It’s the last day of #AppleWeek and today anything goes, so I’m
sharing a yummy crockpot recipe!
A few weeks ago, my in-laws came up for a visit.
I wanted to cook dinner most nights they were here, but their
second day also coincided with the kids’ school open house (which I was working
with my new job) and my last night teaching Zumba (bittersweet – I miss it
already!)
I decided to bring some stovetop potpourri to the party,
since it’s a bit more crafty than foodie.
Or maybe a foodie craft? Yeah,
let’s go with that one.
I love this potpourri because it is crazy easy to make, uses
up the apple scraps and makes the whole house smell like apple pie!
It’s #AppleWeek Day 2 and it’s all about the entrées!
This recipe is all about happy coincidences.
First, I was planning to have Hubs grill pork chop for
dinner, but he got home super late, so I decided to cook them stovetop instead
(I really need to get over my grill fear).
And what better way to start off than with drinks?
Every good party start off with cocktails, right?
Last year I made a completely amazing Pumpkintini, complete
with a pie crust swizzle stick, so I knew I absolutely needed to make the same
thing happen only with apple pie! And so
the Apple Pie Martini was born!
I took Cookies ‘n Crème Fudge (which is super delish, by the
way) and made it into some pretty convincing looking rocks and sent them with
the boys to a cub scout event.
My mom always makes an amazing overnight French toast at
Easter. I usually provide the challah
and she makes the amazing brunch!
I’ve always wanted to make it myself, but I never really
needed to make a large batch of French toast for just my little family and I
don’t ever really have company over for brunch (I’m more in the breakfast for
dinner camp).
Then, I made challah for secret recipe club AND my in-laws
were in town, so I finally had a chance to make my French toast!
Dude subscribes to a couple different cooking magazines. In one of his recent issues, he found a recipe
for pizza toast!
Despite being tired from the second week of 3rd
grade, he was eager to get in the kitchen!
What I love about this recipe is that he can make it almost completely independently
– he only wanted me to put the tray into the oven and remove it (not that I
didn’t trust him to be careful, he just wasn’t comfortable doing it himself –
yay for self-awareness!)
Last week I stepped in for a bonus Secret Recipe club reveal,
so I’m back today with my group! In SRC,
participants are secretly assigned another blog, search the recipes, make
something amazing, & then reveal.
Interested in joining? Click that
link for all the info!
There were tons of recipes I wanted to try, like Brisket, but
ultimately challah bread won me over! I
made challah once before, but this recipe was a bit different than the other,
so I wanted to give it a try! Plus, I
wanted to try out a different braid this time!
He had just finished up his first summer of t-ball, so he
wanted a baseball themed birthday!
We obviously needed peanuts & cracker jacks, so it was
the perfect opportunity to make my own!
I tackled Bacon Caramel Corn a couple years ago and the concept is pretty
similar, so I was excited to try!
The cracker jacks were the perfect balance of salty and
sweet!
It’s fall, therefore zucchini plants everywhere are working
overtime leaving gardeners to wonder: what shall I make next? Should I freeze this? Foist it on my unsuspecting neighbor? Or maybe start getting creative with some
amazing grilled cheese?
I’m stepping in at the last minute to help out Secret Recipe Club Group A, and Cathleen, from A Taste of Madness spurred me and my
aggressive zucchini plant to creativity!
Cathleen is a Canadian blogger, dessert lover (a woman after my own
heart), and math teacher!
There were so many delicious dessert recipes I wanted to try,
but I was leaving town for a wedding, so sadly I couldn’t make her yummy
sounding carrot cake or s’mores brownie pie (sad face).
I thought about making something breakfast-y since school is
back in session, like toasted almond granola (I only had whole almonds) or 100% whole wheat mini muffins (totally something I would make for this kids for
snack!)
But ultimately the zucchini and a crazy easy recipe won me
over. I started a new job this week (my
baby went to kindergarten, so I did too!
I’m now working part time at my kids’ school! Yay!) AND managed to get tonsillitis
AND I had a bunch of zucchini in the fridge!
It’s been Frida-palooza over here at Amy’s Cooking Adventures,
because I got slightly obsessed with Frida and couldn’t stop myself (for more
on that, check out my Guacamole Skull).
This month’s movie is Frida hosted by Debra at Eliot’s Eats. Both the book (more on that here with my Slow Cooker Chicken Mole) and the movie follow the life of Frida Kahlo, a Mexican
painter in the early 1900’s.
Frida
Kahlo’s life is amazing given all she endured.
She survived polio as a child and a horrific bus accident when she was
18. She began painting when she was
bed-ridden during her recovery. Her self-portraits
can be quite dark as she works through her pain.
I loved the movie Frida.
It was fun to watch it after reading a fictional book about the life the
Frida Kahlo (and also the biography and cookbook, recipe found at Squash Blossom Quesadillas).
I loved how the movie incorporated her art. It was brilliantly done!