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A Life From Scratch.

A Life You Adore Around A Table You Love.

Archives for October 2013

Fall in a pot.

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homemade apple sauce

If there is a time to make homemade apple sauce – it’s now. Take advantage of those apple orchards, farm stands, or even bags of apples at Trader Joes and get this going in your oven asap. Your little one will thank you, your home will thank you for making it smell absolutely amazing, and you’ll thank yourself for making something so fantastic and in season.

There is a little prep work to this with all the apples but aside from that you throw everything into one bit pot and that’s that. I could not believe the difference between this and store bought. It doesn’t even compare. The citrus zest give it a little kick without overpowering the apples, at all. And the butter – what recipe doesn’t need butter? Exactly.

This is B and L approved – woohoo! Score.

Homemade Apple Sauce
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Prep Time
30 min
Cook Time
1 hr 30 min
Total Time
2 hr
Prep Time
30 min
Cook Time
1 hr 30 min
Total Time
2 hr
Ingredients
  1. 2 large navel oranges, zested and juiced
  2. 1 lemon, zested and juiced
  3. 3 pounds Granny Smith apples (about 6 to 8 apples)
  4. 3 pounds sweet red apples, such as Macoun, McIntosh, or Winesap (about 6 to 8 apples)
  5. 1/2 cup light brown sugar, packed
  6. 4 tablespoons unsalted butter
  7. 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
  8. 1 teaspoon nutmeg
  9. 1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
  10. Throw in a cinnamon stick or two, if you have them
Instructions
  1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F.
  2. Place the zest and juice of the oranges and lemon in a large dutch oven.
  3. Peel, quarter, and core the apples (reserving the peel of 2 of the red apples) and toss them in the juice.
  4. Add the brown sugar, butter, cinnamon, and allspice and cover the pot.
  5. Bake for 1 1/2 hours, or until all the apples are soft. Remove and discard the red apple peel.
  6. Mix with a whisk until smooth, and serve warm or at room temperature.
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Eat up!

C

wwww.

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wwww19
It’s Wednesday! You know the drill – comment below to leave a link back to your blog or show off your stuff on Facebook. I love seeing your looks each week!

These pictures are from a typical Monday. It was chilly at the bus stop so we were bundled up. As the day went on we shed our layers a bit! Here is what we wore:

L: Say what you want about abercrombie (ok, the CEO is kind of an idiot, right?) but for a preppy boy that loves sports it really is a fun store to shop at. The price is higher but both times I’ve shopped it’s been 40% off – hey, that brings it down to Old Navy pricing but much better quality. The sweatshirt L has on is so thick and warm he prefers it over his fall coat. His distressed jeans are also from abercrombie. Nikes on the bottom.

B: Oh B. We were kind of lazy bums in terms of getting him dressed today. He has some form of jammies and sweatshirt in the early am pic. Later on in the day we went to Gap striped pants (love these – I just want to smush him when he’s wearing them!) and a Gap baseball tee. 

C: See that ruffled henley top? Well get used to it because I now own 4. Yep, I do that when I really love a shirt. It’s from Ann Taylor Loft and they recently offered 40% off so I stocked up. I think it’s such a cute twist on a boring tee. I’m loving my new AE jeans and on the bottom are my 8 year old Frye cowgirl boots.

That’s our look for this week – let’s see yours!
C

C’s picks.

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football party
Whew – what a fun night we had with L’s football team. Good food (great chili Julie!), lots of running around, and I hope a fun time had by all. I don’t want the season to end!

Well Sunday is here and that means it’s time to line up our food for the week. I am so happy the temp has finally dropped a bit. It was so confusing serving chili and soup in 80 degree humidity. Hot apple cider anyone? Um, no thanks.

Tonight will be a night off from my kitchen. It’s needed.

I woke up today with my voice on it’s way out. Not sure if it’s a bug or from trying to wrangle the 12+ little monkeys in my basement last night but I’m taking no chances. Homemade chicken noodle soup is on the agenda.

I loved this pasta dish so much and even though we recently enjoyed it, I don’t see the harm in whipping up another batch this week.

By this point my kitchen will be pretty stocked again so we’ll go with another night of leftovers. I’m betting M picks the pasta and I’ll go with a big bowl of soup.

Thursday I like to do something quick and easy as it’s football – our last week! Let’s go with our t-ball tacos.

And that brings us to Friday – which we have wide open. Date night? Dinner out with the kids? I’ll have the ingredients for our pizza if we choose a lazy night in.

Be well,
C

 

Homecoming!

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MAR_3875

Just try to stop this line from getting a touch down – just try!

Whew – we have one heck of a weekend lined up around here. Homecoming parade and game, a play off game, and then one rough and tough football team coming by for a party. And that’s just Saturday. Not only will we have the Chiefs line up here, we’ll have plenty of hungry siblings and parents to feed as well. A party this time of the year can only mean one thing: fall comfort food. Here is our play by play:

A big pot of bubbling black bean soup will be simmering away on the stove.

My mom is making a big dish of baked mac and cheese. She rocks!

Sweet and sour crockpot meatballs will be staying warm in the crock pot all ready for sliders.

Homemade corn muffins, to dip in the soup of course.

Giant spinach salad, courtesy of Trader Joes.

Something to drink? Hot apple cider with cinnamon sticks will be on the stove. Of course the opportunity to spike it will be nearby for the parents.

We need to end with something sweet – dream bars are just the thing for this full of potential team!

Can you believe that’s just half of it? We are co-hosting with BFF and Chief superstar Ryder’s family as well as we share a gate! Can’t wait to try some of their delicious food.

What am I doing? I’ve got to get cooking…Go Chiefs!
C
image002-3

wwww.

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wwww17

It’s the middle of the week – that means it’s time for what WE wore Wednesday! Play along by leaving a comment below to link back to your blog or show off your little one on Facebook.

This past Saturday we had such a fun day! We spent the morning at the farmer’s market complete with watching the trains, helping Grammie sell pies, sampling homemade egg rolls (yum!) and of course enjoying all that fall has to offer a market. We ended the day by dinner at our good friend Catherine and Jeff’s home. Great steaks – great wine – and a great time watching B try to keep up with the 3 older boys. Too cute! Here is what we wore:

L: Crewcut tee, Old Navy shorts, and Nikes. He has a Nike obsession now – literally will walk up to random strangers and say ‘wow, you have Nikes too?’ Yes L, you are not the only one.

B: He had an ensemble change today – too much playing in the mulch at the market. He started off in a Gap polo and jeans and then switched to his old man H&M pants. And helloooo – my child is wearing shoes! Aren’t you proud? We made the trip to Nordstroms last week and stocked up on a few pairs for winter. Even though he isn’t walking yet, it was time.

C: I wore a much more casual outfit to the market – can’t even recall what at this point as I didn’t get any pics. I always like to dress up a bit for Catherine because we are weird that way – Old Navy polka dot cropped pants, Theory blouse, J crew necklace and Target flats.

Bonus – my mom joins us this week! Isn’t she adorable? I loved that all 3 had on navy so of course had to snap a shot.

Let’s see those looks!
C

 

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