Grand’s Fried Apples (aka – apple pie without the crust)

My grandmama has been making these fried apples for as long as I can remember.  I love family recipes!

Ingredients:

10-12 cooking apples (Fuji, McKintosh, Rome Beauty, Golden Delicious etc)

1 lemon

1 stick butter

3/4 sugar

1/4 water

peel

If you have one of these nifty tools that core and slice at once, then haul it out.  If not a knife works just fine.

Slice the apples up thinly.

My new lemon juicer.  This tool will squeeze every last drop out of a lemon or lime.  Love it!

Squeeze both halves of the lemon into a large ziplock bag.

About 2 tablespoons of lemon juice.  The lemon juice will keep my apples form turning brown before I even cook them and it is also a natural thickener for the fried apples.

Peel, core, slice and add apples to bag of lemon juice.

Melt 1 stick of butter in a large pot over medium heat.

Add apples to the melted butter.

Add 3/4 cup sugar.

Add 1/4 water.

Mix all this up so the apples are covered in the butter and sugar.

Cover your pot.

Cook on low for 15-20 minutes until apples are tender.

Remove lid and stir apples.

Continue cooking apples and reducing the liquid. 

This will cook until most of the liquid is gone and the apples are a carmel color.. this is the stage where they are almost frying.

yummy!

Enjoy!

T

A little bit here.. a little bit there

My camera has gone everywhere with me this week.  Take a look.

Let us begin with the worst first because nothing has changed…. I despise folding laundry so I let it pile up and then do it all at once…like that will make it more likeable.

Ahhh… well until tomorrow when this battle wages in me again.  I just need to learn to love my laundry and embrace it because without it, we are naked.

I love rainstorms.. on this day, I kept the front door opened and just drank in the sight and sounds.

Notice the empty spot on Tuesday…  now let’s just sigh.. Ahhhh… a day with nothing pulling me away from my home.

I have gone all summer without ants parading through my home until last week and they will not go away no matter what home remedy I find on Pinterest.

The road I take to pick up my kids from school takes me by a few places that I have wanted to photograph.  This one…

and this one.  I will have to pull down a few roads to get the others so that is on my to-do list this week. Just have to remember to leave a little bit earlier.

Sunset out at the soccer fields.

Girls’ Night Out.. and this is the memory that I had to capture…  I can not look at this picture without having to control an anxiety attack.  I can wrangle snakes but I do not do well with spiders and roaches.  This spider was a good 3-4 inches.  Look at those hairy legs and tell me you do not have the heebie-jeebies right now with me!!!

Photography Subject: Cody

Sharpen, Boost (fade).  Biggest thing here was tinting to get the green out of the original photograph.

   

Crop, Sharpen, Boost (fade) and touch-up

  

Messed around with the tinting because of the green going on in the picture again.  Sharpen, boost, touch-up and added shadows.

  

Sharpen, boost (fade), tint, and shadows added

  

I was explaining to a friend, the itch I have to edit my photographs like this…  It is like HDTV..  We always thought our regular digital cable was looking good.. THEN… we got HDTV and realized how great it can look especially when compared to the original.  It is just a little more of something that is missing.

 

 

Soccer Morning

4 kids, 3 teams, 5 hours

8 AM – Princess has soccer clinic

I know.. not what you were expecting.  The 5-8th graders meet once a month for 5 hours out here for soccer clinic run by different players from the Charlotte Eagles Soccer Team.

This was a relay race and maybe a personal get-to-know-you session with the balls.

Passing off.

Now definately looking like a soccer player!

9AM – Big Man’s soccer game.  They always begin with a prayer and encouragement.

Goalie

10AM – Youngest two boys’ soccer game.  No pictures because I am their coach and I have a hard time remembering anything else during the game.  I will get some pics of them before the season is out.

 

Olive Cheese Bread

Ahhhh… Olives

This is a recipe that I fell in love with the moment I saw it on The Pioneer Woman’s website.

Ingredients:

loaf of French Bread

can of black olives

jar of green olives with pimentos

1/2 Cup mayonnaise

8-12 ounces of monterey jack cheese

1 stick butter (room temperature)

chives

Slice your French bread lengthwise.

Drain the green and black olives.

Chop.

Chop your chives.

Dump olives, chives, 1/2 Cup mayonnaise and 1 stick butter into bowl.

Grate monterey jack cheese and add to bowl.

Mix it up.

Spread this over both halves of bread.  Put into a preheated 325 degree oven for 30-40  minutes until melted and getting golden.

Right out of the oven.. hot.. is the best way to eat this.  Add a little marinara sauce to dip and heaven on earth.

Enjoy!