I wanted to revisit something that I posted about last year. It's the most popular post on my blog and I think it's for good reason. Everyone wants to have a way to preserve their memories and if you're not in to scrapbooking, making a memory book is a really simple and classy way to do it!

Whether you're single and taking trips with your friends or a family looking to celebrate everyday accomplishments, this is a great first step. 

This time of year, I'm usually knee deep in creating our yearbook (which we run from November 1 - October 31). Although I'm almost fully immersed in preparing for the haunted trail we're involved with, I've got all of the months organized and ready to go (except, of course, October). I'll begin my review of the year in November. If you're looking to try something new this year, check this link (to a past blog post of mine) out. I hope you create the best memories ever...

Family Yearbooks...

Some updates from the 2012-2013 Yearbook:

Creating my own layouts is something new for me. This one shows the
important parts of the photos and still gets the images clumped together.

I added an instagram page - just chose a couple of my favorites!

More examples of some personal layout exploration. Some pages just have
so much that I want to fit - it may not look perfect but I enjoy the tetris-like process.

Apple Honey

My hallway bookshelves are full of jams and butters and all sorts of delicious things! I didn't shoot any pictures of most of them because I was focused on teaching my daughter the processes of making all those goodies and how to preserve. With everyone back in school and my days being pretty full, I've had to squeeze in time to make the rest of the things on my list. I've made this wonderful thing...Apple Honey and it's delicious!!!

Let me know what you think, please. Let's get down to it...

Apple Honey

Yields around 5 half-pint (8oz) jars

§   1 Tbl Distilled Vinegar

§   8 Cups, Apple Peelings – No Seeds

§   7 Cups Water

§   4 Cups Sugar OR 3 Cups Honey

§   Juice of 1 Lemon (optional)

§   Whole Spices (Cinnamon Stick, Cloves, All Spice and/or Nutmeg)

Cooking the apple peels to
create a fragrant apple water.

Method

1.      Soak Apples in a sink full of water, plus distilled vinegar – wash them off well.

2.      Peel the skin from the apples (using a veggie peeler, paring knife or an apple peeler-corer-slicer).

a.       Use apple meat to make apple butter, sauce, etc.

3.      Cover peels with water and cook, covered, until soft – 2-4 hours.

a.       Prepare jars and lids for preserving

4.      Strain fruit water through a small-mesh strainer and if necessary, through a nut milk bag or several layers of cheese cloth.

5.      Place juice in pot and heat over medium-high heat; once at a vigorous boil, add sugar or honey.

6.      Boil down rapidly until it’s reached the consistency of honey (it will reduce by about ¾ of what you have in the pot – depending on your desired consistency).

a.      Keep an eye on the pot as it boils down, the mixture will begin to boil up once it’s reached a specific temperature and stage in the cooking down – at

this point, you’ll need to turn your burner’s temperature down just a little.

                                                               i.      Each time you’ll need to do this, turn the burner down just enough to still keep a simmer or light boil going.

b.      Add the optional spices (whole cinnamon stick, whole cloves, whole all spice and a smashed or broken nutmeg). Depending on how strong of a spice flavoring you desire, add in the spices either at the beginning (full flavored) or half way down the pot (lighter flavoring).

c.       Do a saucer test (room temperature or freezer) as it will be thinner in the pot. Stop at any point that you’re comfortable with the thickness of the honey/syrup.

d.      It will darken in color – a nice rich amber color.

7.      Fill jars to ¼ inch; wipe top and process in a water bath for 7-10 minutes.

a.       Place a cinnamon stick in jar if desired.

Beautiful, amber-hued cinnamon-apple honey.

Apple Honey with sugar biscuits - nom, nom, nom...
This is also completely perfect in a spiced tea (like orange spice
or constant comment or chai or pumpkin spice...)

A visual comparison between apple butter (left) and apple honey (right).
Equally delicious, equally fabulous!!!