For this month’s 24, 24, 24 event I proposed preparing food for a big party using ingredients that were locally produced, grown, and made.  Some ingredients I used were ones that I canned or froze over the summer months.  But most of the ingredients were ones that I bought this week, and in season.  It was a lot of fun talking with farmers and vendors about what’s in season during the cold month of December, and what’s available locally.  Eric and I were getting pretty excited about being locavores, and are considering trying a month of only eating local because of the bounty of local food in Washington.  Here’s a video of the local producers and the party.

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There’s something so comforting and soul warming about homemade applesauce.  I associate applesauce with being sick, or cold, which isn’t a bad thing.  When I was sick was when I would often get undivided attention and love from my mom, she’d bring me apple sauce and ginger ale and I’d be so relieved to be able to eat something.  When I’d be cold in the morning (and didn’t feel like eating oatmeal) I’d microwave some apple sauce, stir in lots of cinnamon, and savor it’s sweet warmth with every bite.  It’s easy to customize apple sauce to your taste, and this delicious homemade applesauce recipe is so much better for you than what you can buy in the store.  Even better bonus, kids love making their own apple sauce!

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I wasn’t expecting such a buzz last week when I mentioned on facebook that the crockpot of apple butter was making my house smell amazing.  But suddenly people were commenting, and emailing, and begging for the recipe.  So I promised to post it ASAP, and here it is!  I do have to say this is REALLY good apple butter.  I’ve given it as gifts and had people chase me down in church to ask how I made it.  In fact, if I were that type of person I might boastingly call this the best apple butter recipe ever!  But really, there are two secrets to this apple butter, and I promise to share both of them with you.

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This is another scheduled post, as Eric and I are at the beach with his parents until tonight.  But I’ve been so excited to share these with you that I’m writing the post a week in advance.  We’ve been getting so many tomatoes with our CSA lately.  Some big red ones, and tons of little cherry tomatoes, especially yellow ones.  Eric and I really love sun dried tomatoes, but they can be SO expensive.  I decided that I would try slow roasting some tomatoes to make our own.  It was one of my greatest cooking successes ever!!!!!!

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Yum!  The pickled green beans turned out delicious.  We picked a bagful of fresh green beans, some were green, some were purple.  Sadly the purple ones turn a dull grayish green after they’re boiled.  It’s super easy to pickle your own beans, they make a yummy snack and I love the way my jaw muscles clench up when I take a bite of their crunchy, dill and pickled goodness.  Normally canning beans requires pressure canning because beans don’t have enough acidity.  But when you pickle them you can simply use the water bath method, which I love because I don’t need any special equipment.

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