Apple Crisp Recipe

Last night I made my Mom's apple crisp recipe and I've decided to share it with all of you! The picture above is not my apple crisp but it looks just like it. I make mine in a round pie plate though not a square pan, but I guess you could.

Apple Crisp

8-10 McIntosh Apples, pared and sliced
1 cup flour
1 cup sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
1 stick butter
Cinnamon, to taste (I use alot because we love cinnamon)

Pare and slice apples and scatter in a pie plate. In another bowl mix all other ingredients. Sprinkle this mixture over apples, making sure all the apples are covered. Cook in a 400 degree oven for 40 minutes. Cool and enjoy! May be served with vanilla ice cream. May be served cold or warm. Enjoy!

Everyone have a lovely day!

~WE HAVE A WINNER!!!~

CONGRATULATIONS to Donna at Mourning Dove Cottage!!!!!! Donna, you won a pair of handmade earrings. I will go over to your post for directions on what type of earrings you would like and I will need your snail mail address! If you would like to check out Donna's fabulous blog here is her address: donnas-art.blogspot.com.

Thank you everyone for participating in my giveaway and for posting on my blog! Enjoy!

Pumpkin Pie Recipe and Victoria Magazine Nov./Dec. Issue

I had promised everyone my great grandmother's pumpkin pie and here is her recipe:

Grandma Sisco's Pumpkin Pie

2 cups Pumpkin, cooked and mashed
3-4 Saltine crackers, crushed
2 eggs
1 cup sugar
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
(also will need some nutmeg to sprinkle on the top of the pie before cooking)
Milk

Mix ingredients together. Pour into a baked pie shell. Cook pie at 450 degrees for 10 minutes and then about 45-60 minutes at 350 degrees.

Enjoy!!



After John and I got back from the movies. (We went to see Couples Retreat, which was hilarious and great!) we got the mail. In the mail was my all time fav magazine, Victoria!! The Nov./Dec. issue was in the box and I'm going to enjoy reading that and drinking a lovely cup of vanilla tea this evening! Great movie with hubby and my fav magazine all in one day, what more could a girl want! Off to the jewelry table now! Everyone have a lovely weekend!

Iced Pumpkin Cookie Recipe and 450th Post Giveaway!

First, this is my 450th Post!!!!! II started this blog on February 3, 2008. I want to thank you all for your friendship, lovely comments, support and hugs you have given over the past 2 years (well almost 3)! I enjoy every minute of blogging with everyone! Y'all are the greatest!! A small way to thank y'all is I am going to give away a pair of earrings that I have made. I want to make the earrings match the person's personality and likes. So what you need to do to win this Giveaway is as follows:

1. Leave a comment telling me you would like to participate in the Giveaway.
2. Include your e-mail address in the post.
3. Tell me what colors you like.
4. Tell me whether you like casual, sporty, elegant or wild styles.
5. For the earrings I will need to know whether you like post, french wires or leverback earwires.
6. You need to have your posts in by this Saturday, October 17th at 5:00 p.m. EST.


I will be picking the name of the winner by random.org. This is not just limited to my blog friends in the USA either, anyone can take a chance for this Giveaway! Good luck to everyone!

Second, I promised you all my recipe for pumpkin cookies. You can put icing on them or not. They are so good! Tomorrow I will post my Great Grandmother's Pumpkin Pie Recipe. Enjoy!


Iced Pumpkin Cookies

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 1/2 cups white sugar
1 cup pumpkin puree
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups confectioners' sugar
3 tablespoons milk
1 tablespoon melted butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, ground cloves, and salt; set aside.

In a medium bowl, cream together the 1/2 cup of butter and white sugar. Add pumpkin, egg, and 1 teaspoon vanilla to butter mixture, and beat until creamy. Mix in dry ingredients. Drop on cookie sheet by tablespoonfuls; flatten slightly.
Bake for 15 to 20 minutes in the preheated oven. Cool cookies, then drizzle glaze with fork.

To Make Glaze: Combine confectioners' sugar, milk, 1 tablespoon melted butter, and 1 teaspoon vanilla. Add milk as needed, to achieve drizzling consistency.

The Milk Pumpkin

I had a few people ask me at work why did my Pumpkin Bread and Pumpkin Pie taste different than what they usually have. So I thought maybe everyone didn't know the different pumpkins. Here is some information I thought I would share with everyone. Well for one thing I don't and refuse to use pumpkin out of a can and I use a Milk Pumpkin. Some people use regular Jack-o-Lantern pumpkins but not me! The Milk Pumpkin is denser, sweeter and a brighter orange flesh, which is great for pies, breads, etc. . This whole thing just reminded me I need to look for my Pumpkin Cookie recipe-love them! When I went back home recently my Dad gave me a Milk Pumpkin he grew in his garden and this week I need to cook it up and freeze it for later use. I think how the milk pumpkin got it's name is because it is a lighter color than the regular pumpkin (it looks like milk has been added to the color making it lighter). I also read sometimes this pumpkin is called a cheese pumpkin because it looks like a wheel of cheese. All I know is these pumpkins make the best pies, cakes, cookies and breads! Below are 2 pictures of pumpkins so you can see the difference.


Here is a regular Jack-o-Lantern pumpkin.


Here is a Milk Pumpkin-you can definitely see the difference. The Milk Pumpkin is more squat too.

What ever pumpkin you use to make your pies, breads, cakes, cookies, pancakes, etc. I'm sure they are good!

Autumn/Halloween Decorating today and the Camellias

Today after John and I got back from having Brunch with Megan and Ken we got all the Autumn/Halloween decorations out. I spent the afternoon decorating while John watched football and now he is napping (guess getting all the decorations out tired him out-hehe!). This is our first year in the townhouse, so I decorated some things a little differently than I would in our old house. Actually I liked decorating the townhouse better! I noticed our Camellias out front were starting to bloom. I snapped some pics for you to see also! Here is everything:


I have a pumpkin (the one on the left) that looks and feels just like a real pumpkin. I love it! The pumpkin on the right is one I made in Ceramics Class in 1983 (Jenny was a little baby and Megan was only 2 1/2 yrs. old!). If you click on the picture it will enlarge and you can see the little mice on the pumpkin-they were little devils to paint!)


I love to Decorate the Dining Room table with this wreath I bought when we lived in NJ. I of course, love candles and it shows on the table!


I decided to hang this wooden Pumpkin and Ghost decoration off the latch on my pumpkin pine stepback cupboard in the Dining Room.


The sideboard in my eating area across from the kitchen also got decorated. This silver candlesticks got little autumn candle rings and I put John's great grandmothers china away for now and brought out a huge bowl for potpourri and my Franciscan Apple Coffee Pot with matching sugar and creamer! I love to use the things I have. I try to change them out every once in a while with things for the season we are presently in.



I added a bowl of potpourri to the coffee table in the living room. I put the glass bowl of shells and sand dollars away for the season.


I used to have 3 mantels to decorate in the old house and here I have one. That is just fine with me. I was able to decorate the mantel just the way I wanted and I took the overflow things over to the 2 half walls we now have (these walls separate the kitchen and eating area from the living room.


Here is my little handpainted witch I bought about 22 years ago from a wonderful decorative painter at a craft fair. I grouped her with pumpkins and a little black cat I had bought at a wonderful shop in NJ.


On the other side of the mantel I put the more pumpkins with my little ghost.


When the girls were a little older I decided to take a decorative painting glass one night a week. I made this little Halloween Bench.


Here is a closeup of the Halloween Bench. I loved painting this!



There is a window in our house when you start going up the stairs. I used to make alot of stained glass items and I made this Jack-o-lantern for the girls when we lived in our Victorian in Branchville, NJ. I love the colors, they just seem to jump out at you!


Our Camellias out front have started to bloom. Here are some buds that are just ready to burst open!



Isn't the color of this Camellia just beautiful!! I love Camellias! We never could grow these up North, another reason to love living in the South!!

Today I met my WW/Blogger Friend Lynne!

Today was a very exciting day for me! I got to meet Lynne my WW/Blogger friend in Greenville, SC. We meet at an Applebees there and had a wonderful time chatting and lunching! Lynne brought me the book, An Irish County Doctor by Patrick Taylor, which I can't wait to read. She is so thoughtful, she remembered John and I went to Ireland for our 25th wedding anniversary 5 yrs. ago! We have always felt a connection to each other and I am so glad we finally got to meet. I told Lynne I thought I met her in 2004 but when I started thinking about it on the way home I think we have known each other since 2002 on the WW Board! We both have 2 daughters and we share the love of books for sure! I hope that we will be able to get together again and catch up some more! Lynne, you are truly a wonderful person and I enjoyed lunching and chatting with you today!!
Here are some pictures of our visit and the ride down there:


This morning I hopped in my car at 10:35 and headed down to Greenville, SC to meet my WW/Blogger Friend Lynne from Georgia. We decided to meet half way for both of us at an Applebee's in Greenville, SC.


As I'm driving along what do I see put this huge peach!! It is actually a water tower in Gaffney, SC. Pretty cool huh!


Here is the giant peach up closer! It is very rich in color!


Here is my wonderful, lovely friend Lynne! It was just like we had known each other forever!


Here is a picture of Lynne and I at Applebees. The nice waitress obliged us and took it for us.

Everyone have a great weekend!