It's Apple Time

Its fall and here in Wisconsin, that means it's apple time!  I was recently a recipient of a bag of apples from the apple tree in my brother's yard.  With the fall-like weather and the Packers playing football today, it was a great day to bake with all of these lovely apples.

Apples!!

The first thing I made was this delicious Fall Apple Crisp.

Fall Apple Crisp
8 cups of apples cored and sliced
3/4 cup of sugar
1 TBS flour
1/2 tsp of cinnamon
1/2 tsp baking spice
1/4 cup of water

1 cup flour
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup quick oats
1 stick of melted butter

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. Peel & slice apples and lay in the bottom of a 9x13 greased pan.  Mix together 3/4 cup of sugar, 1TBS flour, 1/2 tsp and 1/2 tsp baking spice.  (If you don't have baking spice, just double the amount of cinnamon).  Sprinkle the sugar mixture over the apples. Slowly pour water over top of cinnamon/sugar mixture.  (If you're apples seem to be juicy, skip this step)

To make the crisp, mix together flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, brown sugar, oats, and melted butter.  I find it easiest to mix the topping by hand.  Evenly sprinkle over the apples.  Bake for 45 minutes.

Let cool for the crisp to set.  Serve with vanilla ice cream and enjoy!

Since there were still quite a few apples left and I was still in the baking mood, I also whipped up some Apple Bran Muffins.  These are a healthy snack and freeze great.  I made a batch and then froze most of them in batches of two.  That way if we want a treat, we can just grab two out of the freezer, microwave, and enjoy.

I still have more apples, what next? What is your favorite thing to make with apples?

Cheese Please!

I'm super excited to receive my first VoxBox from Influenster!  They couldn't have sent me a better one - Sargento Cheese!!

And we all know that this Wisconsin girl loves her cheese! In fact, Sargento is made right here in the Dairy State, and is our favorite brand of cheese. Don't believe me? Check out the meat & cheese drawer of our fridge!!

I'm a snacker during the day, and I like to find something high in protein which doesn't spike my blood sugar.  Along with a couple crackers, these cheese snacks are the perfect afternoon snack!  They keep me satisfied until dinner, without that sugar crash and at only 80 calories - are a great option when watching your weight.

Snack Break at the Office

I chose the Colby-Jack snacks but they are also available in other flavors such as Sharp Cheddar, PepperJack, and of course Mozzarella String Cheese - which is always fun no matter what your age!

And right now, through September 23rd you can enter to win Free Cheese Snacks for a year - just go to http://www.sargento.com/whatsnew/choose-cheese-and-win/ , build your favorite snack with Sargento cheese, and enter to win!



**I received these products complimentary from Influenster for testing purposes.**

Pillow Cases for a Good Cause

I'm super excited to share with you what I've been working on this Labor Day Weekend.  Arrow Sewing Cabinets is hosting a pillowcase drive for Conkerr Cancer in Madison, and I've been making pillow cases!   I've seen a few of these drives around in the past, so when I saw this one I knew I wanted to participate.

I had the perfect fun Dr. Seuss fabric and whipped up these two cases using the "hot dog" method.  Have you guys ever done this?  Its super quick & easy!

In fact I had so much fun making those, that I wanted to make some more. :)  Since they stated they were specifically looking for sports themed pillowcases, I headed off to Joann's to look for more fabric.  I found some generic looking baseball fabric, which was ok...but not spectacular. And then while I was waiting in line at the cutting table, I just happened to see the PERFECT fabric!  What's better then the Wisconsin Badgers?!?  Not much, well maybe besides the Packers :)  So I tossed the baseball fabric & made two Badgers pillowcases as well!

 
They will be on their way tomorrow, I hope they are able to bring someone as much joy to use them, as it was for me to make them!

Happy Monday #19 - Happy Labor Day

Have a Happy Labor Day Monday!
~ Melissa

Carter Quilt

I have a confession to make....my dog is SPOILED!  It didn't start off this way, when we first got him I had all types of ideas of being tough (no dogs on the furniture, no sleeping in our bed), yeah those lasted 2 seconds & this little face melted my heart!

Carter at 9 weeks

More recently, in the past few months he has discovered, he likes to crawl under the blankets with us in bed.  So as any sewing mama would do, I made him his very own quilt!  Now I understand he will still probably want to be under OUR covers, but I already had this cute fabric  :)

I just cut squares of each of the fabrics, some I had more yardage than others, and layed them all out.  The top was the easy part. However, as I mentioned in my My First "Real" Quilt post, I haven't really made "real" quilts before.  I've done plenty of sewing projects and made quite a few rag quilts, but the whole basting/quilting/binding concept I hadn't been brave enough to try.  Even the baby quilt I made, I had someone else quilt & bind it for me.

Since I didn't think Carter would be too picky, I thought I'd give it a shot.  I quilted just simple diagonals, and because I'm lazy I didn't do the opposite way to make Xs.  Is this a problem do you think?   Then to bind, I followed this AWESOME tutorial at Cluck Cluck Sew http://www.cluckclucksew.com/2013/01/machine-binding-tutorial.html

I was going to take some pics of the finished quilt outside, but when I came into the living room Mr C was all curled up.  So I thought I'd check if he liked it.

Yup, looks like he approves!!

Farmers Market Finds

Every Saturday downtown there is a Farmers Market.  We don't go every week, but now that its getting later in the summer & there are so many delicious foods in season now - we stopped over there this week.

Not sure exactly what kind of flowers these were, something with Strawberry in the name. I can totally see where they get that :) 

Has anybody had these before? For only $2 we had to get some!  I think we're going to slice them & put them on the grill brushed with a little olive oil.

Radishes

Onions

And of course, we're in Wisconsin after all - CHEESE CURDS!  They are squeeky fresh!  

We had a great morning at the Farmers Market!  We also picked up a giant green pepper for $1, some fresh blackberries, and my hubby had to get some Baklava!  Is there a local Farmers Market by you? What is your go-to that you have to pick up when you're there?

Happy Monday #18

Happy Monday!
~Melissa