 tsp. cinnamon

Peel and cube sweet potatoes and place in a slow cooker. Add remaining ingredients and stir. Cover and cook on low for 4-6 hours or until tender.

Something for Nothing

I had a super busy day yesterday. I got together with some lovely ladies in the morning, visited with a good friend in the afternoon, and then finished my day with homework and dinner with the family. We ate roasted chicken last night and I really wanted to use the carcass to make broth, but I just didn’t have the energy to tend to a simmering pot for several hours. However, I vaguely remembered reading somewhere that I could make broth in my slow cooker overnight. So, I did, and it turned out perfectly!

Slow Cooker Chicken Broth

1 chicken carcass, bones, and skin

Water

Place chicken carcass in the slow cooker. Add enough water to completely cover the bones. Cover with the lid and cook on low overnight. In the morning, strain the broth to remove the bones and ladle into canning jars. Store the broth in the refrigerator. After it is chilled, the fat will rise to the top and can be removed with a spoon. Use your homemade broth just as you would use purchased broth. Yield: Varies. This time I ended up with 12 cups broth.

Frugal Tip: Making your own chicken broth is practically free! One 12 cup batch saves me $6.81 over store bought broth.  

This post has been linked to Try New Adventures Thursday.

Triple Berry Fruit Spread

Since the beginning of the year, I have been gradually working to clean out our freezer. We have a side by side, so it is not a huge project. But, it had been jam packed full. And, we are moving across country in June, so we do not want any good food going to waste. As a result of this massive clean out, I have been under budget on my grocery bill every week since the beginning of the year. Yeah!

So, on Monday, I cleared out some partial bags of frozen fruit and made a batch of fruit spread. I used half a pound of frozen black berries, a pound of frozen blueberries, and a pound or so of fresh strawberries that I found on sale at the grocery store. I added about 1 ½ cups of raw sugar and a splash of lemon juice and ended up with 4 ½ cups of fruit spread.  This is the first time that I have used frozen fruit with this recipe and it turned out great. It just took a little longer to cook.

Recipe Link: Fruit Spread

How to Cook Pumpkin

Every year, as the weather gets cooler, I get excited about cooking and baking with apples and pumpkins. So this fall, I was disappointed to find that the shelf that held canned pureed pumpkin was empty week after week. I was craving Pumpkin Cake and it just did not look like it was going to happen.

Then, I said to myself, You Can Make That! I strolled on over the produce section and picked up a 4 ½ pound pie pumpkin. I had no idea how to cook it. But, without it, my craving for Pumpkin Cake would go unsatisfied. I brought it home and it sat on my counter for a couple of days glaring at me.  

When I had enough of the glaring, I asked my neighbor how to cook it. She gave me some instructions and I was able to handle it with no trouble. I even used it in my Pumpkin Cake Recipe and it turned out great. Although it was about the same price for me to make my own pumpkin puree as it would have been for me to buy it, I am glad that I now know how to do it. I feel like I conquered something by doing it myself!

Fresh Pumpkin Puree

Cut a pie pumpkin in half and scrape out all of the seeds.  (Save seeds for future use or discard.) Place cut side down into a 9x13 baking pan. Add about one inch of water to the pan. Cook pumpkin in a 450˚ oven for 45-60 minutes or until the pumpkin can be easily pierced with a fork. Let it cool and then scrape out the flesh. Using a blender or food processor, puree the pumpkin for use in your favorite recipes. Store the pumpkin in the refrigerator to use right away or put it in the freezer for later. However, if you plan to freeze it, be sure to leave one inch of space at the top to allow for expansion.

Note: My 4 ½ pound pie pumpkin yielded 4 cups of puree.

Frugal Tip: If you have room, bake more than one recipe at a time, or double your recipe when baking things like fresh pumpkin. This is an efficient way to utilize your oven and to save time and money in the kitchen.

Fruit Spread

When our youngest daughter was small, we noticed that she developed a red rash on her face after she ate foods like jelly and pancake syrup. We realized that the foods that were causing the rashes had a common ingredient: corn syrup. So, we decided to stop feeding our family foods including corn syrup on the ingredient list. This is easier said than done! 

The rashes have stopped, but our commitment to eliminating corn syrup from our diet has not. Homemade jams, fruit spreads, and pancake syrups have become a part of our life. However, all of these things take time!

The following recipe is a short cut for making homemade fruit spread. It produces something that is a cross between jam and fruit butter. I have used this method with strawberries, blueberries, peaches, and (most recently) pears. What I like about this method is that I do not have to peal the fruit, I can control the amount of sugar, and it is cooked in your slow cooker!

Fruit Spread

5 pounds of fruit - or whatever will fit comfortably in your slow cooker
Sugar to taste - start with ½ cup and add more if needed

Wash and drain fruit. Remove stems, seeds or pits. In small batches, chop the fruit (unpeeled in the case of peaches or pears) in a food processor or blender. Pour into a slow cooker. Cook on high with the lid for one hour.

Stir the fruit and turn the heat to low. Prop the lid slightly open with a spoon to allow steam to escape. Cook for four hours, stirring occasionally. Add sugar to taste, remove lid, and continue to cook on low until desired consistency.

Cool completely, and pack in jars leaving one inch space at the top for expansion. Store in the freezer until ready to use; or, eat immediately.

Variation: Add herbs or spices to your fruit while cooking. Try cinnamon, nutmeg, or rosemary.

Frugal Tip: Instead of purchasing pricy individual yogurt cups, purchase plain yogurt in large containers and serve topped with homemade fruit spread. This helps to cut costs and sugar intake!