Apple Catastrophe Averted!

So what do you do when the family sets the LARGE bowl of apples within easy reach of a 19 month old that loves apples?  Spend the day finding apples with 1 or 2 bites out of them hidden in the bowl, in toy drawers, and in the hands of said little one!

After you have collected all 6 of the concealed (and some not so concealed) apples what do you do with them?  In this case, I whipped up some whole wheat apple muffins.  I started with a recipe from SparkRecipes.com called Apple Streusel Cinnamon Swirl Muffins and like most things I cooked, I tweaked it.  This is what I came up with:

Apple Streusel Cinnamon Swirl Muffins II
cinnamon sugar:
mix 1/4 cup white sugar with 1 Tbsp cinnamon

Muffins:
1 1/2 c grated peeled apple
2 tbsp cinnamon sugar mix (above)
1 1/4c whole wheat flour
1/4 c.  white sugar
1/2 c. dark brown sugar
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
2 eggs
1/2 c. canola oil
1 Tbsp cinnamon
1 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp vanilla

 Instructions:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.  Spray muffin pans with nonstick spray.  In a small bowl mix 2 Tbsp of the cinnamon sugar mixture with the grated apples.  Set aside.

In a large bowl sift the flour, sugars, baking soda, salt cinnamon, and nutmeg.  Mix in eggs, oil and vanilla.  Stir in the apple mixture.  This makes a thick batter (think carrot cake batter).

Spoon about 1 Tbsp of batter into each of the 12 muffin tins.  Spread to cover the bottom of the tin.  Sprinkle about 1/2 tsp of cinnamon sugar mixture over each muffin.  Cover with remaining batter.  If desired you can sprinkle any remaining cinnamon sugar mixture over the tops of the muffins.

Bake for about 20 minutes.  Enjoy!

Nutrition Info per serving:
215.9 calories
10.3 g fat
       1 g sat. fat
        2.8 g poly fat
        5.8 g. mono fat
        (no idea where the remaining 0.7 grams are!!)
35.4 mg cholesterol
141.6 mg sodium

66.8 mg potassium
33.2 g carbs (2.6 g of which is fiber and the rest is sugar)
2.8 g protein



Love,

A Proverbs 31 Woman - Week 6

At times I wonder how this Proverbs 31 woman was able to accomplish all that she does.  At first glance, it sounds like a lot doesn't it?  But the more I review it, the more I realize it isn't so much the actions of this woman that make her so special, it is her heart.  She strives to provide for those she loves and cares for, she strives to bring honor to her family through her actions.  And our first verse this week shows that she also reaches out to others as well.  Verse 20 tells us that:

She opens her arms to the poor and extends her hands to the needy. 

Not only does she provide for her own family and responsibilities, but she reaches out to help others as well.  This one is pretty self explanatory.  Help those less fortunate than ourselves.  Sounds pretty easy, but do we do it?  I know I have often found myself exiting the highway only to see someone standing at the light at the end of the exit ramp with a cardboard sign and dressed in ragged clothes and I begin to pray.  Sounds pretty good doesn't it?  Except my prayer tends to be more along the lines of, "please turn green, please turn green.  Don't make me stop beside him."   Their poverty makes me uncomfortable.  Or I start to think that perhaps they are really just trying to get something for nothing, being lazy.  But this isn't the attitude we are supposed to have.

I had to finally realize that I need to change my prayer to something more along the lines of, "God, you have put me here, what is it you want me to do?"  Sometimes I don't feel led to do anything but drive on past, others I have given money, and others I have given gift cards (it's what I had on hand).  Rather than let my own flawed thoughts lead the way, I move over and let God take over.  It is easy to bring some food to the canned food drive at church, or to give when the Boy Scouts collect.  Have you really opened your arms and extended your hand to the needy?  Hard to do if you won't get face to face with them.  Take a day and volunteer at the local food pantry or soup kitchen.  Walk up to the homeless person and talk to him or her.  My husband and I were once eating breakfast at a local fast food restaurant, saw a man and both of us felt led to give him a gift certificate for food.  My husband purchased it, went outside and presented the man with it, and invited him to breakfast with us.  We discovered that the establishment would not allow him inside!  At what point did we (society) quit caring about people?  At what point did we as Christians decide that only those as good as ourselves deserve respect?  I attended a church at one point and was told by the preacher's wife that the church would only help people who requested it if they attended our church first!  I don't recall that being in my Bible anywhere.  Jesus called us to love each other and to help each other, regardless of our position.  Do you truly extend your hand to the needy, or do you simply put your offering on a stick and poke it at them?

Love,

Week 15 - Snowflake Saturday

This weeks snowflake, and probably the next several weeks since I really like these patterns, comes from the files of Sally George.  Unfortunately the original website is no longer active, however the patterns have been archived.  This week we are doing Snowflake #2, which is a bit more difficult than many of the previous patterns.  I had to frog several times on the last round before I finally got it worked out.  However, don't let that discourage you, I was also working with baby A climbing in and out of my lap repeatedly, many interruptions for apples (Sesame Street was on and apples were prevalent in the episode.  Every time she saw an apple on the show she wanted a piece of apple all her own.), numerous ventures into the kitchen to see what baby A was exploring this time (she has also learned to use my husbands hard sided lunch box as a stepping stool), before she finally relented and succumbed to the sandman and I was free to work in peace.  So this may not be as difficult as it seemed to be at the time.  If you give it a try, please post what you think about the difficulty level!
Love,

A Proverbs 31 Woman - Week 5

Honesty time.  This weeks verses had me stumped and required some research on my part.  I got the first verse of the week:

       She sees that her trading is profitable,
       and her lamp does not go out at night.

This  is a woman that ensures that she doesn't get the short end of the stick.  This woman works hard for what she has, has earned the trust and respect of her husband and family, has demonstrated that she can make good financial decisions, and this verse tells us that she takes the time to ensure that her efforts are profitable.  Not only that, but she doesn't quit.  This woman gets up before anyone else in the house, ensures that everyone is fed and taken care of, works vigorously throughout the day, and then makes sure that the lamp doesn't go out at night.  To me that means that she makes sure that the home is taken care of, is made safe (the light deters burglars maybe), and perhaps the light does not go out because she tends to it.  This proverbs woman is busy with meeting and caring for the needs of others.

Verse 19 reads:

In her hand she holds the distaff
and grasps the spindle with her fingers.

I had no idea what a distaff was.  The Miriam-Webster dictionary tells me that it is a staff used to hold wool or flax for spinning.  Ahha!  This makes sense since the next line talks about spinning.  Now, today most of us don't have to spin our own yarn to make clothing, blankets, or other items.  Some of us may choose to, and that is great, but I am not among that group.  I prefer to either venture to my local craft store to buy my yarn, or simply hit the department store to buy the finished product.  So what does this verse mean to us today?  It is pretty simple really.  This is a woman who isn't afraid to do what is necessary to provide for her family.  We already know she she collects the wool and flax herself, and now we see that she spins it into yarn herself also.  This is a woman of means if she is able to purchase her own land with her money, has servants to feed, yet she takes the time to hand select the wool and flax.  She takes the time to do the work of spinning herself instead of passing it off to a servant.  She stays busy.  She prepares with care.

I picture her in the market looking for the best wool and flax she can find, sifting through baskets, considering all that she touches.  If her family produces it's own wool/flax I can see her sorting what will be kept for her own family, and what will be sold for profit.  I can see her sitting by the fire as she spins it into yarn.  She doesn't have a spinning wheel, she must be careful to keep the thickness uniform, to ensure good quality yarn that will hold up to the stress her family will put on it.  She does so with care and love.  And that, I think, is the message for us today.

When we go about our days as wife and mother, take time to really put thought into the little details.  Do you think that this woman's family took the time to consider the time and care that went into making the yarn of their clothes or blankets?  Probably not as that was just something that was done.  Our families may not always recognize the time and care we put into preparing dinner, or cleaning the house, or washing the clothes or any of the many other duties we carry out in our role.  This woman didn't take the time to do these things to be recognized for her work, she took the time because she loved and cared for her family.  We need to put the same attention to detail to work in all that we do as well.  Spinning yarn was not a glamorous duty.  It was repetitive, time consuming, and required attention and precision.  She still took the time to do it herself, and I believe with care.  We should do the same.

Food for thought, see you next week!

Love,

Week 14 - Snowflake Saturday

This weeks snowflake is one I stumbled across on accident.  As with most things, I made a few changes,
First of all, the pattern doesn't give you a beginning chain, I followed the suggestion of one of the commenters and used a chain of 16 and slip stitched to for a ring.  I used size 30 thread.  It wasn't on purpose but the size 10 was buried at the bottom of the yarn basket so i grabbed what was on top.  My final adjustment was on round 4 where it says " ch 3, in next ch-7 lp work sc, ch 3, sc, ch 5, sc, ch 3, and sc; ch 3**"  I replaced that with:
ch 3, skip next 3 dc, sc in first chain of the ch 7, ch 3, skip next chain, sc in 3rd chain of the ch 7, ch 5, sc in 5th ch of the ch 7, ch 3, sc in 7th chain of the ch 7, ch 3**

It gives you the same look but prevents the stitches from shifting on the ch 7 and keeps them evenly spaced.  For me it makes it easier to block this way.  Hope you enjoy it!  Here is the original pattern from Better Homes and Gardens, it is simply called a Crocheted Snowflake Ornament.    Hope you enjoy it!

Love,