Caramel Apples

I've shared more than a few apple recipes on my blog over the years {Inside Out Caramel Apples, Apple Sandwiches, Sauteed Apples}. My apple recipes are sometimes created out of necessity because I buy way too many apples and then don't eat them before they start to get a little mushy. But last week I actually bought a ton of apples on purpose...to make caramel apples for Grant's entire 1st grade class! Yes, when his teacher asked us parents to send in a fun apple treat last week, I didn't take the easy route and send apple chips or even a store bought apple pie. Nope, I decided to make 30 {yummy, gooey, peanut covered} caramel apples instead:) Crazy? Maybe a little bit, but they were really fun to make and even more fun to eat! And yes I made a few extra to keep at home:) Here's my step by step just in case you want to make some of these yummy treats:

Wash, dry, and insert sticks into apples. I put the sticks in the bottom of the apples because I found that they are a little more steady upside down:)

Open a ton of caramel squares. I used 3 14 oz bags of caramels and it was just about perfect to make 30 small-ish caramel apples.

Heat the caramel according to the package instructions, and then dip the apples in the warm caramel.

Add chopped peanuts to the dipped apple.

Place the apples on wax paper to cool and then enjoy...or send 27 of them to school:)

Have you ever made caramel apples?

Pinterest Inspiration: Football Door Hangers

My craft {and recipe, decorating, photography, holiday, and party} to do list keeps getting longer and longer...mostly thanks to Pinterest! I am seriously pinning amazing ideas way faster than I can create them! A few weeks ago I pinned a really cute Football Door Hanger that I knew would be perfect on my front porch along with my Football Windsocks! I had all the supplies in my craft stash, I just kept putting off making them...until I finally convinced a few of my friends to come over for a craft day! We spent a few hours turning plain burlap into these adorable Football Door Hangers:

I don't have a step by step for you...mostly because I was dealing with Eli and trying to make four of these without getting too confused! {Check out Amanda's blog post to see her step by step.} They are actually really easy to make. We started by cutting out some plain burlap in the shape of a football, two footballs per door hanger. Then we spray painted one side of each burlap football with brown spray paint. After the paint was dry we added the fun painted embellishments to the piece that was going to be the front. You can also paint on two of the burlap footballs and make it reversible. My friend Tonya is apparently a great free-hand painter so she did the letters:) After the paint was dry, we layered two of the footballs together and then used a stapler to attach them to each other leaving one end open to stuff them. We added in a ribbon to the top to hang them with, stuffed them with plastic grocery bags, and closed up the hole using the stapler. Pretty easy and SUPER cute! That's one project I can mark off my {Pinterest} to do list!

Have you been working on any Pinterest inspired projects lately?

Wordless Wednesday: Our Day So Far

I Learned All I Know About Cobblers Thanks to The Pioneer Woman

Cobblers. For some reason everyone else seems to make amazing fruit desserts, and I just can't figure it out. I admitted to this last year when I shared a great Cherry Crunch recipe. And even though I did figure out one fruit dessert, I still  had trouble with cobbler...that is until I watch the new Pioneer Woman cooking show on Food Network. She shared an easy recipe for Blackberry Cobbler that is apparently magic because this weekend I made the most scrumptious peach cobbler using her recipe {and some fresh peaches my hubby picked up for me on his way home from a business trip}. Besides the fact that this is a really great cobbler recipe, how cool is it that Ree is a blogger turned tv show host! Call me crazy but I think that is just awesome. Now on to the recipe.

 Fresh Peach Cobbler

adapted from The Pioneer Woman's Blackberry Cobbler

Ingredients:

1 cup self rising flour

1 cup sugar

1 cup milk

1/2 stick butter, melted

6-8 fresh peaches, peeled and sliced

cinnamon and sugar for the top

Directions:

Mix together the flour, sugar, and milk.  Stir in the melted butter. Pour the batter into a buttered 10X13 baking dish. Add cut up peaches {or whatever kind of fruit you want to try} on top of the batter. Top the whole cobbler with a sprinkle of cinnamon and sugar. Bake at 350 for about an hour. Cool slightly and serve with vanilla ice cream.

Friday Flashback: Craft Edition

**I haven't been very crafty latley, so I'm sharing a little flashback craft. This fun Mod Podge project was originally posted back in November of 2009.**
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Fall Mod Podge Pumpkins

This is how our project ended:

Despite the major mess and the {now} dry and scratchy carpet, our Thanksgiving/fall pumpkins turned out SUPER cute!

Just in case you want to make a HUGE mess and some SUPER cute pumpkins...here is the list of supplies and steps we followed to make them.

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Plastic pumpkins {mine were $1 at Walmart}

Scrapbook Paper {8 sheets for $1 at Target}

Mod Podge

Paint Brushes

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Tear scrapbook paper into small pieces

Attach the paper to the pumpkin and continue to coat it with Mod Podge until all the paper is wet and stuck to the pumpkin really well. This is the messy part, because the only way to make the paper stick really well is to work it with your hands! Eli and I worked on some painting while Henry and Grant were finishing up their pumpkins. These SUPER cute and oh so chubby handprints are going to be turkeys and leaves once I get my paintpens after them! Just a little hint....be careful when painting with brown paint, because your kiddo might think it is chocolate and try to lick it off his hand! :)

Then use a foam paintbrush to apply a coat of Mod Podge all over the pumpkins and let them dry. 

Our pumpkins {coated with Mod Podge} drying on the table...picture taken by Henry {because I still had a two inch layer of MP on my hands}!

Our finished Thanksgiving/Fall Pumpkins!