Apples and Pumpkins

Apple Garland

 Can I take a minute to say how much I love the DollarTree? Seriously, they have tons of craft stuff for cheap. If I swore, I would swear by this store! And don't just frequent one store, stop by different DollarTree locations. Every store carries a little different variety. Oh and the Target dollar section is great too!

For example, I wanted to make an apple garland but didn't have the time to trace and cut out the apples. Browsing in DollarTree, I came across these cute foam apples. PERFECT! I simply punched two holes close together and had W help me string them. He thought it was awesome!

And then there is the whole "it's halloween/fall and I must decorate a pumpkin" thing. Sharp objects and large produce items do not mix well with small children. So, I came up with my own little alternative. Here's how we decorated pumpkins.

• Foam pumpkins from the DollarTree
• A variety of shapes cut from black construction paper
• Glue sticks
• Squares of construction paper

The pumpkins actually had faces printed on one side so I just glued that side to the construction paper and no one ever knew!  I made a sample and then let the kids do the rest. I loved the results! Can you find the pumpkin with the mustache?
Both E and W were super into this craft. W is 3 and wanted to do all the pumpkins!

The sample

Pumpkin heads

apples and spice and everything nice

Confession- I'm not much of a morning person and I'm even less of an oatmeal gal. But occasionally, I like to do something nice for my family. Like make breakfast for mom on Mother's day. (Yeah, I make it to family breakfast on Mother's day and Christmas.) I found something on pinterest that lets me do something nice for my family and not have to get up early! Apple cinnamon crockpot oatmeal! I really dislike oatmeal, but this is good stuff and super easy!
 

Apple Cinnamon Oatmeal 

You will need:

• 2-3 sliced and diced apples (you don't have to peel them)
• 1/3 cup brown sugar (I use less)
• 1 heaping tsp cinnamon (seriously, HEAPING)
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 2 heaping cups oatmeal (yes, heaping again)
• 4 cups water
• a crockpot

Prince keeping me company during my random late night cooking escapades

While the original recipe says to just throw in the apples, they don't get cooked enough for some members of my family...AHEM. So first, place all the apples in a skillet with 1/2 cup water and cook on med-hi heat until soft. Then, place the cooked apples (and what's left of the water) in the bottom of the crockpot. Next, pour in the brown sugar and cinnamon. Place the 2 cups of oatmeal on top of this. Finally, pour in 4 cups of water. Do NOT stir. For some reason this step is important. Cook on low overnight for 8-9 hours. Don't forget to plug in the crockpot! Stir well before serving.


I usually make this around 10:30 or 11 pm and it is ready in time for the early risers by 7 AM. If you are not getting up with the birds, leave a note out with direction on when the oatmeal will be ready and a reminder to stir before serving. And the great thing is, you can keep it on warm for a while and so it's still hot when everyone else wakes up (whenever that may be).

apple pie minus the pie part

After apple picking two weeks ago, our apples started going bad. Who wants to eat a rotten apple? Not me! And neither do the kiddos. Solution?  
Cooked Apples

• Chop up the apples that are going bad. Remove anything that looks disgusting. Add at least one good apple. Mixing up the apples seems to help. 
• Place in a frying pan or wok of sorts. Add enough apple juice to sufficiently cover the bottom of the pan. 
• Sprinkle cinnamon all over. 
• Add some vanilla. 
• Cook several minutes on high heat, stirring as much or as little as you want. 
• Add more cinnamon. 
• Continue cooking until apples are soft and juice evaporates leaving behind a small amount of almost syrup consistency.

*Today's recipe was brought to you by 6 apples, 1.5 organic apple juice boxes, a tablespoon of vanilla, and a LOT of cinnamon.*

The results are in and the judges are raving! And believe me, a 3 and 5 year old are tougher judges than anything they show on "reality" television! And the apple juice didn't have added sugar! Bonus points for no sugar highs! Nanny Poppins strikes again!