What A Difference

We woke up this morning with only the two of us here. Back to the empty nest again. There was no penguin or teddy bear or curly little head to greet us today. What fun we had with a full house all summer. And we will be quoting Little Sister for months to come.

She is at the age when her vocabulary is growing daily and some of it is just funny as she nearly gets her words right. She now shares some hobbies with me--like her enjoying her "kniddin' " and playing "lukulele." (Okay, so she only carries a ball of yarn around at this point. But I tuned her "lukelele" to an open chord and she did learn to strum it pretty well.) 

Pattern: Flash Mitts

Yarn: Brown Sheep Lamb's Pride Worsted

Needles: size 8

Big Sister really does knit and made sure to keep her knitting handy when they packed the car for the long drive home so she could work on the second mitt. She was so excited with the first one that she wants to make a pair for all of her friends for Christmas. Not sure she realizes how much knitting that would be!

Before they left, Daddy-O took Little Sister to pick apples from our tree. The deer get the ones down low, so we are left trying to reach the ones that are too high for the deer to eat. Then Mommy made apple dumplings. This is one of the first recipes she learned to make. It's a great dish for the beginning cook. Or even a non-cook. It's super simple and the results are always good—good enough to fool your family or co-workers into thinking you are a terrific cook! (Mommy really is a very good cook now but volunteering to bring these to family dinners gave her time to learn to cook some other things.)

APPLE DUMPLINGS

1 can (10 count) Grands Golden Layers (or other flaky biscuit that will separate into layers)
2 apples, peeled and cut into wedges (10 wedges from each apple)
1 cup water
1 cup sugar
1 stick butter
ground cinnamon

Separate each biscuit into two layers. This will give you 20 thin biscuits. Wrap each piece of biscuit around an apple wedge. Place in a 9x13-inch baking dish.

Put water, sugar and butter in a small saucepan. Heat until butter is melted and sugar is dissolved. Pour over apple dumpling. Sprinkle with cinnamon.

Bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes or until lightly browned.


These are so good! I like them even better with a scoop of vanilla ice cream on the side. This recipe has been around forever. There is a variation that uses Mt. Dew for the liquid. But this is so good with water and you avoid all the chemicals in the soda. Even with a dessert, you might as well make it as healthy as you can.