Spiced Pear Butter

I have spent the past 3 days trying to make Spiced Pear Butter. On Saturday, I made my first batch and boy howdy . . . what a colossal failure! I used a recipe from The Complete Book of Year-Round Small-Batch Preserving by Ellie Top and Margaret Howard (Firefly Books Ltd. © 2001). The recipe was a variation of Spiced Plum Butter in which pears were substituted for plums. I cooked 5 cored, peeled, and sliced pears in a cup of water. Then I sieved them and used my immersion blender to purée the sieved mixture. The next step called for adding 1¼ cups sugar for every 1 cup pear purée. This totally didn't sound right to me. I mean pears are so sweet to begin with. How could it call for that much sugar? But I am fairly new to the home canning gig so I followed the recipe to the letter. It also called for a spice bag of 4 cloves, 1 cinnamon stick, and ½ teaspoon ground nutmeg. The batch was so sugary and runny. The final product tasted like corn syrup and no where close to tasting like pears. I tossed the whole nasty batch out!

I posted my dilemma on my Canning 2 Yahoo Group where I received a lot of advice from some very experienced home canners. So I took a little bit from all the advice I was given and winged it from there. I cored, peeled, and sliced a dozen pears, and cooked them in 2 cups water. Then I sieved and puréed them. The yield was about 8 cups. To the crockpot, I added 1 cup sugar, 5 ground cinnamon sticks, 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg, and the zest of one lemon. After about 5 hours, it was finshed. The result was a velvety, smooth texture with lots of flavor - pears, nutmeg, lemon, and cinnamon. You could taste it all. I got 5 half-pint jars out of that batch.

Since it turned out so well, I decided to make a larger batch today. I cooked 2 dozen pears in 4 cups water, sieved, and puréed them. The yield was 13 cups. To that I added 1½ cups sugar, the zest of a lemon, 6 ground cinnamon sticks, 2 teaspoons ground nutmeg, and forgot about the cloves. This batch was about a quart shy of filling my entire crockpot. It will cook overnight for sure.

The idea behind fruit butters is to cook as much water out of the fruit purée as possible until the purée becomes a smooth spread. It will take several hours in the crockpot. When the consistency is right, I will ladle the fruit butter into hot sterilized half-pint jars and then process them in a boiling water bath for 10 minutes. Then I will leave out on the counter to cool. The initial reward will be listening to the jar lids pop. That little pop means the jars have successfully sealed. That sweet popping sound of success!

In Other News

In other news, tomorrow is not just New Year's Day. For my fellow Catholics, it is the Solemnity of Mary, the Mother of God, and is a Holy Day of Obligation. In the Eastern Rites, January 1st commemorates the Circumcision of Our Lord. So I just wanted to put that friendly little reminder out there. :)

Today was relatively calm. Alyssa had soccer practice at the school this morning. She is at a New Year's sleepover party tonight. This morning, I did get a call from Justina's pediatrician, asking her to come in and give another urine sample. So we did that this morning. Oh, and I almost forgot. Her guinea pig, Katie, had two babies on December 3rd - a boar and a sow. She has finally named them: Bill and Roxy. Abby is still working on those toofers. But at least she is not nearly as cranky as with the other teeth. She is drooling though - a lot!

Well that is it really. Happy New Year to all and until the next time, God bless! :)

Tender Toofers and The Great Shootout

Well dental woes are afoot in our house lately. I cracked a tooth or rather a filling a week ago. And naturally, with it being the Christmas holiday time, my dentist is not available until the second week or so in January. It seems like eating or drinking anything that is hot or cold is out of the question. And I have to sip water through a straw. I have been told that since the nerve has been exposed, I will need a root canal this coming week. Meanwhile, I am trying to not be cranky around James and the kids.

In other teething news, Abby is getting in all her two-year-old molars. The funny thing is that we had no idea. She has been stuffing her fingers way back in her mouth. And yesterday, she had this confounded look on her face while she was doing it. She said, "Teef, teef!" James felt in the back of her mouth and sure enough, he felt the teeth where they were coming in. I am amazed that she was cognizant of it. I mean at 2 years old, to be able to tell Mommy and Daddy that you have teef coming in . . . how amazing! Or am I just biased? (LOL!)

Alyssa's soccer team made the finals of the Santa Maria Varsity Soccer Tournament, after winning their game earlier 8-0. The finals were against Righetti High which is located across the street from St. Joe's. It was a nice showdown between the best talent in our area. The kids all knew each other but that didn't stop them from giving it their all. The game was scoreless. They went into overtime, playing two five-minute halfs (no sudden death). After that it came down to a shootout and Righetti won. Alyssa did not play in this game which we are ambivalent about. Obviously we missed watching her play, but it is a nail-biting experience to watch your child be a keeper in a shootout.

In Other News

In other news, it was my older brother, Patrick's birthday yesterday. Happy birthday Pat Pat! Alyssa spent the night at a friend's house last night and didn't come home until this evening. And Justina is feeling a little better from her chicken pox vaccination the other day. The swelling in her arm has gone down a little.

Today, I have been making Spiced Pear Butter. I'll post how it turns out next time. Until then, take care and God bless!

Not Quite Christmas Anymore Hats

Well I mentioned in my last post that I would talk about my latest WIPs. I wanted to knit hats for the girls for Christmas. But life happened and I was not able to finish them all. I crocheted a little hat for Abby and finished it just before James left for Victorville last weekend. He took all the girls over to visit with Grandma and Grandpa (James' folks) and Auntie Sonya and her family. Unfortunately, the hat turned out less snug than I had hoped. It fits but just not snugly. She definitely doesn't have the Caratan supersized cranial girth. She'll grow into it I suppose.

I used Bernat® Cotton Tots™ 100% cotton yarn in Very Berry (a variegated yarn in different shades of pink, white, and some lavender). It's a worsted weight yarn and I used an H hook. I did a single crochet stitch in rounds with a reverse single crochet stitch with a G hook for the brim. The pattern is from The Reader's Digest Complete Guide to Needlework. The book is a little dated but it is a definite must have reference for fiber arts oficianados.

Then I began a hat for Justina - who definitely has the supersized melon! I knitted this one. I used Cotton Fleece by Brown Sheep Company (Colors Banana and Prairie Lupine). The yarn is 80% cotton and 20% Merino wool worsted weight. Hopefully the high cotton content will offset the wool and be less staticky. I used a hat pattern from Lion Brand Yarn Just Hats. I made the adult medium size and well let's just say it fits snugly - almost too snug. But she loved it and wore it all day yesterday.

I finished Alyssa's today. The pattern is the same as Justina's but I used Nature's Choice Organic Cotton in Pistachio by Lion Brand® Yarn. This is the first time I knitted with this yarn and I got to say that I really did like it. It was soft and lightweight but not brutal on the hands and fingers after awhile. Cotton yarns can get heavy when you knit them over a long period, especially worsted weigth cotton yarns.

I need to start one for Amanda now. I have this sky blue wool yarn tucked away in "Le Stash". Blue is her favorite color and when I decided to knit the girls hats, I immediately thought of this particular yarn for her. It is a wool/acrylic blend sport weight yarn. She is staying with James' parents for a couple weeks. So hopefully I can crank this out soon. But from what I have heard about the weather over there, she could've used a wool hat sooner than later.

In Other News

In other news, Alyssa's varsity soccer team played 2 games in a local tournament today. They beat the first team 6-0 and the second team 3-1. Tomorrow they play two more games. I think we will sit out the first game and James will go. Justina has not been feeling good since her chicken pox vaccination yesterday. Her arm is very swollen at the injection site and she is just feeling cruddy. So Children's Tylenol has been her friend lately.

Well that's all for now folks. Until the next time, take and God bless! :)

Doctors, Soccer, and Shopping

Wednesday afternoon, our 14-year-old, Alyssa wanted to do a little shopping wth her gift card stash. I told her I wasn't about to step foot in a store the day after Christmas and that perhaps I could take her after her younger sister's appointment with the pediatrician on Thursday afternoon. James is home from work for the rest of the week and offered to take care of Justina and Abby, including taking Justina to her annual well-child appointment so that we might go shopping. Before you give three cheers for my husband, I must tell you - I really do not like shopping. That's right, you heard me correctly. I am probably the only woman on the planet who does not enjoy spending countless hours in a store or even overindulging in chocolate. Internet shopping was so created for my benefit. ;)

Anyway, after her varsity soccer practice around noon, Alyssa told me that the junior varsity team needed to borrow her for a tournament game that afternoon. (She's a goalkeeper.) She was recovering from a hip injury and has not had a lot of playing time the past month. She wanted to get some playing time as she is starting in a tournament game for her varsity team tomorrow. They lost their game by one. She was definitely rusty, but the goal was a cheap shot. She had the ball and the opposing player kicked her in the hip (yep, the same one she had injured) and she lost the grip on the ball. Then the other team shot it in. In plain view of the ref but no call. Oh well. It was good for her to get back to playing, and as Martha Stewart would say, "It's a good thing."

Meanwhile, as the game was going on, my dear husband was at the pediatrician's with an anxious 8-year-old and a overripe for a nap 2-year-old. For the most part everything is okay. I did notice about a month ago that Justina was over-pronating her left foot to the point of it being on the pigeon toe side. She has always been an awkward runner but I hadn't noticed the toe pointing inward for the past 7 years. So the suggestion is some arch supports. She has 20/20 vision. James had a little chuckle when the nurse came in to test her hearing. He had to explain to her that she was deaf and the test she would most likely fail the hearing test. Her cochlear implant is amazing! The nurse had no idea that she was deaf as she was able to carry on a normal conversation with her. She had a routine blood and urine test, and got her chicken pox vaccine. No crying with the needles either - she was brave for her little sister!

Alyssa and I went to The Gap and she got a few pairs of jeans, a couple sweaters, a black dress, and a blouse. I snagged Abby some pajamas and play clothes on clearance. We then walked up the street to Banana Republic and she scored a cute cashmere sweater top for 15 bucks (regularly priced 40 something). She has learned so well - always hit the clearance racks first. Way to go Alyssa!

Well that was today. For my next post I hope to tell you about what's on my needles. Until then take care!

Welcome One and All

Welcome to my blog, Cat's Daily Purls! This is a new adventure me. I decided to create a blog for a few reasons. I hope to share a little of my daily routines, family activities, and my interests. Hopefully, I can keep our friends and family up to date on our busy family.

I do need to make a confession first. I am in no way technologically inclined! Last month, my major accomplishment was to change the battery in the smoke detector by myself. And the running joke between my husband and me is that I married him for free tech support until death do us part. So the other reason I decided to create a blog is to learn more computer skills throughthe learn by doing method.

We have four daughters, 16, 14, 8, and 2. Our children are involved in 4-H, soccer, basketball, softball, gymnastics, and of course, school. My husband enjoys working on electronics and gunsmithing in his spare time. I enjoy knitting, crochet, and needlepoint. I have also been dabbling in canning and would like to learn how to spin yarn . . . someday.

The plan is to write about something specific that we did during the day or something of interest, and then include the highlights of the family's day at the end. So if the main topic doesn't appeal to you, then just jump down to the last part of the post to get all the scoop on "da troops".

Well I guess that is it for now. I suppose it will be a work in progress. Until next time, take care! :)