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Apples

 

 

In case you haven’t noticed it is apple season.  There are gigantic displays of apples at the grocery store (no trees here 🙁 ), and it got me thinking that I should share some of my favorite apple recipes.  I will share them over the next couple of weeks.  I have some I really want to try, like this one and this one.  (As long as there is apples in the recipe it is healthy, no?)  Today’s recipe actually is a healthy one, I won’t start you off on cake. 😉

 

 

Apple-Cheddar Salad with Walnuts (from Good Housekeeping, October 2007)

1/4 c. apple cider or apple juice

2 Tbsp. cider vinegar

1 tsp. honey

1/4 tsp. Salt

1/8 tsp. Pepper

1 head Boston or Butter lettuce, torn into pieces

1 lb. Pink Lady, Honey Crisp, or Empire apples (2 to 3 medium), cored and thinly sliced

1/4 c. walnuts, toasted

3 oz. shaved extra-sharp Cheddar Cheese

In large serving bowl, whisk together cider, vinegar, honey, salt, and pepper.  Add lettuce and apple slices and toss to coat.  Arrange salad on 6 plates; top with walnuts and cheddar cheese.

 

I actually like to eat this for lunch, so I whisk the dressing ingredients together in a container and then just put some lettuce, half an apple, some walnuts, and cheese on a plate and drizzle the dressing on then toss with my fork.

 

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Friday Update 10/10/08

Adoption Update:  Three referrals this week, two infant girls and one infant boys.  Congratulations to the happy families!  Please pray for the sibling line to get some movement.  I heard that the couple at the top of the line has been waiting since mid-November last year, they must be going nuts.  I hope they get their referral soon.  The wait is hard not only because you are waiting for the joy of getting to bring your children home, but also because as an adoptive parent you know there is two sides of this child’s story and on one side there is heartbreak.  Missy did a great post on this subject this week, please take time to check it out.

Running Update:  I ran again this week!  Hurray for some consistency.

Push-ups:  I am definitely being more consistent with these.  I am going to be buff by the time we get to travel.

I actually did not have a very exciting week so not much else to get you caught up on.  It was cool, then hot, now it is supposed to cool down again.  At any rate the mornings have been absolutely fabulous.  Almost beginning to feel like fall!  I was able to ride my bike around town again to run errands and it was so nice.  I missed it this summer.

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It was a Tom and Jerry weekend

On Friday night we went over to my parents’ house to make a scrapbook for Tom and Jerry of their family, pets, and home, so that when Matt and I travel to Ethiopia we have this to show them so they can get familiar with the people, animals, and places in their lives.  (My mom thought of this great idea.)  I know we could just have taken some snapshots, but this was also a fun family activity that got everyone involved and hopefully made them feel a part of the process.  (Side note: before we travel we are allowed to send a soft photo album filled with pictures of just Matt and me so Tom and Jerry get to know our faces)

Matt and I holding up the cats’ page

My mom clearly trying to explain something to us (She was the only one who had scrap-booked before)

Jason and Michelle working away on their pages (which were awesome, we also did some pages for Baby A, I am pretty sure she will make her appearance before T&J)

My dad even got in on the action, he was our official circle cutter

We still have to do the pages for the nursery (that needs finished first), Matt’s sister, and me and Matt’s (yeah we forgot to take pics of ourselves).

 

On Saturday morning we got up bright and early to go garage sale shopping, there was a community garage sale, so we had high hopes.  There were several garage sales, but most were extremely small and not much to choose from, we still managed to score some fun stuff. 

A soft touch fire truck 

Tiger xylophone 

12 Pooh books for $1

Jackson getting concerned with why we keep coming home with toys

Matt playing with his hot wheels (yes we know that T&J could both be girls, but this boy wanted some hot wheels and I played with them as a child)  Jackson was totally cool with the hot wheels until someone almost nailed him in the head with a flying car.

We also scored a gender neutral, tiny kid’s bike and I already caught Matt working on it

 

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Friday Update – 10/03/08

Adoption Update:  Five referrals this week, four infant girls and one infant boys.  Congratulations to the lucky families!

Running Update:  I ran one day this week!  I was also going to run today, but woke up with a headache and I am not dedicated enough to run with a headache.  I did walk every day this week.

Push-ups:  I completed the last column of week 2 this week and will be finally moving on to week 3.  The sets are getting harder and harder for me, and instead of advancing a week at a time I have decided to advance a column at a time.  I don’t really care about getting it done in six weeks (obviously, it has already been more than that) so I will take it slowly.  I am sure I will get to 100 before Tom and Jerry get here.

Gardening:  My seedlings are doing great,  I will probably be able to plant most of them in the garden this weekend.  It is still fairly warm, but I think they will survive.

Jackson noticed the water droplets in the seedling starter boxes and attacked, it was pretty funny until he tried to bite through the plastic

Random Stuff:  There are two more tractor tires in the field behind my house along with several smaller ones, I plan on rescuing some of the smaller ones in the future to make a potato container in the spring.  If anyone is interested in rescuing tires just let me know.

A solution to the obesity epidemic in America.

I also learned about the Phoenix Permaculture Guild this week.  They have some interesting classes and a good tree buying program.

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Cookie Monster loves me

Last night I decided to make some pumpkin chocolate chip cookies.  (They are seriously yummy!)  I decided to double the batch to make sure we would have enough for our small group on Thursday night.  Doubling the batch was a bad idea!  I couldn’t even use my mixer to stir it because there was so much, luckily my buff husband stirred the batter for me.  It ended up taking me about 2.5 hours from start to finish (I didn’t even do the dishes yet because it was past my bedtime) and I estimate I made somewhere between 8 and 10 dozen cookies.  I wish I had more room in my freezer to store some of these.  To all the lucky people that live near me you will be getting some cookies.

Here is the recipe for those who are interested, I got it from my mom:

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

Mix together:

1 can pumpkin – 15 oz

2 cups sugar

2 eggs

1 cup cooking oil

Add:

5.5 cups flour

4 teaspoons baking powder

2 teaspoons cinnamon

1 teaspoon salt

Mix together then add to batter:

2 tablespoons milk

2 teaspoons baking soda

2 teaspoons vanilla

Stir in 1 package mini chocolate chips.  Batter will be thick.  Drop heaping teaspoonfuls onto greased cookie sheet.  Bake at 350° for 12-15 minutes.