10 cup thermal coffee maker...for less!

For about $23 you can have a thermal pour over coffee maker.  If you buy the Melitta set, it will cost $31 - $37.  It is important that you buy a wide mouth carafe so that the filter cone will fit perfectly inside the top of the carafe.  I bought my carafe from Walmart.  It looks exactly like the one pictured but it is the Aladdin brand for the same price.  Of course, you can get reusable cloth #4 cone filters from me here!

2L stainless steel wide mouth carafe

Melitta #4 filter cone

Melitta 10 cup thermal coffee maker

Red lentil sausage stew

I absolutely love the Vegan Lentil Soup from the Fresh & Easy markets.  Not being vegan & hoping if I added meat my family might eat it, I had to try it like this.  I started off with what appeared to be a delicious vegan lentil stew recipe here:  The Perfect Vegan Lentil Stew

It looks just like the one at F&E market!  Mine does not.


I basically followed her recipe but added a keilbasa sausage and used red lentils.  It's delicious!  Thank you, Gluten-Free-Vegan-Girl!

Applesauce Apple Pie Jam for Anthony

Today I made this jam for my son, who, upon finishing a jar my friend gave us, declared it his favorite jam.  I called my friend for the recipe but, as usual, went my own route.  It might turn out to come back and bite me in the butt if he doesn't like it.   Rather than start with fresh apples,  this jam starts with store bought applesauce.   Here we go:

Makes 7 half pints

5 cups applesauce
6 tbsp Ball dry pectin
1.5 c white sugar
1.5 c brown sugar
1/2 tsp butter
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/8 tsp ground ginger
1/16 tsp ground clove
1/16 tsp ground nutmeg

Prepare jars, lids, and bands as usual for canning.

Once this process starts it moves fast, so do yourself a favor and have everything premeasured and ready to go!

Meanwhile, place applesauce, butter & pectin in a large pot and bring to a full rolling boil.  At this point add the sugars and spices and return to a rolling boil.  Keep it at a boil for one minute.

Remove from heat and immediately ladle into hot, sterilized jars.  Leave 1/4 inch headspace, get rid of large air bubbles, clean the mouth of the jar with a wet towel and place lid and screw on bands (not too tight).  Return to canning pot and process 10 minutes.