Okay, I have actually gone a whole week and didn't make one dessert. Honest! I wanted to go a few more days but just couldn't do it. (I didn't have anything I could busy myself with to distract me. I did have a few things I could/needed to do, but in the battle between the dessert and the quilting and crocheting, the dessert won.)
Now that it is officially fall and the fact that Friend Sue brought everyone apples when we gathered at Friend Pat's house for Farkle, "make something with apples" just kept calling me.
First I checked Debbie Macomber's Cedar Cove Cookbook to see if I had marked a recipe with apples. When I saw I hadn't, the next cookbook I picked up was The Farmhouse Kitchen of the Amish Community Cooking from Greenville, PA and saw I had marked Ed & Mary Slabaugh's Apple Bars to try. I couldn't help but feel like it was meant for me to make this recipe and not look any further. (I could literally spend an hour or more searching for a recipe in my cookbook if I am not careful.)
I tried to follow their recipe as is but when I saw they used the brown sugar two different ways in the recipe, I decided to try using less brown sugar in the "crumbs". I also made them multi-grain by using half all-purpose flour and half whole wheat pastry flour.
We loved them!
APPLE BARS
1 cup flour (I used 1/2 cup all-purpose flour + 1/2 cup whole wheat pastry flour)
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup brown sugar (I reduced it to 1/3 cup)
1 cup quick oats
1/2 cup shortening
1/4 cup brown sugar
2-1/2 cups sliced apples
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Combine flour, baking soda, salt, 1/2 cup brown sugar, and oats together in a bowl.
Cut in shortening with a fork to make crumbs.
(I separate the shortening out and stick it to the side of the bowl. Then I work each clump in until it is the consistency I want and then pull down another clump.
I finished up at the end using my fingers to make sure I didn't have any large lumps of shortening left. Sorry, I just can't keep my fingers out of it.)
Spread about half of the crumbs in the bottom of a 9 x 9 - inch square pan. (I started trying to "pat" the crumbs in the bottom of the pan
and then decided not to worry about it.)
Place apple slices on crumbs.
(I made one single layer
and then filled in empty places with the extra slices.)
Sprinkle apple slices with the 1/4 cup of brown sugar.
Cover with the remaining crumbs.
Bake for 40 to 50 minutes. (I baked mine for 45 minutes to make sure the apple was soft.)
Cool on wire rack.
Once cooled,
cut into squares to serve.
They remove nicely with a flat spatula.
We will soon be going to visit our CO son and his family. I have always brought them books when we go so Tuesday when I was at Hillcrest Thrift Shop, I checked out the books to see if I could find anything that looked interesting. Grandson Henry likes books about Arthur. As soon as you finish reading the story, he will turn back to the start for you to read it again. One time I took him one that had three stories in it. He liked it and it gave me two more stories to read before we started over. (He has many Arthur books so sometimes he will bring several when you tell him you want to read him a story.) He also likes hidden pictures books. I didn't find any Arthur books but I found a couple of Highlights High Five magazines and they will have at least one hidden pictures in it.
One of the Highlights I picked up had a recipe in the back that children could make called Muffins for Mom. They looked good and were different because they contain oat bran and wheat germ and whole wheat flour. I decided I would give them a try and then I could tell my grandchildren they should make some.
They also contain blueberries and bananas and I couldn't help but wonder how they would taste with pumpkin instead of bananas. (But that's another post.)
The recipe said it made 12 muffins. I filled the paper cups about 3/4 full and still had batter left over. I decided to go on and fill the cups full and that used up all of the batter. The batter didn't run over the sides but did run out of the top of most of them. I would recommend you just fill the cups 3/4 full and not worry that you don't use all of the batter. (At least use all of the blueberries.)
The muffins tastes so healthy and are quite filling. It is a great recipe to try with your young children. Older children might be able to make them on their own. You might want to do the cooking part - putting them and removing the tin from the oven.
MUFFINS FOR MOM
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 cup whole wheat flour (I used whole wheat pastry flour)
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup oat bran
1/4 cup quick-cooking oats
1/4 cup wheat germ
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup blueberries
1 banana
1 cup buttermilk
1 egg
1 tablespoon oil
1 teaspoon vanilla
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Put paper baking cups in a 12-cup muffin tin.
Stir together the flours, sugar, oat bran, oats, wheat germ, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
Then gently stir in the blueberries.
In another bowl, mash the banana.
Then add the buttermilk, egg, oil, and vanilla.
Stir.
Pour the wet ingredients into the dry
and mix just until blended.
Divide the batter between the muffin cups.
Bake for 15 to 18 minutes or until the tops of the muffins spring back when lightly touched.
I cooled them in the pan for a while before I took them out and finished cooling on the rack.
When you pull the paper cup to remove it, do so slowly and gently.
This is another recipe from Debbie Macomber's Cedar Cover Cookbook. She credited this one to Troy and Faith Davis at 92 Pacific Boulevard and The Waterfront Park. She added a note that it was a favorite of Charlotte and Ben Rhodes. We ended up not grilling any chicken until the end of summer. Can't believe it. We grilled plenty of burgers but no chicken. I thought this recipe looked good and it was.
She cooked using a whole chicken that was cut into pieces. I took two of our large chicken breasts and cut them into strip pieces. That worked out well except that we decided we grilled the smaller pieces too long. We were following her guidelines (what I have written here) for the length of time to cook them. Her time was fine for the thicker pieces. So use your own judgement as to how long to cook your chicken.
BBQ CHICKEN
Sauce:
1 cup ketchup
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
2 tablespoons molasses
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
1 teaspoon Tabasco or hot sauce (I did omit)
1 whole chicken (about 4 lbs) cut into 10 pieces (or chicken breasts or tenders)
Salt and pepper to taste.
Cut breast in half to cook more evenly on the grill.
serve any leftover sauce on the side and store the remainder tightly sealed in the refrigerator for up to one week.
Sauce:
In small saucepan over low heat, combine sauce ingredients.
Cook for 3 to 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Preheat grill.
Season chicken with salt and pepper.
Place chicken pieces, skin side down, over the hottest part of the grill.
Cook, uncovered, about 2 minutes until golden brown.
Turn pieces (we cooked them 2 minutes on this side also before)
and move them off the direct flame to the cooler edges of the grill.
Cook 15 minutes to 20 minutes, turning and moving pieces occasionally to prevent charring and flare ups.
Baste chicken with the BBQ sauce the last 5 minutes of grilling
turning the pieces so that the sauce is heated through.
Whenever I have bananas that have ripened more than what my husband will eat, I am always on the lookout for a new recipe to try using them. (I only eat bananas when they are firm and just turned yellow.) This recipe was Mrs. Perry Troyer's and in my Heritage County Harvest Cookbook of from the Amish in Northern Indiana. She says the recipe makes about 12 muffins. I'm not sure what I did, but I made 12 muffins and one mini loaf. I guess I could have filled the muffin cups almost full, but she said 3/4 full and that is what I did.
These muffins are not cakelike, but more dense - a moist dense though. My MO grandchildren really liked them.
BANANA MUFFINS
1 cup flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup sugar (I removed 6 teaspoons of the sugar)
1-1/2 cups mashed bananas (3 - 4 bananas)
3/4 cup raisins - optional (I used craisins)
1/2 cup oatmeal (I used old fashioned oats)
1 teaspoon soda
1 egg
1/3 cup shortening (I used oil)
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Spray muffin tin with cooking spray.
Combine dry ingredients - flour, baking powder, salt, oatmeal, and baking soda.
Add raisins/craisins. Set aside.
Combine sugar, bananas, egg, and oil in mixing bowl.
Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and pour banana mixture in the center.
Stir just til combined.
Fill muffin cups 3/4 full.
I had enough batter left to make a mini loaf.
Bake for 20 to 23 minutes or until top springs back when lightly touched.
Run a knife around the edges to loosen
and then let them cool in pan on wire rack.
A bit of Amish wisdom on the bottom of the page below the recipe...
"Yesterday is like a cancelled check - - it's gone.
Tomorrow is a promissory note - - not here yet.
Today is cash - - use it wisely and prepare to meet your God."
Combine flour, baking soda, salt, 1/2 cup brown sugar, and oats together in a bowl.
Cut in shortening with a fork to make crumbs. 
(I separate the shortening out and stick it to the side of the bowl. Then I work each clump in until it is the consistency I want and then pull down another clump. 
I finished up at the end using my fingers to make sure I didn't have any large lumps of shortening left. Sorry, I just can't keep my fingers out of it.)
Spread about half of the crumbs in the bottom of a 9 x 9 - inch square pan. (I started trying to "pat" the crumbs in the bottom of the pan 
and then decided not to worry about it.)
Place apple slices on crumbs. 
(I made one single layer 
and then filled in empty places with the extra slices.)
Bake for 40 to 50 minutes. (I baked mine for 45 minutes to make sure the apple was soft.)
Cool on wire rack. 
Once cooled, 
cut into squares to serve.
