Apple Walnut Coffee Cake

I have been waiting for a reason to try this recipe- an October work  potluck was the perfect opportunity.  It comes from my new favorite cookbook, Good Housekeeping Step By Step Cookbook.

It really didn’t seem to be as involved as the number of steps made it seem. Also, while I of course never post a recipe that turned out crappy, this one was oh-my-sweet-goodness divine. This will definitely be a go-to recipe in the future for… well just about anything.

1 cup walnuts, chopped
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
2/3 cup plus 2 1/2 cups flour
4 tablespoons plus 1 cup butter, softened
3 Golden Delicious apples
2 tablespoons plus 1 1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 container (16 ounces) sour cream
1 tablespoon baking powder
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
4 eggs

Create streusel topping by mixing in a medium bowl walnuts, brown sugar, cinnamon, 2/3 cup flour, and 4 tablespoons butter until mixture forms large pieces.

Peel, core, and thinly slice apples. Place in another medium bowl and toss with 2 tablespoons granulated sugar.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease 14” by 10” pan.

In mixing bowl, beat 1 cup butter with 1 1/2 cup granulated sugar until light and fluffy. Add sour cream, baking powder, baking soda, vanilla, eggs and 2 1/2 cups flour. Beat at low speed, increase for 1 minute at medium speed. Spread batter into pan.

Arrange apple slices on top, slightly layered, edge to edge (any uncovered batter will bake up over apples).

Crumble streusel topping over apples layer. Bake 45 to 50 minutes, until cake pulls away from sides of pan.
 

Pear Butter

I wanted to try this recipe from Little Birdie Secrets even more than I wanted to make a batch of plain ol’ yummy canned pears so I made sure to keep several pounds aside for another day. I don’t put much onto my *Starred Items* list in my Google Reader, but this was a keeper.

I was hoping to give some away as Christmas gifts, but my 6 or so pounds only turned out 3 4oz jars and a husband who wants to make sure we keep at least one for ourselves. I see some apple butter canning in my future….

We Have (Some More) Pergo!

Ack! It’s taken two solid weeks to eradicate our house of the construction dust that seemed to blanket everything for the previous month. Yesterday, I got my formal rooms after-picture worthy, and today finally our real living space- the kitchen / family room is reveal worthy.

I don’t think I’ve taken updated photos of these rooms in quite some time, and we did quite a bit over the summer, most of the DIY stuff. So I’ll give ya’ the quick tour. There’s (of course) a list still to be done :)

So here’s our (current-state) kitchen and family room:

Love, love, love our eat-in kitchen set. What started out as a steal of a deal, turned into a DIY fail: in itty bitty text at the bottom of my receipt for the cross-backed chairs that I bought in May was a backorder notice for two months out. Needless to say, the very day the chairs came in in July, I custom-matched a quart of paint and went to town on that table. In all for the four chairs, table, and paint supplies, the set came in around $400.

I like to call this one “Where’s Otis?”:

I’d call this one “Where’s Ginger?” but she just really doesn’t play as well:

Plans left for the kitchen: new countertops (something light, like beach sand-y colored), new light pendant, giant diagonally-laid tile flooring (top of next summer’s list), and in the far-off future stainless fridge and stove (ugh, why must backless stoves be crazy expensive??).

On to the family room.

We love, love, love the paint color we chose after some paint sample speed dating (I have quite the collection of little tubs of green-grays and blue-grays): Dusty Miller by Glidden. Matches the unique, but kinda cool blue-y brick fireplace and calms the warm wood cabinets and floors. All the drapes, valences, and rods are from Target.

 

Only thing (major) left to do: buy a new couch and accent chair. We’re thinking dark brown leather. Once we do that (hopefully this winter), both this room and our front formal room will be complete as this couch will move there. That will be a glorious day.

Some crazy before photo that always lift my spirits when I keep whining thinking “we still have so much to do!”:

  

Sometimes I’m even shocked how much I was able to see past those curtains and teal, teal, teal carpet….

We Have Pergo!

It took forever, but we finally pulled the trigger and tackled the big DIY project of Pergo-ing the downstairs of our house. Having two little four-leggers running around made laminate flooring a no-brainer. Our entry hallway is a honey oak hardwood so we simply matched that. We went with Pergo’s Goldenrod Hickory from Lowe’s, which had the foam underlayment attached. As hoped, it really matches up well to the already installed hardwood. We did our front formal room, dining room, and family room.

It’s so cliché, but the lighter flooring really does make the rooms look more spacious and airy. We couldn’t be happier with the results.

Here’s a reminder of what we started with:

Yikes. I know, right?

Pumpkin Apple Loaf

I love baking loaf bread. Super easy, super tasty.  And no recipe speaks autumn more than pumpkin bread.

The following makes one loaf. Often I will double a loaf recipe and freeze half the dough. Just thaw, warm to room temperature, and bake!

1 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup pumpkin puree
2 eggs
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup water
1 baking apple, peeled, cored, and diced (I used a Golden Delicious)

Combine dry ingredients, set aside. Combine wet ingredients, add in dry ingredients, fold in diced apple. Pour into a greased 9x5 loaf pan. Bake at 350 for around 60 minutes.

Fall Canning

After some (crazed) success with summer jam and fruit canning, I decided to try at it again.

I had been hoping to can my own tomatoes, but the weather had other plans and so we got barely enough to chop over a few salads. I also grew up with home-canned pears and they were a great comfort when I was away at college.

In anticipation of some weekend canning, I made sure to buy my pears and tomatoes mid-week so they could ripen. By Friday the pears had my kitchen smelling soooooo good.

I followed the canning directions from the great resource PickYourOwn.org. I followed these pear directions and these tomato directions.

The flats were both about 20 pounds (then I bought about 5 pounds more of tomatoes, ya know, because I was worried it wouldn’t be enough….).

I used about 15 pounds of the pears and made 9 quart jars with a bit to spare for snacking :)

I also used about 20 pounds of the tomatoes (then ran out of jars!), making 12 pints of plain tomatoes.

And 12 jelly jars of Italian tomatoes (mixing in a few tablespoons of minced garlic and a few teaspoons of Italian herbs with each bowlful batch).

And I still have a ton pears and tomatoes left over. Hmmmm… looking into some pear butter and tomato basil sauce recipes for next weekend.

Curb Appeal Work-In-Progress

Finally, finally we have a presentable front yard. Our new neighbors, along with ourselves, couldn’t be happier.

Of course in examining the “after” photos, I quickly saw a bunch more projects and things to complete before we truly have the house front of our dreams.

Here’s what we got going on right now. Lush green grass, bushes, a  few flowers, and some baby lavender bushes under the bay window. A million times better than on move-in day, and about a billion times better than the day the Google Maps van drove by (ugh…. its like the  HORRIBLE driver’s license photo that you’re totally stuck with for years…).

Still a bunch to do to make it “dream home” status:

Repaint garage trim (maybe garage doors too- not sure)
Replace front lights and house numbers
Restain front door, add brushed nickel kickplate
Find a tall narrow planter for front step
Bookend front window with large evergreen bushes
Pressure wash ev-er-y-thing (driveway, siding, roof)
Lay mulch, bark chips, something down around bushes

In time, in time : )