Canned Southern Apple Pie Filling

This is such an easy way to make apple pie filling......

What you need:
6 quarts sliced fresh apples (firm crisp apples are best)(about 30 apples)
5 cups sugar
1 1/2 cups Clear Jel
1 Tablespoon cinnamon
2 1/2 cups water
5 cups apple juice
3/4 cup bottled lemon juice


What you do:
Core and then slice the apples about 3/8 inch thick. Place apples in a large bowl of water. Crush about 5 - 500mg vitamin C tablets in the water to keep the apples from browning. You will need to do this to make sure they do not spoil suring the canning process. Prepare 7, 1 quart jars.

(You can download a wonderful canning resource from Kansas State University . It will give you many ideas for preserving apples and complete instructions for safe canning.Preserving Apples from Kansas State University Download )

Combine sugar, Clear Jel, cinnamon, water and apple juice in a large pot. Stir and cook on medium high heat until the mixture thickens and begins to bubble. Add lemon juice and boil for 1 minute, stirring constantly. Add drained apple slices to sauce.

Fill jars with mixture, leaving 1 -inch head space. I packed the jars with the apples and then divided sauce among the jars.

Wipe jar rims clean, tighten lids and process immediately. Place jars in pot of water with water 1 inch above top of jar lids and boil for 25 minutes (For 0-1,000 ft altitude. See download for other times). Remove from water and let jars cool 12 to 24 hours. Lids should be indented if properly sealed. Now they are ready to be saved for later or wrapped for gifts.

Enjoy!!!!!

Mozarella Cheese Sticks

I stole this from a lady named Kay. She is really nice, and these are good! Yummy! Enjoy!

What you need:
2 packages (5 oz each) string cheese
1/2 cup flour
1/4 cup cornstarch
2 large egg whites
2 Tbsp. water
1 1/2 cups bread crumbs (I used cracker crumbs)
1 tsp. dried oregano (I think next time I might try Italian seasoning instead)
1/2 tsp. salt
2 Tbsp. melted butter

Marinara sauce

This is the cheese I used…

What you do:
Remove cheese from packages; cut each cheese stick in half crosswise.


Combine flour and cornstarch in a shallow dish. Beat egg whites and water in another shallow dish until well mixed. Combine bread crumbs, oregano, and salt in a third shallow dish. Coat cheese with flour mixture. Dip into egg white mixture, being sure to coat thoroughly, including ends. Coat with bread crumb mixture.


Dip into egg whites and bread crumbs a second time, being sure ends are coated. I ran out of the egg white mixture AND the crumb mixture and had to make more. The flour mixture looked like it barely had a dent in it! Place on ungreased baking sheet.


Freeze at least 1 hour. Preheat oven to 400. Drizzle cheesesticks with melted butter. Bake until crumbs just begin to brown, 5-7 minutes.
Oh, no!!! Cheese all over the place!

Here is what happened: I totally forgot the ‘drizzle melted butter over them’ part and took them out of the freezer and put them in the oven. When they were in for about 5 min, I suddenly remembered the butter! So, I got them out and drizzled butter over them. At that point, no cheese was showing. I put them back in for another 5 min so they could brown and this is what they looked like when I got them out again. I thought of waiting and making them again before featuring them, but decided you might as well know that I make plenty of mistakes (some of which I can hide though ).
Serve warm with marinara sauce.




This recipe came from an Easy to Bake Easy to Make recipe card. A tip on there is: “Since these must be frozen before baking anyway, keep several batches in the freezer and bake them whenever you need a quick snack.” Sounds like a great idea for spur-of-the-moment company! Or if you need a quick side dish to go with a meal. Last night, I served them with Hearty Hamburger Soup (to be featured later) and biscuits.

How great is that? She got them from somewhere else, so I don't feel bad for borrowing them from her! Thanks Kay!