Driveway Apple Crisp

Let's see - can anyone guess why I've named this 'driveway apple crisp'? 

So we've lived in this house for a number of years, I'd have to stop and count how many but let's go with 20 for the sake of the story. Our neighbors have an apple tree that overhangs our driveway and drops apples, which Dave then runs over or throws back into their yard (side note: we haven't gotten along with these neighbors until recently and I think D secretly enjoyed whipping the apples back into their yard haha). I can honestly say it never occurred to me that the messy apples laying all over our driveway are probably edible to humans (I've watched the squirrels eat them) until Mark grabbed one and ate it! Then I was all 'waaaaait a minute, we have tons of apples - and I've never used them?"

They are very tart, and not pretty - but I just cut around the ugly bits and made an apple crisp for our maiden driveway apple experiment, and it turned out great! I didn't follow a particular recipe, crisp is one of those things that you can wing the amounts. Peel and chop apples, toss with cinnamon and sugar. Put into a greased baking dish and top with a crumbly mixture of oats, flour, brown sugar, butter, cinnamon, and a pinch of salt. Bake until the apples are done and the crisp is crispy. Super easy. 

Funny story - a few days after Mark ate the first apple Brooke called me and said something like 'you know that apple tree in your driveway...?'  I thought she was saying the tree fell over and I was bummed that I wasn't gonna be eating free driveway apples any more but she was asking if she could eat the apples! She's 19 and has seen this tree for 19 years and has never noticed there are apples until now. Weird, right? 

Here's a recipe from Betty Crocker that's pretty straightforward if you want an actual recipe haha:

4 cups apple chunks

3/4 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup flour

1/2 cup oats

1/3 cup butter

3/4 t. cinnamon

3/4 t. nutmeg

Bake at 375' for 30 minutes. 

11.30.21: tip-sy tuesday: cutting board for rolling cookies

11.30.20: penne alla vodka 

11.30.19: margarita cupcakes

11.30.18: pinecone gnome

11.30.17: golf glove counter

11.30.16: pumpkin bread

11.30.15: pill box travel organizer

Mustard and Cracked Pepper Pork Tenderloin

How many ways to change up pork tenderloin? Seems like I'm exhausting every single way LOL. Here's another one that my sis told me about - a friend prepared it like this and she loved it, says she isn't a big pork tenderloin lover but this was amazing. 

Rub regular yellow mustard all over the tenderloin, then coat with crushed black pepper. Grill or bake according to your preference. 

Simple right? I haven't tried this yet, we just had marinated pork tenderloin a couple days ago but the next time we have a tenderloin I'm going to make this. Sounds good (and different). 

11.29.21: stuffed burgers

11.29.20: 🔥 week 48

11.29.19: all the green things salad

11.29.18: pinecone elves

11.29.17: smoothie bowl

11.29.16: make a pocket towel for the guest room

11.29.15: mini pineapple-upside-down cakes

Monday Fun-day

Monday got away from me and I forgot to post, I'm backdating this one so we have something in place and also to leave you with a little funny picture I snapped of a shirt that pretty much sums up life right now. Let's call today 'Monday Fun-day' hahah!!

11.28.21: 🔥 week 48

11.28.20: cast iron blackened salmon

11.28.19: Thanksgiving '19

11.28.18: Cathy's rolled oats cake

11.28.16: felt feather barrettes

11.28.15: pompom purse charm

🔥 Around the Campfire (week 48)

Dear Campers ~

I'm catching this weeks recap up a couple weeks late, but I want it to be on the blog for 11/27 so I'm posting it just to have it!

11/20: 🔥 week 47

11/21: wine cork turkey (re-run)

11/22: mashed squashes (re-run)

11/23: make-ahead mashed potatoes (re-run)

11/24: Happy Thanksgiving '22

11/25: black friday

11/26: turkey charcuterie plate

Pretty lame of me,  I know!

Sincerely ~

Jill

camp counselor

11/27/21: corn and cherry tomato saute 

11.27.20: the moist maker sandwich (from Friends)

11.27.19: how to fold a turkey napkin

11.27.18: pinecone angels

11.27.17: styrofoam snowman

11.27.16: crock-pot green bean casserole

Turkey Charcuterie

You might have had your fill of turkey related food ideas but tuck this one away for the future - LeDonna sent me this picture of a cute turkey charcuterie plate that Amy made for Thanksgiving that I have to share  with you (and also will be stealing this idea!). 

Meats, cheeses, grapes, with a decorated red pear for it's head - I don't know what she used for the beak and feet, and I didn't ask if I could blog this so we're gonna just wing that part and come up with our own decorating hahah. I see googly eyes, maybe cheese for the other parts?  

11.26.21: black friday

11.26.20: happy thanksgiving '20

11.26.19: tip-sy tuesday: aluminum foil

11.26.18: Miss Lori's Christmas wreath

11.26.17: birds on a wire artwork

11.26.16: mulled cider

 

Black Friday '22

This made me laugh, especially since there is a parrot sleeping on my counter right now LOL. 

#12 

11.25.21: last minute plate stand 

11.25.20: how to roast a turkey

11.25.19: cork turkeys

11.25.18: 🔥 week 47

11.25.17: oatmeal scotchies 

11.25.16: zehnders cranberry relish

11.25.15: turkey napkin folding

Happy Thanksgiving 2022

Yes, you've seen this exact post on past Thanksgivings - it isn't that I'm too lazy to write something new hahahaha, it's just that this still sums up what I want to say :)

I'm thankful and grateful for so many things - among them are my faith, my family and friends, my furry and feathery kids, gravy, the ability to live my life the way I want (filled with making stuff!) and you guys reading my blog of course! Happy Thanksgiving - I hope you enjoy your day whether it's at home, with family, or having "friendsgiving" with friends that are the family you get to choose :).

11.24.21: buffalo (and buffalo-less) chicken dip 

11.24.20: tip-sy tuesday: how to make gravy

11.24.19: 🔥 week 47

11.24.18: Cathy made over a dining room set

11.24.17: black friday funny

11.24.16: butthole bread funny 

11.24.15: gravy and a funny

Mashed Potatoes (made ahead of time! re-run)

Yesterday was mashed squash, today it's mashed potatoes - but not just any mashed potatoes, these can be made ahead of time saving you one less thing to make on Thanksgiving day. And who doesn't need that hahah? 

This is from 11/23/16:

There's so much going on when making Thanksgiving dinner that anything I can do ahead of time is great. I've made these a couple of times now and they are delish - the secret is to not add the butter until you're ready to serve the potatoes. You can make these up to 2 days ahead of time - 30 minutes prior to serving warm them up and then stir in the butter.

• 3 pounds medium Idaho potatoes, scrubbed
• 1 1/2 cups half-and-half, heated plus extra if necessary
• Salt
• 6 Tablespoons (3/4 stick) butter, softened

1. Place potatoes in a large pot with water to cover. Cover and bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer until potatoes are tender when pierced with a thin-bladed knife, about 20 minutes.

2. Run unpeeled potatoes thru a food mill into a medium bowl. Or, holding hot potatoes with a pot holder, peel them, then place them in a standing mixer and beat until smooth; or place in a large bowl and beat with a hand mixer. Add half-and-half and a generous sprinkling of salt to potatoes. Stir, or continue to beat, adding more half-and-half if necessary, until smooth, light, and fluffy.
-If not serving immediately, transfer to a heatproof bowl set over a pan of simmering water. Or if making ahead, cool, cover, and refrigerate. 30 minutes before serving, microwave potatoes until warm and pour into a heatproof bowl set over a pan of simmering water (or simply warm them in heatproof bowl set over a pan of simmering water).

3. Stir butter into potatoes until melted. Serve, or cover with plastic wrap and keep warm over simmering water until ready to serve. Makes 8-10 servings.

Note: that's the instructions given with the recipe, I did not warm back up over simmering water but simply microwaved until hot, if you do it that way check if they need more half-and-half to moisten them. Tesha made them last Thanksgiving and after they were mashed with half-and-half she put them in a crock pot to keep warm, then added the butter before serving.

Recipe from "perfect recipes for having people over" by Pam Anderson

11.23.21: tip-sy tuesday: egg shells 

11.23.20: 🔥week 47

11.23.19: turkey gravy (I'm telling ya - it's foolproof!)

11.23.18: fabric bread basket

11.23.16: make ahead mashed potatoes 

11.23.15: organize your cookie cutters

Mashed Squashes (re-run)

Do you like mashed squash? Sort of like mashed sweet potatoes but just the veggie part, none of that marshmallow nut stuff some people like on top (I'm not one of them hahaha). Here's a very good recipe from Tesha that we really enjoy - and not just at Thanksgiving! 

This is a repeat from 11/22/18:

I'm going simple this year with our Thanksgiving menu - Dave just wants turkey and stuffing (nothing else, he's so weird) but I love green bean casserole so we are having that too...I make it in the crockpot and it's sooooo easy (click here for the recipe). I decided at the last minute this morning, after Tesha told me she was making it, that I also want mashed squash. I was going to just boil some butternut squash chunks but when Tesha told me how she's making hers I decided to copy...er, I mean be inspired by haha... her method. Very easy so it's perfect for my simple dinner plans.

look how pretty this cut acorn is!

I cut a small butternut and a small acorn squash in half, scooped out the seeds, roasted the squash in a 350' oven until soft (I sort of forgot they were roasting so don't know how long it actually takes, mine were in there almost an hour before I remembered them!). Let the squash cool, then scrape out of the shell. I put it in the food processor so it'd get very smooth - don't know what Tesha did - normally I would add a little sweetener (maple syrup or brown sugar) but these squash are really sweet already so I didn't add any additional sugar. Taste yours before deciding if you need to make it sweeter. After processing the squash until smooth I streamed in 2 tablespoons of melted butter mixed with a pinch of cayenne pepper and salt until they were incorporated into the squash. Transfer to a 9" baking dish; about 1/2 hour before we were ready to eat popped it into a 350' oven until it was heated thru.

This turned out SO good, I'm not saving this simple recipe just for my holiday meals - it's a winner any time of the year!

11.22.21: baked brie with fig preserves 

11.22.19: Thanksgiving and your dog

11.22.18: mashed butternut and acorn squash

11.22.17: turkey cheeseball (and cranberry relish, green bean casserole)

11.22.16: herb butter

11.22.15: nutella stuffed chocolate chip cookies 

Wine Cork Turkey (re-run)

The other day I showed you how to make a giraffe pencil topper out of a wine cork, that reminded me about another fun cork animal craft you might like to make for Thanksgiving - turkeys! Super easy, super cute. 

This is a re-run from '19 that I'm sharing again (I'm gone this week so doing a few Thanksgiving related repeats):

It's been a while since I've made any cork things, so when I saw these cutie little turkeys online here I immediately went to the craft room and made one - how cute is this? It only took a couple minutes to put together, you have plenty of time to whip a few out before Thanksgiving (I'm sure you're not doing anything else getting ready for Thanksgiving hahaha!), but really - they are quick so if you have a few minutes give 'em a go.

Cut out 5 feathers from whatever color felt you want; you'll also need a little beak triangle and a snood (the comma shaped thing around the beak), and either a couple googly eyes, small felt circle eyes, or you can use pushpins. I also made a little yellow foot sort of thing to stand him on. Glue everything in place and once it's dry you're done.

I'm also thinking if you cut a thin slit in the top of the cork you could set one at each place setting with a name tag card inserted in the slit. Cute, right?

I propped up the bottom of the cork for support while the glue was drying

PS: in the interest of full discloser - the elmer's glue was taking forever to dry so I stuck a pin thru the back of the feathers to keep them in place. If you glue them with regular craft glue and they never end up drying and/or holding I'd hot glue them in place - or stick a pin in them!


11.21.21: 🔥 week 47

11.21.20: maple dijon chicken thighs

11.21.19: MSIH: butternut mac and cheese

11.21.18: lightbulb pear

11.21.17: yarn-wrapped bottle

11.21.16: how to make turkey gravy

11.21.15: Sarge's birthday pupcakes

🔥 Around the Campfire (week 47)

Dear Campers ~

Here’s a quick recap of what happened at camp last week I came you missed anything:

Posts ~

11/13: 🔥 week 46

11/14: bird of paradise painting

11/15: seeing eye person

11/16: double chocolate zucchini muffins

11/17: msih: Italian sausage pasta

11/18: grandma Jan’s barbeque (sloppy joes)

11/19: giraffe cork pencil topper

I had a super busy week and didn’t cook much so I’m skipping menu ideas this time! We are off to Tennessee for a few days and instead of new posts I’m going to re-run some Thanksgiving ideas for you, especially how exactly I make my turkey and gravy - pretty foolproof methods in case you need a refresher (since we only make a turkey once a year I always go back and reread how to do it!).

HAPPY THANKSGIVING ALL! 

Sincerely ~

Jill

Camp Counselor

11.20.21: how to roast a turkey (oh funny, I just told you I’d rerun that one but here it is from last year haha so nevermind, just click the link to read that one!)

11.20.20: apple pie and ice cream hack by B

11.20.19: fall tutu wreath (I ended up putting this on top of a basket and it looked so cool!)

11.20.18: make a pumpkin vase
11.20.17: yarn wrapped wheat
11.20.16: Jen's spinach salad
11.20.15: leaf lantern

Giraffe Cork Pencil Topper

I came across this when cleaning out my desk drawer, completely forgot making these a long time ago with the kids. We did other animals in addition to this cute giraffe but I don’t have pics and can’t remember exactly which animals - I feel like there was a lion but that’s the only other one I can think of.

Might be a fun Thanksgiving craft if you have kids or fun adults that want to make one - there’s cutting and gluing so use your judgement regarding how much help kids will need.

I took lots of pictures so hopefully you can see what I did since I didn’t take step-by-step instruction pics.

To make this giraffe (see pictures Thru out): paint a wine cork orange, add dabs of brown paint for the giraffes spots. Cut a piece of black fringe about 1.5” long and 3/4” wide, make little cuts to fringe it and glue to one end of the cork to make the giraffe mane, just fold it so some is on the top of the cork and the rest is along one end. Cut out 2 small ear shapes from a different color felt and glue on either side of the mane. Glue on googly eyes. Cut a bit of the cork out of the underside and hot glue to the top of a pencil. Wrap a small piece of chenille stem (pipe cleaner) around the pencil underneath the cork. 

11.19.21: cauliflower mac and cheese

11.19.20: loaded brownies

11.19.19: TT: roasting squash

11.19.18: wrapped pumpkin decor (hint - it's toilet paper!)

11.19.17: Al's smoked brisket

11.19.16: glass block 'Fall' 

 

 

Grandma Jan’s Barbeque (Sloppy Joes)

I volunteered to bring sloppy joes to a get together at my sis’s thinking I’d make my favorite recipe (click here for that post) but she said that if I didn’t make them following Grandma Jan’s recipe then Jeff would be super bummed. Well we all know I’m a pleaser so of course I’d make her recipe (plus selfishly I knew I’d be able to blog another recipe for sloppy joes hahah!). Her recipe card actually calls this “barbeque” but has sloppy joes in parenthesis - I’ve never heard sloppy joes called bbq so do what you want with that info haha.

Here’s her recipe as written:

• 1 lb. ground beef round
• 2 large onions, diced
• 1/2 cup catsup
• 1/2 cup water
• 2 T. Worcestershire sauce 
• 2 T. cider vinegar
• 1 T. sugar

Brown meat in frying pan until no longer pink. Drain off grease. Put a paper towel on a plate and add hamburger, paper towel will soak up the rest of the grease. Put hamburger back in the pan, add the diced onion and the remaining ingredients.

Freezes well, make a double recipe and put in freezer for another meal.

So I didn’t exactly follow this recipe (don’t tell Jeff!); I made 4 pounds of burger and cooked the onions in with the meat - I only used 1 large onion and diced it very small, I just drained it really good without putting it on a plate, sprinkled with coarse salt. After removing meat from the skillet I added the sauce ingredients and heated it over low just to melt everything together and then put the meat back in the sauce and stirred until well-combined. I put the mixture in a crockpot on warm for the party. It’s very good! 

I forgot to take a picture, it looks like sloppy joes! 

11.18.21: porcupine meatballs

11.18.20: loaded cream cheese brownies

11.18.19: scalloped carrots

11.18.18: 🔥weekly recap
11.18.17: how to make a paper box
11.18.16: silhouette art by Brooke
11.18.15: roasted cherry tomatoes

Italian Sausage Pasta

Here’s another recipe that I loosely followed from one of my sis’s Home Chef recipe cards - I wouldn’t have thought to bake the casserole without browning the sausage first, they say to just crumble it on top of the pasta and bake - who knew?! Dave and I really liked this, read below for Jen’s review. Here’s what I did to make this almost copycat version:

• 4 oz light cream cheese
• 1/4 cup seasoned croutons, crushed
• 1/4 cup herb butter (I mixed a teaspoon of Italian seasoning into softened butter)
• 4 oz baby spinach
• 8 oz cooked pasta (recipe called for fettuccini but I used curly cavatappi pasta)
• 8 oz marinara sauce
• 8 oz Italian sausage, removed from the casing if using links

Preheat oven to 425’. Place spinach in a baking dish, top with cubes of cream cheese. Add the cooked pasta and marinara sauce. Crumble the sausage into small pieces and place evenly on the marinara. 

Bake uncovered until sausage reaches a minimum internal temperature of 160’, 20-25 minutes. Remove from oven and stir in the butter until combined. Garnish with crushed croutons.

before baking, with the raw sausage on top

herb butter

You can also try this with sliced flank steak (cook to at least 145’, 15-20 minutes), ground beef (20-22 minutes) or ground turkey (20-25 minutes or until no pink remains).

Before I show you her review here’s a funny story - while making this I had a feeling it wasn’t going to be spicy enough for them so I liberally sprinkled the dish with chili pepper and red pepper flakes, hoping I didn’t add too much! Here’s her review:

So I’m always afraid to give a negative review – for fear my sister will stop cooking for me.  This one isn’t really “negative” but its not glowing. (like the buffalo chicken one was- go look that one up). Anyway- back to the topic. So this pasta was “ok”.  To be honest and fair my sister did ask if I wanted spicy sausage or regular.  I said regular was fine but that might have been the problem?  It was just kinda ok.  nothing special.  The flavor was ok, just a little blah for me.  She did give me a big blob of flavored butter I had to stir in after cooking-so that automatically combined with the sausage made me feel a little nauseous and like I needed to go for a run- but yet the butter wasn’t enough to give it great flavor.  After trying as is I added red pepper chili flakes which did make it better. 

So, hopefully my honest review doesn’t make my sister not cook for me again.  My advice is to make this – but choose the spicy sausage when you do!

11.17.21: chocolate zucchini brownies 

11.17.20: TT: cast iron pan info

11.17.19: 🔥 week 46

11.17.18: homemade applesauce

11.17.17: planting tulip bulbs

11.17.16: pet food and holidays - do and don'ts

11.17.15: Thanksgiving tree

Double Chocolate Zucchini Muffins

I made these muffins which do not taste like muffins - they taste like cupcakes without frosting. You decide if that’s a good thing or a bad thing, I’ll tell you that everyone who tried them on my end loved them and didn’t care if they’re called muffins or unfrosted cake hahah! I pretty much followed this recipe using 1/2 all-purpose flour and 1/2 whole wheat flour, canola oil, and added mini chips along with regular.

INGREDIENTS

• 3/4 cup (159 g) granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup buttermilk, or half milk/half sour cream
• 1/4 cup neutral-flavored oil or melted butter
• 2 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup (142 g) all-purpose or whole wheat flour
• 1/2 cup (43 g) unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 1/2 cups (about 283 g) shredded zucchini
• 1 1/2 cups (255 g) chocolate chips

INSTRUCTIONS 

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. (If using dark coated muffin tins, preheat to 325 degrees F.) Add liners to 12-cup muffin tin or spray muffin cups with nonstick cooking spray. Set aside.
• In a large bowl, whisk together the granulated sugar, buttermilk (or sour cream/milk), oil or butter, eggs, and vanilla until well-combined. Add the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, salt, and baking powder. Stir until just combined and a few dry streaks remain.
• Lightly squeeze zucchini over the sink by handfuls to wring out excess water. Add to the bowl with the chocolate chips. Stir until the zucchini and chocolate chips are evenly mixed (but try not to over mix or the muffins might be dense instead of light and fluffy).
• Portion the batter evenly into the muffin tin, filling the cups about 2/3 full. Depending on the size of the muffin tin, you may need to bake a second batch (the recipe makes between 12-16 muffins).
• Bake for 17-19 minutes until the tops spring back lightly to the touch. Let the muffins cool for 2-3 minutes in the pan before removing them to a wire rack to cool completely.
  
  
  

Found here at Mel’s kitchen cafe

11.16.21: Cincinnati chili 

11.16.20: cast iron pizza

11.16.19: corny corn bread 

11.16.18: pinecone wreath

11.16.17: doggie pupcakes

11.16.16: fall circle garland

11.16.15: DIY cookie stand

Seeing Eye Person

Mark and LeDonna’s dog, Boomer, is 15 and doesn’t see so good anymore - one day LeDonna was joking that instead of having a “seeing eye dog” she was Boomer’s “seeing eye person” and hello, I knew right then I was making her a shirt with those words! Look how cute it turned out and I’ve seen her wear it quite a few times. I just cut the words out with my Cricut and ironed it on a tank top. Easy!

11.15.21: pinecone wreath with feathers

11.15.20: 🔥 week 46

11.15.19: green bean salad

11.15.18: pinecone birds

11.15.17: Brooke's nutella mug cake

11.15.16: deviled egg short-cut (I do this all the time!)

11.15.15: Thanksmas

Bird of Paradise Painting

Cathy sent me this before and after painting she did and I’m super impressed. I love that she isn’t afraid to take old pictures and just paint over them! I’m too chicken to do that (plus I’m not a painter so I would totally be ruining whatever I tried to paint over haha), but she said “can you believe I used to have the rocking chair picture in my living room?” so I guess she figured she didn’t have anything to lose…yeah even painting over something I no longer liked is too scary! 

Here’s what she did to take the rocking chair picture to this new beautiful bird of paradise painting:

I started out by taking the nails that were in the canvas out. Then I painted the whole canvas with white ceiling paint. I had a picture of what I wanted to paint so I sketched it out on the canvas with a pencil. Then I proceeded to paint over all my pencil marks. I did the bottom leaves first and they ended up too big which forced me to modify the picture some. 

11.14.21: 🔥 week 46

11.14.20: picked red onions

11.14.19: MSIH: pumpkin snickerdoodles

11.14.18: pinecone owls

11.14.17: kid craft: decorating apples

11.14.16: curvy keepsake box turkey

11.14.15: wine and design: fall centerpiece