A Season’s Change… part 2

Tea brewing: Peppermint/Women’s Herbal combo (Ahhhh… )

Hello dear Sis.  It’s been far too long since I’ve talked with you last.  As I look sit and ponder the changing of the seasons, I’ve realized that so much has happened.  So many things I must tell you about.  But first, I am very happy to see that my suggestions for your weekday blues made you feel much better!  I’d like to think that sitting by a window recharges one’s batteries, providing enough power to make it out of the horrible “rut of blues.”    I think your day ended up being wonderfully productive, as well.  And a big MMMMMMmmmmm….. on the delicious apple bread!  Those pictures make me want to head for the kitchen and start cooking, even if it is late.

On that note I suppose I could start to catch you up with all the happenings out my way.  My mom, nieces, and I went for our yearly apple orchard outing this past weekend.  Although, it was a lot of fun, sadly the orchard lost over 70% of its crop this year.  The orchard did an amazing job of recovering from the devastation.  By joining together with several other orchards, our go-to apple picking spot was able to stay open!  There were signs all over saying, “It’s raining apples!” For most of the day we were all confused.  “What are they talking about?”  It was only when we went out for a tractor ride among the trees, that we finally got the slogan.  Throughout the entire orchard, in every tree, was a “gutter” full of apples!  The owners of CL wanted to make sure that they didn’t just stay open, but were still able to provide a traditional family experience.  Over 3 miles of gutters were put in just for this cute little idea, too!  On the good side, it did make things a bit easier, for example no more apples out of reach at the tops of trees.  The workers had already picked them for everyone.  All the little children still got to go on the tractor ride, “pick” apples, and muck around in the raining weather wearing their cute galoshes!  Squee!  As always, we wait all year for the wonderful, hot, delicious apple cinnamon donuts that the orchard makes.  We came prepared, too, this year, with milk in hand.  I wish you could have seen the girls all bundled up, goofing around, and having fun!  I thought about getting you some apples while we were there, but given where you live, I think you have plenty 😉

Oh, and our little C got to come over and spend the night with the girls, too!  All of us, my mom included mind you, played Rock Band!  It was hilarious and fun and all around amazing.  We all took a field trip to 3 Game Stops that day getting an instrument and used games that were severely cheap!  I mean a game or .89, cheap!  After I don’t know how many updates, passwords, usernames, and Lord knows what else, we got back up online and had fun “rocking out.”  Did I mention the new instrument was a keyboard?  Now that was funny to see!!

I thought of you and ArmyC the other day, as well!  Why?  Well, I made my favorite soup to make in the Autumn and I thought of you.  But before that, I tried a new sushi and thought of Chris.  Hehe  I forgot to take a picture of the sushi right away, so I hope you won’t mind that a couple of pieces are missing 😀

The soup is called “Autumn Greens Soup”, and is basically all the in season greens with a potato and chicken stock.  However, there’s some chili flakes for unexpected, but not overwhelming, heat.  Little C came over a week later and really wanted to learn to cook.  So, she learned how to make this soup and had quite a time doing so!  Here’s a photo for you (don’t forget to scratch and sniff!).

On my way home today, I ran into MamaB and Babymama at the store.  Our sis cut off all her hair, and I barely recognized her!  I got to see pictures of our little nephew, and he is so adorable.  Definitely looks like his mommy, and eats Oreos like his mommy!

As always, I’ve been yarning away.  Just last week I sent out four packages for birthdays and a swap!  Whooo!  Now, I’m on to a shawl, a neck warmer, and who knows what else.  With the holidays right around the corner, I am desperately trying to keep my head down and focused on what needs to get made.  For the most part I believe I have 90% of the brainstorming and supplies gathering complete, it is the last 10% that is proving to be a bit buggy.  I’m either over inspired or not nearly enough so.  On a happier note, I am very excited, though, for our tea swap!  Too excited probably!  Naw… one can never be too excited for tea or a swap!!!

Oh, dear!  It’s gotten rather late on me tonight!  I best be off soon, for I have an early day tomorrow!  But before I go, I must tell you two things:

First, we have a new family member here at the green cottage, a four-legged one.  We affectionately call him Zeus, and he is the cutest little rolley-polley of a bulldog I’ve seen in some time!  Say hi Auntie M!

The second is that Buffalo says “Hi!”  and that he misses you!

Well, I lied.  There’s a third thing.  I love you and miss you terribly, Sis!

All the love in the world and speak with you soon, Li’l M <3.

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Penzey’s Apple Bread – Slightly Modified

As promised, here is the Apple Bread Recipe I used along with the modifications I made to it.  I don’t know why it took me so long to get this up here since I posted this on a forum about a week ago or so.  Anyway, just to reiterate, this is a Penzey’s Spices recipe.  I simply make comments.  Also, a few points during my comments, I make it clear that I did not use Penzey’s Spices.  While this is true, I don’t want to come off as if I don’t like their spices.  I simply didn’t have the needed spices from them, and didn’t think it would make such a difference in the outcome that I needed to obtain any before baking.  Anyway, here it is:

I found this stuffed in my recipe book today & decided that I’d try it. (Husband and I bought an insane amount of apples a couple weeks ago intending to bake pie or something, & I never got around to it.) It was one I’d picked up at a Penzey’s Spice shop once. It’s actually really good & goes well with, you guessed it, tea. I made some small changes…

…which I’ve bolded.

Apple Bread
Bread:

• 4 Cups apples, peeled, cored and chopped, (we used McIntosh) (I used 1 granny smith, 1 yellow delicious, & 2 small red something or others.)

• 4 large eggs

• 1 Cup vegetable oil (we like canola) (I used Wesson. Whatever; it’s all the same, no? 😛 )

• 2 tsp. pure vanilla extract

• 2 tsp. baking soda

• 2 tsp. salt

• 2 tsp. PENZEYS CINNAMON (Erm… I used whatever brand is hanging out in my cabinet. I can tell you it wasn’t Penzey’s.)

• 3 Cups all-purpose flour (we used unbleached) (Again, I used whatever is in the giant clear jar. I don’t know what it is b/c it fits a whole bag & then I throw said bag immediately into the recycle.)

• 2 Cups granulated white sugar

Topping:

• 3/4 Cup all-purpose flour

• 1/4 Cup granulated white sugar

• 2 tsp. PENZEYS CINNAMON (To repeat, I used whatever brand is hanging out in my cabinet. I can tell you it wasn’t Penzey’s.)

• 1/2 Cup butter (1 stick), room temperature

Preheat oven to 350°. Lightly grease two standard bread loaf pans and set aside. Peel, core and slice the apples. Cut into good-sized chunks, about 1 inch in size. (I decided this was nonsense & cut them into thinner slices. I let my husband play with his apple-corer-peeler-cuts-in-a-spiral thingy. The spiral comes off about a quarter inch thick, and then I just turned the apple back up and cut the entire spiraled apple into 6 wedges.) In a large bowl, beat the eggs with an electric mixer until fluffy. Add the oil and beat until combined. Add the vanilla extract, baking soda, salt and cinnamon. Beat until thoroughly mixed. Next, add the flour and sugar and mix on low just to blend. Turn the mixer to high and beat until mixture is smooth. The batter will be very thick, almost like cookie dough. Fold in the chopped apples, mixing by hand with a spoon so the apples do not get broken up. (I used my stand mixer so for this whole process so for this step, I just switched the paddle for the dough arm attachment. No apple bits were “broken up” or otherwise harmed due to this modification.) Divide the mixture between the two pans. Since the batter is so thick, it is easiest to spoon the batter into the pans. To prepare the topping, combine flour, sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl. Cut the butter into the mixture with a fork until all ingredients are moist and crumbly. If you don’t mind a little mess, it is faster to use your hands. Sprinkle equal amounts of topping on each loaf. Bake for about 1 hour on the center rack of the oven. The loaf should feel fairly firm when touched in the middle; if not, bake an extra 5 minutes. (After an hour and 5 minutes, neither loaf felt “firm” in the middle. I removed them anyway. Good thing, too, because they were getting a little too brown on the edges/bottom. They were fully cooked inside.) Remove from the oven and place on a cooling rack. Let cool for 5 minutes before removing from the pans. It is easier to slice the bread if you can wait until it is at least mostly cool.

Prep. time: 20 minutes
Baking time: 60-65 minutes
Yield: 2 loaves, 24 slices (No way does this make 24 slices. I got 16: 8 from each loaf. If you cut them thin enough to get 12 from each, you’ll have apple pile-of-crumbly-stuff, not apple bread-slices.)

Nutritional Information:
Servings 2; Serving Size 1 slice (80g); Calories 270; Calories from fat 120; Total fat 14g; Cholesterol 45mg; Sodium 330mg; Carbohydrate 36g; Dietary Fiber 1g; Sugars 20g; Protein 3g.

ETA:

Good luck, and I hope you enjoy!

❤ K