Apples for days

I bought 24 lbs each of peaches and apples last month from and Idaho group that brought them in through the church and THEY WERE SO GOOD. Seriously, the apples were some of the best I've ever had and the peaches were perfectly juicy and delicious. We were just so happy with them! We ate them both all day long as much as we could but before they went bad we made a few yummy things with them.

Ironically enough, the week before we got our apples Max and I did apple painting and he was so intrigued by the seeds inside. SO the over the next week or two whenever we cut apples he wanted to play with them

We tried our hand at applesauce for the first time which was really fun for everyone! Max was a great helper at peeling all the apples. It was the first year I bought and used one of those nifty apple peelers and it made life so easy, blessings, ha. The boys couldn't keep their hands off the apples when peeling them.

Didn't have any lemon juice to keep them from not turning brown but I read if you soak them in water with a little bit of salt that does the trick too and it did!

too many helping hands makes the work much messier ha

THESE are the delicious muffins I made that Max broke his arm because, ha. Seriously you need to try them. We call them apple pumpkin muffins and they are so dang delicious

1/2 C Flour (you can do wheat flour here, you really can't tell)
2 C Sugar
1 T pumpkin pie spice
1 t soda
1/2 salt
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 C pumpkin
1/2c vegetable oil
2 C peeled, finely chopped apples (about 2 apples)

STEUSEL TOPPING
2 T flour
1/2 C Sugar
1/2 t cinnamon
4  t softened butter, cut into dry ingredients

Directions: Combine first 5 ingredients in bowl. Set aside. Combine egg, pumpkin and vegetable oil. Add to dry ingredients. Stir in apples. fill muffin cups 3/4 full. Top with Stresuel topping. Bake at 350 for 30-40 minutes (I found it takes less, I'd start checking on them 20-25 minutes)

In just 1 hour we started with 24 and the 5 of us fatties were down to only 8. They're that good.


We also made apple sauce, candy apple pie (my favorite and way easier than regular pie), apple crisp (casey's favorite), and steel cut oats with apples in it too.

Honestly, I wish I had another 24 lbs to go through!

Loaded Veggie Breakfast Casserole

I want to remember this breakfast casserole I made for dinner one day. I mixed a couple recipes together and used random stuff I had in my fridge, it turned out super yummy surprisily!

Loaded Veggie Breakfast casserole

1 crescent roll tube
10 eggs
1 cup sour cream
1/2 c milk
2 c grated cheese
1 orange pepper
1 red pepper
1/2-1 c zucchini
1 onion
1 package turkey bacon

Lay out crescent roll on bottom of 9x13 pan, pinch seams together so no liquid seeps through. Cook turkey bacon in pan and cut up into small pieces. Dice veggies, mix all ingredients together, pour over crescent roll, cook at 350 degrees for 50-60 min. Nom nom

I like that this is packed with veggies!

in the picture

here's the updates on my "in the picture" challenge

so friends, have you been doing it?
leave me a link to your blog if you have!


***

in other news, i just must share another recipe with you.
it's FOOL PROOF bread machine rolls.
they are from my friend megan.
they seriously turn out so amazing EVERY TIME.
i dare say their fluffiness is akin to that of a krispy kreme doughnut,
enticed?

Put in bread machine in this order:

1 c water

1 egg

2 T butter softened

2 T oil

3 1/4 c flour

1/4 c sugar

1 t salt

3 T dry milk

1 1/2 t yeast

roll out with light flour. butter the top (i skip this), cut like pizza, roll up like crescent. let rise double about 30 min. cook at 400 for 10 min or 350 for 13 min. makes 12 large rolls.

after making these rolls pretty darn often since thanksgiving i can finally say i'm good at them and that they don't feel like a ton of effort anymore.

my friend's bread machine can handle a double batch of this stuff, mine cannot.

so start with just a single and see where it goes.

a little bit of life lately

this week is bone chilling FREEZING. 

freezing as in when i look at my phone and it says 7 degrees i'm like "hey! look how warm it is!"

but last week there was a day that reached somewhere in the 30's i think with no wind in sight.

maxson and i went out and played and it was just so fun.

i miss just playing outside freely like that.
(his facial expression was the same in 99% of the pictures i took this day, ha)

look at those lashes in the second picture, oh my baby

i say "here, hold my hand" a lot because man oh man this boy is HEAVY!
now he reaches for my hand all the time

but then this week we got a big huge fun snow storm finally!
with that snow storm brought the oh so freezing weather though, it's so cold you don't even want to go play in the snow :(
first we brought the snow in to play with for a little bit.
then we ventured out!

do you see casey's trash bag to cover up his boot?
ha, i was laughing so hard at that.

our friends joined us during the storm too!
we have the tiniest and shortest of hills on one side of our building and used that to go down with the sled!

i made some delicious orange rolls last week with this recipe

and we're still making lots of pretzels these days!

Soft Pretzel Recipe
1 cup water
3 cups flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 T sugar
2 T oil
1 package yeast (or 2 1/4 tsp)

put all the above ingredients in a bread machine in that order.
once complete, divide dough into 8 pieces.
roll out each piece long and skinny, about 16-18 inches maybe.
(i use only the smallest amount of flour when rolling these out, they don't really need it)
twist like the following:

dip top of pretzel in a small bowl of 1/2 cup water + 1/2 T baking soda.
season with coarse salt, let rise 20 min.
bake at 450 or 425 for 7-8 min (different temperatures almost give different types of pretzels).
onc they come out of the oven, take a cold stick of butter and "paint" the top of each pretzel.
enjoy with whatever pretzel dippings you like.

the more i've made them the easier they've gotten for sure!

ps- a friend shared this article on Facebook about reconsidering sleepovers.

what do you think about sleepovers for kids?

my thoughts and views on sleepovers has changed a lot within the last year.

life lately

here's a little update on life through our iphones aka when i'm too lazy to take my camera out/places or too self conscious to take it out in front of others...

it's one of those two.

and i'm sorry if you follow me on instagram, many of these are just duplicates...

let's begin with the least flattering pictures from casey's phone:
a. first time spending time outside in the sunshine!!!!
b. another sunshine day, we didn't have a sun hat for max so a kitchen towel had to do
c. maxson miraculously fell back to sleep for casey while he worked out, lucky dog that, never happens
d. entertaining babies during conference=less conference listened to, luckily we can re-read/listen to them online!

a. sniffly baby cuddling with daddy for a nap
b. nutella cookies, hello awesomeness
c. best salsa ever from costco! (and apparently hyvee too?)
d. done with napping

a. when i change his diaper he's always grabbing onto my arm to eat at, makes me smile
b. the main picture on casey's facebook dental class page, make me laugh every time.
c. looking at the toyssss
d. my view nearly every morning. casey is very diligent on doing bing searches on all 3 of our computers
sidenote: if you're not doing bing searches already, DO IT! casey's has earned nearly $60 for us to spend on amazon doing it!

a. dishes doing
b. easter bunny baby
c. car driving
d. tummy timing

maxson and i visited the dental school for lunch again last week.
i was little more confident with myself and my semi stroller cruising around the school.
2nd picture is in the elevator looking up

dental school classroom with a stroller: not a sight often seen

a. falling asleep in my arms (not in a "baby going to sleep position"), with no swaddle, which is a first around here
b. my ultra cute, smiley, and round nephew, britton during his 1st year birthday cake fest!
we got to video chat with him during some of it and he went to town.
that boy LOVES food and was just soooo happy!
my brother sent a video of when they first placed the cake in front of him.
he picked it up one handed like a sandwhich and starting chomping away like a boss, so funny!
oooh we miss our nieces and nephews too much

a. while casey went to the men's priesthood session for general conference, maxson and i hung out in the backyard with some other women and kids from our street and just talked for a long time.
after coming inside, maxson just sat in the sling, cuddling up to my chest watching whatever i was putting away.
such a sweetie we have on our hands.
b. my view while lounging on the ground during general conference.

picnic in the front yard between conference sessions on saturday.
does anyone recognize that blanket?! 
it's the jean blanket i slaved over last summer!
although the edges are not yet finished, it works like a beaut outside and we're so eager to put some wear and tear into it over the next years as a family.

a. b. c. conference breakfast with friends.
although pancakes, french toast, or waffles are an excellent breakfast.
someone sadly has to slave over the stove top the whole time and you can't all eat at the same time and you have to keep waiting for more!
so breakfast casseroles it was!
i made a frenchtoast casserole the night before (recipe below)
and my friend made what we call a lumberjack casserole like this one.
they were oober yummy
d. maxson's first general conference watching our prophet, president thomas s. monson!

french toast casserole

To be made the night before
1 (24 oz) loaf buttermilk bread
1 pkg cream cheese
10 eggs
2 1/2 c milk
6 T margarine/butter melted
1/4 c. maple syrup
1 t vanilla
1/4 t cinnamon (or more:)

Cut bread into cubes. Place half in greased 9x12 baking dish. Top with cream cheese, cut into cubes, then put the rest of the cubed bread on top. Mix together eggs, milk, melted butter and syrup very well, Pour over bread/cheese evenly in pan. Cover with plastic wrap and press down on top to moisten top it all evenly. Refrigerate over night, remove plastic wrap and bake @ 350 for 50 min.

cake of pan.

happy MEMORIAL DAY!
isn't it so wonderful we get a few holidays to honor those who serve our country?
we are truly blessed to live in such a wonderful land!
on sunday we had a wonderful outing in central park that i will share later, but today,
somethings about FOOD:



i've learned the secret to pancakes.

cottage cheese.

seriously people!

it's all about the cottage cheese.

here's the recipe i usually go off of from my grannylynn:

2 c bisquick

1 c buttermilk

4 eggs

1/2 c cottage cheese

(add sugar and vanilla as wanted per calorie choice intake)

my alterations to this recipe:

i always half it.

it's just too much for 2 people.

i never have buttermilk on hand, nor vinegar to do that smart change milk to buttermilk thing.

i just use a little less milk than what the recipes calls for and add more in as i think it needs to be runnier.
(it's probably yummier if you use buttermilk)

i also add equal amounts of oatmeal because it makes it more filling (and seems healthier???? oats, right???)

we always add sprinkles or food coloring to pancakes because it's more fun that way. 

i add like 1-2 T of sugar and 1ish tsp vanilla

but this time when i halved the recipe, i forgot to half the cottage cheese amount.

these were by the far the best pancakes i've ever made.

they were just so yummy and perfect!

also, i think this time around i felt the pancakes were too flat so i added like 1 tsp of baking soda fyi.

try it sometime.

tell me what you think of the cottage cheese :)

i ate the leftover pacakes plain all day long till they were gone.

 

what are some other awesome pancake recipes out there or what you use?
any tricks you love?
i have this new HOPE that now that i'm out of school i can actually focus on being an stellar cook!
cooking different recipes often during the week!
help me!

 

salsa

recently i've discovered all i want is salsa.

maybe it's the whole im-on-the-east-coast-with-fake-mexican-food thing or just because i like salsa.
it's one or the other.

WELL, i went on pinterest to find a yummy easy salsa.

easiest one i could find:

chili's copycat salsa.
easiest aka i actually have all the ingredients on hand

holy hannah it's our new favorite salsa!!!!!

and so gosh darn easy!

here's the recipe:

Chili's Copycat Salsa Recipe:

(Recipe from Deals to Meals)

2 cans (14.5 oz each) whole tomatoes, drained
1 small (4 oz) can diced or whole jalapenos (not pickled)--about 4-5 jalapenos (or less if you don't like a lot of spice)
1/4 c. yellow onion, cut into quarters (you can also use dried minced onion)
1 tsp. garlic salt
1/2 to 1 tsp. salt (depending on how much you prefer)
1 tsp. cumin
1/2 tsp. sugar
1 tsp. lime juice

Place all of the ingredients together into a food processor or blender and puree until smooth. Serve with tortilla chips.

here's the thing though.

the first time we made it, i felt like i put WAY too much onion in it.

casey LOVED it,

but we both felt like it was missing something...

the next day, it was AWESOME .
seriously, an exact replica of chili's.

we both really loved it and devoured it in one sitting.

a few days later i finally was able to go to the store and get more jalepenos to make more!

(we actually half our batch when we make it because we borrow my friends magic bullet)

well, i put the right amount of onions in this time, and i LOVED it,

casey didn't, he thought it was too tomatoey.

so we made a second little batch with more onion and he went back to loving it.

i'm so happy we have this around now,
 i eat this stuff like it's a slasa eating contest,
fa' realssssss

kimber's yummy recipe followed salsa on top

casey's too oniony but yummy to him salsa on bottom :)

yay for salsa!!!!!!

  

texas caviar

i would love to share our family favorite recipe of texas caviar with you!
(i'm also inclined to do this bc often when i'm away from home and i want to make this, i don't have the recipe, but now it'll be on the blog where i can always get to it!)

i got this from my mom,
who got it from our neighbor,
who probably got it from someone above her too!
it's a woodruff family favorite.
it's eaten/made at nearly all of our family functions:
christmas, reunions, the dunes, weddings, etc.
you name it, it's most likely been there.
if the family is together, someone wants it to be made.

it's a bean/salsa/mix of veggie dip thing that's super yummy!

Chop the following and mix together:

    2 cloves garlic

    2 cups tomatoes (about 5)

    1 green pepper

    5-6 green onions (1 bundle)

    2 jalapenos

Add:

    1 can white shoepeg corn (drained)

    1 can mexicorn (drained)

    2 cans blackeyed peas with jalapenos(rinsed and drained)
    these cans are hard to find, if you can't find them, get 1 can black eyes peas and another bean can, black or kidney

Add:

    8 oz. zesty Italian salad dressing

    Cilantro to taste.

    1 packet of powdered Italian dressing

Serve with chips, quesadillas, or on top of rice.

I think it tastes better the 2^nd day, and it will juice up a bit itself when sitting after awhile, so don't add too much of the Italian dressing, I usually use half the bottle and add however much powdered Italian dressing i think it needs