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| A half bushel of apples from Ellijay, Georgia |
I
do my best to keep up with seasonal food--at least keep it in the kitchen. This
past weekend, son #4 and I took a two hour drive to Ellijay, Georgia, and tried
our hand at apple picking. The mountains were beautiful, the weather was nice
and the apple trees were laden with every apple shade imaginable from green to
blood red.
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| Before the pick with an excited young man. |
We
had a great time traipsing through the apple orchard with our basket, choosing
between Granny Smiths, Romes and the Golden Delicious variety. My son even
climbed up into a tree to reach the biggest, fattest red apple I've ever seen
that we deemed good enough for Snow White. After heaping the basket with as
many apples as we could carry, we took a tractor ride back to the parking lot
and shared some donuts and apple cider. (Yes, I ate a donut, although I've
sworn off such calorie-laden junk foods. It's autumn. It was worth it.)
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| My special guy took his time making sure each apple fit his idea of perfection. |
This
week in-between working on my next book and sending in some copywriting work to
clients, I made time to get some apple recipes canned. I'm
most proud of our Caramel Apple Jam, which came out beautifully and wasn't that
hard to make. Every jar sealed properly which is a huge accomplishment with my
modest canning skills. The leftovers were so delicious we ate them right out of
the pot with a spoon.
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| I'm a writer, not a food photographer! But this stuff is as good as it looks. And better! |
Pumpkin
picking time is just around the corner. It's nice to get out and do something
outside of our usual routines. I hope you take a break this month and make time
to do something special with a family member or a friend, like visiting a
pumpkin patch or trying a corn maze. Enjoy life and what the outdoors has to offer.
What's
your favorite fall activity?
Stay
Balanced,
~Danielle Thorne
**RECIPE**
You
can check out the recipe for Caramel Apple Jam that I used here. It was awesome, and I plan to make it again. I followed the instructions
to the letter with the one exception of adding another half cup of water to
help mash up my apples before adding the spices. Now I'm off to can pie
filling. How 'bout them apples?
**BOOK NEWS**
If
you're in the area, join me this weekend in Paducah, Kentucky, for my annual book signing with author friends around the region. Come check out our new
releases and give us a chance to get to get to know you!
5 Authors-5 States Fall Bookfest
Saturday, October 6th
Etcetera Coffeehouse
320 North 6th St.
11:00 am - 2:00 pm
320 North 6th St.
11:00 am - 2:00 pm
Back with newly released books: Danielle Thorne from Georgia, Laurean Brooks from Tennessee, Pamela Hearon from Illinois, Linda Swift from Kentucky, and bestselling guest author, Celia Yeary from Texas. Books for every interest: contemporary and historical fiction, mainstream, romance, inspirational, regency, young adult, paranormal, fantasy, suspense, short stories, poetry. Come meet the authors, chat with friends, enjoy live keyboard music and refreshments from Etcetera menu. Book giveaways! Two $15 Etcetera gift cards!
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| 2011 Murray, Kentucky Book Signing. Photo courtesy of Linda Swift. |
4 comments:
That caramel apple jam looks delicious! Wow!
It was really tasty and easy to make. I'm going to make some more in a couple weeks for Christmas gift. Cute and inexpensive but very useable!
Your Kentucky signing sounds wonderful. Best of luck with it - - wish I lived nearby. I haven't canned for years, but did make apple crisp in the slow cooker the other day (so the house would smell like heaven for hours). Ever year I look forward to our university's fresh apple cider.
I love fresh apple cider. That's one thing I look forward to having during the holidays... I have a friend who has an awesome recipe but I can't get it from her on paper.
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