My favorite kitchen ‘appliance’ isn’t electrical and I have to operate it by hand but it saves me so much time! It is an apple peeler. My husband got it for me, years ago, and it has been used often. My husband likes it because it means he gets apple desserts and homemade applesauce more often!
Please pray for the health and protection of our Pope Francis…. just a simple Hail Mary. Especially now that ISIS has targeted the Vatican and plans to assassinate the Pope!
THE HOLY FATHER MAKES A REQUEST FOR PRAYERS THAT GOD PROTECTS HIM AND GIVES HIM FORCES TO MEET THIS DIFFICULT TASK … SO BE IT!!
Our goal is to reach ten million Hail Mary’s for Pope Francis. Send this message to all Catholic friends or even to those who like him. We pray for the Holy Father that the heavenly Mother intercedes for him and protects him in his ministry:
Hail Mary, full of grace. The Lord is with thee, blessed art thou among women and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen.
Do not forget to share this message with your friends friends. We want to reach ten million Hail Marys. 
Fall is approaching more quickly now and apples are in abundance already. Nothing like a spicy apple and cinnamon concoction to put the sent of holidays into the air just a bit! This is a cookie-type bar cookie with a lot of taste and goes well as a snack or dressed up for dessert.
Apple Oatmeal Bars
½ cup shortening
1 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs, room temperature
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
1 ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1 cup rolled oats
2-3 green or tart apples, peeled and diced (about 2 cups total)
Juice and zest of one, small lemon
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
½ cup chopped pecans
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line a baking pan (approximately 12x9x2-inches) with parchment paper or use vegetable oil spray.
Cream together the shortening and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs, one at a time.
In another bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and spices. In a small bowl, mix together the lemon juice, zest, vanilla extract, and the apples. Now stir in the rolled oats, apple mixture and nuts into the flour/butter mixture. Spread the batter in the prepared baking pan.
Bake for approximately 20-25 minutes. Cool in the pan on a cooling rack. Cut into desired-sized bars and either sprinkle with powdered sugar or drizzle with a lemon glaze. Goes well with a scoop of vanilla ice cream or a generous portion of freshly-whipped cream.
President Obama defended his decision to exchange five Taliban terrorists for alleged deserter, American Army Sgt.Bergdahl by claiming that this sort of thing was done by George Washington, Abraham Lincoln and Franklin D. Roosevelt. The president said this has been true in every combat situation where you make sure you get all your people home. He claimed it was the right thing to do.
A knowledge of American History would prove this statement wrong on all counts.
George Washington did not become president until six years after the Revolutionary War. The Revolutionary War ended in 1783. By 1789, there were no longer any prisoners for him to exchange.
Abraham Lincoln was assassinated in April of 1865. The Civil War ended in May. The president, obviously, was not able to enact anything at that point in time. No deals were made to exchange prisoners after the Civil War. All prisoners were simply freed.
Franklin D. Roosevelt died of a stroke before World War II ended. President Harry S. Truman made the decision to drop the bombs on Japan, ending World War II. He made no deals for prisoners. The US Forces went in and released them according to each case.
Not one of the presidents mentioned by the president were in office at the end of these wars, making it impossible for them to make any sort of prisoner swaps. You do have to wonder if any of the aforementioned presidents would have even considered making a five for one swap plus unspecified cash for a soldier with a less than stellar record in being a supporter of the country he was supposed to be serving.
Although I’m all for cooking and backing from scratch, there are those times when it is nice of have a go-to recipe that can be accomplished in a short amount of time and still be tasty and ‘homemade’. These of those kind of cookies.
Fudge Cookies
2 large eggs, room temperature
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ cup melted butter (Margarine is just not as good!)
1 tablespoon freshly grated orange zest
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 package devil’s food cake mix
½ cup all-purpose flour
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
½ cup roughly chopped walnuts or pecans
Powdered sugar
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Beat together the eggs with the baking soda. Blend in the melted butter. Add orange zest, cake mix, and flour. Stir until all ingredients are moistened. The mixture will be a bit stiff. Fold in the chocolate chips and nuts.
Spread out the cookie dough evenly into a parchment paper lined jelly roll-type baking pan. They are usually around 15 ½ x 10 ½ x1-inch. You can use two smaller pans, if necessary.
Bake in preheated oven for approximately 10 to 15 minutes depending on your oven or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Remove pan to a cooling rack and let rest for about 15 minutes. While still warm and in the pan, cut into 2-inch squares. Sift powdered sugar over the top and let finish cooling.
Ideas:
There is always more than one way to tackle a recipe and make it your own.
-Use white chocolate chips instead of chocolate for a contrast.
-Add 1/4 cup of toffee bits to the recipe.
-Leave off the orange zest and use peppermint or chocolate mint chips.
-Use a yellow cake mix with milk chocolate chips.
No human being is too big to be humble, but some human beings are too small.
-Anonymous
When my children were little and wanted pancakes for breakfast and time was of the essence, I would take a page out of my German mother’s cookbook and make them a Kaiserschmarrn. The beauty of this was the fact that I only had to make one, big pancake and the children loved trying to say the name. It basically translates to: The Emperor’s Mishmash! Nothing like making a treat with a story.
Kaiserschmarrn
4 large eggs
3/4 cup flour
½ cup milk
pinch salt
1 tsp baking powder
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
4 tablespoons butter
Cinnamon/sugar mixture
Instructions:
Mix together egg, flour, milk, salt, baking powder and sugar till well mixed. Let batter stand for 10 minutes.
In frying pan, melt 2 tablespoons butter over medium heat. Pour in batter and fry until cooked on bottom. Flip pancake, adding rest of butter, and start breaking up the pancake and continue cooking to complete finish cooking it. You want chunks of pancake with some browned edges.
Turn off the heat and sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar and serve.
Cinnamon/sugar mixture:
1/4 cup granulated sugar
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon vanilla powder if you have it on hand
Ideas:
If you are looking for a change of pace, here are some nice additions to the basic recipe.
-Plump up some raisins or dried cranberries in warm water, drain, and add to the batter before beginning the cooking process.
-Melt two tablespoons of butter and mix in 1/4 cup ground nuts, spread over the completely baked pancake and then sprinkle on the cinnamon and sugar.
-Serving jam with the warm pancake is not against the law!
-Saute a couple of peeled and chopped apples in two tablespoons of butter with a tablespoon of brandy. When the apples are almost tender, spread over baked pancake and sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar.
In my opinion, even worse than wasted taxes and stupid legislation is the intrusion of the powers that be into our personal lives especially in what we feed our children and how we prepare it. The latest victim is a 13-year old boy who was given a detention slip. Why? He shared his lunch with his friend who wasn’t happy with what he brought from home. The school claims they worry about allergies and only goodness knows what else. Obviously, they hadn’t initially sent a note home at the beginning of the school year forbidding this so why make an example of a young man who was only being kind to a pal? It is only the school that is upset as parents on both sides didn’t have a problem. As for their excuse about a possible allergy situation, at thirteen years of age, any child with severe allergies would have been educated to avoid any snacks or food other than what they brought from home. And, what a nice way to downgrade an act of kindness. More of the liberal educational system of today? I suppose the children should be happy they are even allowed to bring lunches from home and not given their quota a carrot sticks and yogurt for the day.
Crazy Quilts, Catholics & Cookies 