Making Meatballs

Yesterday, Nolan asked if he could help me make meatballs! It's been awhile since we've had that for dinner, so we made some today.

Here they are rolling them...

Good job guys!

In line to wash the meat off their hands...


They came out yummy! They can't wait to eat them for supper...with no sauce of course. What is with my guys and tomato sauce?

Cooking with the boys

We had some friends over for dinner last night!

On the menu was bbq pork chops, seasoned green beans, cinnamon apples, my special mashed potatoes, rolls and a summery salad! It was delicious!

For dessert, we made lemon squares and cheesecake swirl brownies!

My boys love to help me cook...here they are eating their apple snakes, as I peeled and cut up the apples!

Apple Crisp

I love to cook with apples. I especially love to cook with them in the fall....it just feels right!

Yesterday, I made apple crisp! I just love the smell of baking apples :)

Remember my apple pie catastrophe?

Here are the pics of the end result. The first pie was was gone by that first night. I think my dad ate three pieces, lol.

They came out very good. Although they don't look quite the same, they were actually better for you since it cuts out all of the shortening in the top crust.

Adventures in Pie Making!

For those that don't know, my parents have some apple trees in their front yard. Even though they weren't sprayed much this year, they still produce an abundance of apples. They weren't too pretty on the outside, but the inside is quite delicious.

I decided to make apple pies. You know, because I had soooo much time on my hands.

I peeled, cored and cut up the apples. So far so good.

I made the pie crust. It came out great....or so I thought. (I did notice that the shortening looking weird, but figured it was nothing)

If you make pies, you know how nice it feels to make the perfect dough. That is the way I felt.

Then I tried to roll it out. It wouldn't.

Somehow I managed to roll out two bottom crusts and get them into the pie plates. I loaded them with apples and the rest of my secret ingredients. (like sugar, cinnamon, lemon juice, butter and maple syrup)

I could not roll out a top crust. It kept cracking and the more flour you added, the worse it became, and it stuck to everything!

I figured I would just make another batch. Wrong. No flour left, no shortening left.

I ended up (with the advice of my mom) to make a Jiffy mix crust for the top. There was just enough to roll out two tops for my pies.

Needless to say, it smells yummy, and it doesn't look t0o bad either. I'll be sure to post pics when they come out of the oven, lol.

(did I mention that my boys were at each other's throats once I started making these pies? That just added to my frustration!)

Bread

There is something about making pumpkin bread with fresh pumpkin that you cooked up and pureed.

Yum!