Fourteen for Fall- Recipe #1

Easy Caramel Apple Cake. It made my kitchen smell just like Autumn!!



I'm so excited to report that my sister and mom are going to join my in my challenge. I'm not sure if they'll both be able to do every week, but they're joining in the fun! Let's start the review...

First up, I enjoyed this cake for it's simplicity, thus the title of the recipe! But you literally mix all ingredients minus the apples and topping in one bowl.

These--


Go here


You add the chopped apples and stir gently. Then pour them into a bundt pan! **This is the first bundt cake I've made!!**



The cake baked for about 45 min. in my oven. Then I mixed together caramel and milk and let it set up a bit while the cake cooled.

I was probably a bit hasty in putting the topping on because the cake was still warm and the caramel sort of pooled all over-- but I was getting anxious to go to bed! Regardless, I tried a piece around 10:15...


It was warm... Mmmmm... and caramelly! The cake was light and moist, not dense like I always assume bundt cakes will be. I had a pretty small slice of cake, but I still got a couple pieces of apple. So I felt that the amount of apples was great. I really enjoyed the cinnamon and nutmeg in the cake and especially loved the smell as it was baking in the oven! The spices definitely got me ready to usher in Autumn!! I think I will definitely make this cake again. I have only tried one piece so far, but am ready to try another this afternoon! I brought it to work to share and hopefully get some feedback as well. Thank you--My Baking Addiction-- for sharing a recipe I will continue to make during my future Autumns!!



To life... full of sugar and spice and everything nice!

Fourteen for Fall

Today I came up with a fun idea! As you all know, I read many, many food blogs. I always see the various cooks/bakers/chefs challenging themselves with different things, ex. Tuesdays with Dorie. I don't feel I'm quite up to those challenges yet, but this morning I thought of my own personal challenge. There are so many fall recipes I'm wanting to try, I decided that I am going to challenge myself to make one new fall recipe each week of the season!! Now, there are only 13 weeks of Autumn, but I figured I could try to fit one extra in there at some point--you know, provide myself with more of a challenge. I'm thinking this will be very exciting and push myself to make these things instead of just saving them all up!

I will plan to debut a new recipe each Thursday, starting this Thursday, September 23rd since it's the first, full, official day of Autumn! Are you getting excited? I am! Does anyone want to join me? Sister? Mom? Just a shout-out, let me know what you think... you could even do like every other week or something!

One thing I have learned from the blogs is that you don't always have to make the full recipe. So I'll probably cut some of the recipes in half. Plus, I'll plan on bringing some to work for people to evaluate as well.

I tried my hand at Pioneer Woman's Flat Apple Pie this weekend and it was wonderfully delicious! (I'll try to post a picture soon--although the picture isn't great). The pie crust was flaky and awesome. Will most likely be my permanent pie crust recipe! Regardless, I think I'm going to start off my Fourteen for Fall challenge with Easy Caramel Apple Cake. Come back on Thursday to see how it turns out!

To Life... full of new challenges!

One Year of Blogging

I realized today that I was probably getting pretty close to my one-year anniversary of blogging, so I went back and found my first post-- September 12, 2009. What?!? I had totally missed it. I didn't realize I had started that long ago! So I guess today I'll write my "Anniversary Post".

I have run several races in the past year and discovered that I really enjoy running! I have begun baking more and more and realize that it has become a passion and a gift that I enjoy sharing with others. I have been reading more than ever and feel more well-balanced and glad that I'm not letting my brain rot by staring at the TV screen (at least as much). I have traveled to several new places around the U.S. and Europe and believe that more traveling is ahead of me. I have learned that talking to new people isn't as scary as I thought it was--although I still struggle getting up the nerve! My relationship with God has grown and matured and even though I feel closer to Him now than a year ago, I know there will always be something to learn and strive for. I love my hubby even more than I did a year ago and feel like we may understand each other just a smidgen more :o) definitely a work-in-progress!! I plan to continue blogging about the various goings-on in my life and hope you will enjoy them as well. Thank you for reading my blog this past year!

To life... full of self-reflection.

Labor Day Weekend

We had a great time in Colorado Springs over the Labor Day weekend! We drove through the night on Thursday, so we had all day Friday, Saturday, and Sunday and then part of the day on Monday! We did lots of fun things while we were there. Some of the highlights:

Hiking in the Foothills


Playing Pictionary

Eating at Fargo's

A Baby Shower for my cousin due in a few weeks!

Sis and I baking

**although we can't take credit for this particular cake. Fortunately our aunt had a back-up in case the altitude wreaked havoc with ours... it did, so our German Chocolate Cake became a trifle :o)**

Dad's Surprise Party!



Running our Marathon Relay!

Pre-Race Team Photo


Post-Race Team Photo

Our team did awesome! Our total time was 4:29:16!! My leg was 6.75 miles and my goal was to do it in 70 min. My time ended up being 69:19! So even with dealing with the altitude I was able to beat my goal!


All in all, it was a terrific weekend with lots of wonderful memories made! It was a great kick-off for fall and a nice break from work before we settle in to the routine until Christmas. I'll be back soon with some recent baking photos.

To life... full of food, family, Fargo's, flops, free time, Fall, and fun!

Cuisson

I've baked a few more things over the past week. I'm still really bummed I didn't get a picture of the blueberry cream pie a couple of weeks ago. It was really good. I took a picture on my camera, but I don't know how to get it on here. All well, if you're interested in making it you can check it out here: Blueberry Cream Pie.

Over the weekend I made, you guessed it, another Pioneer Woman recipe! I've decided now that I may be bordering on a 'slight obsession' with her recipes. Last night I told Hubby that I think I need to just go ahead and a pull a 'Julie and Julia' and bake through all of Pioneer Woman's cookbook. I mean, every single thing in there, I want to try! Well... except that prune cake, I'm a little skeptical. But she says not to tell anyone it's prunes and they'll never know the difference...but I'll know. Anyway, I thought maybe I should be more methodical about trying her recipes and get it done. I mean, how could any bad come from that? I guess... maybe all that butter

And cream

And sugar

And butter might foil my I-want-to-lose-5-pounds plan. Did I mention the butter? I guess a pros and cons list is in store. Who will help convince me that it's worth completing this task? I would be willing to share!

Moving along, I made "Patsy's Blackberry Cobbler". I'm pretty sure it's the first time I've ever made cobbler. It was a hit! We took it over to our friends' house and they enjoyed it. Hubby declared it a '5-Star' recipe and finished it the next day. Guess it's one we'll be incorporating into a regular rotation. I'm not sure what regular rotation that is... cause we don't actually have one... we just say that a lot... it means we liked something...whew... another tangent... let's just look at the picture... :o)



But that's perfectly fine with me! It was delicious and, even better, very simple. I think I have the recipe memorized already. Love those easy-to-remember recipes!

Also, we had another baby shower here at work. And I got to make the cake! I was more than willing. I've done many baby shower cakes here at work and decided that I need to have a baby-related shaped cake pan. I went to Michael's and got a baby carriage pan. This one was for a girl. The colors were much better in person--pink, green, and brown.



But I was pretty excited with how it turned out. Now I want more shaped pans! Maybe I need to start adding them to my Christmas list!

To life... full of cobbler and cake :o).............. and BUTTER!

Millionaire's Shortbread

Do you notice any changes on my blog? Oh you do, do you? Yes, I spent a little time checking out the new design options on blogger and they have some pretty awesome stuff now! I hope you enjoy the new look. I really liked the cupcakes I had briefly, but this background seems to encompass even more of the things I enjoy! We'll see how long it lasts... baking is pretty important to me. As you'll be able to tell in the following pictures!

I had a party to go to this past Tuesday, so I asked hubby what he'd like me to make for it. I let him peruse my "Baked" cookbook-- love it-- and he chose, Millionaire's Shortbread. I was perfectly ok with that choice because it looked awesome to me as well. The first step in the process was to get the caramel started... I poured TWO cans of sweetened condensed milk (yes, that would equal 2600 calories--no judging!) into this bowl and ended up letting it cook for about 2 1/2 hours


While that was in the works, I began making the shortbread. This was my first time to ever make shortbread... I don't even think I've eaten shortbread except maybe a time or two as a pre-packaged cookie. It required large amounts of butter and some kneading by hand. Here it is just before heading into the oven:


After the caramel was finished, I poured it onto the baked, cooled shortbread and put it in the fridge for almost two hours. During that time I melted dark chocolate, a bit of light corn syrup, and butter over the stove. I pulled the shortbread out of the fridge and poured the chocolate over everthing. Then returned it to the fridge to chill some more. The result?


Jeremiah and I both enjoyed it. At first, I wasn't sure how I felt about it, but as I ate more, it grew on me. I took it to the party on Tuesday night and also took it to work the next day. Several people really enjoyed it and gave me positive comments. The recipe called it the "Rich Man's Twix" and I think I might like to change the dark chocolate to milk chocolate to suit my taste and also 'twould be more like an actual twix then. Now I'm excited for the next recipe I try out of this cookbook!

To life... full of trying new things!

Romania

We are working on getting a letter out to everyone about our trip. Actually, it's sitting here next to me on my desk and we're trying to figure out what to cut out because it's 4 pages long! In the meantime, if you've been curious about my trip, here are a few pictures to tide you over until you get our letter.

Our group in Sighisoara on Saturday, July 17


At "The Weekend" with the kids


Playing with the kids from the gypsy village


Saying good-bye to the LOC kids



That's all for now. Hopefully we'll be getting these letters out soon!

To life... full of opportunities to reach out and love.