Baking Fall Treats: Healthier Apple Desserts

Last Fall, I came home with bushels of apples.  I was thrilled to explore making all things apples: Apple Crisp, French Apple Squares, Caramel Apples, Apple Cake, Applesauce, Apple Butter, & Apple Pie with my first ever homemade crust.  This Fall, I decided to attempt another first: adapting a recipe for Trim Healthy Mama eating.  I don't know why I thought it would be so hard to adjust fat and substitute for sugar, because it was much easier than I had anticipated!  You don't have to be eating the THM way though to enjoy the following "healthified" apple recipes.

A big thank you to my family, my friend Donna, and the ladies at Zumba for being my taste testers! 

Living Room: How We Live (version 4)

We moved to the Cape Cod the very last days of March 2013.  That first week brought my husband's first days of work, Easter, my oldest son's first days at a new school, starting a new Cub Scouts Pack and racing in the Pinewood Derby, soccer practice, my youngest son's 4th birthday party, and lots of unpacking.  Of course, we did our best to settle the boys into their bedrooms, their new environments, and our new routines.  That said, it's not surprising that I didn't totally finish unpacking and decorating the first room until mid-April.

The last eighteen months have been a process of learning how we live in our living room.  I know my husband hopes this will be the final version.  Following I'll share updated pictures of version four. 

Ch-ch-ch-changes

No reflection or big revelations today.  I'm just changing it up here by rearranging...  again.  Well, I will self-disclose this one nugget: My husband thinks I have a strange fascination with changing up the furniture and decor.  Honestly, I think I may.  Aside from little changes in the boys' bedrooms, I've had one room in one house that I was able to rearrange one of two ways... until now!  Honestly, this past year and a half I have really enjoyed rearranging and changing up our home, especially our living room.

{Check out the Arrange-a-Room program at Better Homes and Gardens if you love playing with floor plans too.  That's how I created the four versions of our living room at left.}

Okay, one more bit of self-revelation: Time has changed me.  It doesn't take great effort to change things around a bit.  In the past I wanted to spend money to update and change our home.  However, now I find it a fun challenge to use what he have around the house, borrowing from another room to rearrange and decorate around our home.  

After living in a Bungalow, a Four-Square, and a Cape Cod, I have learned a great lesson: Love the home you have.  

{You really should check out Melissa at her blog The Inspired Room or as guest blogger at Better Homes and Gardens for some decorating inspiration.  She coined the phrase "Love The Home You Have" and has a new book out with that title.}

Cutting Through Clutter: Organizing Recipes

While I'm less than thrilled about packing sack lunches again, I have been excited about trying new recipes lately {both from Pinterest and from pages torn out of magazines and thrown in a drawer}.  Often I've found it difficult to find a specific recipe when I need it though.  So I thought I'd share with you how I organized all the recipes I want to try and the recipes we've come to love. 

From disorganized chaos, where I can't find anything, to a place for everything! Yes, that photo on the left is from last Christmas.  No, that is not a long time ago and it's not really a big pile, considering that those recipes are the last quarter of a stack that I've been going through over the last two years.  Note to self: Stop tearing recipes out of magazines... We have enough!  So, from a high cupboard stuffed full of cookbooks and a drawer filled up with recipes came the inspiration to use a new, easily accessible cupboard to store all of our favorite recipes.  Yes, all the printed recipes and magazine sheets fit nicely into the two binders on the left of the bottom shelf.  There is something to be said about being able to find what you need when you need it!  I think that's typically my motivation behind organizing: make it work well & look good.

Rushing, Rushing

I just read the first chapter of a new book by Lysa TerKeurst.  One sentence, consisting of only four words, grabbed my attention right away… “Admission instead of omission.”  Yes, many of us say we strive for authenticity, but honestly we are often less than truthful with both others and ourselves.   So, I’m going to be honest.  It often takes longer than I’d like to admit before I get around to tasks I myself believe to be a priority... I get busy with less important tasks. I get distracted. I get worn out.  

That is why I subscribed to Unrush Me: A 5 Day Challenge.  This morning I received Day 5...  Did I mention that it’s a five day series?  Tonight, I’m finally reading {Unrush Me} Day 1 – The Rhythm of Rush.  Better late than never… right?  Well, I am so glad I made time tonight to read that first email.  Lysa speaks truth - truth of experiences I can identify with and truths that I need to remember when I have set our life to the rhythm of rush.

I found myself rushing my husband in conversation. Rushing my kids out the door. Rushing to the next thing and then the next.  Rushing to make dinner and then rushing my people through dinner. 

Exhaustion gnawed deep places in my heart, demanding me to slow down. But how? I’ve made my decisions and now my decisions have made me.

~Lysa TerKeurst