Apple Bread in a Can

Every fall when I work up apples, I dig up an old recipe that is tried and true, and makes for delicious eating--Apple Bread made in coffee cans. So here is the recipe---

4 cups peeled, chopped apples
1 cup chopped nuts (I have used pecans or English walnuts)
2 cups sugar

Combine apples, nuts and sugar and mix well. Let stand for 1 hour, stirring frequently. DO NOT DRAIN.

3 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 cup melted butter (2 sticks)
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 eggs, slightly beaten

Combine flour, soda, salt and spices in a large bowl. Add the apple mixture, stirring well. Stir in butter, vanilla and eggs.

Take two one-pound coffee cans and tie a 2 inch aluminum foil collar around the tops of each. I fold the aluminum foil over into a double thickness to make the collar stronger. I spray the insides of the cans with Baker's Joy (baking spray with flour). Spoon the batter carefully into each can, and set the cans on a baking sheet. I have learned that the butter seeps out of the cans during baking, so that protects your oven from spills.

Bake at 325 degrees for one hour and 15 minutes. Check for doneness with a long cake tester! Remove from oven, let cool upright for 10 minutes on cooling rack. Carefully remove the bread from the cans (I gently ease them out sideways) and continue to let cool, this time bread on its side, on the cooling rack. If you want to freeze it, wrap a loaf with saran wrap, then slide it into a freezer ziploc. This bread freezes well for later use. OR you can slice into round slices and dollop with your favorite ice cream. This makes two fabulous apple loaves!

Apple Time

This is a really good apple year in MO! The apple trees had lots of rain, good weather for growing, not too hot a summer, and now a perfect fall. So we drove on up to Waverly to the orchards and brought back some Jonathans, and Jonagolds. I make a quick and easy dessert for us at night, which is kind of fun to make too. It's my own version of Fried Apples.

You need a heavy pan--I use my omelet pan. Melt two tablespoons of butter in it, add two teaspoons of cinnamon, and two tablespoons of sugar, stir well, until all melted, then add in 2 thinly sliced/cored/peeled apples, stir until the apples are tender. This usually takes 5-8 minutes. Then pour the apples and sauce into two deep dessert bowls, throw on top some vanilla frozen yogurt, and enjoy!

Book pages

I admit, I am a Mystery junkie, usually reading those by the ton, when I should be doing other things. But this time, I requested a book I had heard about on Today Show, and want to recommend for everyone's reading--"War Journal, My five years in Iraq" by Richard Engel. Talk about being blown away by his narrative!!!! WOW!!! I understand so much more about the area, its history, its people, our soldiers fighting there, our attempts to put Democracy in action there etc. I think this is a must read before the National elections, but if you can't do it now, at least make an attempt to read it afterwards. Well worth the time, and lots of food for thought. I can't say "Happy Reading" with this book, but I can say, "This is a book that makes you think". Thank you, Mr. Engel.

Another Elderberry Trip

Haven't been doing much except the usual fall stuff, like putting up the last of the peppers, enjoying the last of the tomatoes until next summer, putting away garden tools and hoses, getting the waterfall put to bed, cleaning out the fountains, etc.

But we did take a little Fall break and embarked on an Elderberry tour of the South a few weeks ago. So here is a glimpse of what we saw and visited---we started off in Eureka MO at the Shrine of the Black Madonna of Poland, which was really interesting, and quite a blessing with which to begin our journey. Then we traveled on through Kentucky to Paducah, where we stopped for an overnight, and were treated to a great stage show of Frank Sinatra reminiscences, in this beautiful old, restored theatre. We had the tour of Paducah, and were particularly impressed by their murals on the flood walls downtown, the levee walls designed to protect the city from future floods. Then on to the National Quilt Museum. Unfortunately we weren't permitted to take our cameras indoors, but hubby caught a picture of a stained glass window designed in a quilt pattern on the outside wall of the foyer. If you ever have a slim chance to see this museum, it is a fantastic testimony to the needlecraft of women who use an old, traditional way to capture contemporary life on fabric. Because Paducah is a river town, there was a great memorial sculpture of Lewis and Clark in the park by the river, which had been dedicated during the anniversary celebrations a few years ago.

Onwards to Chattanooga TN, where we dined at the Station House Restaurant. Great dining, superb music, and a nostalgic time in a railroad station restored to a hotel and indoor railroad park. We traveled out to Lookout Mountain, and did our walking tour of Rock City. Fabulous rock formations, really interesting rock gardens, great lookout, only do NOT lean over the wall to see the waterfall! I did, and promptly lost my sunglasses down into the pool at the base of the falls. Nobody offered to jump in to retrieve them, so I left a bit of myself there to insure a future visit. Luckily we also managed to make it through Fat Man's Squeeze and the Eye of the Needle, so we could continue on our journey south.

Back on the bus and into Savannah GA, where we dined at Lady and Sons, and I bought this neat greenbag from Paula's shop, to impress the clerks at WalMart and HyVee as I shop. Savannah is a must see for everyone, and walking about the town is also a must do. We had a walking tour led by our lady in a summery southern pink dress, and we felt like we had sneaked a peak at history early on a Savannah morning. Onwards to Tybee Island, where some of us were (fool)hardy enough to climb up to the top of the lighthouse (not me, but hubby did all 178 steps up and down). I roamed around the restored lighthouse grounds, visited the gift shop along with a whole pack of Elderberries, and basically drank in that stiff ocean breeze, so I could take some back to MO! We spent the night on Tybee, and loved walking along the ocean, and out on their piers. Had dinner at a fantastic seafood restaurant in the middle of the hotel, looking out over the ocean. Next morning we took a boat down the Savannah River and out to the ocean, dolphin watching. We saw so many dolphins, it was awesome. They were leaping out of the water, frolicking with each other, so cute and so graceful. Waves were a little rough, but nobody noticed much because we were so enthralled by the dolphins.

Back on the bus and into the Appalachian mountains, where we visited the Billy Graham Center in Charlotte NC, and then drove deeper into the mountains to the Southern Highlands Craft Center. Of course we shopped once more, and were able to find lots of handmade goodies there.

On we traveled, back to Kentucky, where we spent the day at the Shaker Village of Pleasant Hill. I was amazed the the simple beauty of the place. We dined there for breakfast and lunch, and of course ate wonderfully well. Had the most yummy pumpkin muffins for breakfast, so I had to hunt up the cookbook for the recipe. The Shakers were an interesting religious sect, and you can still feel the peace of the community in their buildings and relics they left on site. We then took a boat trip up the river, retracing old Shaker trading paths on the water. As you drive through the area around Pleasant Hill, you view miles after mile of handstacked stone walls, all built by the Shakers when they lived in their original settlement. These walls were obviously treasured by most of the people around, because they kept them up as boundary walls or decorative walls.

Now homeward bound, we stopped in St. Charles MO for a final break, touring the town on foot, and exploring all the great shops. Hubby and I chanced on a Gaelic shop, and were successful in a genealogy hunt, learning about his Irish roots. Total surprise because that was an area he was unsure of. Now we have some research to back it, so this stop was truly serendipitous. A short dinner stop in Arrow Rock at the Log Cabin restaurant finished up a perfect trip.

I'm Beady lately...

Had to design a few projects with coins this summer for a friend who went on some foreign mission trips. So after I dangled wire wrapped drops of coins off her necklace, I made a pair of earrings with the leftover coins. Turned out rather nicely, don't you think so? Hardest part was drilling the holes in the coins, but hubby helped on this one.

Then I used pearls from recycled pearl necklaces to whip up a new one, with a dichroic glass pendant. This is for the Apple Festival fundraiser this weekend. Hope someone likes it enough to bid on it and take it home.

Made a project for myself too. Been thinking about turquoise and coral, and found a really interesting example in Beadstyle Magazine, so adapted it to fit the beads I already had. A visit to a Branson bead shop back in the spring netted some nice silver beads and coral coins, so I used those for contrast to the turquoise stones. Made it to wear with my new traveling outfit.

Finally, I have to include a new Violet picture. She loves my bookbag so I have to make sure it is empty when it lays on the table, because then she becomes a kitty book. She also loves jewelry, and snatches my earrings right off my earlobe if she snuggles up to my ear and purrs. She certainly is a quick pawed earring thief!

A Look back to Summer

Every fall when we went to school, and our kids too, we had to write essays on "What I did on my Summer vacation". So I thought I would do the same, with pictures. I don't know where this summer went, it flew by so quickly. Now it is fall, and yesterday I got out all the scarecrows and fall decor, except for the Fall villages, suspecting that our new kitty Miss Violet/Shredder might want to play with/destroy????

So here goes: Did a lot of gardening. In fact, I like to think that the flower gardens and rose bed etc haven't looked better in years. My roses seem to like company in their flowerbed, so I obliged, by encouraging the woods violets. Then I stuck a Foxglove plant in one corner and discovered it was happy there, and a Lambs' Ear in another corner sort of crept in accidentally, and thrived. After protecting the front salvia from some sort of critter who would sneak up at night and eat them down to nothing (tin cans were the answer), they thrived too. Along with the gerbera daisies in the pot by the door, the other multicolored daisies and some herbs I snuck in, like rosemary and basil, all seemed to like the fireplace garden. Then I knew fall had come, when our sweet autumn clematis suddenly opened up last week. It resembled a snow bank on our deck rails. Even the hummers were attracted.

Had a bit of company too this summer. Great nephews in from San Diego, a Sunday school picnic, friends dropping in and out, and of course our new addition, Miss Violet. Did a lot of baking too this summer. Sweet potato pie was something the boys hadn't tasted so in addition to fried green tomatoes, they ate a bit of pie to expand their culinary MO experiences. The weather actually cooperated with some cool mornings so I could bake and the house stayed reasonably cool without the ac running. Now it really has cooled down. So even the front hostas gave a sigh of relief and opened up their fragrant blooms again.

We are now planning our fall travels, and hope to leave with our Elderberries to explore a bit of the southeast. Hopefully we will be able to see most of what we planned, despite the hurricanes. Then we get ready for our daughter's wedding celebration in November.

MO Autumn

What can I say--we finally have a season break, from summer. But it was a relatively easy summer here in MO. Rain came at the right times, for our garden and flowers. We didn't have 90 plus temperatures days and days in a row, as we did last year. Now it is raining because of Hurricane Gustav. Yes, MO gets hurricane rains, blown all the way up north, and again it is coming at the right time.

Our new kitten is really bonding well with the family. Violet is a bundle of kitty laughs every day. And isn't that why we have pets? To keep us laughing! She loves her little neon mice, however, Molly dog has also discovered them. And after picking up 3 Miss Molly killed (pieces of foam and neon colored fur all over the carpet), I had to make an emergency run to WalMart for more today. Violet loves to go outside on the screened porch, and can climb all the way to the roof of the porch. I guess she thinks she is a bird. Or at least can catch the outside birds better. Vallee and she are playing together. It took awhile. Vallee usually hisses and bats at her, because well, Violet doesn't quit! She goes into her Halloween kitty mode, and prances around Vallee and just teases and teases her. She also is a spunky one around Molly dog. They now play. Finally. We have to keep an eye on them both, but it is so amazing to see the big black fierce Sheepdog playing with the little black kitty. Hope you enjoy these pictures as much as we enjoy our pets!