I am an Oklahoman by birth, a Texan by current living situation, but claim the world as my playground.I love to travel and hope to someday soon take our family on adventures to far off lands, where we can share God with others and experience all the wonders He has created.
I am a mother of 5 crazy, homeschooling children ages 10 & under, wife to an amazing man, and daughter of the King of the Universe!I enjoy reading, making my kids laugh, cooking, all things natural, learning to play guitar and dusting off my piano skills.One day I hope to run again, but until then I’m learning patience.
When the north wind starts to drive the warm weather away, the air turns crisp as the leaves begin to fall, and the days start to hint at winter, memories of apple cider dance into mind.
My mother makes THE BEST apple cider!
Her recipe will have all your guests coming back to refill their mug and asking if you made that delicious apple cider when they walk in the door. The best part–it is so easy to make!
Today I’m going to share three easy ways to make apple cider. One is my mom’s traditional apple cider recipe, which is a staple at all our family and friend gatherings once it turns cold. The other two are my ultra-simplified version of an already simplified version. Why? Because I stumbled upon these variations and found them to be amazingly simple yet still yielding the great taste that the traditional cider brings.
My Mom’s Traditional Apple Cider Recipe
For this recipe you will need:
Apple juice
Apple cider
Orange juice
Cinnamon sticks (do not use powder)
Whole cloves
I purchased whatever organic products were on sale at my local store. Choose whatever brands you like best!
You can make as much or as little as you want. Typically, my mom makes an entire crock pot full of cider. She simply puts all the ingredients into the crock pot and uses the following amounts:
3 parts apple juice
2 parts apple cider
1 part orange juice*
cinnamon sticks (usually 4-5 if filling the crock pot)
whole cloves (almost a handful, if filling the crock pot)
So, for example, if she uses three cups of apple juice, she’ll use two cups of cider, and one cup of orange juice.
*Depending on what kind of orange juice you buy, you will need to alter this amount. If you use fresh orange juice, you might want to add it a little more than one part orange juice. If you use a canned or frozen concentrate, then you might use less than one part orange juice. Basically, you want to taste it along the way and adjust it to your liking.
Turn the crock pot on high and let it simmer 10-15 minutes. Then it will be ready to serve!How easy is that? Your house will smell great, your guests will be impressed, and you will have spent hardly any time slaving away in the kitchen, which means more time enjoying your guests!
(Of course, you could use a pot on the stove as well. We just don’t like to use up valuable stove top real estate when we are cooking holiday meals, so we use the crock pot.)
The Modified Apple Cider
The first time I decided to make my mom’s cider, I did not have cinnamon sticks or whole cloves. Using the powder would have left a not so palatable film in the liquid, so I grabbed what I had on hand. Can you guess what it was?
Thieves essential oil! Thieves actually has cinnamon and cloves in it as well as some other oils, including lemon, eucalyptus radiata, and rosemary. I know that combination might seem a little strange, but let me tell you, it tastes great! I just used a few drops and still received the rave reviews that my mom always gets.
(This post contains affiliate links.)
Just a few drops gave the cider just the right amount of warmth!
The Faux Apple Cider
This version of apple cider I happened onto by complete accident. I had a sore throat and was trying everything to get rid of it. I remembered that gargling with the aforementioned thieves might help, but I did not want to gargle it. I was tired and just wanted to sleep. So, I put a drop of thieves into a cup of apple juice and drank it down.* The thieves numbed my throat and calmed my cough so I could go to sleep. I was totally impressed with how it worked but even more impressed with how my apple juice tasted like apple cider with just one drop of added essential oil.
Call me lazy if you want, but my mom’s recipe went from being already easy to super easy! Of course, this last version I did not heat up because I wanted the full effects of the oils to work.
Perfect Gift
Although I do enjoy sitting while reading and sipping on my apple cider, I believe apple cider should be enjoyed with others. Actually, most of my memories involving apple cider are with a house full of people. We are having fun, talking, laughing, and sharing life.
Apple cider would be a perfect gift to share with others this season. I found this great bottle at a local store for about $3. After we enjoyed the lemonade the bottle originally contained, I simply removed the label and now we can recycle it as an apple cider gift!
What memories do you have associated with apple cider?
With whom might you enjoy sharing a cup of apple cider?
Items you might consider using for this recipe:
*(Thieves is a blend of essential oils. I believe in the French philosophy of using essential oils, which allows for the ingesting of some oils. There are other philosophies that do not. I do recommend using safety precautions, learning about essential oil safety and not just doing it because I do it this way. I don’t recommend drinking large amounts of thieves but I’ve found a drop every 4-6 hours does help me when I’m not feeling well.)
I am an Oklahoman by birth, a Texan by current living situation, but claim the world as my playground.I love to travel and hope to someday soon take our family on adventures to far off lands, where we can share God with others and experience all the wonders He has created.
I am a mother of 5 crazy, homeschooling children ages 10 & under, wife to an amazing man, and daughter of the King of the Universe!I enjoy reading, making my kids laugh, cooking, all things natural, learning to play guitar and dusting off my piano skills.One day I hope to run again, but until then I’m learning patience.
Have you ever thought that you just don’t have the time, patience, or money to cook delicious, homemade meals? If so, get ready to have your mind completely changed.
As part of the Encouragement Challenge, we want to help strengthen our bodies by feeding it nutritious and delicious foods so we can serve God and others to the fullest.
Two of our contributors, Julie and Toni, are teaming up to show you that cooking with real food is easy, affordable, and delicious!
Julie and Toni will be cooking up some of their favorite easy, delicious, real food meals and teaching you how to do it all too!
Whether your a beginner or seasoned in the kitchen, you will learn a little something new.
Not only will you get a chance to learn how to prepare these delicious meals but you will also get to:
Learn that it is economical to eat real food.
Taste-test the dishes prepared that day.
Return home with a recipe book of menu ideas to add a little extra fun and ease to your dinner time schedule.
Be encouraged physically & spiritually.
When:
Saturday, January 30, 2016
Time:
9:30am – 12:00pm
Where:
Natural Grocers in Edmond, OK
3325 South Boulevard St
Suite 169
Cost:
Free
(Thank you to Julie of Fit Fare 5 and Toni of Healthy Living for volunteering their time and skills and to Natural Grocers for supplying the groceries.)
Allergies?
All meals prepared that day will be gluten free.
Space is Limited
Space is limited to the first 50 people who show up.
Let Us Know You are Coming!
Come laugh, learn, and eat with us. This event is completely FREE. Signing up here simply gives us an idea of how much food and how many recipe books to have prepared. Let us know you would love to come by clicking on the image below and “registering” for the class. IF you forget to sign up, just come on over that morning. Again, this is just to help us get a ball park count of how many to expect.
I am an Oklahoman by birth, a Texan by current living situation, but claim the world as my playground.I love to travel and hope to someday soon take our family on adventures to far off lands, where we can share God with others and experience all the wonders He has created.
I am a mother of 5 crazy, homeschooling children ages 10 & under, wife to an amazing man, and daughter of the King of the Universe!I enjoy reading, making my kids laugh, cooking, all things natural, learning to play guitar and dusting off my piano skills.One day I hope to run again, but until then I’m learning patience.
Have you ever had that moment in the kitchen when you needed an ingredient and then realized you just ran out of it? That is how these super moist cupcakes came to be!
You see, I was trying to follow this delicious pumpkin muffin recipe I made for the ladies that attended the Bible Journaling Workshop. The women enjoyed them so much that I knew this would be the recipe I would use for a party we were attending.
I had all the ingredients laid out but then when I doubled the recipe I thought I did not have enough Coconut Sugar Palm, which is what I use instead of Brown Sugar.
This stuff is delicious.
(It turned out I did have enough Sugar Palm but I didn’t realize that at the time because I was doubling the already doubled quantity. Anyway, back to my assumption that I didn’t have enough of what I needed.)
Once upon a time not having enough of the item I needed would have led to a major disaster. I would have substituted a ridiculous ingredient, because I was ingredient and cooking illiterate.
Just to give you an example, I once put too much salt in a raw squash soup I was making and tried to add what I thought would bring the soup back to a good balance – so I added sugar! YUK!!!! I later literally had to throw that cookbook away because I felt sick every time I looked at it.
Fortunately, over the past 5 years I have learned a little. The biggest thing I’ve learned is that you can’t go wrong with cocoa!! Everything tastes better with chocolate, right?
Ok, I have to admit that at first I was a little concerned, but once my children licked the batter from spatulas clean off, I thought there was a chance of still pulling of a successful cupcake making afternoon.
My husband, who is my favorite food critique because he is hilariously honest with me, said these were the moistest cupcakes I had ever made and he couldn’t eat enough of them. I may be exaggerating by about 5 seconds but he seemed to devour 2 cupcakes in the span of about 30 seconds.
To me, these cupcakes are not only moist but are the complete chocolate compliment to all the holiday flavors – pumpkin, cinnamon, nutmeg and clove.
So without further adieu, here is the recipe for the moistest Spiced Chocolate Cupcakes around!
Obviously, it has been altered from it’s original form but not by much and I’m sharing the double batch quantities because this is how I made it.
I recommend using all organic ingredients for the best flavor.
I took this picture before I decided to double the ingredients so the cocoa is missing & the amount of ingredients is right for a single batch.
Pour all the following Dry Ingredients into one bowl & mix:
3 1/2 cups All Purpose Flour
2 cups cane sugar
1 1/3 cup coconut sugar palm (or brown sugar)
2/3 cups of cocoa powder
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
4 teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
Pour all the following Wet Ingredients into another bowl & mix:
4 eggs
2 – 15 ounce cans Pumpkin Pie Mix
1 cup coconut oil – melted
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Directions:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Put festive cupcake liners in the baking pan.
Mix all dry ingredients together.
Mix all wet ingredients together.
Then mix the wet ingredients in with the dry until a delicious batter forms.
Use a cookie dough scoop or an ice cream scoop to put the batter evenly into all the cupcake cups.
Bake the cupcakes for 15 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle of the cupcake comes out clean.
Let cool on a rack for 5-10 minutes and then enjoy with a cup of milk!
So the next time something in your life or your kids’ lives turns out different than expected, enjoy making these cupcakes together and be reminded how this once delicious pumpkin muffin recipe turned out completely different yet still delicious! And as long as we are walking with God, our struggles, challenges and disappointments will turn into something wonderful too.
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