Yeah- this will taste good!

Ingredients

6 cups cooking apples, peeled, cored and cut into eighths
1 cup bread crumbs
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup butter or margarine, melted
1/4 cup finely chopped walnuts

Directions

1. Coat CROCK-POT® slow cooker with nonstick cooking spray. Place apples in bottom.
2. Combine bread crumbs, cinnamon, nutmeg, salt, brown sugar, butter and walnuts. Spread over apples.
3. Cover; cook on LOW 3 to 4 hours or on HIGH 2 hours.

Makes 8 servings

taken from family.go.com

It is OK to eat these Ladybugs

This is a great little family project for when you complete your day of apple picking. This recipe will show you how to make delicious little Ladybug Apples. And who doesn’t love ladybugs?

INGREDIENTS
2 red apples
1/4 cup raisins
1 tablespoon peanut butter
8 thin pretzel sticks

DIRECTIONS:
Slice apples in half from top to bottom and scoop out the cores using a knife or melon baller. If you have an apple corer, core them first, then slice. Place each apple half flat side down on a small plate.
Dab peanut butter on to the back of the ‘lady bug’, then stick raisins onto the dabs for spots. Use this method to make eyes too. Stick one end of each pretzel stick into a raisin, then press the other end into the apples to make antennae.

TIPS:

* Instead of using peanut butter you can also use cream cheese (regular or strawberry).

* Cover the bottom with whatever you use (peanut butter or cream cheese) and put the lady bug on a lettuce leaf to prevent browning and make and even healthier salad/snack!

* Use dried cranberries, cheerios and marshmallows in place of or in combination with the raisins for more decorating fun!

Beef Bacon Cheesy Dip from Big Bites Little Bites on Vimeo.

Ingredients:

6 Onions – I prefer Yellow – mild flavor onions seems to get the richest taste during carmelizing.
Olive Oil and Butter
Sugar
Vinegar
Beef Broth
Any Bread

Cheese- Gotta go with you like. I have found a mixture of Munster and swiss works well. Others prefer Provolone.

Let’s Cook-

Slice onions in half- chop off ends (formerly the top and bottom of the onion)
Then make 1/4 inch slices – repeat and place in skillet or or pan
(to get rid of the smell of onions- wash hands with soap and water- then rub on a chrome faucet if you have one)
I like to go in and make sure each onion is broken up into individual strands- but that is my opinion.
Sprinkle generously with Olive oil and throw in a couple small scoops of butter – then toss the onions.

Place over medium heat and stir occasionally – Do not scrape the bottom (also called deglazing) yet

After about 15-20 minutes – the onions shoudl have reduced significantly.
Now sprinkle some sugar to dust the onions
Again, stir occasionally for another 12-20 minutes

Onions should be getting the golden brown color to them and the bottom of the pan/skillet should be dark.
Add a little vinegar (optional) while stirring the onions. I would suggest this being only only enough to cover the bottom of the pan.
Scrape the bottom while stirring to remove the glazing
Add beef broth and continue to deglaze

Allow to boil for a 3-5 minutes.

In the meantime prepare your bowls, bread and cheese(s).

I do not own those super nifty french onion soup bowls- so i do it ghetto style.

Regular bowl – big scoop of soup – piece of bread -layer the cheese on top- then pour boiling broth over the cheese -
then cover with aluminum for 2-3 minutes.

Grab a  big spoon and tear it up- It is so good.

Side note – after caramelizing you can remove some onions- place in airtight container and freeze for up to 3 months.

ENJOY

Trust me, the kids will love them!

4 slices deli turkey breast (about 2 ounces total)
8 teaspoons honey mustard
Ground pepper to taste
8 sesame breadsticks

Spread each slice of turkey with 2 teaspoons mustard (or mango chutney) and season with pepper. Wrap each prepared turkey slice around 2 breadsticks.

I find that if the kids have toy kitchen knives these work just fine for spreading nearly anything, plus then they really feel like their toys are real.

ENJOY

She has won a $25 Gift Certificate to restaurant.com.

Would you like to win a gift certificate? It is easy, post a comment on this site, twitter about our posts, join our RSS feed and our newest option- Sign up for our newsletter. That is correct simply by signing up every month you get a chance in all of  our drawings.

Now with the new site it is- look at the top right part of the screen- there is a box with 4 icons. Select them all and automatically get 4 chances at winning a gift certificate.

ENJOY

Please click and follow us on twitter!

Please go to the newsletter and subscribe- special newsletter giveaways, recipes, and articles- plus some great photography.

We would love to hear what you think!

Please lave a comment here on the site-

ENJOY

Yummy Pasta

OK! So the wife tells me she found a recipe

1 lb Pasta
8 Slices Bacon
1/2 Cup parsley leaves
1/2 Cup fresh Basil Leaves
5 Tablespoons extra-virgin Olive Oil
5 Tablespoons Lemon Juice
1/4 Cup Finely Chopped Chives
1/4 Cup grated Parmesan Cheese
Seasoning

1. Boil pasta, drain reserve 1/2 cup of the water
2. Microwave the bacon to a crisp- nhand crumble
3. While that is cooking – puree 1/2 C basil, 1/2 cup parsley, olive and lemon juice and 2 tablespoons chives – season
4. Add herb oil, parm and reserved 1/2 cup of pasta water and toss. Add bacon and season -
5. Toss one more time

OK to be honest – I did not like it, but the wife and Claire, my youngest, went crazy for it. I am not the biggest pasta person in the world. However, I will always try something new!

I brought Bacon to our Holiday Party, honestly I did!

To be fair- I am very interested in exploring vegan recipes. I actually believe my daughters will really enjoy the few I have read about. For now, back to bacon.

So the next question is – how do you cook your bacon?

When I was kid my dad would cook it in a skillet, i can almost hear the popping sound and even sometimes the smell would wake me up. What my did after he was done cooking could only be described today as cause for concern. He would remove the bacon, then crack a few eggs and cook them in the bacon fat. Now many of your know me today- 5′6″ 300 lbs- well I can dig up picks from middle and high school – I was pretty skinny(ish).

Later in life I moved to microwaving them- sometimes in those bacon cooking devices sometime jsut paper and zap for a 1 minute per slice. For some reason I cannot get it right- so I thought- why not ask the readers of the blog.

So readers and future comment makers – 3 part question:
How do you cook bacon?
What type of bacon do you like?
Favorite meal with bacon?

Answer these questions in a comment and you are eligible for a $25 Gift Certificate from restaurant.com. Only those who comment get a chance at winning. One comment per person.
However, if you want to improve your chances you have 2 more options. If you have a blog, write about this on your blog and add a link to your comment, or if you use twitter simply tweet the link about this article -again post the direct tweet link here as proof. So by simply sharing your love for bacon you could be this weeks winner of the $25 gift certificate from restaurant.com.

Join our facebook fan page here

or