Sorry I don’t have a better photo of this…I’m notoriously bad at forgetting to take pics of my Thanksgiving food!

Fall Salad with Butternut Squash and Apples

inspired by Healthy Food for Living

Ingredients:

• 1 butternut squash, peeled, seeded and chopped into 1 inch cubes
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 tablespoons maple syrup
• salt
• pepper
• 4-5 cups baby spinach
• 1 chopped apple (I used Pink Lady)
• 1/2 cup dried cranberries
• 2 ounces crumbled goat cheese
• 1/3 cup toasted pecans
• Apple Butter Vinaigrette, recipe below

Toss butternut squash with olive oil, maple syrup, salt and pepper.  Bake at 400 degrees F for 25 minutes.  Allow squash to cool slightly, then toss in a large bowl with spinach, apple, cranberries, goat cheese, pecans and Apple Butter Vinaigrette.

Apple Butter Vinaigrette

Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
• 2 tablespoons apple butter (This would also be delicious with pumpkin butter)
• kosher salt and pepper, to taste

Whisk together all ingredients.

This has become my go-to recipe when I’m craving something baked and apple-y and short on time.  Obviously I didn’t invent Apple Crisp, but this is how I make it.  I usually don’t measure the ingredients.  I just throw it all together.  But this time I measured, just for you.  I make mine in a 16 ounce ramekin, using just one apple.  This could be enough for 2 people to share….if you feel like sharing.  Since The Picky Apple and The Littlest Apple won’t eat Apple Crisp (crazies!), I usually eat half and save the rest for later.  Or eat it all in one sitting.  I’m currently eating for two, right?  Just kidding.  Do yourself a favor and save half for later.  My version is heavy on the topping because that’s how I like it.

Apple Crisp

recipe by me

Ingredients:

• 1 apple, peeled and cut into 1″ chunks (I use whatever kind of apples we have on hand, usually Pink Lady or Sweetango Apples)
• 3 tablespoons cold butter
• 4 tablespoons brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons flour
• 2 tablespoons oats
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/4 cup pecan pieces
• dash of kosher salt

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

Layer the apple chunks in the bottom of the ramekin or other baking dish.

For topping: Cut the butter into small pieces.  In a small bowl, cut together butter, brown sugar, flour, cinnamon and salt until mixture is crumbly and well combined.  Stir in oats and pecans.

Pour topping on top of apples, and press down slightly.  Bake at 400 degrees F for approximately 30 minutes.

I’d love to create t-shirts or a tote bag with some apple prints like this next year.  Time to move on to some Thanksgiving and Christmas crafts!

First you tear strips of brown construction paper and glue them down to form the tree trunks and branches.  Then you use an empty toilet paper roll or paper towel roll to stamp on the “apples.”  So cute, right?!

But this was one of those days when the boys were so busy playing that they weren’t much interested in art.  And when they finally DID sit down to paint and create, they were not interested in ripping and gluing the brown paper (that surprised me, since my guy LOVES to rip and glue!).  They only wanted to stamp the circles.  And you know what?  That was okay too.  We’ve never stamped like this before so it was still a new experience.  A new method of painting.  And then my spirited child started throwing his paint covered paper towel roll on the ground just for fun, eliciting giggles from our well behaved friend and effectively ending art time.

I haven’t hosted Art Playgroup in about a month, and I miss it dearly.  I fully intend to resume our Art Playgroup once we get into the routine of school and after The Littlest Apple recovers from his upcoming surgery.  I’m planning to sit down next week to brainstorm some “original” arts and crafts ideas….I LOVE all of the inspiration blogs provide, but I’d love to have some unique projects I can call my own!  (I’ve got some big dreams in that area…maybe I’ll share them soon!)

Speaking of APPLES, have you seen my cute new button over there in the sidebar?  I’ve had several requests for a button, and here it is!  Thanks so much to all of my readers for your continued support!

The Littlest Apple has thoroughly enjoyed playing with this bin.  He likes to transfer the apples from the bin to a bowl using tongs, and scoops the beans, stirs the beans….okay, and throws the beans too.

This morning I got out the sensory tub for a playdate.  This was the first time I’ve done that, and it kept the boys busy for quite a while.  They sat facing each other on a quilt on opposite sides of the bin with bowls, tongs, and scoops.  This turned out to be a really great playdate activity (especially when there are just 2 kids).  I LOVE sensory bins!

This playdough would be perfect to go along with all of those apple crafts I’m seeing on all the blogs right now!  I’ve got an apple-themed sensory bin (inspired by No Time For Flashcards) coming soon!

Apple Pie Scented Playdough

Ingredients:

• 1 cup flour
• 1/2 cup salt (use iodized, not kosher for smoother dough)
• 1 Tablespoon olive oil
• 1 Tablespoon cream of tartar
• 1 cup water
• Red food coloring (I use the Wilton gel colors)
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/8 teaspoon ground allspice
• 1/8 teaspoon ground cardamom

Stir ingredients together well in pot.  Over medium heat cook the dough, stirring constantly until it forms a ball.  Turn dough onto a board (or the countertop) and knead until very smooth.  Cool.  Store in a covered plastic container.

If I was really on-the-ball, I would have given The Littlest Apple an apple shaped cookie cutter.  Need to get one of those!  For now, we’re using our fall leaves, some cinnamon sticks, popsicle sticks, and a rolling pin.

I’m sharing this post with:

Here’s a delicious and easy dip to throw together for snacking during the holidays when you’ve got a house full of people.  I found the recipe on Mommy’s Kitchen.  Tina has so many great looking recipes to try, so definitely head on over and check out her blog!  I did change the measurements up a little, and my changes are reflected below.  I served with my favorite Pink Lady Apples.  Yummy!

Caramel Apple Dip

from Mommy’s Kitchen

Ingredients:

• 8 oz cream cheese, softened
• 1/4-1/2 cup caramel sauce
• 2 tablespoons brown sugar
• 1 jar marshmallow cream
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/c cup Heath English toffee bits
• sliced apples

Blend cream cheese and marshmallow cream in a medium mixing bowl until creamy. Add the caramel sauce, brown sugar and vanilla and blend until smooth. Transfer to a decorative bowl. Drizzle more caramel sauce over the top and sprinkle generously with toffee bits. Place the bowl in the center of a decorative platter, surround with freshly sliced apples and serve.

I’m SO not a food stylist….

When I saw that Peabody and Tartelette were hosting Time to Make the Doughnuts, I knew I wanted to participate.  I briefly considered making beignets, having just had Mardi Gras and New Orleans on the brain.  As I mentioned in my King Cake post, I used to live in Louisiana, and whenever we went to New Orleans, we always had beignets at Cafe Du Monde at least once or twice during our stay.  Ah, the smell of fried dough and coffee in the air, the tables and chairs slightly sticky from all the powdered sugar.  I’ve made beignets once or twice before.  Beignets are delicious and fairly simple to make, but I’ve been craving apple fritters.  Besides, I’ve never made apple fritters, and there’s something really satisfying about trying/creating a new recipe that turns out well, don’t you think?   Notice how I said it’s satisfying when it turns out well.

My foray into the world of apple fritters seemed doomed from the get-go.  I had lots of trouble finding a recipe.  Many apple fritter recipes I ran across were for fried apple slices, which I’m sure are great, but not what I had in mind.  After finding a few recipes that were close to what I was looking for, I decided to do my own thing.

The key to any good donut is lots of hot oil because after all, donuts are fried dough.  I was low on oil, so decided to substitute Crisco.  Substitutions already?  That should be your first clue that things are about to go horribly wrong.  But how bad could it be?  Besides, the Crisco was butter flavored, so that should taste good, right?  Right?  WRONG.  Very very very wrong.  The first batch of apple fritters were overwhelmed by the yucky taste of artificial butter.  And they were too salty.  And the texture wasn’t quite right.  And the powdered sugar coating didn’t stick because I waited too long.  Need I go on?  All in all, disastrous.  The Picky Apple took one bite of his, and promptly spit it out and threw the rest in the trash.  I tried so hard to like them, thought maybe they would grow on me, but they did not.  I decided maybe it wasn’t meant to be….

But all weekend, I kept thinking about apple fritters, reading other entries in the doughnut event, and decided to give it one more try this afternoon with the event deadline looming.  I couldn’t stand being defeated by the apple fritters.  For my second attempt, I used oil and changed up my recipe a little.  This batch turned out much better  (because really, they couldn’t get much worse than that first batch!).   They still weren’t as good as the apple fritters from Shipley’s….not even close.  But they were decent, and I’m glad I attempted donuts for this event.

Apple Fritters

Fritter:

• 1 cup all purpose flour
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/3 cup milk
• 1 egg
• 1 cup chopped apple

Glaze:

• 2 cups powdered sugar
• 1 1/2 tablespoons milk

Directions:   Combine flour, sugar, salt, baking powder, cinnamon.  Stir in milk and egg until just combined.  Fold in apple.  Pour oil into skillet so that it is approximately 1 1/2 deep.  Heat oil on high.  Oil is ready when dough floats to top.  Carefully add dough to oil in heaping teaspoons.  Cook until brown, about 2 minutes, then flip.  Cook another 1-2 minutes, until both sides are browned.  Transfer briefly to paper towels to absorb excess oil, then transfer to cooling rack.  Make glaze by stirring milk and powdered sugar together in a small bowl.  Drizzle over apple fritters.  Wait approximately 3 minutes for glaze to harden, then flip fritters and drizzle glaze over the other side.  Best served warm.