An Apple A Day

This my friends is a "Honeybear Honeycrisp" apple.

Today we will be checking out some trivia on a fall

favorite---The Apple.

Interesting apple facts:

The crabapple is the only apple native to North

America.

Two lbs. of apples make a 9'' pie.

The Apple Blossom is the state flower of Michigan.

The Pilgrims planted the first US apple trees in the

Massachusetts Bay Colony.

Apples are a member of the rose family.

The largest apple picked weighed in at three lbs.

A peck of apples weighs 10.5 lbs.

A bushel of apples weighs about 42 lbs. and will

yield 20-24 Qts of applesauce.

It takes 36 apples to create one gallon of apple

cider.

6 amazing uses for apples:

The next time you roast a chicken, stuff an

apple inside the chicken-when finished throw

away the apple and you'll have a nice juicy

chicken.

To extend the life of a store bought/homemade

cake, store with 1/2 an apple-this helps maintain

the cakes moisture longer.

Do you have green tomatoes? Quickly ripen them

by placing them and an already ripe apple in a

paper bag for a couple of days. Ratio: 6 maters

to 1 apple.

If your soup or stew is too salty, simply drop a few

apple (or potato) wedges in your pot- after cooking

for about 10 mins remove the wedges.

Is your brown sugar hard? Mine always is. :)

If so, place an apple wedge and the brown sugar

hunk in a ziplock baggie and put in a dry place

for a day or two.

For a centerpiece--use a corer to carve a hole

3/4 of the way down into a pair of large apples-

I think I would wipe the edges with lemon to keep

from browning then insert tall candles and

surround the apples with your choice of decorative

elements. Now you have a country feel to your

fall table.

Last but not least---Apple Recipes!!

Dippn' Apples--

1 8 oz. pkg of cream cheese, 1 C of brown sugar,

packed. A 1/2 C chopped dry roasted peanuts

(optional) and 1 tsp. vanilla. Cream all together.

Serve with...you guessed it...Apples.

Pan Fried Apple Slices--

2 red cooking apples--cored and sliced into 1/2"

wedges, 2 T butter, softened and 1/2 C apple jelly.

In a pan over medium heat, cook the apples in the

butter for 7-9 minutes or until they are crisp tender.

Turn once during cooking. Stir in the jelly; heat

through. Serve with ham or pancakes.

All Time Fav--

APPLE PIE with ice cream YUM!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Enjoy!!

~Keep on Dreaming~

Sunday Snipets

I WON! YEA!!!! Mary Ann Miller at HANDCRAFTED BY MARY ANN had a drawing for Sugar Pie Pumpkin Seeds and guess whose name was drawn. ME!

These little pretties were picked up at a garage sale

for .50 a piece and the runner was only $1.00! I

got 20 little doilies --there were multiples of some

which will be nice. I also picked up three aprons

too, one of which was a children's apron. No

pic--I forgot.

This beauty was on the table a the country church

dinner that Mr. Ken and I went to today with his

Dad. If anyone knows what this is-please let me

know. My father-in-law said they grow from little

black seeds. The flowers themselves look like

velvet. Really pretty!

THE most important part of this outing was THE

FOOD! Those ladies (and guys) sure know how

to cook! On the menu one could have ham or

turkey, mashed potatoes, sweet kraut home-

made noodles, dressing and green beans. PLUS

PIE. YUM! YUM!

As we were driving to the country church we saw many

barns and farms. I was able to snap some while Ken

was driving. Here's the first complete with a Silo.

Here's the second--outbuilding on one farm.

Number three--barn, outbuilding, home and pasture.

I love farms and barns. Can you tell?

On the way home we stopped in a small town called

Louisburg--they were having Cider Fest. Ken's dad

wanted to pick up a bushel of apples to make apple-

sauce! Oh, goodie. :) The cider mill is famous in

these parts for of course the CIDER and their

APPLE CIDER DOUGHNUTS. See those

morsels below. Yep that's them!

APPLE CIDER DOUGHNUTS!!! These are best

eaten WARM but they are good room temperature

too. ~Keep on Dreaming~

First Field Trip

Yesterday we took our first field trip--we rode a bus for 45 to Liberty, Missouri and went to Carolyn's Pumpkin Patch. This is a very family oriented, handicapped friendly place to visit. We had a BEAUTIFUL day weather wise. The next several pictures are sites around the patch.

Goats to pet and feed.

A very large part of the corn field. They also have a corn maze

that families can go through.

The above and below photos show more of the sites.

The railroad station-rides available for little ones AND big

ones.

Here comes the train--with Little Bud driving.

Here we go -- boy that whistle is LOUD!

Just hanging out.

On the hay wagon to the patch we go. It is a bumpy

ride --hold on tight.

Ok, now we must find that perfect pumpkin. We did have

some issues finding that pumpkin. One of the employees

mentioned that they had a small crop this year and

we did run into (literally) a lot of rotten ones. But I'm

happy to report that all of us returned to the wagon with

our own perfect pumpkin!

It's time to play! Yea!!! Carolyn's has several areas for the kids to

go play in. Mr J is driving--Mr. B needs to sit down and buckle up.

Miss T says "Ok boys, I'm ready to go."

Here we go down the slide on the Pirate ship!!! Ready, set GO!

Oh,what a trip--Miss J is warm and tired but still smiling--

time to go back to school. We all had a great time.

Thank's to everyone at Carolyn's Pumpkin Patch

for their assistance making this a successful trip.

~Keep on Dreaming~

Pricless Observations

PART ONE I received this in an e-mail and thought I'd share it with you... Sometimes, when I look at my children, I say to myself, "Lillian, you should have remained a virgin." ***Lillian Carter (Mother of Jimmy Carter) I had a rose named after me and I was flattered. But I was not pleased to read the description in the catalogue- "No good in bed, but fine against a wall." ***Eleanor Roosevelt I have never hated a man enough to give his diamonds back. ***Zsa Zsa Gabor Maybe it's true that life begins at fifty..But everything else starts to wear out, fall out, or spread out. *** Phyllis Diller Don't worry about avoiding temptation. As you grow older, it will avoid you. ***Winston Churchill I don't feel old. I don't feel anything until noon. Then it's time for my nap. ***Bob Hope My luck is so bad that if I bought a cemetery, people would stop dying. ***Rodney Dangerfield We could certainly slow the aging process down if it had to work its way through Congress. *** Will Rogers I never drink water because of the dicusting things that fish do in it. ***W. C. Fields Be careful about reading health books. You may die of a misprint. ***Mark Twain Enjoy!!!! ~Keep on Dreaming~

IT IS HERE!!!!

It's official--It's FALL!!!

Guess what today's trivia is about? You got it Fall.

The word "Fall" started being used in the 1500's

the British English still use "Autumn" more

than "Fall." WHICH WORD DO YOU USE?

The word "Harvest" was used for Fall/Autumn

commonly up until the end of the 1700's,

then "Harvest" was used to describe the gather-

ing of crops.

The word "Pumpkin" originated from the Greek

word for "large melon" which is "Pepon." That

was changed to "Pompon" by the French and

the English changed it to "Pumpion"

Pumpkins are believed to have originated in

North America with seeds from related plants

found in Mexico dating back to 7000-5500 BC

Pumpkins are from the squash family.

YOU KNEW THAT RIGHT?

The "pumpkin capital" of the world is Morton,

Illinois. This is where you'll find the home

of Libby Corporations pumpkin industry.

Pumpkins vary in color from white to

yellow to orange.

An unripe pumpkin is GREEN--makes sense

right?

WHITE PUMPKINS are simply another

variety of the fall favorite. They are sometimes

called BOO pumpkins. When carved you can

see the orange flesh beneath. White pumpkins

are becoming a favorite decorating item.

Other colors of pumkins you may see are:

BLUE, RED AND TAN.

The green pigment in leaves hides the tree

leaf until the chlorophyll weakens. When

this happens you'll see the leaf start it's

transition to it's next color. This occurs

in leaves that turn RED, YELLOW AND ,

BROWN.

Leaves "fall" to the ground due to less sun-

light, they cannot sustain life, the leaf

becomes weak, breaks off and "falls" to

the ground.

The North Eastern US is said to be one of

THE best places in the world to view

fall colors. I've read this several places and

I know that you can take drives in that area

to see the leaves but here in the Midwest

we have some beautiful fall colors too.

I hope everyone that has looked forward to

this time of year enjoys it, gets to pick

pumpkins and enjoy the fall trasition of

the leaves. HAPPY FALL YA'LL!!!

~Keep on Dreaming~

ONE MORE DAY!

HOORAY! We have one more day until the season of Fall! Yesterday we spent some time potting the mums and "fluffing" the summer flowers so they would be ready for tomorrow. Here is a peek at what we did: As you leave the front door you will see a wagon on the front porch with pink and white vinca. On the landing you will see the burgundy mums in the picnic basket. As you look down the stairs you will see the yellow mums and the larger pots of pink and white vinca. Back on the front porch on the far right as you are leaving you will see more burgundy mums in their box. Up close and personal with the coleus on the back deck.

Across from the coleus you will see my beautiful orange

begonia.

Here we have some pretty yellow mums to brighten any

meal eaten outside.

I hope you have enjoyed seeing our pretty flowers that

will welcome the new season.

~Keep on Dreaming~

In The Kitchen

Today in the kitchen I decided that something needed to be done with the tomatoes before they went south, if you know what I mean--so I made tomatoe sauce. This was made with the last of the cherry tomatoes. Really easy! Chop your tomatoes and cook down until sauce coats the back of the spoon. I did put a smidge of S&P on it but the recipe says to season when you cook. I should tell you that this recipe called for 15lbs. of tomatoes which equals about two Qts. of sauce. When mine cools I'll stick it in the fridge to use this weekend but it can be portioned out and frozen for later use. Season according to what you are making.

The same can be said for the peppers that we had, I can't

tell you how many bags we have in the freezer just from

this year AND we've given a lot away too! Anyway I

decided to try a new recipe. PEPPER RELISH.

Chop your peppers--we had jalapeno and sorreno

peppers. You can leave the seeds if you want, make a

fine mince, layer with salt and store in the fridge.

Good on anything that calls for hot peppers. If you want

a mild relish remove the seeds from some of the peppers.

I used a small food chopper to mince my peppers that way

I could limit my hand contact on the peppers. Much easier

than hand chopping.

I'm sure this will go on Mr. Ken's chili and tacos.

Both recipes are very easy and a good way to use up

the last of your garden produce. Enjoy!!!!

~Keep on Dreaming~

IT IS COMING!!!!!

In FIVE yes FIVE more days!!!!! WOOOOOHAAA!!!!

~Keep on Dreaming~

Snacktime

The word "snack" comes from the Dutch snacken, which means to bite. Americans love their snacks, eating an average of more than four per day and more than 65 lbs. of snack foods each year. DID YOU KNOW?--- The main contributor to the increase in the consumption of salty snacks was the end of Prohibition in 1933. The interest in salty snacks increased even more during WWII, as rationing caused a severe shortage in sugar. The average American eats nearly 70 qts of popcorn a year. Dr. John Pemberton, a pharmacist, produced the syrup for Coca-Cola. It was sold at Jacobs' Pharmacy for .05 cents a glass as a fountain drink. More than one billion Coca-Cola products are consumed each day. October is National Pizza Month in the US, so designated in 1987-it's one of the most popular foods and pepperoni is the most popular topping in America. What do you like on your pizza? The most popular ice cream flavors are chocolate,vanilla, butter pecan and strawberry. Joseph Fry invented the candy bar in 1847-he created a paste that could be pressed into a mold. Milk chocolate is the most popular but those that like dark chocolate would disagree. The Hershey bar was invented in 1900. Candy corn was first made in the 1880's and it was only made from March to November. Tootsie Rolls debuted in 1896, introduced by Leo Hirshfied, who named them after his dughter's nickname, "Tootsie." The candy cane was a Christmas treat by the late 17th century. Popular tradition holds that the shape is meant to represent a shepherd's crook. Most are peppermint flavored but these days one can find them in many flavors. In a typical Valentine season, more than 36 million heart shaped boxes will be given and recieved. Approximately eight billion conversation hearts are produced in a typical year. The manufacturers of the hearts introduce at least 10 new sayings each year. As many as ninety million chocolate Easter bunnies are produced every year, in the US. About 16 million jelly beans are produced every year in the US, for Easter. There are enough PEEPS made each year to circle the earth twice, Easter is not the only holiday today, that you can find these treats. Who likes PEEPS????? How's that for "food for thought?" ~Keep on Dreaming~

Spinach Anyone????

On Saturday , Nancy--Acorn Cottage and I headed out for the

25th Annual Lenexa Spinach Festival located in the beautiful

Sar-Ko-Par Trails Park. It was a beautiful day to wander the

park looking at crafts and antiques plus we enjoyed the

food at the food booths. The Spinach Festival celebrates

Lenexa's earliest claim to fame as the "Spinach Capitol of

World" during the 1930's. Belgian farmers grew spinach

and the shipped it out by rail. The festival rolls all of the

history into one big festival sporting "the world's largest

spinach salad, spinach dip, pizza, wraps and balls plus a

variety of other food for festival goers pleasure.

Here we find Popeye and Olive Oyl doing some old-fashioned

pole fishing at the "waterering hole." Wonder if they caught

any??

There are over 100 artand craft booths to look at and one

tent full of antiques!

One of our favorite booth is the one Nancy calls "the Hallo-

ween booth" it also has some Christmas stuff too. It is VERY

hard to make decisions in this delightful place! Can you see

the "pig-tailed pumpkin" on the black table--it's really a

halloween cat complete with a tail. She'a adorable.

Nancy is holding a sweater decorated with Yo-Yo's. NO, not the kind on a string and you walk the dog with it. The kind you make out of fabric. VERY VERY Cute! This booth was huge AND we found out they are opening a store locally! Could be trouble for Nan and me. :)

NOW--the mystery of the day. Is this man's hair real ?

We had a great time and are looking forward to next year!!

~Keep on Dreaming~