Apple Butter!

Be patient, then, brothers, until the Lord's coming. See how the farmer waits for the land to yield its valuable crop and how patient he is for the autumn and spring rains. James 5:7

This recipe is making it's rounds....I got it from my friend Danielle, her blog is at the right of my page on my blog list! http://yelliepooh.blogspot.com/ It smelled so great in here all day! This is how it looks after a few hours!

In a crock pot place: 9 apples peeled, cored and chunked. Add 2 C. sugar, 2 ts. cinnamon, 1/4 ts. salt, 1/4 ts. ground cloves. Cook on High setting for 2 hours and then turn to low up to 12 hours. (Mine took from 8:30 a.m. until 5:30 p.m. to look just right! mmm) Set a timer and stir every hour.....So be sure to make this on a day you're home during the day. I think if you missed one stirring you would be ok!

Here's how it looks when it's done!

I hear this is delicious spread on a piece of buttered toast.....Knowing how much we love apples dipped in peanut butter I think this is going to be great on a good old PB & J......and served over oatmeal and best of all.....would be served with pork of some type!! mmm mmm good stuff.....Put on a pot of this luscious goodness and lose yourself in a book, and let the spicy scents of Autumn mesmerize you !! Can't wait until breakfast!!

A word aptly spoken is like apples of gold in settings of silver. Proverbs 25:11

APPLES APPLES APPLES!

IT'S APPLE PICKING TIME...oh how I love this time of year because we love anything "APPLES!" Pie, Applesauce, Apple turnovers, Apple pastries......mmmm It doesn't hurt that usually some Cider and a warm crunchy Cinnamon donut are usually part of our apple picking day! So here's a little twist on a yummy apple pie we love!

Caramel Apple Crumb Pie

5-7 Tart apples, peeled, cored and sliced (Whatever apple you like for baking)

1 -9" Pie crust (now there's NOTHING like homemade here but I have to say I LOVE Pillsbury Roll out crust the best of any pre made crusts, it's nice and thin and crispy and buttery!

1/2 C. sugar

1 ts. Cinnamon

1/2 C. Caramel apple dip, such as Marzetti (Mike laughs because I use the Low Fat one! ha, hey this is always a staple in my house for snacking)

Topping:

1/2 C. Sugar

3/4 C. flour

1/3 C. Butter or Marg.

Preheat oven to 400*

Press crust into 9" pie plate

Toss apples with Sugar and Cinnamon (you could add 1/4 ts.Nutmeg if you like, I do! I also add 1/4 ts. pumpkin pie spice for a change sometimes in addition to the Cinn.)

Sprinkle apple mixture with 2 Tb. flour and stir in. Let sit while you make crumb topping.

Cut butter into flour and sugar with two butter knives, a large meat fork or a pastry blender ( a very inexpensive tool and well worth the money) until it resembles pea sized shapes, it will be floury!

Pour apples into pie crust, I warm the Caramel until it's pourable, do 10 seconds at a time and stir between intervals. Pour caramel over apple mixture, don't worry if it's globby....wait until you bite into a warm glob of CARAMEL! Sprinkle crumb mixture over pie and bake 40 mins. until golden brown! If you can eat it warm and the Caramel oozes out throughout each yummy bite!!

A little tip...I use a melon baller to scoop out the apple seeds/core that get missed when coring the apples!

Energize me!

Yesterday at church I was struck by something I heard about what gifts or life experiences God gives us and puts in our paths that.....energize us! Being a mom and wife definitely is what energizes me! it's where I connect and it amazes me God knew all of this before he even created me! It's amazing how we are all so different yet God puts some of the same things in our lives. I'm so grateful that this is where God has put me....to be here loving and nurturing my family!

Here's three of the people that energize me most, that create HUGE piles of laundry, that hug me everyday, that have NO idea what it means to clean their rooms, that I pray with every night, that fight like you wouldn't believe, that go to food give aways and help people carry food to their cars, that roll their eyes at me, that walk around the house singing about God's love, that leave their pant legs inside out when they put them down the laundry shoot, that love to cuddle up in our Queen sized bed ALL five of us and watch a movie......See how they just about drain you and then energize you all at the same time.....sort of like our relationship with Christ.....when we feel so drained it's time spent with Him that energizes us! thankfully.....WHEW....because sometimes I feel like that pair of pants with one leg inside out!

An old fashioned card in the mail!

This card is from my friend Laura's blog, she is an awesome stamper and makes the coolest cards, check out her blog! http://blondeegrl-mypassionforcards.blogspot.com/

I love to send "old fashioned" snail mail cards to people...is this a lost art? I hope not! With email, twitter and Facebook and the like it's almost easier to send Birthday wishes, Get well wishes or just Thinking of You thoughts this way!!! But I still say there's nothing like opening your mail box and finding a card that someone has lovingly thought about, written and sent...after all the cost of mailing a letter these days is getting up there! ha

I am always drawn to those boxed cards you see in the stores, and if they are glittered I'm a goner! I have a craft room with gobs of stuff to stamp my own and I intend to get in there in the next week and USE IT! I love to make cards, I just don't take the time.......but you don't have to make them. You can find cards almost anywhere now for .99! I know Target has a .50 section...you can't make it for that! Imagine for about a dollar you can make someones day!!

I love to wrap a written card in a piece of ribbon if I'm hand delivering it.....which I like to do as well, along with some fresh muffins or homemade cookies (but that's another post! ha) and I've been known to put some paper sprinkles of some sort or even a few sequins inside the card so there's a bit of surprise when the person getting the card opens it up! I just sent one to a friend with little "leaf" sprinkles....so fun!! Have to admit I do love getting a card in the mail but not as much as I love sending them.......I don't think a week goes by that I don't think of someone I want to send one too! So.......I hope you take a little time out and send someone a card......happy sprinkling!!

Soup season is here!

It's squash season, soup season, cuddlin up with a blanket and tv. and hot bowl of soup season! So here's a favorite of mine that I've been waiting for just the perfect cool day to make!

Butternut Squash Soup

1 butternut squash

8 Cups water, 9 chicken bouillon cubes (or you could use canned Chicken broth but it's about $1.89 for a jar of bouillon cubes and well water...is free.....)

3 white baking potatoes

2 large carrots

1 med. sized onion or 1/2 a large, I love Vidalia or Sweet onion in this, yellow will do though

1 C. plain applesauce, OR 1 large apple peeled and diced

3 Tb. butter

salt/pepper to taste

Wash your butternut squash, poke holes all throughout the squash, place squash in microwave safe glass dish (DON'T use plastic, this cooks too long for plastic to survive ha), pour about 1 C. water into the dish and cover squash with waxed paper and microwave for 10 mins. (What you're trying to do here is soften the squash enough to cut it, peel it and cube it, you're not really cooking it. Now I know there are MANY other ways to peel and clean a squash but I've had too many fly off the counter when I've tried to cut it in 1/2 uncooked! this is just an easy way to do it! In the meantime bring water to a boil and add bouillon cubes.

Place 3 Tb. butter in a small pan to melt on med. heat, and put diced onion in to soften.

Peel carrots and potatoes and apple(if using an apple) and cut into 1/2" chunks or so, and place into simmering broth. Add onions when they are just softened. Add salt and pepper now according to how much you like. Using the extra bouillon cube makes it salty enough I think so I don't add salt. Cut and peel squash and cut into cubes and add to simmering broth, simmer for about 45 mins. until everything is soft.

I use an immersion blender but you could definitely use a hand held potato masher and mash the veggies up in the soup until it's creamy. I like the veggies a bit chunky in it so I don't totally liquefy it, but you could! Add a dollop of sour cream! DELISH! this freezes nicely and makes a big ole supper sized batch.....add some hot french bread....oh baby! Although I don't make it for supper very often, I make this usually on a Monday and this is what I eat for lunches throughout the week! My kids like it for an after school snack too!

Tacos made fast!

When I want that taco "fix" this is a great quick dish to make and smells so yummy! It's a Pampered Chef recipe I've tweaked a bit! Usually they make it in a ring, and you could but this was so much faster and I think give you bigger pieces! (you can google this to see photos if you'd like!)

1 lb. ground beef

1 pkg. Taco seasoning

1 onion, chopped

Brown ground beef, drain if necessary. Add Taco seasoning and water according to pkg.

2 tubes reduced fat croissant rolls (Danielle notice REDUCED FAT! ha)

Lay both tubes of croissants out on a baking sheet next to each other and press seams together, cut slits evenly on both sides but only cut in about 3 inches to leave the center for your filling. I use a pizza cutter to make it easier!

Place ground beef mixture down the center of the croissants and sprinkle with:

1 C. of 2% Sharp Cheddar cheese

Bring up strips and twist as you bring up each one, meet them at the top and pinch off. This will go right to the edge of a Pampered Chef baking sheet so I pinch up both ends to keep the sauce from pouring out! It will seem saucy but don't worry it will cook in.

Bake 30 mins. at 350.

Serve with shredded lettuce, corn is a MUST, tomatoes, sour cream and taco sauce! this serves my family of 5 easily but if you had more than 6 people I would make two!

ENJOY!

I'm back!

Well I'm back! Sort of getting back into the routine and schedules! This is the first full week of school here and all three kids seem to have adjusted well! I have three in three different schools this year.....which means alot of transportation! ha But it's what I love to do! Jordan is beginning 10th grade and I get in sort of a panic at how fast the time goes especially since he's developing a "social life" outside of home with his buddies, Macy started Jr. High, she was a bit apprehensive but after day one she loved it! and my baby Grace is in 3rd. grade, she informed me she will be my "baby" at home but not out in public!! So my life is full and busy but it's what I thrive on!!

I love Fall.....I'm a four seasons girl(if you can call this past Summer....Summer ha) and it seems whatever season is approaching I always enjoyit, but none, more than Fall I think! I love the crunchy leaves, and the changing colors! My family always laughs at me because when we go somewhere and see a bunch of trees together I'll always say "Oh my, I bet that's beautiful in the Fall!"

I love the smells of nutmeg, pumpkin, cinnamon, and homemade applesauce! I'm also guilty of popping in the soundtrack to Charlie Brown Christmas usually by early September, it's just so relaxing and homey to me! It's raining acorns right now and they are like marbles in the driveway, it's amazing how many can fall in just a few short days! Did you know Weavels can live in them? gross! we learned the hard way when we were reading about a cute craft you could do by painting them to look like little orange pumpkins but you needed to bake them first to kill the Weavels...AH NO! ha

We're having a ball watching Grace play her first year of soccer, and had a good laugh on Saturday at her first game when she ran out to find her position on the field and tried to quietly yell to her coach "WHAT DOES DEFENSE MEAN?" She'll get it...she loves to run it out that's for sure! Jordan is running Cross Country and is really finding this is his thing, he amazes me on the weekends when he ties up his running shoes, pops in his IPOD headphones and says "I'm heading out to run mom!" and comes back after EIGHT miles.....Macy is trying her hand at the Clarinet in band and we got a big laugh out of her saying "I'm not sure what instrument I'm going to play but nothing you have to blow into really hard because I get light headed!" Ahhh honey that's about EVERY instrument! ha So she's going with this and we had a friend give us her old clarinet and it's in the shop getting tuned up! that saved us big money!

So I hope you are all looking forward to Fall! It's kind of a new beginning to the year, sort of a January 1st. flair (only warmer ha)! I'm excited to see what new things God has in store for me this year! I start our ladies bible study tomorrow and it's always a great challenge to be in God's word and really grounding myself in His Path!

Enjoy this time of year! Decorate your house a little, even if it's just a fake pumpkin and a few leaves! The dollar store has some cute things! and if you REALLY want to see some beautiful Fall decorating click on the link to the right of this page on SugarPieFarmhouse! She is TRULY an all out decorator and her music is so sweet and homey...you'll be tappin your foot and out buying a pumpkin before "Y'all know it!"