Baked Apple French Toast

Happy Monday! Did you have a good weekend? Are you staying warm? Today's recipe might help; it's Baked Apple French Toast from Work It, Mom!

I made this for breakfast with a friend. We had a great time, and I liked this because it was ready to throw in the oven early when I wasn't up to thinking very clearly. :D Plus, it was good - not too sweet, which I appreciate. I added extra cinnamon to the apples. :) The crusts on the baguette were a little difficult to cut through, so if I want to do a bit more prep work, I MIGHT cube all the bread, instead of just slicing it.

I served some bacon on the side, and it was a warming, comforting, easy breakfast! :)

OK, I'm outta here. Have a WONDERFUL day! Be blessed, friend!

Cream Cheese Apple Bread

It's FRIDAY!!!! We're home, trying to get back into the swing of things. :D BUSY time ahead of us, for SURE!

Today's recipe is for Cream Cheese Apple bread, from Today's Creative Blog.

Let me just say that Mom put this one together for me. So I don't know if the cream cheese vanished into the dough, or what happened - but it doesn't look like the one on the blog.

It IS a YES, PLEASE, recipe however! I made this for a Stampin' Up! class, and everyone loved it. It's incredibly moist and flavorful.

I think I'll keep the recipe, and maybe double the cream cheese part. I mean, I love cream cheese, so it can't HURT... :D

OK, I'm outta here. :D Have a WONDERFUL weekend. Be blessed, my friend!

Apple Pudding Cake with Cinnamon Caramel Sauce

It's FRIDAY!!! :D Are you thrilled? Or are you BUSY? (Both works... :) )

Today's recipe is for Apple Pudding Cake with Cinnamon Caramel Sauce from Betty Crocker's website.

I made this dessert for my 2013 Hostess Appreciation Luncheon for my Stampin' Up! hostesses; it's a perk for ONLY my hostesses from the past year. We all get together, I make a homemade-everything lunch, and we do projects that I won't ever teach anywhere else. There are door prizes, and lots of fun, but it's USUALLY the food that wins the day. :D

This year wasn't any exception. This cake. OH, THIS CAKE. It's DEFINITELY a YES, PLEASE! It's easy, SUPER moist, decadent, and did I mention how GOOD it is? :D

Honestly, the cake was good on its own. The caramel sauce put it completely over the top; I felt guilty for even LOOKING at it. :D I did double the recipe and put it into a 13x9 pan. That's the only thing I did differently.

OK, I'm outta here, friends. Have a WONDERFUL weekend! Be BLESSED!

Caramel Apple Stuffed Biscuits

Welcome to Wednesday! Are you having a good week? I'm spending most of today with a dear friend, and I'm so looking forward to it! :)

Today's review is for another recipe; this one is for Caramel Apple Stuffed Biscuits from Cookies & Cups.

First, let me say I took the lazy way out; I used canned biscuit instead of mixing up the Bisquick. Mom had given us a 5-count can of Grands, and I wanted to use it before it went bad. Also, I haven't had a chance to put together a home version of Bisquick yet, and I don't want all the unhealthy stuff that is in it. (I know, like the Grands were any better...)

Anyway. That made this recipe super easy. :) And they were surprisingly yummy! Just enough glaze stuck to the tops - most of it ran off. :D The filling was tasty, and when they were warm, they perfumed the air with that wonder fall smell of cinnamon and apples. :)

If you're looking for a quick something to make, either for breakfast, dessert, or a quick snack, I think these fit the bill just fine - that's a YES, PLEASE! :) If you're cooking for someone who has to watch their carb intake, this is a NO, THANK  YOU. Whew!

Have a wonderful day! Be BLESSED!!!

Baked Apples

Welcome to Friday! I hope you've had a great week!

Today's review is this recipe from Skinny Chef for Baked Apples.

I was SO disappointed in this recipe. It's a NO, THANK YOU - even though it smelled heavenly. Yes, I overbaked the apples - I did it in the oven, because I had it on a low temp for banana bread - but that wasn't it at all. The filling was simply not good. So I might play with the METHOD, but not that combo of ingredients again.

I also bent one of Kenn's grapefruit spoons trying to use it to core my apples! :D I found that my melon-baller worked fantastically, as long as I didn't try to force it to do too much at once.

OK, I'm outta here! Another busy weekend coming up. :) Have a wonderful day! Be BLESSED!

Colossal Caramel Apple Trifle

It's FRIDAY!!!! :D Have you had a good week? Did you get everything done that you wanted? Do you have big plans to relax this weekend, or anything FUN!??! :D We're wrapping up our show this weekend - it seems our weekends are busier than most of our weekdays.... :D

Anyway! Today's recipe is yet another TASTE OF HOME recipe, this time for Colossal Caramel Apple Trifle. And for another recipe for basic crepes from allrecipes.com. That one's for my own idea, which you'll get for FREE! :D

First, let me say: when the original recipe says, "Colossal", that is what it means!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It's made for church potlucks, and it would feed fifty people!

We got the ingredients to make the WHOLE thing, then I spent some time studying the recipe.

First modification: we didn't want to make it in a big trifle bowl - let alone a punch bowl! - because we need portion control around here. So I decided to make them in individual trifle bowls.

For the cake layers, I made a yellow cake in a jelly roll pan; when I was ready to assemble the trifle, I used one of the trifle dishes to cut out the cake circles, and then even cut them in half lengthwise - it was a lot of cake for those dishes! We used sugar-free pudding, and lower-sugar apple pie filling.

Because we were using the individual trifle dishes, I could only fit one layering of the trifle in. But that was enough!

This is not a light, fluffy dessert, people. It's very filling - and very good! And very, very sweet. I'm keeping this recipe, but in a "good recipe to have" file, not my favorites. I can't imagine making this for anything BUT a ptch-in again, and even then, I'd probably still half the original recipe. It's a LOT of trifle!

I had SO MUCH of the layering stuff left! I got struck with an idea, however: we do a make-your-own-crepe breakfast on Christmas Morning. (We make the crepes ahead, and just warm them up that morning.) Why not put the ingredients out, so we could make a crepe with the pudding and apples as filling?

So that's what I did - mostly so I could show you! :D I put a spoonful of the spiced pudding down on the crepe, then the apples. I didn't add the caramel, because apples already don't do nice things to my blood sugar, and I didn't need the extra problem! :) It was good - but again, VERY filling.

So, there you have it, people. I actually took the concept and created two new dishes. LOL!

Have a wonderful weekend! Try something new! And let me know you're reading this, because I'm feeling like I'm whistling in the dark. :D BE BLESSED!!!

Cinnamon Apple Walnut Pancakes

Good Friday Morning! How are you today? Have you had a good week?

Kenn and I are doing a show in Lebanon; if you want info, PLEASE ask me! Anyway. I decided we should treat ourselves to a good breakfast today. (And yes, that means my cooking and Kenn whisking his away to work. <sigh> :D ) So, I chose these pancakes from CinnamonSpice & Everything Nice .

Now, first thing you'll notice on my photo is that I forgot to put on the walnuts. Oops! It would have been nice for the crunch, but I'm having a tooth issue, so it's probably best I forgot. :D

I'm definitely giving these a YES, PLEASE! They're really light pancakes, which surprised me. I would recommend letting the batter sit for 5 - 10 minutes before cooking them, because the cinnamon took a bit to bloom. Kenn thought they were a bit bland; by the time I cooked and ate mine, they were nice and flavored.

In case you didn't know, you don't have to worry about having real buttermilk. This recipe calls for 1 cup; all you have to do is pour in enough milk for a SCANT cup, then top it off with lemon juice. Let it sit while you work on the dry ingredients, then proceed. Viola! Buttermilk! :D

I follow this blog; she's got great ideas and wonderful recipes. Just so you know. :)

Have a WONDERFUL weekend! Treat yourself to something new! :) BE BLESSED!

Part two: Apple Fritters

Good Monday Morning! Did you have a great weekend? Praying you did.

So, you're back for part two, right? :D

The recipe is brought to you from SeeminglyGreek. I didn't know apple fritters were Greek, but whatever! :D

Now. Fritters are meant to be FRIED. I know that. But I also know that I've been cooking a LOT around here, and that I didn't need anything fried! Nor did my family. So I know I did it more of a cake than a fritter, because I cooked them in what? Yeah, my cupcake baker. :D So they're not the crunch little nuggets that you'll get when you fry them.

And these fritters formed into cupcakes more than the cake batters I've used in the baker in the past! So odd. but anyway. :)

They're not overly sweet. I didn't make the glaze for them, and the confectioner's sugar didn't really stick to them. More like in the little cracks that formed on top. :D

But I'll give this a YES, PLEASE! They were moist, and fit the bill for a healthy snack. There's little sugar IN them. Be careful cutting up your apple! I cut BOTH thumbs, and had to get my dad to finish chopping my apple for me. It was one of THOSE days. AUGH!! :D But he didn't mind, since he was getting a treat from it. :D (He also bandaged my thumbs. Thanks, Dad!)

I did have to thin the batter out. It was too thick for me. And I used the medium-sized cookie scoop from Pampered Chef to scoop into the baker - it was the perfect amount!

OK, I'm outta here. :) Have a WONDERFUL, blessed day. And try something NEW!