Apple Time

Along with subbing at the school I have been making apples sauce and freezing apple slices for pies.  On Wednesday morning I picked apples and made one caner of apples sauce and froze some for pies.

 
Our tree did very well this year.  The apples where the largest that they have been for us and hardly any bad ones.  The apples are not sprayed, there is mint growing under the tree.  I read somewhere that mint or chives growing under the tree was suppose to help with worms.  Needed a place for some mint, thought it was worth a try.  I also hang a couple of jugs of "banana smoothies" in the tree.  This came from an article in Country Side magazine.  Insects love the smoothie.  You mix one banana, one cup of sugar and one cup of vinegar in a gallon milk jug filled two-thirds full with water and place in the tree to attract insects. This needs to be in the tree before the tree blooms in the spring.  One jug for small trees and two for a larger tree.

Today I am cooking the rest of the apples for sauce.  Next week the rest of the apples will be made into cider.  An Amish family by us is going to help me with making cider, they have a press.  I am excited about making cider, will be a first for me.

Have also tried a couple of apple recipes this week.

Cranberry Apple Crisp

adapted from Simply in Season 

4 c. apples peeled and sliced

1 c. cranberries

1/2 c. brown sugar

Combine in a bowl and toss until fruit is coated.  Place in a greased 8x8 baking dish.

3/4 c. brown sugar

3/4 c. flour

3/4 c. rolled oats

1 tsp. cinnamon

Combine in a bowl.

5 Tlbsp. butter

1/3 c. nuts

Cut into flour mixture until crumbly.  Sprinkle over apple mixture.  Bake at 350F until fruit is soft and topping crisp, 45-50 minutes.  Serve warm with ice cream.

Baked Squash and Apples

adapted from Simply in Season

one butternut or buttercup squash (I used butternut)

peeled, seeded and fibers removed, cut into 1/2-inch slices

Put in a greased baking dish.

2-3 apples (cored and cut into 1/2-inch slices-peeled or unpeeled)

Arrange on top of squash.

1/3 c. brown sugar

3 Tblsp. butter ~ melted

1 Tblsp. flour

Combine and sprinkle over top of apples and squash.  Cover and bake at 350F until squash is tender,

40-50 minutes.

Served this with meat loaf and baked potatoes.

Sorry for the quality of the pictures.  Had to use my camera this time and it just doesn't take good pictures.  Would love to hear what kind of camera some of you ladies use.  Looking to get a new one.

We are enjoying another beautiful fall day here in Wisconsin.  

It's Been Busy!

It has been a while since I have had the time to post anything.  It just seems that the days slip by so fast.  A week ago Saturday went on a Shop Hop with my neighbor Linda.  We had so much fun.  We left here at about 6:15am to meet at the Heart 2 Hands Quilt Shop in Neilsville where we took a bus to three other shops.  We were back to the shop at around 6:30pm.  It is always so fun to see other shops and their line of fabrics and ideas.

This was the first shop that we went to.

There is so much to see in each shop.  Did more looking then buying this trip, got a couple of patterns, one piece of material and two Charm Packs.  Am trying to get the projects done that I already have.  My friend started buying material to make each of her ten grandchildren pillowcases for Christmas.  All of her grandchildren are six and under.  I only was able to get pictures of our first shop, my camera went dead on me!

Later last week I celebrated my birthday.  My grandson decorated the cake for me.  I had bought just a Happy Birthday candy top for the cake, as they like the candy, but as you can see by the picture he found a few other things to put on grandma's cake:o)

He made a very interesting looking cake for me.  He had fun and they loved it, so did grandma!

Had some help blowing out the candles! 

The night that we celebrated my birthday our grandsons spent the night.  The next day they helped me clean out the garden.  We were able to get everything pulled up and put into piles to be taken to the compost pile later.  Now just need to have them come back and load the truck for me.  

They also had fun playing in the maple tree before and after the garden work. 

They are such a blessing to us.

Also ended up subbing one day last week and will be subbing two days this week.  The last two nights we have had a light frost so it is time to start putting up the apples.  My plan is to make some chunky and smooth apples sauce and freeze some apples for pies.  I have tried the canned apple pie filling but we prefer the frozen apple slices for pies.  I will can the chunky sauce, most of the smooth sauce will be frozen.  I like to have some smooth sauce canned for using in my baking.  Most of my recipes that call for oil I like to use half applesauce.  

My next project outside is to get the flowers cut back and get the flower beds ready for winter.  I also loaned Simply In Season from the library so have been going through it and looking at some recipes to try.  

Enjoy the rest of your day, it is a beautiful fall day here!

Subpump working overtime!

Autumn decided to welcome us with lots of rain!  It started raining last night, rained all night, and is still raining.  We can't take much more rain around here.  Posting a few pictures that I took this morning on my way to town.  They are kind of dark, it was raining pretty good when they were taken.

 

The two pictures of this field is about three miles from our house.  When I came home the water was coming over the side road where I had parked to take these pictures.

Field about 1/4 mile from us.

Neighbors yard right across the street.

Yesterday I planted my strawberries that have been waiting in the crisper drawer.  Not to sure how long they can stay under water and still survive, guess we will find out.

Hopefully your first day of Autumn is a little dryer than ours.  On the up side it could be cold and rainy,  we have a lovely 68 degrees.

Did something I have never done before!

This weekend we went with our grandsons (should say grandson, the oldest was sick and not up to going) to the Eve of Devastation.  This is what happens when you only have grandsons.  You get to go and watch a car being blown up, along with numerous races with cars and trucks doing all kinds of smashing each other. (not that granddaughters wouldn't enjoy this also)  They even had a contest to roll a vehicle, didn't do well the drivers could not get then to roll over.  The evening ended with a demo derby and fireworks.  We had a blast!!!    Forgot to take my camera :(

I just love Marigolds this time of year, they seem so much brighter than in the summer.

The last of the sunflowers that seeded themselves from the bird feeder.

I am keeping and eye on the apple tree, some of the apples look like they are getting very close to being ready to use, with out having to cook them forever.  Each year that we have been here my husband has been pruning the tree.  Each time he does I am just sure we won't have hardly any apples because of the branches that he takes off.  But each year the tree does better and better.  It always reminds me of Gods pruning in our lives.  We go through different trials and struggles, but if we keep our eyes on Him it improves our lives and we see more fruit.

I am also keeping a watch on our raspberries.  We brought a few plants from the other house up north last summer and started them here.  A teacher from the college had given them to me and they had not had a chance to do anything up north yet.  I believe that they are fall raspberries.

 We have had a few to eat.  So good!

But most of them look like this yet.  I am hoping the frost holds off so they can ripen.

It is always fun to see what comes up in the garden that you didn't plant.  This year I had some sunflowers, a cherry tomato, and a gourd plant.  We did get a few tomatoes off the plant and there are some gourds that are ready to pick.  I had bought a few gourds last year to decorate with and had thrown them out by the end of the garden last fall.  It was a pleasant surprise to see the plants coming up.  Now I have gourds again to decorate with.  I let them grow up over a couple of bushes by the garden.  Just couldn't pull them up after the seed survived the winter.  

I can never quite figure out gourds, I could only

see one plant growing, but there are different

shapes of gourds on the vines.  This is a couple of them.

Off to get a few things done for supper tonight.  We are having meat loaf, squash, fresh apple sauce, and baked potatoes.  Have a wonderful day!

Celebrating Grandparents Day

We had a great weekend!  Our grandsons spent the night on Saturday, that is always fun.  We had to save our Friday night pizza for Saturday night for them.  It is funny how kids can make little traditions for you.  They like to have grandpa's pizza, malts, chocolate cake, and caramel corn at sometime when they are here.  They went to church with us on Sunday morning then they were all here for Sunday dinner.  Always so nice to spend the day with family.

 
Yesterday was also special for us as we joined the church that we have been attending now for almost a year.  I get a little nervous when I have to stand in front of people and give my testimony, but it was a blessing.  I am so thankful for parents who took us to church and we heard the gospel preached every Sunday.  I realized at the age of eight that I needed the Lord as my Savior.  It is always such a blessing for me to listen to my husbands testimony.  He grew up in a home that was completely different than mine.  On the night that he proposed to me, he asked Jesus into his heart.  He always says that he received two gifts that night, eternal life and his wife.  It is good to be part of a church that holds strong to what the Bible teaches and won't change what it believes just to go along with this world.   We thank the Lord for leading us to this church, it truly has become a family to us.

This week there is some canning to do and working out side cleaning up the garden and flower beds.  Perfect fall weather for being out.  What are your plans this week?

Fall Like Weather

We have been having fall weather this past week.  I love this time of year (I seem to say that about every season).   The days have been cooler, a nice change from the hot weather. The fall weather has also brought in the cold season for me.  This is the time of year that my cooking turns to more of the comfort foods.  Time to start making chili, bean soup, apple crisp, pumpkin bread, you get the picture~smile. 

The other day we had bean soup, last night chili, and today I am baking an apple crisp.  The house smells so good.  Yesterday when my husband came home from work he came in the door and said "I just wanted to get home to my Molly and some chili", we both had the same idea for supper. (It was colder and rainy day) Forgot to take a picture of the chili, but here is the bean soup.

Bean Soup

8 c. hot water

2 1/2 c. dried navy beans

1 ham bone

1/4 c. finely chopped onion

bay leaf

1/2 tsp. thyme

2 ~ 3 Tblsp. chicken bullion

salt and pepper to taste

Add beans and water to large pot.  Bring to a rapid boil; boil for 2 minutes.  Remove from heat.

Cover and let stand for a couple of hours.  Stir in remaining ingredients.  Heat to boiling, reduce heat and

simmer until beans are tender about 1 1/2 hours ( I let mine simmer all afternoon).  Add water if needed while

cooking.  Remove ham bone; trim meat from bone and stir into soup.  If you want the soup thicker, remove

1/4 cup beans, mash and stir back into soup.  Salt and pepper to taste.

If you do not have a ham bone you can use left over ham. With out the ham bone I add a little liquid smoke and some ham bullion.  Very good served with corn bread

 Apple Crisp

4 c. chopped apples

1/2c. sugar

1 tsp. cinnamon (optional)

Toss fruit with sugar and cinnamon and put into a greased baking dish.

1 c. quick oats

2/3 c. brown sugar

1/2 c. flour

1/2 c. butter melted.

Combine oats, brown sugar and flour.  Stir in melted butter until well combined.  

Pour over apples.

Bake 30 minutes at 350 degrees (until apples are tender).

Enjoy with whipped cream or ice cream.   yum!

I will be serving mine with ice cream  tonight.  

First apples that I have used from our tree this year.  We don't know what kind of apples they are, our neighbors mom planted the tree in the late 60's.  The apples are better after a frost, but I couldn't wait any longer~smile.

Check out this giveaway.

 If you like chickens you may want to check out this giveaway from Prairie Flower Farm.  She is having a giveaway that has chicken feathers in it.  They are sooooo pretty!