Apple Galette

Partly to prove to you that I am still cooking and trying new recipes, I thought I'd post this apple galette recipe that I tried last night.  The sad fact is that our sunshine has been almost non-existent lately.  I'm also finding it difficult to photograph before the sun completely disappears for the night.  Our camera works very well in natural light without a flash - at night and with a flash, not so much. 

So, sadly, this is all that's left of my apple galette. 

 

A galette is basically a free-form pie.  I found this recipe on epicurious.  This was the first time I've made an all-butter crust and the first time I've utilized my food processor in the making of the crust. 

This was super easy and my audience gave it a 9 out of 10. 

The crust is flaky, crunchy, and pure perfection.  Apricot preserves are spread over the crust before the apples are placed on top.  The apples are simply prepared - sliced and tossed with sugar and lemon peel. 

The result was something even better than a McDonald's apple - it was so good it almost tasted fried. 

I was so glad that I'd managed to snap a few pictures during the four minutes of sunshine we enjoyed today. 

Those are real rays of sunshine, believe it or not.  And, check out that quilt - love it! 

Dessert Ideas

As in years past, I will be bringing dessert to our annual Thanksgiving dinner.  If you've also been nominated to contribute dessert and you're a procrastinator like me, here are some ideas for you!

These are all family favorites, and while same may not be your "traditional" dessert fare for Thanksgiving, I thought I'd give you some options.  

Simply click on the title of the dessert and you'll automatically be directed to the recipe.  

Lemon Meringue Pie

Pumpkin Pie

Apple Pie

Chocolate Tart

Chocolate Cake with Buttercream Frosting

Buttermilk Cake with Salted Caramel Frosting

Tuesday Craziness

I wish I remembered to compile the list of hilarious news headlines [I read on a weekly basis]. 

There are some really ridiculous stories out there - reminds me of the country song we love, "God is great, beer is good, and people are crazy". 

Here is my favorite [news article] from this past week. 

Police: Fake doc injected cement in woman's rear.(click to go to the link)

How can you not want to read this article?  

Also, my favorite add on craigslist this week. 

I Love To Iron/Need My Floors Vaccuumed (West Manchester/York)

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 I have a nice, clean, orderly house just looking for someone to do my floors once a week. In return I will do your ironing - bring to my house. I'm sure we can work something out. You use my vacs and I will use my own iron and board. You don't have to even wash my floors, can do that myself - I just HATE HATE to vacuum. Have pets. I live right behind Target/Sheetz off Brougher at Carlisle. Thank you. 

People are crazy.  

I Wonder.....

1.  Why the kitchen floor remains sticky in the location where juice was spilled [until you have re-scrubbed the entire floor]?

2.  If anyone has ever been unable to remove skinny jeans in a dressing room?

3.  When this annoying skinny-pant phase will be over?

4.  How many times someone has to throw their shoes in the air to make them stay on a power-line wire?

5.  When my kids will become less messy and less expensive?  (Please tell me next week and not "until they move out")

6.  How couples that engage in PDA never notice how uncomfortable the "spectators" are? Especially at a kids sporting event.  I'm pretty sure that if you can't stand on your own without leaning on each other (and furthermore, that those don't need to be held up at all), maybe you should bring a chair - no, make that two so you're not tempted to sit on each others lap.  I am fully convinced that PDA can go from awwww to ewwww in about 3 seconds.  I'm sure these couples are perfectly nice people, they just need someone to tell them. 

7.  If I can convince my kids that Mother's Best Oat and Mallow Cereal will taste just like Lucky Charms? 

8.  Why people insist on taking their toddler to Target in the afternoon [when they clearly need to be at home napping]?

9. What people eat [who tell me they don't cook]?

10.  Why is it that at the end of the weekend, our cupboards are bare and the house is a wreck?

11.  How can my son be such a horrendous writer? (how do you teach someone to be a better writer?  is it learned?)

12.  How our middle daughter became organized? (she certainly didn't learn it from us)

13.  How our youngest daughter became a fashionista (who likes short skirts, UGG's, and skinny jeans)?  (she certainly didn't learn it from us)

Fall Colors.

I took these pictures yesterday, taking advantage of the gorgeous fall colors and sunlight.

If you're feeling badly because your surroundings aren't this colorful or sunny - rest assured -  as I type this, it's 42 degrees and rainy. 

Lunch(es)

                                     Yesterday's lunch

simple caesar salad with Newman's Own dressing, parmesan, and homemade croutons

tomato bisque with homemade croutons (click on link for recipe)

                                                  Today's lunch

baked parmesan tomatoes (recipe attached to link)

pickled beets and hardboiled eggs

I just wish this worked to keep me away from the Halloween candy.  Ugh.

My Attempt at a Mudroom.

After I was unable to convince my husband that our whole house needed re-organized, I went with plan B.  I really wanted to buy closet organizing kits for all of our closets, but I decided that I would organize our things with what we already owned.  We don't have the space for a main-floor mudroom, so I tried to re-create the concept in our coat closet. 

Our house was built in 1955.  It's roughly 1700 square feet on our main floor, so it's rather small.  One of the many positives, though, is our great amount of storage space.  Our hallway has a cleaning closet and two full-sized closets, one we use for a coat closet (the other cedar-lined closet is mine). 

My lovely husband has many hobbies.  Therefore, we need to store gear for kayaking, skiing, hunting, etc.  Once we factor in all of the seasonal things we need to outfit a family of five for everyday living, it creates a lot of stuff. 

Our coat closet used to look like this.

It wasn't bad - and we did have enough space for what we had, but it was impossible to find anything in that huge bin.  Good luck to anyone trying to find a matching pair of gloves.  Plus, it looked pretty ugly.

So, I utilized some upper cabinets that we had in our garage, and stole some baskets from the bathroom.   Now we can easily find our boots, gloves (Rob has at least fifteen different pairs for various activities), hats, and scarves.  I'm hoping to make this our seasonal area - switching warm weather gear (sunscreen, towels, goggles, etc.) for our cold-weather gear.  It does look mildly better and it was the best I could do with what I already owned!