Mandarin Orange Cake

Apple-Pear Butter
by Mackenzie at The Centsible Family

Prep time should be about 30 minutes and will cook for 11-13 hours so be sure to start it early in the morning or leave it on low during the night.

Ingredients:

• 5-6 pounds apples and pears – peeled, cored and finely chopped
• 3 cups white sugar
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/4 teaspoon salt

Directions:

1.  Place the apples in a slow cooker. In a medium bowl, mix the sugar, cinnamon, cloves and salt. Pour the mixture over the apples in the slow cooker and mix well.
2. Cover and cook on high 1 hour.
3. Reduce heat to low and cook 9 to 11 hours, stirring occasionally, until the mixture is thickened and dark brown.
4. Uncover and continue cooking on low 1 hour. Stir with a whisk, if desired, to increase smoothness.
   Spoon the mixture into sterile containers, cover and refrigerate or freeze.

Notes About Recipe:

•  I adjusted the sugar down to 3 cups because 4 cups was too sweet for my first batch. You can also substitute the sugar with honey instead and that will help with the sweetness.
• Also I added 4 Bartlet pears to my recipe just to give it a different flavor and used two different types of apples as well.
• Be very careful when cooking this recipe. I learned the hard way that you CAN overcook the sugar as my first batch had a layer of burnt sugar on the bottom of the cooker. However, by spooning the butter out I was able to leave the burnt butter in the cooker and only use the good butter.
• Also, as you cook the recipe it may look more like Apple Soup then butter. It reduced about 75% for me (which is probably why I had the burnt sugar layer) but it will be very liquidy while the slow cooker is turned on. Even at the “Keep Warm” setting it was still more liquid then butter…making me believe I cooked it wrong. So I turned off the cooker and let it sit over night and the next morning it was perfect, almost jam consistency. Since this recipe depends on what kind of sweetener you use, what type of apples you use, etc. the thickness and consistency may vary.

Recipe was adapted from All Day Apple Butter at AllRecipes.com. The above picture of the canned butter is from their website as well.

Thanks, The Centsible Family!

Orange Cranberry Chicken
by Jenny at The Healthified Mom and Freebie Spot

Prep time should be about 10 minutes and will cook for four hours and yield about 6 servings. If you have a big crock pot (about 6qt) you can double the batch and when finished put half in gallon size bag for the freezer!

Ingredients

• 6 boneless skinless chicken breasts, frozen
• 3/4 c Russian salad dressing
• 1 pkg dry onion soup mix
• 1 2oz pkg fully cooked bacon, chopped
• 1/4 c no-pulp orange juice
• 1 can (16oz) whole berry cranberry sauce

Instructions

1. Lightly spray slow cooker with cooking spray. Place frozen chicken breasts in slow cooker.
2. Mix together the dressing, soup mix, bacon, orange juice, and cranberry sauce.
3. Pour mixture evenly over the chicken, cover, and cook on high for 4 to 6 hours.

I recommend spreading the chicken out as evenly as possible in order to get the most coverage from your sauce. And never, ever lift the lid off your slow cooker. If you do it just once, you may need to add 30 minutes or more to your cooking time.

Thanks, The Healthified Mom!

Homemade Applesauce
by Brianne from Just Trying To Save Money

You only need a few ingredients to make a great tasting homemade applesauce and the added benefit is your house will smell like an apple pie!!

Ingredients:

3/4 cup Sugar
1/2 cup Water
1 tsp. Cinnamon
1 tsp. Vanilla
8 – 10 Apples peeled, cored and cut into cubes

Directions:

1. Turn your crock pot and on high and add water, sugar, cinnamon and vanilla and mix thoroughly. Peel and core your apples to get ready for the crock pot. Either slice or cut your apples into cubes and toss them into the pot!
2. Mix all ingredients together in crock pot. Leave it covered on high for 3-4 hours.
3. After 3-4 hours you will see your apples turn to mush and ready to smash into applesauce. Our girls like it a little chunky so I use a fork and mash the whole pieces of apple just a little to make it look more like applesauce. If you want a smoother applesauce you can use a mixer on low to get a better consistency. Since this is our first batch of homemade applesauce I only made 1 batch to see how it turned out. Since the whole family loved it, I think this will become a addition to our jar gifts that we make for Christmas gifts!

 Thanks, Just Trying To Save Money!