Jan232012

Caramel Apple Bars & a Crazy Weekend

By Country Gal | January 23, 2012 | Posted in 4H, Cookies and Bars, Cooking and Food, Desserts | Tagged , , | Comments (2)

Apple DessertIt was a really busy weekend.

Our Sunday activities included a church potluck at lunch and a 4H Soup Supper Fundraiser in the evening – with exactly one hour between the two.

That meant that we needed to be totally ready for both on Saturday – which made for a pretty crazy kitchen on Saturday afternoon!

I had Angel Girl, her friend Bethany and Dagmar all assisting. When we ran out of dishes we’ll call Buddy and Pedro to wash a few so we could keep moving.

In one afternoon we made barbecue venison, Grandma’s Cherry Dessert (but with blackberries) a chocolate oatmeal cake, lasagna, bread sticks, homemade caramel sauce, potato soup for 100, and a new creation – some yummy Caramel Apple Bars.

At one point – when I was mentally multiplying potato soup recipes in my head and praying that it would all turn out okay (it did!) – I handed Dagmar 2 different apple bar recipes and told her to make something work.

She did! The end result was an oatmeal crust with a gooey caramel apple filling.

We used homemade caramel sauce – since I forgot to buy caramels when I was shopping that morning – and it worked great!

Caramel Apple Bars

Crust:

1/2 cup butter or margarine
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 cup oatmeal
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup chopped pecans (optional – we didn’t use)

Filling:

4-1/2 cups peeled and chopped baking apples (we used a fat quart of our frozen apples)
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 – 14 ounce package caramels
3 tablespoons butter or margarine

Cream together the butter and brown sugar until fluffy. Add flour, oats, salt and baking soda. Mix well. Stir in pecans.

Set aside 2 cups.

Press remaining oat mixture into the bottom of an ungreased 13 x 9 inch pan.

For filling, toss apples with flour and spoon over the crust.

In a saucepan melt the caramels and butter over low heat and drizzle over the apples.

Top with the remaining oatmeal mixture.

Bake at 400 degrees for 25-30 minutes or until lightly browned.

Cool before cutting into bars.

Enjoy!

I’ve linked this post up with Tempt My Tummy Tuesday at Blessed with Grace and Tasty Tuesday at Balancing Beauty and Bedlam.

By Country Gal | Posted in 4H, Cookies and Bars, Cooking and Food, Desserts | Tagged , , | Comments (2)
Jan192012

Extreme Thrifting

By Country Gal | January 19, 2012 | Posted in Adventures | Tagged , | Comments (2)

Warning: The following adventure is extreme in nature and not for the faint of heart.

It was all Martha’s idea.

It was brilliant – I wish I could take credit – but it was Martha’s brainchild. After spending an afternoon thrifting together in the fall, she suggested we make a day of it next time.

If we started early enough we could possibly get to two more towns. TWO! Think of the bargains we could find!

It would require lots of miles on the road – but if she was game for it – so was I. I mean really – a whole day with a good friend in thrift stores?! Sign me up!

Besides – she was driving! :)

It took us awhile to find a day that would work, but Angel Girl and I finally met Martha and her daughter Bethany on Monday morning for adventure.

Martha had a map and a plan. We were ready for a day of Extreme Thrifting.

Big SaleJust look at those girls – already three stores in and still looking fresh!  Nothing like a big sale at your favorite thrift store to put a smile on your face!

Early on in the adventure the girls decided to find something matching at each store we went to. Believe it or not – they almost did!WendysWith two towns down, we stopped to refuel at Wendy’s. French fries dipped in chocolate frosty’s was just the high octane we needed!

We were on to new territory! Good thing Martha had a list and a GPS. Gypsy did us proud.

The weather was perfect – we had highs in the 60′s and sunshine all afternoon!

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Still smiling in our fourth and final town. Yes – it’s after dark and yes – they are now wearing coats. The temperatures were starting to fall.

Note the stuffed duckies – they were still on the hunt for matching things this late in the day!

ChickenWe did it! Time for stop at Chick-fil-a before heading back down the highway home.

The stats on our day of Extreme Thrifting are impressive!

We traveled to 4 different towns.

Stopped at 11 different thrift stores.

And drove over 173 miles.

But we’re not saying how much we spent!

Will our husbands ever let us do it again? I hope so – ’cause boy did we have fun! :)

PS – Hey Martha – I’m free next Thursday! <wink!>

By Country Gal | Posted in Adventures | Tagged , | Comments (2)
Jan162012

Banana Streusel Muffins

By Country Gal | January 16, 2012 | Posted in Cooking and Food, Muffins & Scones | Tagged | Comments (3)

MuffinsYou know how some people bring home stray animals?

We bring home stray bananas.

You know the kind – the overripe ones found in the little bags at the grocery store that are all spotted.

There have even been a few times when we brought home entire banana boxes full of them.

Our kids used to like bananas, but they have eaten so many really ripe ones that now they will only eat them when they are green. They won’t even touch a yellow banana, let alone one with black spots.

So I hide them in my cooking.  I’m always looking for a new banana recipe – like this one – the Banana Streusel Muffin.

Even though it took me four mixing bowls and a trip to the Amish store for eggs, it was worth it! The kids gave them a 2 thumbs-up! (Although that could be because they have almost enough sugar and butter to qualify as a cupcake?!)

At least a few more stray bananas have found a final resting place. :)

Banana Streusel Muffin

2 cups flour
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
2 eggs
1 cup (8 ounces) sour cream (I did lemon juice in milk)
1/4 butter or margarine (melted)
1 cup mashed bananas (about 2 medium)

Streusel Topping:

1/4 cup sugar
3 tablespoons flour
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
2 tablespoons butter or margarine

In a large bowl combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, baking soda, and cinnamon. In a small bowl, beat the eggs, sour cream, butter and bananas.

Stir the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients until just moistened. Fill greased muffin cups 3/4 full.

To make the streusel, combine the flour, sugar and cinnamon. Cut in the butter until small crumbs are formed.

Sprinkle the streusel over the muffins and bake at 375 degrees for 20-25 minutes.

Makes about 1 dozen.

Of course I had to double it since we had a lot of bananas!

Enjoy!

 

By Country Gal | Posted in Cooking and Food, Muffins & Scones | Tagged | Comments (3)
Jan132012

Welcome Back Winter

By Country Gal | January 13, 2012 | Posted in Rural Realities, Weather, Winter | Tagged , , | Comments (6)

Snow ClothesWell hell-oo winter!

I guess you’ve decided to show up after all – and how!

After a very mild fall, and weeks of above normal temperatures, you finally arrive with below zero wind chills and snow flurries – overnight.

Really? Couldn’t you have broken us in gently?

One day I take a walk in jeans and a hoodie.

Just 24 hours later it takes me 15 minutes to don insulated coveralls, boots, a winter coat, ski gloves and a stocking cap just to get the mail. Talk about full battle gear!

All together that pile of winter wear weighs over 5 pounds.

You know there’s nothing like a pair of insulated coveralls and an extra 5 pounds of weight to make a gal feel ladylike and feminine!

And there is absolutely nothing very positive that one can say about “hat hair” – especially hat hair full of static from the dry cold.

Okay winter – I’ll admit that you hit us with hard left-hook, but you haven’t won this round!

Yes, I know that the electric fencer isn’t working, both the hydrant and the water in the cow tank are frozen, and the satellite internet is spotty.

But both cars started, the well is still running and the furnace is working just fine!

And the sun is out, the cows are staying in the fence, and I have running water in the house.

You may have knocked us for a loop – but you haven’t beaten us yet! You just make us tougher.

So there.

Anybody up for a winter walk? :)

By Country Gal | Posted in Rural Realities, Weather, Winter | Tagged , , | Comments (6)
Jan112012

Slug Bug Yellow!

By Country Gal | January 11, 2012 | Posted in Children, Family Traditions, Teenagers | Tagged , | Comment (1)

Slug Bug YellowWe did a little driving with the kids over the last few weeks – and I must say it’s a bit nerve-wracking to ride in a vehicle when they start playing the yellow car game.

We’ll be calmly and quietly driving down the road when all of a sudden kids will hit the roof of the car and yell “Yellow Car” (or truck or van or bus.)

I guess the idea is that you want to be the first to spot the yellow vehicle, slap the roof of the car and yell it out. Whoever has the most amount of hits at the end of the journey wins.

Now Jan and I play a similar game trying to spot Land Cruisers. It started on our honeymoon. The older the Land Cruiser, the more points you get. But we don’t hit the roof and yell – we just smugly point it out to each other and announce our new point total. :)

Even my folks make a game of spotting trains when they’re on the road delivering Winnebagos. Ten points for every train – another 10 for whoever spots the engine first and 50 points for a passenger train or caboose. Again – no hitting involved – just a little bragging!

These are both quiet, calm games with that don’t sound like we’ve just been hit by artillery fire.

I guess I shouldn’t complain. At least the kids are hitting the car and not each other. Remember the slug bug game we used to play? Whenever we saw a Volkswagon Beetle we would hit the person next to us and yell “Slug bug”.

It was a great game until somebody got hit too hard and Dad had to lay down the law.  :)

I will have to admit the kids are good at spotting yellow vehicles.

Really good.

On a recent adventure with my sister-in-law Julie, the kids were totally dominating us in the yellow car game. They were slapping that roof before our brains could register the fact that a car was coming – let alone what color it was.

So we decided to make up our own rules. :)

Anything yellow was game.

We saw a yellow house and slapped the roof of the van – “yellow house”.

We saw a yellow mailbox. Slap – “yellow mailbox!”

Slap – “yellow swing set!”

Slap – “yellow curtains!”

Then we got a little silly! You know that broken yellow line that divides a two lane road?

Yep! We did it.

Slap – “Yellow line!”

Slap – “Yellow line!”

Slap – “Yellow line!”

Slap – “Yellow line!”

The kids were not impressed.

But we sure had fun!

Slap – “Yellow line!”

We decided if you can’t beat them – just change the rules! :)

By Country Gal | Posted in Children, Family Traditions, Teenagers | Tagged , | Comment (1)