Wednesday, November 3, 2010

yummy sticky goodness (on a stick), and gratitude day 2

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(Can you see me in the reflection?  I'm not wearing any pants.  Just kidding.)

You must think, the way I feature food on this blog, that all we do is make and eat treats. 

Well, yes.

I love food, and even though I'm an eternal dieter, I still love to make and bake and shake things up in the kitchen.  Even while dieting - - it's strangely therapeutic for me.

Anyway, we for-goed for-gone for-went did without pumpkin carving this year due to lots of reasons:

a)  I hate pumpkins, the smell, the mess, the taste, the feel, etc.

b)  We really ran out of time this season

c) The poor things wilt within about 36 hours in this AZ heat, so to do them justice on Halloween one really must carve them on the 30th or so--and our Saturday was BUSY, so that just wasn't happening

d)  We hadn't done carmeled apples in a while and I really wanted to!

So last Saturday, we did.

Here's our process and some of the happy sticky 'after' faces.

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Started by enlisting the aid of some helpers.

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Payment made in carmels of course.

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I chopped up some peanuts for a topping on a select few, as per some of Lorie's suggestions on her blog.

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Washed and cleaned some giant apples--I thought these were gala, but now that I look at them, I think they were fuji.  Anyone?

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The actual process is a bit messy and sticky, and I didn't trust anyone with my brand new 24-hr old camera, so you only get the before and after, not so much the 'during'. 

IMG_0077 I think the peanut ones look super yummy, but again, on Lorie's blog, she mentions using pretzels, peanut butter, chocolate, and all sorts of other wonderful combos for carmel apples we'll have to keep in mind for another year.

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These apples were so big, it actually took the boys 2 days to get through them.

IMG_0103 IMG_0101Just looking at these pictures makes me want to wash my hands and face and I didn't eat any!  That carmel really gets everywhere!

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For our Gratitude day 2 project we pulled out:

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I keep our closets in pretty good shape, but the kids' toy boxes can always use overhauling, so that's what we did. 

 

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We dumped 'em out, made Keep, Toss, and Donate piles, and set to work.

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Productive night, got things a bit tidier around here, and reminded ourselves that we are thankful for our possessions, toys, home, bed, clothes, and everything that we've been blessed with!

What's your favorite room in your house?  Since Christy helped me redesign and decorate my bedroom, I love it so much.  But I also love my kitchen cuz that's where good treats get created!  And I love my living room because that's where my piano and sheet music are!  I'm grateful for my house!  :)

8 comments:

Monica McCoy said...

mmmm, that looks delish!

Manders said...

How cute Omg Amie Caramel apples are my total weakneess I just put carmel dip and apples hehehehehe

Anonymous said...

Yum! Also, I want to see your bedroom redo! And also, I tried to comment yesterday, but I kept getting an error message, but I just finished Shannon Hale's Austenland and I really liked it! Have you read that one? Bummer her other stuff is lame.

OneHappyfamily said...

Those look great!

Anonymous said...

Definitely Gala apples. I spent alot of time in the orchards up in Washington.......

B

jinxi~ aka angi said...

I love caramel apples!

I remember doing the gratitude jar last year. I should have thought of that for this year.

Cannot believe that the year/months have went by so quickly.

YAY on your weightloss goal. I am so proud of you! WTG!!!

The kids are growing so fast! Our "drug awareness" week was like our spirit week here... Hunter loved it! :)

Miss you!

laurie said...

thanks for the photos reminding us of how yummy caramel apples are and how tricky they are to eat!!! i absolutely love my bedroom because that's where i get to crash at the end of a long day.

Casey Lu said...

We had a few candy apples earlier this week, so yummy! Props to you for making them homemade! I have yet to attempt that, I don't think I would be able to leave the caramel squares alone.