Once You Go Homemade

Let me tell you something.

Once you go homemade with salsa, you will not want to go back.  I was inspired by my friends Mindy and Caroline, and their absolutely delicious salsa, to try my hand at it after they convinced me it wasn't hard.  It seemed like it would be, but they were so right!  It's not hard!!  You can do it!  You can use recipes or just play around with your favorite salsa flavorings and ingredients, but if you are a salsa lover you need to go to Target, get you a cheap Black and Decker food processor like I did, and start experimenting.

Do it.  Go homemade. You will be so happy you did!!  And if you eat it in the volume I do, you will never, I repeat never, be low on lycopene in your diet.  :)

Whole Wheat Apple Autumn Bread

My friend Patti had some extra apples from a bushel her sister had brought her from Virginia.  Knowing how much I like to bake she was generous enough to share some with me, and I wanted to bake some brown apple bread with molasses.  I checked in some of my cookbooks and googled a bunch of recipes but just wasn't finding what I was looking for.  So I made up a recipe using fall flavors and ingredients I enjoy using, and was pleasantly surprised that my efforts turned into two savory, fairly healthful loaves of bread!

The following is the recipe I came up with, which I'll call Whole Wheat Apple Autumn Bread...

Preheat oven to 350. Take 5 good sized apples and peel and wedge them. Put the wedges in a food processor and pulse until it is fairly pureed but still a bit chunky, sort of like homemade applesauce. Mix apples with the following: 2 cups brown sugar, 3 eggs, 1/3 cup apple cider, 1/3 cup molasses, 1/2 cup oil, 2 cups of whole wheat flour, 1 1/2 cups white flour. Add in 1 tsp salt, 2 tsp baking soda, 1 TBSP cinnamon, 1 tsp cloves, 1 tsp ginger, 1 tsp nutmeg, and 1 tsp apple pie spice. Pour batter into two greased and floured loaf pans. Bake for 55-60 minutes or until done.

These two loaves had quite a few taste testers including piano students and parents and of course my most honest critics, the kiddos!  The verdict was positive - everyone seemed to enjoy it, and my kids gobbled it up, and kept asking for more for breakfast and afternoon snacks.  

It's a great time of year for apples, so find some good ones and bake away!!

$6 Idea

So, a thick Vera Bradley headband can run you anywhere from $15 to $24.

But a Vera Bradley napkin cost me $6 and did the job quite well!

Lunch Notes

This was a lunch note I slipped in Madi's lunchbox one day last week...

You can guess the conversation we'd had on the way home the day before!  When I was little it was that my friend Heather had salad with toppings in a lazy susan and spam sandwiches (can you believe that one, lol?!) at her house.  I think my mom did the salad topping thing once or twice to humor me, but I got the veto on the spam sandwich, and now I get why!

I guess the grass (or lunchbox, or dinner table) is always greener!

And Mom, if you're reading this, next time you cook dinner for us the whole salad topping thing would be kind of nice to revisit....   :)

New Discovery!

I made a new discovery a few weeks ago.  And it has changed my opinion on candy corn.

Not that in the scheme of life my opinion on candy corn really mattered, but nonetheless, it changed.  See, I was never a huge fan of candy corn in terms of eating it - I used it more for decorating.  And I would eat a piece (kernel?) or two but then it just got kind of old and too sweet.  And I would think that if I was going to splurge on candy I'd rather be eating something with chocolate and peanut butter.

But this fall I discovered something, first in a jar at a friend's house and then in a bag at Aldi, that perked my interest.  And it prompted me to try something I had never tried before...

Candy Corn and Peanuts

An epic combination.  The perfect marriage of sweet and chewy to salty and crunchy.  I prefer about a three to one ratio peanuts to candy corn, a statement which I realize makes me sound like a total food nerd but, whatever!! It is delicious and addicting. Is this a new combination or have I been missing out on this one for years??  Either way, I'm glad I discovered it!  I have had the grandmother of all ear infections for about 4 weeks now and when they put me on my third (yes, third) different antibiotic to try to kill it the doctor said to take it with a glass of water and a snack.  Several times I have washed that baby down with a handful or two of this mixture, using the whole "take it with a snack" instruction as an excuse.  ;)

Here's to new discoveries and fresh opinions on an old treat!

Dear Blog,

I miss you.

I really do.

There have been so many moments over the past few weeks that I have longed to sit down and share something funny, something special, something trivial, or something meaningful with you.

But there has been company to spend time with, conferences to go, girls to disciple, sheets to be washed for more company, bread to be baked, kids to be read to, people in need of encouragement, work to be done, lessons to be taught, weddings and celebrations to be prepare music for, friends to invest in, hospitals to visit, love to be shared, doctor's appointments and prescriptions to be picked up, meals to be cooked, time to be spent with God, and so much more.

And occasionally there's even been this thing called sleep that I like to participate in every once in awhile.

But I wanted you to know you are missed, because there is something uniquely special about getting to share from both the rushing rivers and the deep wells of my heart through the written word and snapshots of life.

And I was reminded this week, in a serious circumstance and time of need, that sometimes these drops of water fall on very thirsty souls that desperately needed a drink.  

So I will write more soon of both the sunshine and shade, the inspiring and mundane, both for my own expression and in hopes to water more thirsty hearts.

But in the meantime, I just wanted you to know I've been missing you.  You've been a good friend to me the past year, and in many ways have knit my heart closer to others in a way that I didn't realize would happen.

So thanks for every empty page that was waiting to be filled, because sometimes empty pages bring forth rich and full blessings.

With gratitude this November morning,

Jennifer

The Good News Is...

Monday morning my husband, son, and I were quietly riding on our way to an appointment when out of nowhere my son says, "The good news, Daddy, is that I just saw a wot of motorcycles."

Sure enough, we had passed a Harley Davidson lot and Trev had indeed seen "a wot" of motorcycles out of his window.

But I had to smile because he often shares random statements out of the blue like that which start with the phrase, "The good news is...."  I love his sincere optimism, happy heart, and the positive way he views life.

The good news is, I have a son named Trevor who is gifted at finding good news in his little world to share.   :)