Sugar Wars: Day 1

Several of us in these parts have entered a pact, or at least an agreement, to cut sugar from our diets for 30 days. Much of my incentive is that it’s pretty clear I’m gaining weight at exactly the same rate I’m eating junk food, and I’d rather not balloon ALL the way back up to my previous fatness. I’ve already regained about 12 pounds in the last 6 months (although I gotta say, a third of that was in December. What a disaster the holidays were for me, food-wise.)…

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crabapple jelly & jam, blackberry jam / apple jam & jelly, strawberry jam, raspberry jam

apples apples everywhere

We picked apples on Sunday. This warped panorama does not do justice to the numbers of apples currently residing in our entryway: The bag in the back corner, and the white box, which is like 2×3′ or something, are also full of apples. There are So Many Apples. There’s a fairly large bag already missing, too, as I sent one home with my sister. A friend just dropped by and took away the small box next to the plant pots and the black bag at the foot of the photo,…

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Kitsnacks: Pumpkin Muffins

I made a batch of absolutely gorgeous pumpkin muffins this morning. Light, fluffy, tender, just the right amount of sweetness. The dog ate half of them. #ragemachinemurderbot Baloo’s Favourite Pumpkin Muffins: 1 (15 ounce) can pumpkin puree 4 eggs 1 cup melted butter 2/3 cup water 2 cups white sugar 3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour 2 teaspoons baking soda 1 1/2 teaspoons salt 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger Whisk wet ingredients together in a large bowl. Whisk dry ingredients together in another bowl.…

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worst. cooking. ever.

I have, in a really stunning run, made two bad batches of fudge in a row and followed it up with pie crust worse than what I made at Thanksgiving, which was, up until then, easily the worst I’d ever made. But that’s okay, because the pie I then made was too sweet, too! Srsly. *dies in a pit* I’ve now gotten all the necessary ingredients to make experimental allergy-safe fudge for my friend’s dairy-and-eggs-allergic son, and since I was in the market anyway I also got enough to make…

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Kitsnacks: Apple Pecan Cookies

About 45 minutes ago I said I thought I was going to go invent some apple pecan cookies, and did. It’s possible I should invent baking recipes more often. This is my third or so original recipe and so far I’m three for three… Kit’s Apple Pecan Cookies 1/2 c soft butter 1/2 c brown sugar 1 egg 1 tsp vanilla 1/4 tsp salt 1/2 tsp baking soda 1 tsp cinnamon 1 1/3 c flour 1 c chopped toasted pecans 1 c peeled, diced apple Cream butter and sugar; add…

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