Apple Crisp… oh, how yummy

Kellie posted that she had tons of apples and needed recipe ideas. In our house, we’re split on our apple preferences. The boys prefer sour Granny Smiths while us girls like sweet Fujis. I swear, if my mom had given us Fuji apples instead of those awful mushy Golden Delicious things, I’d have eaten way more apples.

Now, I like my apples dipped in peanut butter. I like my apples thinly sliced with a little cheddar cheese. But mostly, I like my apples in a crisp. And this is one recipe in which the boys’ choice usually wins.

Chel’s Apple Crisp

• 1 box yellow cake mix
• cinnamon
• brown sugar
• 1/4 - 1/2 c butter
• a bunch of apples

Peel, core and slice the apples really thinly. Pile them into a baking dish until the dish is about half to three-quarters of the way full.

In a bowl, mix the cake mix along with a teaspoon or so of brown sugar and two or three good, healthy shakes of cinnamon.

Melt the butter and pour into bowl with dry ingredients. Mix around some. You’re just looking to make some lumpy spots. Pour the dry mix onto the apples.

Bake at 350 about 20 minutes or so. You want the apples to be soft and tender and the top to be crispy. Scoop into bowls and top with a little bit of vanilla ice cream (or Bruster’s has some cinnamon ice cream I keep thinking I might try with it.).

… You can do this with pretty much any fruit that has enough juice to sweeten up and get tender. It’s great with strawberries. And this weekend, after I get those yummo Harry and David pears, we’re having it with pears.

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Coca-Cola Cake

An old, Southern dessert. I took the recipe from a church cookbook given to me by my late grandmother. Loving Rachael Ray though I do, church cookbooks are always some of the best.

Batter:

2 c sugar

2 c flour

1/2 c butter

1/2 c shortening (or butter)

3 tbs cocoa

1 c Coke

1/2 c buttermilk

1 tsp soda

2 eggs, well beaten

1 tsp vanilla

1 1/2 c mini marshmallows

Preheat oven to 350. Combine flour and sugar in large mixing bowl. In saucepan, mix butter, shortening, cocoa and Coke. Bring to a boil and pour over flour and sugar and stir. Add buttermilk, soda, eggs, vanilla and marshmallows and stir. Pour into greased 13×9 pan and bake for 30 minutes.

Frosting:

1/2 c butter

3 tbs cocoa

6 tbs (or more) Coke

1 lb. powdered sugar

In saucepan, mix butter, cocoa and Coke. Bring to a boil and stir in powdered sugar. Pour over cake while cake is still warm.

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Menu Plan Monday

I’m posting this on Monday, but I’m working on it on Friday, so you may be looking at a few days of old menus. And they may be a little wacky, given that I’m running on a lack of sleep and taking suggestions from a kid on Valium.

I’m trying to find a reasonable balance between trying to make healthier meals while still being able to afford those meals. I know everyone’s doing the same. In an effort to save a little money, I’m going to start packing my lunch during the workweek, and now that the boys are home all day, I have to plan lunches for them, too.

Friday - We’re eating whatever makes Griff happy today.

Saturday - Chuck and Stacy are bringing Eliza back home, and Mike’s going to grill out for dinner. We’ll have something easy for lunch.

Sunday - Easy whatevers for lunch & wonton soup for dinner. The soup is a mix of this Emeril recipe and this Sandra Lee recipe with a few tweaks of my own. I add shredded carrots and zucchini to the chicken/veggie broth combo and don’t put any shellfish or seafood in the wontons. The veggies are another part of my stealthy healthy living trick on my kids. I cook the wontons in water in another pan & then add them to the broth in each bowl. The leftover broth can be used for Monday night’s chicken and rice… more stealthy veggies.

(lunch…For the boys, I got a variety of sandwich stuff and soup and such. I’ll most likely have to work through lunch this week, so they’re left to their own devices with what I left in the fridge.)

Monday - Chicken and yellow rice for dinner.

Tuesday - Smoked chicken with grilled vegetables.

Wednesday - Chicken alfredo with edamame beans (a sweet gesture from Stacy’s sister… my sister-in-law sister)

Thursday - Turkey burgers with fresh veggie sticks

Friday - Mandy, Josh and Olivia are spending the week at Disney with Mandy’s family’s annual summer vacation week, so we’re meeting all 10 of them at the Rainforest Cafe for dinner. We’ll have to get a wheelchair for Griff, but it’ll be something for him to look forward to this week. And we’ll get to go to Goofy’s Candy Shop and have chocolate dipped pretzels. I love those.

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Tagged with: Menu Plan Monday • Recipes • won ton soup