Apple Fritters

Apple recipe number two!

I have never made apple fritters before, and it is very rare that I fry things since A: it’s not particularly healthy, and B: I’m lazy, and frying is a lot of effort and cleanup I don’t like dealing with! Mostly B. . . But occasionally I’ll tryout a recipe that involves it, and this year it was these fritters.

You can find the recipe here via Use Real Butter (which I think is a fabulous blog name!) This particular recipe is very involved. It was fun to do, and would be great to make for many people, but it is certainly one of those recipes I would make once a year at most. And for this one, I followed the recipe word for word – a rarity in baking for me but this was a foreign territory! I’m not going to rewrite the whole thing here, so if you’d like to give these a shot click the link above and follow the recipe!

First you mix up the batter, which sits aside and sets for awhile.

In the meantime, you prep your apples for frying. I discovered I am terrible at cutting apples with the same thickness! Luckily, it doesn’t affect the outcome terribly. Also, I had some halves because I kept snapping my apple rings – oops! But they fried up just fine.

Then comes the battering and frying, which is actually not hard, just a bit messy on the fingers. Also, I broke my candy thermometer awhile back and never replaced it, so I had to completely guess on my oil temperature!

Once finished, I liberally sprinkled on some confectioner sugar and chowed down! They were a great combo of doughnut-like outside and gooey apple inside. . .YUM!

So as stated above, these are certainly something I wouldn’t make often. It uses so many dishes, is time consuming and isn’t at all toddler-friendly, so it’s just not too conducive to my current lifestyle. But they were tasty, that’s for sure!

Connect With Me

Photo Dump of the Week

My blogging schedule got a little off because last week, I ended up having my bottom wisdom teeth taken out. It progressed from a little paint to needing them out in just a few days, so it ended up throwing my week off! So today’s post is just some photos of things we’ve done recently that I wanted to share, but didn’t need to dedicate a whole post to. The above image is my fall centerpiece for our kitchen table. I don’t usually do centerpieces, but I felt like making one this year!

 
New Hampshire is gorgeous in the fall. I love living here!

My little girl has been really into shape lunches.

Grampa teaching my little miss to rake.

We found some really happy bread waiting for us in the bread bag!

Until next time,

Connect With Me

Apple Crisp

The first of my many apple recipe posts just had to be apple crisp. It is my absolute favorite apple dessert. A thick crust of brown sugary oatmeal goodness on top of a baked bed of cinnamon apples. . .just to die for.

I don’t actually use a recipe when I make apple crisp – all the ones I’ve tried never end up with enough topping for my tastes. I like a THICK amount of it, not just a smidge on top of the apples. So the recipe here is a rough idea of what I use, but mine varies from batch to batch. Feel free to play with it so it’s adjusted to your tastes!

Ingredients:

3/4 cup flour
1 cup brown sugar
1 1/4 cups baking oats
1/2 cup butter
5 small to medium size apples (I used Macintosh for this particular batch.)
Lemon juice

Preheat your oven to 375F.

Start by combining your flour, sugar, and oats. Mix thoroughly – I do all this by hand instead of with a spoon as I find it mixes better overall.

Then add in your butter, and mix up. Again, I do this by hand as I find that creates a better texture for the topping (I do use a spoon to scrape down the sides however). Once combined, set aside.

Now it’s time to peel and slice your apples. My mom got me this Pampered Chef all in one Apple Peeler/Corer/Slicer and it makes every apple-baking project about 500% more efficient than hand cutting and peeling your apples. I highly recommend the investment into this contraption. It may look like an 18th century torture device, but it is amazing. I ended up using only 5 of the apples I’d set out for the crisp, because that was what filled my pan. That’s how I measure how many to use – however many fills my 9×9 pan.

Once the apples are in, I squirt some lemon juice on top and then sprinkle with some cinnamon sugar.

Then place your crust on. This is yet another step I do by hand since I find it much easier to place the topping with my fingers than to try and smear it around with a spoon.

I bake mine uncovered for 30 minutes. This allows the crust to get a nice crunchy top, but still be chewy on the underside. So each bite is a fabulous combination of crunchy, chewy, and gooey apple. Mmmmmm. Definitely eat it warm – with or without ice cream. I actually prefer apple crisp without ice cream; I save it for the pie!

Hope you enjoy some apple crisp this season!

Connect With Me

Apple Picking

Apple picking is definitely in my top 3 favorite fall activities (the other two being pumpkin decorating, and of course HALLOWEEN!). This past weekend my brother and his girlfriend were up from Boston for a visit so we took a family trip out apple picking!

The hubs being a goon.

  
Picking some low ones.

Chatting with my brother’s girlfriend, whom she adores.

 
Daddy helps reach the high ones.

  
My brother showing off his juggling skills.

We ended up with well over ten pounds of apples! I can’t wait to make some delicious treats with these. Apple crisp, apple fritters, apple pie. . . .mmmmmmm. Expect some apple recipe posts for sure in the coming weeks!

Connect With Me

Molasses Cookies

I’m about 95% sure that molasses cookies are my all time favorite cookie. They are such a perfect combo of soft and chewy, not too sweet with that lovely spice taste. . .I’m drooling thinking about them. However, I make them sparingly, and really only in the fall. I think the fact that I only have them twice a year or so definitely adds to my love for them!

Molasses cookies are definitely a bit more involved compared to my chocolate chip cookie recipe, but they are so worth it. So if you’re up for a bit of extra time and effort, here’s the recipe.

Ingredients:

3/4 Cups Margarine, melted. (I use Country Crock Spread which isn’t true margarine, but works perfectly.)
1 Cup White Sugar
1 Egg
1/4 Cup Molasses
2 Cups All Purpose Flour
2 Tsp Baking Soda
1/2 Tsp Salt
1 Tsp Ground Cinnamon
1/2 Tsp Ground Cloves
1/2 Tsp Ground Ginger
1/2 Cup White Sugar (for rolling)

First combine flour, baking soda, salt and spices in a small bowl.

Mix thoroughly, and set aside.

In a larger bowl beat sugar, melted butter, and egg together until smooth.

Pour in molasses and mix well.

Pour dry ingredients into the wet, and combine thoroughly.

At this point, cover your bowl with tinfoil and chill in the fridge for an hour, minimum. (Mine chilled for about two hours since I let it sit in for all of my little missy’s nap time!)

Once chilled, preheat oven to 375. Measure out your half cup of sugar into a bowl, and some flour into another bowl. Flour your hands regularly as you roll the dough into walnut size balls (mine were slightly larger) to prevent it from sticking.

My assistant really enjoyed the ‘flour your hands’ part!

Roll each ball in the sugar, then place on a cookie sheet.

Bake for 8 – 10 minutes, until tops are cracked. Cool on wire racks, and enjoy!

These didn’t last long in our house. This batch made roughly 34 cookies. . .they were gone in about five days! However we did share with our neighbor, and with my brother. That’s the excuse I’m sticking with at least.

Connect With Me

Last Week We. . .

I was a serious blog slacker last week. I did put up two posts, but they were the LAST two post I had done. Usually I do batch posts when I work so I have a bunch on reserve, but last week (*cough cough* and the week before *cough cough*) I completely let it slide. Basically I moved into art land and have yet to move out. It would seem my muse has taken permanent residence on my shoulder because all I’ve wanted to do when I have free time is draw draw draw. Which I am totally loving. As previously stated in a post I can’t share any of the new art here since it is all Christmas gifts and commissions. . .but I am working on a just for fun piece that should be done by the end of the week so that will be up soon!

However, despite my want to do nothing but draw all day, I did manage to get some real life things done as well.

One very spackley wall.

I got my half of my living room walls spackled. I think I went a little overboard with my spackling but I wanted to make sure every. teeny. tiny. hole. was filled in. And by golly, I did. I’m beginning to prime them this week, but it’s going to have to be done in sections so I can try and work around when my daughter is at Mimi’s house. Paint fumes and toddlers probably shouldn’t mix. . .

Normal, normal, BY THE DEPTHS OF HELL WHAT IS THAT??

We got our last carrots this week and only had one mutant! My little miss was so confused when she pulled it up. She stared at it in silence and I could just see her thinking, ‘I know this was supposed to be a carrot. It’s colored like a carrot. But that is NOT a carrot.’ Needless to say, I chopped that one up for my salad and she ate the other two!

One teeny tiny ripened tomato!

This was the only tomato that actually ripened on the plant. The rest I have plucked off and are window ripening because my tomato plants are officially dead. It’s been a downhill battle for awhile now. Bottom line, they needed more room. Now I know for next year; sorry my poor tomato plants! However I have about fifteen viable tomatoes as long as they ripen up!

And then on Friday we had a sleepover with our besties and took the kiddos to the park. Then after our girls bedtime in classic sleepover tradition we lounged on the couch in pajamas and played video games, FINALLY beating Mario for the WiiU. Seriously you should have seen our victory dance. It’s unrivaled.

The weekend was pretty laid back. Our daughter had her open house for gymnastics on Saturday morning and that was tons of fun. We got to go in and play around on all the equipment (well, for her age group) – low beam, the low uneven bars, the ‘bouncy floor’ as my daughter has dubbed it (for tumbling) and even the trampoline. She is now beyond excited to start class. I’m really hoping I’ll be allowed to take some pictures. . .I still have to check with the parents and the coaches but maybe they’ll be some!

How did you spend your week?

Connect With Me

Home Redo: Part 1

Despite me being rather creative and art inclined, I am an absolute disaster when it comes to interior design/home decoration. I think my main problem is that I like many different things from many different styles of decor, and end up with a mish-mashed wreck of design, as opposed to a nice cohesive look. I can never narrow down just one theme; I always want to mix and match. And while some people can flawlessly get away with that, I am most certainly NOT one of those people. So as usual, to get started, I’ve made lists. And there will certainly be more.

Our long term project is the living room. The color it’s painted was absolutely not my choice (a dark burgundy/maroon; it came with the apartment) and while I do like it because it’s unique and a nice color, it’s too much for the whole room and I want a change. It has been five years of this color and I’m done! As for furniture, nothing in our living room matches. When we first moved in together we were both quite tight on money so furnishing became way more about budget than looks. We have almost every kind of wood finish you can imagine from white pines to cherry to cedar. Needless to say, it needs some serious cohesion. So I’m REALLY going to try and stick to a nice simplistic color scheme, and we’ll go from there. This year, we’re really only focusing on the painting. We’re saving purchasing furniture and whatnot ’til after the holidays, mainly to accommodate our (rather modest) budget.

Some photo shelves, with the aforementioned burgundy/maroon paint I can no longer stand.

As for decor, I bounced back and forth for awhile on whether I wanted the sole focus to be family, or incorporate other things as well. My hubs and I are rather geeky – we both enjoy a lot of video games, TV shows, and board games that are generally considered a bit geekish, but it’s a big part of who we are and one of the big things we share together. Both of us enjoy collecting things having to do with our fandoms, and we’ve amassed a decent amount of items I like having on display. Since the living room is where both the TV, computer, and our game systems are it’s also an appropriate place for them. So after discussing it with the Mr. we both decided we want to keep that stuff in the living room, along with the family oriented things (photos, etc.). Now the big question. . .can I find a balance successfully??? Let’s hope so. . .

Some of our nerdy collectibles. Note the shelves do not match the shelves in the previous picture. . .like I said think all the woods in our living room are different colors!

This years big project will be our daughter’s room. She will be three in December, and her room hasn’t been updated since she was born! It’s definitely time to turn her nursery into a ‘big girl’ room. We’re getting her a twin bed and ditching the crib. She’s been using it as a toddler bed (aka no sides) since she was about 20 months old, but it’s time for a real big girl bed now! Her walls are going to be white (already bought the paint even). For me and my lack of decorating skills, I find it easier to have neutral walls to decorate around. Plus as she starts getting her own tastes, we won’t have to repaint the room when she’s ready to pick out her own decor. Her current room is pictured below.

Toddler converted crib. She sleeps on the big teddy – got him for Christmas and she absolutely loves him! She has named him ‘Big Bear’ and has to sleep on him.

Play area – dolls, toys, blocks, etc

And her reading area.

I’ve ordered her an awesome custom quilt from D. Rix Creations – I can not WAIT to get it in a couple months! I always wanted my child to grow up with a special blanket that was made just for them, and Danielle does absolutely beautiful work. Plus, it’s supporting an indie biz which, as you know, I love to do! A lot of her wall decor is going to come from indie shops too.

Fabric for her new quilt – I just love it!

I’ll also be painting/making some decor for her too. I think we’re sticking with lavender as the main accent color of the room. Basically I’m basing it all around the quilt colors. So I’d like to make her some wall art that brings those colors out. The plan is to have the walls done in advance, but everything else will be a surprise. The night before her third birthday party she’s going to have a sleep over at Mimi’s house, and when she gets home she’ll have a whole new room! There will certainly be more posts about the room makeovers as I keep going. . .expect lots of ranting and raving about disasters I will undoubtedly run into!

Any advice for redoing rooms, especially for a beginner with terrible design skills?? I’d take any and all.

Until next time,

Connect With Me

Kitchen Sink Chicken

I found a recipe on Pinterest titled ‘Rainbow Chicken’ which looked delicious. After a teensy bit of searching, I found the source of the recipe, which can be found here via Kitchen Parade. However, as I do with most recipes, I changed it up a bit, so here’s my version!

I refer to this recipe as ‘Kitchen Sink Chicken’ simply because it is so versatile. You can throw in any combo of veggies you want and it will still be delectable. That’s my kind of recipe. Also, my version feeds two adults + one toddler, however it can easily be adapted to more people – just up your ingredients proportionally.

Ingredients

• 2 large boneless skinless chicken breasts (This is just what I use – really use any kind of chicken meat you want!)
• 4 tsp paprika
• 2 tsp cumin
• 1 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 1/2 tsp black pepper
• 2 tsp garlic powder
• 3 tsp olive oil
• 2 tbl red wine vinegar (or in my case you can discover you are OUT of red wine vinegar and make your own using 1 parts red wine to 2 parts apple cider vinegar! Works like a charm.
• 1 lemon
• 1 medium sized onion

For the vegetables you can really use whatever you want! I used:

• 1 zucchini
• 1 summer squash
• 2 small red potatoes
• 2 1/2 carrots (aka all I had left in my fridge)
• roughly 1 cup cauliflower florets
• roughly 1 cup broccoli florets

Neither my little one or myself like peppers, so we left those out. But if you like them – toss them in for sure!

Preheat your oven to 425F.

After gathering all my veggies, I started off making the spice rub first.

Then it’s time to chop up the big stack of veggies (excluding the onion and lemon). I totally forgot to take a picture of my pile of chopped veg. . .whoopsie daisy.

Then, chop your onion and line the bottom of the pan with them.

Take your chicken out, and give them a good rub down of the spice mixture with your fingers. I’d say I used about 2 – 3 tsps of the mixture per breast, just to give you an idea. When finished, lay them on top of the onion bed.

Looks pretty good already!

Next grab a (giant) bowl – large enough to hold your whole pile of chopped veggies with room for stirring! I used a spatula to transfer my rub mixture into the big bowl. Had I thought ahead, I would have just made the rub IN the big bowl. . .but I didn’t. Next time! Pour your veggies in on the top of the rub and give them a good stirring to thoroughly coat them as much as possible.

Spread the veggies around and on top of the chicken.

Then slice up your lemon, remove any seeds, and lay on top of your meal.

How delicious does this look?! Om nom nom.

Cover with foil and bake! Mine took about an hour and a half but my chicken breasts were very thick. I’d still say an hour minimum is a good place to start. Once done, let cool for 10 -15 minutes, then serve and enjoy!

Connect With Me

Fun Fact Friday & Raspberry Picking

Raspberry picking is one of my absolute favorite parts of summer. There is nothing better than seeing endless rows of berries ripe and ready to eat. It also helps that raspberries are not only my favorite berry, but also my favorite fruit. They are just delicious.

So naturally, now that picking season has started me and my little miss packed up with Mimi and headed down to a local farm for picking!

 
Pick, pick, picking.

She was very excited to find this little mushroom.

And now, since it is Fun Fact Friday, some facts about raspberries.

• The tiny hairs on raspberries are called ‘styles’.
• Greek mythology says that raspberries were all once white. One day a nymph was picking berries for Zeus and pricked her finger on a thorn, staining them red with her blood forever.
• Raspberries have historically been associated with pregnancy and childbirth – Native Americans believed the juice from raspberries would help with nausea and complications during birth.
• Raspberries come in many colors, including red, purple, black, and gold.

I generally don’t bake with my raspberries – odd, I know, since I do love to bake. But I really like them just plain, by themselves, from the fridge. Yum, yum, YUM!

I do, however, freeze my raspberries. This year my goal is to (mostly) fill my freezer with them so they last well into the winter. They are one of my little misses favorite desserts, but they are so just SO expensive from the the store, especially in the off season. And they never taste as good as freshly picked.  We spread them out on cookie sheets to freeze them, then load them into baggies or containers and they last for months that way. My little girl loves them frozen, so hopefully we’ll have enough to last awhile. As of this post I’ve already picked 6 pints. I think we’ll get in one more trip before the end of the season though.

So many rows of berries – yum!

Do you enjoy berry picking in the summer season?

Connect With Me

Our Annual Family Reunion

I feel like for some people, a family reunion can induce a lot of stress and eye rolling. The complete opposite is true for me – I look forward to our annual family reunion every single year. I have been going for 25 years (I was three months old for my first one and have never missed one yet!). I even wrote my college essay on this particular event and what it means to me.

Family has always been extremely prominent and important in my life, and I love that our whole family feels that way too. We have a HUGE, widespread family, but every year for the third weekend in July we all come together to celebrate how lucky we are to have one another to call family. An average size year means about 130 people show up. We camp in a giant field (all forms of camping – RV’s, pop-up campers, and good old fashioned tents) and spend the weekend making music, playing games, and in general enjoying each others company. How fabulous is that?

Loving the tent.

Bubbles in the field.

My hubs relaxing after setting up the site with my brother.

Having such a large gathering takes a lot of work and coordination. We have officers in our family (President, VP, Secretary, and Treasurer) who each have designated jobs that keep the reunion running smoothly. We have games for the kids with prizes, and we also run a raffle and 50/50 raffle to raise money for further family reunions. I’ve been the family secretary for the past two years, which means I’m in charge of keeping everyone’s addresses up to date, and helping out the President in sending out updates, etc. I love it, and hope to ‘stay in office’ for years to come!

              A very happy camper!    My brother – such a handsome fellow.

This year one of my cousins organized a special raffle. She had been in Peru volunteering at a girls orphanage and wanted to raise money to send back to them. She was raffling some of her gorgeous photographs and two beautiful handmade cups that the girls in the orphanage had made! I very much wanted one of the cups, and I got it. I literally jumped out of my chair when they called my ticket number! All in all, our family raised $270 to send to the orphanage – not too shabby if you ask me.

The beautiful photos and handmade mugs in the Peru raffle. I won the mug on the left which is the one I wanted, yay!!

My family is also incredibly musically talented. Saturday night is the designated evening for entertainment and it never disappoints. A full band gets up and plays under the tarp, and then later we all move around the big campfire and sing/play guitar acoustic style until the wee hours of the morning. My little miss fell asleep in her camp chair cozied up by the fire listening to the sounds of her cousins singing. Those are the memories I want her to have growing up.

Family band time!

My miss was just loving the music – she danced the night away, and even had to bring my brother’s girlfriend up to dance with her!

My childhood memories are bursting with different recollections of the reunion, and I can’t wait for my baby girl to be ecstatic about going too. I just love my family!

See you next time!
Kayly

Connect With Me