Hey Y'all!
I hope everyone's week is off to a great start. I do apologize for my recent absence, but I have been out-of-town on biz-nassss. I know you all missed me :) Something I have noticed in reviewing previous posts is that I tend to get a tad lengthy in my blog entries, which keeps me from posting as often as I'd like. I have all this good stuff (well, at least I think it's good!) to share, and instead of picking and choosing the REALLY good stuff, I'm cramming it all into one post that takes me a long time to compose. With that said, I am going to do my best to be a bit more succinct in my future posts in hopes that I can post more than just three or four days a week. We'll see how it goes as I am a chatty Kathy by nature! Some highlights from the past few days:
I went to Demarest Farms in Hillsdale, NJ to go apple picking with a few girlfriends. We had been two years ago and loved the experience so we decided to go back!
If you examine the apple's listed on this board, you'll notice that my beloved Honey Crisp's (crack apples) are nowhere to be found. Needless to say, I was quite disappointed!
Check out this wierd apple!
Initially I thought it was bruised, but this little guy was in perfect condition (just slightly deformed)! There was a whole tree of these unique little apples.
Problem: overflowing apple bag. Solution: stuff additional apples in your Louis V!
These are my friends Le-La and Erin. Erin's dog Bella (she is a boxer) joined us for a girls day apple picking, and she was the hit of the apple orchard! She is probably one of the sweetest, well-behaved, and adorable dogs I have every met.
Muffin.
"Ladies, I know I'm gorgeous but please stop taking my photo!"
After apple picking, we grabbed some lunch and headed home to cook with our bounty of apples. The cooking experience was eventful to say the least, and MANY laughs were had. We decided not to follow specific recipes but to instead "wing it'. Note to self: never a good idea to wing it while baking!
1. We tried to make homemade apple cider= FAIL. It came out as homemade applesauce which we tried to liquefy by adding vodka and apple juice. I will say it was tasty, but it was NOT apple cider.
2. I wanted to make pumpkin Rice Crispi Treats with the pumpkin marshmallows I had seen while perusing the internet. I couldn't find them in the store, so decided to try to MAKE our own pumpkin marshmallow using pumpkin puree. FAIL. The marshmallow was not sticky due to the escaping water from the pumpkin puree. The Rice Crispi's turned to a soggy, oatmealish consistency. For the record, they tasted nothing like a Rice Crispi treat, but they did taste good in a strange way. hahaha.
3. We substituted and added certain ingredients to the batter for the Apple Spice Cupcakes we planned to make. Due to our edits, the cupcakes had a dense consistency and tasted like muffins. As muffins they were pretty good, but we were expecting cupcakes.SEMI FAIL.
All in all, we were left with a few apple muffins after spending hours concocting recipes. It was like we were running a test kitchen. Despite the demise of the treats we had planned on, we had more fun and laughs attempting to "wing it" and in effect screwing up these recipes.
While we bustled around my kitchen and proceeded to overheat my extremely tiny apartment, Toby curled up like a kitten in the living room and napped. Smart man.
I only have one recipe to add today as I have been away for the past 2 days. On Sunday evening I made White Bean Pumpkin Chili adapted from Skinny Taste. This dish is made in the crockpot so you can set it and forget it. I also made the Hearty Oat Loaf with honey butter that I made a few weeks back. This meal was perfect: seasonal, comforting, filling, easy and nutritious! I did adapt the recipe a bit and I added some additional spices (exta chilli powder and mexican spice mix) and chopped jalapeno. When I arrived home from my meeting tonight, I heated up the leftover chili, warmed some of the bread, and feasted. Perfecto. Ok, kids I am beyond exhausted. I failed miserably at making this a shorter post, but I had a few days to cover! Before I go I have a couple things for you to check out below:
Van Gogh's Starry Night painted on a pumpkin. Pretty amazing, right? I saw this last night when I was out to dinner with my fantastic co-workers.
Something to read and think about: I think the amount of focus the media has put on Lady GaGa's apparent weight gain is frankly disgusting. I realize she is in the public eye and that some of this criticism goes along with the negative aspects of being a celebrity; however, can you imagine if you gained 10 pounds and magazine articles and news segments were dedicated to bashing your weight gain?! I mean, that would make even the most confident person waver.Check out what GaGa did in response to this body shaming...
http://blisstree.com/look/photos-of-lady-gaga-in-her-underwear-inspire-body-revolution-294/
YOU GO GAGA!
xo
Sarah
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