Caramel Apple Munch Mix-The Perfect Autumn Treat to Share!

Caramel Apple Munch Mix

 

Ingredients:

1 Box of Apple Cinnamon Chex Cereal

4 cups Caramel Bugles (2 small bags)

2 cups Kraft Caramel Bits

2 cups Honey Roasted Peanuts

2 bags (2.5 oz) bags of dried apple chips, caramel flavor

 

Directions:

Mix all ingredients in a large bowl, and put in storage containers to share with friends.

Portable Breakfasts: Sausage Egg & Cheese Muffins and Apple Walnut Pull-Apart Muffins

Mornings are often rushed during the school year, and many Mommies and Daddies find themselves rushed to eat a healthy and filling breakfast before they head to school or work. My son takes FOREVER to eat and thus often doesn't get enough to sustain him before lunchtime at school. The answer-quick portable breakfast options that can be made ahead and frozen.

Here are two recipes for portable on-the-go breakfast goodies. 

Enjoy and remember that you are dearly loved and prayed for daily! This song by Laura Story entitled "Grace" has been a blessing to me. I am so thankful for God's Daily Sufficient Grace!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=51LGsPMKeAE

 

Apple Walnut Pull-Apart Muffins

Ingredients:
1 bag frozen dinner rolls, thawed (I used Parker House Rolls)
2 Golden Delicious apples, chopped and peeled

1/3 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup walnuts, finely chopped
2 teaspoons cinnamon
4 Tablespoons butter, melted

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray 2 (12 cup) muffins pans (I used 2 (6 cup) jumbo muffin pans) with non-stick cooking spray.

Mix together the chopped apples, brown sugar, walnuts, and cinnamon until well combined.
Using a pair of kitchen scissors, cut each roll into thirds.

Place 3 small roll pieces in the bottom of each muffin cup. Drizzle about a half of the melted butter on top of the roll pieces. Then top with the apple mixture. Next, layer the remaining pieces of bread dough on top and brush the tops with your remaining melted butter. Let rise for about an hour (or until rolls have doubled in size).

Bake for 30-35 minutes, until tops are golden brown and the middle rolls are done . Make a glaze of powdered sugar and milk and drizzle that on top of the warm muffins.

To freeze prepared muffins, wait until they have completely cooled and place muffins on a cookie sheet. Place in the freezer for 1 hour to flash freeze. Remove the cookie sheet and put each muffin into a Ziploc bag to store in the freezer. When you are ready to eat one, take it out of the freezer and place on a plate or paper towel in the microwave. Microwave for 1 minute and enjoy!

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Healthy Sausage, Egg and Cheese Muffins

Ingredients: 1 lb. ground lean turkey sausage, drained 1 tsp onion powder or minced onion 3 cups all-purpose low-fat baking mix (Bisquick) 1 (10.75 oz) can condensed fiesta nacho cheese soup 2 cups shredded reduced fat Mexican Cheddar cheese 3/4 cup lowfat buttermilk Directions: Cook sausage and onion in a large skillet over medium to med-high heat, stirring until it crumbles and no longer pink. Drain and cool.Preheat oven to 375. Combine sausage, baking mix, and shredded cheese in a large bowl. Make a well in the center of the mixture. Stir together the soup and water; add to sausage mixture, stirring just until dry ingredients are moistened. Spoon until generously greased muffin tins, filling to tops of cups. Bake for 15-18 minutes or until lightly browned. Makes 12 standard-sized muffins.   To freeze, allow muffins to cool completely. Put cooled muffins in individual ziploc bags and store until ready to eat. Place muffin on papertowel and microwave for 45 seconds to 1 minute. Enjoy!

Pioneer Woman's Prune Cake

 

My dear hubby loves prunes so when I saw last week's episode of the Pioneer Woman's show on the Food Network, I knew I had to make her "Grandma Iny's Breakfast Prune Cake".  I went to Sam's Club and bought a bulk bag of prunes and made it this morning. It smells heavenly and you can totally pass some healthy prunes off on your non-suspecting children or spouse :-). It is like a spice cake with a caramel glaze on top. I posted the recipe below, but you can view it on Pioneer Woman's website if you prefer (http://tastykitchen.com/recipes/desserts/grandma-inye28099s-prune-cake/?print=1/#sizeFP).

I never keep buttermilk on hand because it can be so easily made. For every 1 cup of buttermilk that you need, stir 1 Tablespoon of lemon juice OR vinegar into 1 cup of milk. Stir and let sit for 5 minutes before using in your recipe.

 

Have a Beautiful day dear friends! You are prayed for and loved dearly by your Heavenly Father!

Oh How He Loves You and Me!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TCunuL58odQ

Prune Breakfast Cake

Ingredients

• FOR THE CAKE:
• 1 cup Prunes
• 1 cup Sugar
• 3 whole Eggs
• 1 cup Canola Oil
• 1-½ cup Flour, Sifted
• 1 teaspoon Baking Soda
• 1 teaspoon Nutmeg
• 1 teaspoon Allspice
• 1 teaspoon Cinnamon
• 1 cup Buttermilk
• 1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
• _____
• FOR THE ICING:
• 1 cup Sugar
• ½ cups Buttermilk
• ½ teaspoons Baking Soda
• 1 Tablespoon White Corn Syrup
• ¼ cups Butter
• ½ teaspoons Vanilla

Preparation Instructions

Preheat oven to 300 degrees.
Cover prunes with water. Bring to a boil and cook until soft and mashable, about eight minutes. Remove from heat, drain water, and mash on a plate. Set aside.
Mix together oil, sugar, and eggs. In a separate bowl, sift together dry ingredients. Combine wet and dry ingredients, add buttermilk and vanilla and stir gently until just combined. Throw in the mashed prunes and stir gently to combine. DO NOT OVERMIX!
Pour batter into buttered baking dish (9 x 13 or so) and bake for 35 to 40 minutes. DO NOT OVERBAKE OR INY WILL PADDLE YOUR BOTTOM.
While cake has five minutes remaining, make the icing:
Combine all icing ingredients in a medium saucepan over medium heat and bring to a slow boil. Boil without stirring for 5 to 7 minutes, or until icing starts to turn dark. Do NOT allow icing to reach soft ball stage; icing should be caramel in color, but not sticky like caramel. Icing should be easily pourable.
Remove cake from oven and pour on icing immediately.
Allow to rest on the counter. Serve warm.
NOTE: There is absolutely zero “prune effect” associated with this cake. The end.

 

Adoption Updates and Opportunities

For those of you who are interested you can follow our Adoption Journey here:
http://www.emmacharity.blogspot.com/

We are hosting an online auction in October, and would love donations from other bloggers or friends. The details are outlined here:
http://www.emmacharity.blogspot.com/2012/09/request-for-donations-for-upcoming.html

Our latest status:
http://www.emmacharity.blogspot.com/2012/09/documents-in-russia-wait-begins.html

Other Opportunities to help:
http://www.emmacharity.blogspot.com/2012/09/adoption-updatenew-region-new.html

Pumpkin Spice Kisses

Stop what you are doing right now and run to your closest Target or grocery store and buy as many bags of Pumpkin Spice Hershey Kisses as you can find. Seriously! These special edition Hershey Kisses are unbelievably yummy. My hubby and I sampled a few to celebrate the first day of Autumn last week, and it was super hard to restrain ourselves from eating them all in order to save some for this recipe. The same dear friend who sent me the recipe for the awesome Pumpkin Poppers that I recently posted sent me this recipe for Pumpkin Spice Kisses Cookies. They are AMAZING! The spiced cookie is incredible and the Kiss on top makes it over-the-top yummy. The original recipe can be found here: http://jujugoodnews.com/pumpkin-spice-kiss-cookies/ . I posted the recipe below, with my changes. I substituted pumpkin pie spice for the spices she used, and I added a few tips to help during the baking process.

Have a Blessed Weekend Dear Friends! You are dearly loved and prayed for!! I pray that you can give your worries and burdens to God and rest in His peace and faithfulness as you trust Him for everything that weighs heavy on your heart.

Psalm 68:19

"Praise be to the Lord, to God our Savior,
    who daily bears our burdens."

 

Pumpkin Spice Kisses

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups sugar
1/2 cup butter
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 eggs
2 3/4 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 generous teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
1 package Pumpkin Spice Hershey Kisses

 

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Unwrap Hershey Kisses and set aside.

 2. In a large mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar. Add vanilla and eggs and beat until light and fluffy.

 3. In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, and ginger. Gradually add to butter mixture. Mix until just combined.

 4. Place rounded tablespoonfuls 1 inch apart on a parchment lined cookie sheet. (Spray your parchment paper with PAM or the cookies will stick!). Bake 8 to 10 minutes. Remove from oven and immediately press a Hershey Kiss into the center of the cookie. Move to a cooling rack to finish cooling. I stuck the plate of cookies in the frig for 15 minutes so the kisses would harden before I wrapped the dish in plastic wrap.

Cinnamon Sugar Pumpkin Poppers

My love for pumpkin is widely known by those closest to me, so when one of my dear friends saw this recipe she immediately sent it my way. I made them this weekend for our Sunday School brunch, and they were absolutely delicious! They are probably one of the best things I have ever made. These little donut poppers taste decadent, like they were bought in a gourmet bakery (according to my husband). And, one friend said they taste "fancy" :-). And, I fully believe that everyone needs a little fancy in their life :-).

 I followed the recipe from the "Clever Housewife" with the exception of adding a teaspoon of pumpkin pie spice to the topping mixture. I wanted to give it an extra Autumnal flair. The original recipe can be found here:

http://www.keyingredient.com/recipes/14359248/pumpkin-poppers-clever-housewife/

 I have posted the recipe below with my change added.

 Make these today, but don't expect them to last long. My son was popping them in his mouth one right after another :-). They are the perfect Fall treat to enjoy on crisps mornings with coffee, hot tea, or cocoa.

 Our family has had a challenging month on so many levels. This song by Kristian Stanfill continues to bless and encourage my heart. No matter what you are going through, God will come through ALWAYS!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hN7L3m9jIcc

 Psalm 40:11
LORD, don’t hold back your tender mercies from me. Let your unfailing love and faithfulness always protect me.

 

Cinnamon Sugar Pumpkin Poppers

Ingredients: 1¾	cups all-purpose flour
2	tsp baking powder
½	tsp salt
½	tsp cinnamon
½	tsp nutmeg
½	tsp allspice
⅛	tsp ground cloves
⅓	cup vegetable oil
½	cup brown sugar
1	egg
1	tsp vanilla extract
¾	cup pumpkin (fresh or canned, but not pumpkin pie filling)
½	cup low-fat milk
	For Coating:
1	stick of unsalted butter, melted
⅔	cup granulated sugar
2	Tbs cinnamon plus 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350° and spray your muffin pans with nonstick cooking spray.
Combine all the dry ingredients in one bowl and whisk till combined.
In another bowl, mix together the remaining ingredients (oil, brown sugar, egg, vanilla, pumpkin and milk).
Pour the dry ingredients into the wet and mix until just combined (do not overmix).
Using a cookie scoop, fill mini muffin tins until almost full. There should be plenty of batter to do this. Bake for 10-12 minutes. While Poppers are baking, melt your butter (I melt mine in a bowl in the microwave for 45 seconds).
In a small bowl combine your sugar, pumpkin pie spice and cinnamon.
Let the poppers cool for a few minutes before rolling them around in the melted butter and then plunging them into their cinnamon sugar bath. Set pumpkin poppers on parchment paper to completely cool before devouring J.
Enjoy!

 

Yarn & Felt Fall Wreath with a Wild Side

Happy Autumn my friends! The earth is full of His Glory! So thankful today for cooler temperatures, the warmth of family, the smells of pumpkin and cloves, and the taste of hot cocoa and tea. Autumn is undoubtably my all-time favorite season, and I love to decorate with the colors of Fall, Mums, and Pumpkins.

 

Recently, I saw a simple yarn-wrapped wreath tutorial on one of my favorite blogs, Six Sisters Stuff, and I decided to recreate it in some fun Autumn shades, a little bling, and a leopard ribbon to coordinate with our family room decor. It turned out super cute, and I can't wait to hang it on our bedroom door which shows in the family room. Because I chose neutral colors like brown, cream, and mustard, I can display the wreath year-round.

If you would like detailed instructions and a simple tutorial, just click here:
 http://www.sixsistersstuff.com/2011/09/diy-ruffles-and-yarn-fall-wreath.html

For my wreath,
I bought a super saver skein of brown yarn at Hobby Lobby (it was $2.99 & I used a 40% off coupon). I found a 16 inch foam wreath at Michaels for $9.99, and I hada 50% off coupon so it only cost $5.00. I had the felt, ribbon, and coordinating button. So, the entire wreath cost me less than $7 to make.

I chose cream and mustard colored felt and used brown thread to do my running stitch through the felt. I had a fun mustardy-brown colored button that I hot glued to the center of the mustard felt heart. I used wide leopard print ribbon to make a bow and loop to hang it on (and to add a little "funk" to my wreath :-))

Although the wreath was simple and cheap to make, it was time-consuming. The tutorial says that it takes 30 minutes to wrap the wreath with the yarn twice. However, I don't think that is humanly possible (at least not with little blessings that require food, play time, etc...) I wrapped my wreath with the yarn in spurts over the period of three days. The second layer was much easier and faster.

Blessings dear friends! You are prayed for and loved so passionately by your Heavenly Father. Delight in Him today-Oh, how He delights in you!! Bless the Lord, O My Soul!

 

Enjoy this You Tube video of one of my favorite songs by clicking on the link below:

Matt Redman's Bless the Lord