Harvest Apple Muffins

I made some homemade apple butter last weekend and had some leftover, so besides using it on toast I was pondering what other great ways it could be used.  A while back, I purchased a large box of muffin mix at costco, you add in the flavorings you want, as well as some water and your good to go.  So my plan was to try adding the apple butter to the muffins for a fall inspired muffin.  With a quick dig around the pantry and my spice & baking cabinet, this is what I came up with.

Harvest Apple Muffins
3 C Dry muffin mix
1 C Water
1/2 C Apple Butter
1/4 C Pecan pieces
2 tsp. Vanilla Extract
1 tsp. Cinnamon - ground
1/2 C Brown Sugar
1/4 C Butter- softened
1 tsp. Cinnamon - ground

Combine muffin mix & water, add in apple butter, pecans, vanilla, & first cinnamon amount.  Stir until well combined but don't overmix.  Spoon mix into prepared muffin tins.  In a small bowl combine brown sugar, softened butter & second cinnamon amount.  Mix until it resembles coarse crumbs, spoon over muffin mix.  
Bake 350, 12-18 minutes.  To test for doneness, lightly touch tops, if it springs back then it is ready.

I prefer to break up the pecan pieces in my hand, & I left the apple butter on the chunky side cause I like to see what I am eating, sorry I just get weird with food sometimes!

The topping added to the muffins before they are baked, & then what they look like after.  For a healthy twist, you can add in some quick oats to the brown sugar streusel topping before they are baked. 

!Surprise!

Spotted this *little* fella on my way into work today, he was munching on the trees in the employee parking lot.  Ain't he handsome!  :-)

Heavenly Apple Butter

Apples are on sale for .88c a lb. through Wednesday at Carr's grocery, & I thought I'd take advantage of the great price to try my hand at making homemade Apple Butter.  This is my modified version of an apple butter recipe, the original does not call for apple cider mix or apple pie spice. 

Apple Butter
4 Lbs Apples
1 1/2 C Water 
1 Packet Apple Cider mix
2 3/4 C Granular Sugar
1/2 tsp. Cinnamon - ground
1/2 tsp. Apple Pie Spice (if you don't have, just use more cinnamon)
1/4 tsp. Cloves - ground

Peel, core & large dice the apples & place them in a large pot with water & apple cider mix.  Bring up to a boil, stir and let cook 30 minutes or until soft.  Puree apples & water in small batches, into uniform size but do not liquify.  Place puree mix in large pot, add in sugar & spices.  Bring up to a good boil, reduce heat to medium, continue to boil, & stir until it thickens.  To test for doneness, take a chilled plate, put a small amount of mixture on plate & if it holds its shape it is ready to can.  If it seperates, and a ring of liquid forms around the solid, it is not ready yet and continue to cook!  Once done cooking, ladle into hot sanitized jars and water bath can them for 10 minutes. 

Here's the spices for my apple butter & the next picture is of the apples getting all soft and smooshy before I can puree them. 

Now they are pureed and the spices added in, the whole house smells great!   And the final product, I had some leftover that wouldn't fit in the canning jars so we each had a slice of homemade bread with homemade apple butter, yummy!

This recipe made 6, 1/2 pint jars with a little leftover. 

Versatile Hoagie Rolls

I love buying products that can be used multiple ways!  We purchase packs of hoagie rolls at Costco, you get 3, 6 packs for less than $2.00 a pack. They freeze easily and quickly thaw when needed.  Here are some of the ways I use hoagie rolls.

Meatball sandwich: meatballs, marinara sauce, & parmesan cheese on a warm hoagie.

Toasted chili & cheese: chili, & cheese on a toasted hoagie (you could add a hotdog too!).

Garlic bread: butter & garlic parmesan mix slathered on a hoagie & brown using broiler.

French Dip sandwich: roast beef on a toasted hoagie, with a side of au jus. 

Do you have any tasty recipes using hoagie rolls? Shoot me an email & I'll be sure to try them out :-)

French Dip Sandwiches

    To make French Dip sandwiches you will need:

3 oz Roast Beef per sandwich (I prefer presliced sandwich meat)

3 C Au Jus Sauce

Hoagie Rolls

1 Tbsp Butter per Hoagie Roll

Heat oven to 400 Degrees.  In an oven proof dish add in au jus and roast beef.  Warm in oven 10-15 minutes until hot. 

In the meantime; toast the hoagie roll, cut side down, on a small pat of butter, in a saute pan until golden brown. 

Remove roast beef from au jus, place on toasted hoagie rolls.  Serve au jus warm on the side.

Walgreens

I'am still working out the kinks in earning Register Rewards.  Below are posts of 2 different trips to Walgreens with the latter of them to be a good example of how not to use your Register Rewards  :-(

Trip 1
Dentek floss, sale $2.00, final $2.00
Halls Refresh sale $1.39, coupon .50c, final .89c (earned RR $1)
Chapstick, $3.49, sale $2.99, final $2.99 (earned RR $2)
Mini Highlighter, .65c, sale .15c
Used RR = $5.00
Total oop = $1.03
Earned RR = $3.00  (should have earned $2 for the floss, not sure why I didn't)

Trip 2
Hershey candy bars, .89c, coupon 2 for $1.00, final .50c ea (2)
Zantac, sale $8.99, coupon $5.00, final $3.99 (earned RR $9)
Used RR = $4.00
Total oop = .99c
Earned RR = $9.00

Then

Almay eye concealer, $8.99, sale B1G1 free
Almay eye liner, $9.49, sale $8.99
Mini Highlighter, .65c
Used RR = $9.00
Total oop = .64c

*On the second transaction, I figured that the higher priced Almay item would ring through (didn't know it was on sale), so between the 2 Almay products it would still be over the $9 and thus able to use the RR from the previous transaction.  I had a $3.00 Almay coupon and not thinking I would need it, I failed to bring any other items to the register.  With a line behind me I grabbed the closest thing to make it over the $9 mark, this time the highlighters were no longer on sale for .15c, urgh!  If I had played it a bit better, I would have had $3 more to spend in store and nothing out of pocket.  This is an example of what not to do when you shop at Walgreens!

Nantiinaq spirit

Just in time for Halloween, an Alaskan Ghost story as told by a native tribal elder.  You can read about it HERE. 

Ups & Downs

Upside: Today at work, between the member calls and entering info into the computer, it dawned on me.  I REALLY like my new job!   I forgot how nice it was to take a scheduled lunch, and actually sit down on the job, instead of being on my feet all day in a constant state of rush. 

Downside: The floor that I work on is particularly active, there are a lot of people that work there and the unfortunate part is that when one person is sick it spreads throughout the entire floor!   In the last week we have had several co-workers out with swine flu, god help me that I don't get sick.  I seem to get pneumonia yearly and swine flu is worse when you have both at the same time.  Its been a daily barrage of lysol clouds in the department, "cause you know it kills 99% of whatever it comes in contact with, right?!?" 
*Sigh*  

Sticky Bun heaven

Growing up, my mother would make sticky buns on Christmas morning, and as an adult I still love them when the weather gets cold. Today we woke up to a good frost and temps around 26 Degrees. With sticky buns on the brain I threw the dough ingredients into my trusty bread machine, came back 1 1/2 hrs later to finish them in the oven.

Sticky Buns
1 Batch bread dough
1/3 C Butter
2/3 C Brown Sugar
2 tsp. Rum flavoring
1/4 C Pecan pieces - I prefer to break them up in my hand
Melt butter, add in sugar, rum and pecan pieces. Lightly grease bundt pan, pour 2/3 of butter topping into pan. Take dough and roll into small balls & place them on top. Pour remaining butter topping all over the dough. Cover and let sit 30-45 minutes to proof dough. Uncover, & bake 350 Degrees 30-35 minutes until golden. Cover top of bundt pan with a large plate and invert the entire thing, remove the bundt pan, and the pecans brown sugar goodness runs down the sides of the dough.

Here the dough is rolled into balls, cover the top of the pan and let rest.  And here is what it looks like after baking, check the sides to make sure it isn't stuck before attempting to invert onto large plate. 

Oh yum!
Thanks mom for giving me your trusty worn-with-love bundt pan :-)



Next time I make these, I am going to try rolling the balls in a sugar cinnamon mixture before placing them in the pan to rise.

**No, these were not on the scheduled food menu for this month, BUT I had all the ingredients and it doesn't affect any of the other planned meals.  I figure that there will be several times this month that this will happen, I noticed I have a full bag of Polenta in my pantry and haven't used it in a recipe this month so it will probably be swapped in somewhere instead of rice.  I have an awesome recipe for Polenta with cheese, it's healthy too, I'll post it when its made.

More crafts

Heres some of the new crafting that I picked up this last week.  I ordered the embroidery prints and waited a week before they arrived (They are vintage from the 40's & 50's and really pretty!)  In that week I picked up several hoops, embroidery floss and looked up lots of free patterns online  :-)
First up; Bluebird pillowcases.

Now I just need to transfer the images to the pillowcases & I'll post the finished work when I get them done, hopefully they won't take too long.  Then its onto kitchen towels with cute little smiling fruits.  If you enjoy embroidery you can get free patterns at flickr under the group "Hoop Love Vintage Transfers". 



On an amusing note, last week at work, I was speaking with a co-worker regarding the hobbies I enjoy (quilting, canning, baking, gardening, etc.).  She laughed saying "How cute, your like old fashioned."   I was a bit surprised at the statement, and sharing the story with Kyle he commented that he guessed I was old fashioned as in practical, & self reliant.  A good thing?  I think so :-)   

Just around the corner

Fall is upon us!  Which means that the holidays and all the yummy baked goods are just around the corner.   As you've probably figured out, I LOVE to bake  :-)   Nestle carnation is giving away free recipe guides, just go HERE. 

Time as a commodity?

Take back your Time Day is October 24th.

A few videos on how consumerism affects us all.  **Be advised, these are for mature audiences only!**

Planning ahead

Establishing a weekly meal plan eliminates the nearly daily occurence of standing around the kitchen after working a full day and drawing a complete blank as to what to make.  To make it a bit more challenging, I am attempting to do a monthly meal plan, yep you heard me right I am planning our meals for an entire month, 28 days to be exact!

 I did an inventory of both our freezers, our dry goods/ canned goods in the kitchen and in our pantry.  It took quite a bit of work, then with the weekly flyers of what was on sale and a list of items that we need for the next month, I finally worked out a *hopefully* successful monthly meal plan. 

Most of our budget expenses were spent over the weekend, with visits to 5 stores.  I saved some money for a small run in two weeks time for more dog food and the basics such as milk and eggs (I am making bread at home for now as I have all the ingredients). 

My biggest challenge was that I was out of some big expense items that had to be purchased.  We buy our larger bulk items at Costco, for convenience, and I find that in most instances it is cheaper than I would spend at the store with coupons. 

These were the items we HAD to purchase this week.
Flour-25 Lbs, Granular Sugar-25 Lbs, Dish Soap-100 loads, Laundry detergent-64 loads, & Dryer sheets-144 loads.
Flour & sugar normally last 9-11 months, dish soap approx. 6 months, detergent 4 months, & dryer sheets 8 months.  So, here is what our monthly meal plan is scheduled for, with our first meals starting today.

Weekday Breakfast (work days)
Choice of:
Muffins
Fruit Cups
Pop tarts/ Toast
Cereal

Weekend Breakfast
Omelets & hashbrowns
French toast
Egg in Bread
Crepes with fruit

Weekday Lunch (work days)
Leftovers
Sandwich & chips
Noodle cups & cookies
Leftovers
Soup & bread

Weekend Lunch
Tomato soup & cheese sandwiches
Leftovers
Chili cheese on toasted bread
Coldcut sandwiches

Dinners
8 Leftovers
2 To-Go, Dine out
Corned beef & cabbage
Cabbage bundles & rice
Pulled pork sandwich & cabbage
Pork chops & sauerkraut
Ham & Bean soup
Beef stroganoff
Meatballs & rice
Meatball sandwiches
Taco soup
Lumpia & brown rice
Chicken fried steak & potato skins
Beef & barley soup
Sweet n Sour chicken & rice
Chicken, spinach, & mushroom pizza
Salmon patties & brown rice
Reindeer sausage & rice
Shrimp scampi & broccoli cheese rice
Chili & corn bread

So I will need to explain it a bit to make sense. 
During the work week, there is a choice of breakfast items to have, i'll make muffins or quick bread every weekend to last through the week. 
The lunches during the work days is standard, which makes it easier for me :-)  On the weekends, we have only 2 meals a day, with typically sunday reserved for our breakfasts, so the lunches would only be for saturdays. 
When planning out our dinners, I tried to use multiple items in different dishes as much as possible as well as relying on what we already have.  I had to purchase eggs, milk, cabbage, pork chops, sour cream, cheese, hamburger, easy mac n cheese (lunch), ramen cups (lunch), hoagie rolls, lunch meat (lunch & weekends), & potatoes in order to make all of the above meals. 

Peanut Butter Balls

These are one of my favorite holiday time desserts.  I know, I know, it isn't the holidays yet but were close enough, right?!?

Peanut Butter Balls

1 2/3 C Graham Cracker crumbs

2 C Powdered Sugar

1 C Peanut Butter

1 C Butter - melted

12 oz. Chocolate chips (I prefer a 50/50 mix of bitter & semisweet)
2 tsp. Parafin Wax (helps the chocolate set up but I have omitted it before without any problems)

Combine graham crumbs, sugar, butter, and peanut butter.  Roll into small balls and let freeze several hours until solid. 
In a medium bowl combine chocolate chips and wax, microwave, stopping every 10-15 seconds to stir, until they are a smooth consistency.  Make sure you don't overheat as the chocolate will scorch! 
Dip frozen balls into chocolate and let sit out to dry.  If you keep these stored in the fridge the chocolate will not be so soft, especially if you live in a warmer climate. 

Before the frost

Take a look at what I harvested from the seeds that I started in March.  I figure we have about 10 lbs of carrots and a couple dozen cherry tomatoes although most of the tomatoes are in the process of ripening up so not quite ready to eat.  Unfortunately the zucchini never got any bigger than 2-3 in long before they would fall off, and the green onions didn't survive the transition outside.  Guess there's always next year to try again.

I started my seeds in little peat pots, the carrots got a bit root bound and I had to dig them up and replant them, guess that explains why they grew so funny.  My funny looking carrots reminded me of a Mandrake from Harry Potter, don't you think so?!?

Little Ava

My niece Heather & her fiance Robbie became proud parents on Tuesday the 29th!

Ava Judy was born at 5:45pm, weighing 7 lbs 7 oz, and 20 inches long.  Ain't she a doll!!