High Five For Friday!

     It's Friday again!  I had such a busy week.  Unfortunately, I am working Saturday and Sunday as well.  But even when I know I have to work over the weekend, I still look forward to Friday.  Here are my five highlights from this week!

1.  We got back Sunday from a wonderful weekend at the beach.  We were able to spend time with my parent which was so nice!  We went on tons of walks on the beach and we also got to go to the aquarium!

2.  Bella is so funny at the beach!  She had so much fun!  I have never seen her happier.

3.  I started school!  I am so happy to be doing school work again, but I think I'm just starting to realize how busy life is about to be for the next year and a half.  I am so thankful for the opportunity to be back in school. 

4.  This time of year is wonderful!  I love fall!  I love the weather, I love the food, and I love the smells.  I love lighting my pumpkin spice candle this time of year!

5.  We had an event at work yesterday for our residents.  We had chili and broccoli and cheddar soup.  It was delicious and warmed me right up!  I love opportunities to get to spend time with our residents!  

It was a great week!  Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Apple Crisp

     It is my favorite time of year to do some serious baking!  Especially with apples!  Two weekends ago, my hubby and I went to Carter's Mountain with some friends of ours.  Carter's Mountain is located in Charlottesville, VA and it is the best apple orchard.  Austin and I have gone a few times and we have always enjoyed ourselves.  This year we unfortunately chose the rainiest day to go.  It was so muddy, we decided to leave the apple picking to the experts and bought apples that were pre-picked.  From the people we saw coming back with their apples, I was convinced there was no way I was going to pick my own.  Everyone was covered in mud! 

     We enjoyed some apple cider and hot, fresh apple cider doughnuts.  We also ended up with two huge bags of Jonagold  apples.  This is definitely our favorite type of apple.  They taste great and they are perfect to bake with.

     I ended up making apple crisp as well as some apple sauce.  I loved how they turned out!  I thought I would share this delicious recipe for apple crisp today.  My mother-in-law shared her wonderful recipe with me.  It happens to be one of my hubby's  favorite recipe. 

Here is the delicious recipe:

Cook Time: 50-60 minutes

Oven Temperature: 350 degrees

Ingredients for apple crisp:

·         About 5 Cups of apples (peeled, cored, and sliced)

·         2/3 Cup of Sugar

·         3 Tbs Flour

·         Cinnamon (I don't use an exact amount; probably 2-3 tsp)

Ingredients for apple crisp topping:

·         1 Cup of Melted Butter

·         1-1/2 Cup of Brown Sugar

·         1-3/4 Cup Flour

·         2 Cups of Quick Oats

·         A little more cinnamon

Directions: 

1.  Heat oven to 350 degrees.  

2.  Place peeled, cored, and sliced apples in 9 X 13 pan.  

3.  Mix 2/3 cup of sugar, 3 Tbs flour, and cinnamon in a small bowl.  

4.  Fold mixture in to apples in pan.  

5.  Melt butter in a large bowl.  

6.  Once it is completely melted, mix 1-1/2 cup of brown sugar, 1-3/4 cup flour and 2 cups of quick oats in with the melted butter.  

7.  Sprinkle this mix over the apples.  This will make the dish very full.  

8.  Bake for 50-60 minutes or until the apples are tender and the mixture is bubbly.  The top will be browned.  

9.  Enjoy!

Wooden Shelf

     I recently redid a shelf that I had bought for $2 at a yard sale.  The shelf was just plain wood but I really liked how it looked.  My hubby and I went to Walmart to buy some paint so I could fix it up. 

     I haven't painted furniture before so I was very excited for this project.  I ended up spending a lot more on the materials to fix it up than I expected, but I think the end result was definitely worth it.  I got sand paper, paint brushes, and paint.

     The man at Walmart was so helpful and patient as I was picking a paint color.  I was so worried that I wouldn't like it once I painted the shelf, but I ended up loving the paint color I got.  It was called Coolbreeze Blue.  I choose to use a paint and primer together so I didn't have to do as many coats.  I went back and forth on the type of finish I wanted, but in the end I went with eggshell.  It has a bit of a shine, but not too much. 

     Here are some before and after pictures.

Yellow Rose Cake

     I wanted to share some of the cakes I have made over the last few years.  I love baking!  I really enjoying spending time coming up with new ways to decorate cakes and cupcakes.  Here is one of the cakes I have made. 

     This is the cake I made for my Grandma's 75th Birthday.  Her favorite color is yellow so I decided to make a yellow rose cake with matching cupcakes.  I made both white and chocolate cake with butter cream frosting.

Photos were taken by K.M. Robinson Photography.  Katie is a very talented photographer as well as the best sister in the world.  

Muffins

          This past weekend I was craving muffins!  It just so happens I love making muffins.  I decided to make coffee cake muffins with cinnamon streusel and apple cinnamon with cinnamon streusel.  I made jumbo muffins because, let's face it, there is no better  way to make  a muffin.  This is my absolute favorite muffin recipe.  It's one that I can use as a base recipe for most kinds of muffins.

Here is the recipe for the apple cinnamon muffins:

Serving Size: 6 jumbo muffins or 12 regular size muffins

Cook Time: Approximately 20 minutes

Oven Temperature: 400 degrees

Ingredients for muffins:

·         1 1/2 cup flour

·         3/4 cup sugar

·         1/2 tsp salt

·         2 tsp baking powder

·         1/3 cup vegetable oil

·         1 egg

·         1/3 cup milk

·         1 cup apples

Ingredients for Cinnamon Streusel:

·         1/2 cup sugar

·         1/3 cup flour

·         1/4 cup butter

·         1 1/2 tsp cinnamon

Directions:

1.  Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.  Grease muffin tin. 

2.  Combine 1 1/2 cup flour, 3/4 cup sugar, 1/2 tsp salt, and 2 tsp baking powder.  Mix ingredients together.

3.  Pt 1/3 cup oil into 1 cup measuring cup.  Add the egg into the measuring cup.  Then fill the cup up with milk. 

4.  Mix this in with the flour mixture.

 

5.  Cup apple in bite size chunks.  I coated the apple chunks with cinnamon just to add a little extra flavor. 

6.  I used an ice cream scoop to put the batter in the tin and then added the chunks of apple to the batter while in the tin.

Streusel Topping:

1.  Melt 1/4 cup of butter.

2.  Mix the melted butter with 1/2 cup sugar, 1/3 cup flour, and 1 1/2 tsp cinnamon.

3.  I then spooned the mixture on top of each muffin before baking.

Bake muffins at 400 degrees for approximately 20 minutes or until done.  Enjoy!

High Five For Friday

There are so many things going on.  Thankfully, it is Friday!  I'm linking up with Lauren from Lauren Elizabeth.  Here are the highlights of my week.

1.  It was so nice having Labor Day off.  Austin and I went to the park with Bella in the morning.  We also went to Liberty to walk around campus for awhile.

2.  Austin and I went to Starbucks for awhile on Tuesday.  

We enjoyed some time together and I applied to grad school.  Speaking of which...

3.  I got my official acceptance letter in the mail today.  I'm so excited for school!!

4.  Bella is adorable.  

Bella didn't want to get off the bed when I was trying to make it, so I made her into the bed.  She is way too cute.

5.  I found out my favorite bakery from back home is now making pig face cookies.  For those that know me well, I adore pigs; the cute, stuffed kind.  I actually used to collect cute, little stuffed pigs and figurines.  Anyway, I love that they make these now!

That's been my week.  Now I'm ready for a nice, relaxing weekend!

Changes

          I love this time of year.  It's a time of change.  I love the change in weather, the change in smells, the change in colors, the change in fashion.  I love it all.  This year, another change is taking place this fall.  I will be starting my masters degree.  I love school.  I am so excited to have the opportunity to go back and do some more studying.  I'm thankful for a chance to go back to such a great school.  I did my undergrad degree at Liberty University and I have the privilege of doing my masters degree there as well.

          I will be doing my course work online, which will definitely be different than going to class each day.  I am going to be continuing to work full time as a leasing consultant while doing my masters degree full time online.  It has taken me a long time to decide what to study.  

         I finally decided on a Master of Arts in Teaching in Secondary Education with an English Endorsement.  I can't wait for the opportunities I will have with this degree and I know I will love studying this. 

          It has definitely been a very busy time for Austin and me.  We have been adjusting into our jobs  and our new life here.  Our apartment is coming along very nicely.  We have slowly been acquiring furniture through numerous yard sales.  I am so happy with how our home is looking.  There are still a few pieces we are looking for, but we have really enjoyed hunting for everything and finding great deals.  I love watching our home develop little by little.