Apple Dumplings ♥

Hello Friends! 

It's officially Spring! However the weather doesn't seem to agree. It's still quite chilly here but at least the sunshine is lovely so I'm thankful for little miracles.  

Today I'm super excited to share with you an easy apple recipe.  I know, it's not technically apple season, but really - isn't it always apple season? 

I saw this recipe a while back on one of my favorite YouTube channels called Bits of Paradis.  If you haven't seen it you should really check it out!  Brittany Paradis vlogs her day to day life as a mom and wife and I just love her style!  Her home is so beautiful!  Here is the link to her channel if you want to see her demonstrate how to make these apple dumplings (here).

It's super easy and really hits the spot when you need a little comfort food in your life.  As we all do! 

♥

For the recipe you need:

2 large apples 

2 packages of refrigerated crescent roll dough (I used Pillsbury)

1 cup of apple juice or cider

1 cup sugar

1 stick of butter

1 tsp vanilla 

cinnamon

For the apples I used Granny Smiths.  Peel and core them, and then cut them into large thick slices. 

I used one of these things to cut my apples.

I got six large slices each : ) 

Unroll the crescent dough and separate the triangles.  Wrap up one apple per triangle. 

Arrange neatly in a buttered baking dish.

In a medium saucepan melt butter.  Add the apple juice.    

Simmer on low heat for a few minutes.  Now add the sugar.  Stir very gently.  You don't want the sugar to fully dissolve. Let simmer for about a minute.  Now add the vanilla.  

Remove from heat and pour over your apple bundles.  

Sprinkle with cinnamon. 

As much as you like : ) 

Bake for 30-40 minutes.  I checked mine at about 35 minutes and they were done! 

Can be served warm, cold, or at room temperature.  Don't forget to drizzle some of the yummy sauce over the top! We  had ours slightly warm with whip cream. 

So So Gooooood!!!!!

These dumpling came together very quickly and made my kitchen smell amazing!

Apple-cinnamon is the best aromatherapy in the world, don't you think : - )

Brittany originally posted these dumplings at Thanksgiving time but I'm thinking they would be delicious as part of an Easter breakfast...or anytime!  ♥

Thank you so much for stopping by my corner of the world ~ 

I hope the sun is shining on you today! 

Happy Spring! xo 

Weekly wrap up ♥

 

Hello Friends! I hope you all had a nice weekend!  

 

Here are a few random pictures from my week.  It went by so fast!

 

Did you all see the full moon this week? It was absolutely gorgeous but I do believe it made people just a little bit loopy (mainly, ME). I kept forgetting things this week and one day I actually left the house without brushing my teeth! Can you believe that?  I've never left the house without brushing my teeth in my entire life!  Luckily I keep an extra toothbrush in my desk at work so crisis averted, but I couldn't get over myself doing that. 

 

Too much coffee or not enough? Hmmm.  

 

I blame the moon.

 

 

This week we celebrated the first day of Spring and although it didn't exactly feel like Spring outside, I could still feel the change in the air and it was nice ♥

I treated myself to some flowers and a Starbucks passion fruit mango iced tea, as you do!  

 

On Saturday John and I were at the mall and we accidentally stumbled upon a little piece of heaven.....

Mom's on the Go Grilled Cheese!!

 

An entire place dedicated to my favorite food.  Grilled cheese!

Are you serious? Yes I am.

 

I was temped by all these options but I went with Mom's Classic. I couldn't go wrong with that!

And as if that wasn't magical enough....they also had milkshakes!  YES!

You can probably tell it doesn't take much to make me happy, because this made me SO HAPPY!

 

 

 

It was delicious!!!!

 

This is my new favorite restaurant!  LOL

 

On Sunday (today) John marched in our town's Irish Heritage Day parade.  He walked with a group of friends and handed out candy.  He had a ball!

 

(I have a little video on my instagram if you want to take a peek)

 

 

 

 

 

I love a parade! : )

With my friends Maryellen, Julie, and Theresa.  We all met when our kids were in preschool and kindergarten ♥

 

 

Who brought the kid in the Marvel shirt? That would be me! : )

 

 

 

My green Christmas plaid is doubling as my St. Patrick's Day shirt....ssshhh....don't tell anyone.

 

 

 

John's cousin Anthony marched with his JVL basketball team. All the marchers did a great job!

 

 

 We had fun spending time with friends and family and supporting our community ♥

 

 

And now that I can safely put St. Patrick's Day behind me for another year it's time to think about Spring and Easter! Next to Christmas, it's my favorite time of year to decorate.  I love the pastels and all the bunnies! I'll show you more next week ♥

 

 

Have a wonderful Monday, dear friends!  Thanks for stopping by today!

 

Happy Spring! xo

 

 

 

St. Patrick's Day and the first sign of Spring ♥

Good Morning Friends! Happy new week!

I hope you are all having a nice start to this Monday.  It's cold but sunny here (a chilly 32 degrees!).  As I type this I am sitting at my desk drinking a hot cup of French vanilla coffee and it is bringing me to life this morning.  The early mornings are darker now when I wake up since daylight savings but the evenings are soooo nice.  Last night the sun didn't set until almost 7pm! 

We are settling into the new routine and things are good.  

Did you celebrate St. Patrick's Day yesterday?   We started with a lovely brunch with my in laws at a local restaurant and ended the day with my Dad's famous boiled dinner.  Our tradition!  Like all holidays it was a day of eating!  Next Sunday our town is holding its first annual Irish Heritage Day and John has been asked by his friend Sean to walk in the parade and give out candy!  We are all looking forward to that, so St. Patrick's Day isn't quite over for us yet.  We have one more week to celebrate!  

♥

We've had no shortage of Irish bread in our house the last few weeks.  

(click here for my recipe - it's not too late to make it : ) 

You won't regret it!

#yum  

Or Irish themed treats.

Which were delicious, btw : ) 

I hope however you spent your Sunday you enjoyed the celebrations!  Weather it was watching a parade, eating corned beef & cabbage, or just staying cozy at home with a blanket and a cup of tea (my first choice : )

♥

And so another holiday has passed and time is marching on....  

John reminded me today that in only 3 months it will be June and 6th grade will be over! What?  How do we stop this train from moving so fast?! 

I wanna get off ~ 

And then this happened.  I walked outside and saw THIS! 

Tulips are coming! 

Pretty amazing since the ground is still practically frozen.  

We are two days away from the first day of Spring!  

Can you feel it?  I can!  

And that's all I've got for you today, friends!  Short & sweet!  

♥

Thank you for stopping by.  I love sharing my days with you!  

Have a great Monday! xo 

Happy Pi Day with French Cherry Pie : )

Hello Dear Friends! Today is 3.14...so happy PI Day!!!   

Ok, let's be clear on something.  I am definitely not one to celebrate Math.  As a matter of fact 6th grade Math and Science have recently become the bain of my very existence. Especially when John comes home from school and says "mom, I don't get this".... ugh.  I think we should have a happy GOOGLE day because without my best friend GOOGLE I would not be able to help my child learn the 6th grade curriculum. 

"Hey Google" is my new catchphrase!  I am not even joking ; ) 

Anywhoo, I am one to celebrate PIE (the real pie!) so here's a new recipe I just tried yesterday.  We actually ate this last night and thankfully there's still some leftover for tonight.

I can't wait for dessert time!  

I picked up this recipe from Pinterest.  It's called French Cherry Pie from a blog called Mom Endeavors. I chose to make it because this time of year I always crave cheesecake with cherries! Those flavors remind me of Springtime and Easter and that's what I'm feeling these days!  I didn't feel like going through the whole process of making a cheesecake and besides...it's Pi Day.

On her blog Sara says this was her husband's grandmother's recipe and also her hubby's favorite.  I can see why!  It's also a no bake recipe and comes together super quick.

I don't know what makes this pie French,  but regardless....I know it's DELICIOUS and super easy to make! I'm so glad I tried it!

There is still time for you to celebrate Pi Day if you want to whip this up today. 

Here's how easy it is:

1 can cherry pie filling

1/2 cup powdered sugar

1 8 oz. container of Cool Whip

1/2 tsp vanilla

1 8oz package of cream cheese, softened

1 graham cracker crust

With and electric mixer blend cream cheese, powdered sugar, and vanilla. Fold in Cool Whip. 

Spread onto crust. 

Top with cherry filling : ) 

Refrigerate 3-4 hrs. before serving

Enjoy!!! 

John kept saying "this taste just like cheesecake!" and it totally did! 

We'll take any excuse to have pie!

Even Math! : ) 

Next week is the first day of Spring! Can you believe it?!

I'm so ready! 

Have a wonderful day, friends! 

And please say an extra prayer for me as I guide John through converting fractions to decimals.  And why so many world problems? I hate the word problems!!!  

Bye! xoox 

Strawberry Jam Muffins ♥

Hello Friends! 

Today when I woke up the sun was shining and the snow was melting.  It was glorious.  I don't take any of this lightly because I know, living in New England, things could change at any moment. Extreme shifts in weather have suddenly become normal. A few days ago it was 10 degrees.  Today it was a balmy 39 degrees! I can feel little tings of warmth every now and then.  Spring is coming.  As I type this post it's Saturday evening and before I go to bed tonight (soon :) I will spring my clock AHEAD one hour!  I'll take the one hour less of sleep tonight in exchange for light at 4pm.  That's what naps are for! Am I right? 

I don't know about you but this week seemed endless.  Maybe it was the extreme cold.  Maybe it was John's overload of homework and me having to figure out 6th grade science (and I thought the math was hard!) or maybe it was just that my warm cozy bed was just too good to get out of at 6am.  People at work seemed to be feeling the same. Everyone walking around the office complaining about the weather and talking about where to go on spring break (myself included).  March is always like this.  We are so close to spring just not quite there yet. I don't know what else to do, so I do what makes me happy.  I bake.

 

I don't mind the cold outside, if its warm and smells good inside.  

This morning I tried a new recipe I found on Pinterest for Strawberry Jam Muffins.  Doesn't that sound yummy? There is something about fresh baked muffins with coffee on a Saturday morning that makes the weekend that much sweeter.  I LOVE weekends and I LOVED these muffins.  They are my new favorite!

 

The recipe was simple to do and I had all the ingredients on hand.  I like the fact that the recipe only makes 6 muffins.  We gobbled them up in one sitting.  2 each : )  You could always double the recipe if you want to make a full dozen.

The only changes I made to the original recipe (found here) was I omitted the flaxmeal and I added 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla because I think strawberry and vanilla are matches made in heaven ♥

 

 

 

To make the muffins you will need:

 

3/4 cups flour

2 tbls sugar

1 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

2/3 cup milk

1 egg, beaten

2 tbls vegtable or canola oil

1/2 cup strawberry jam

 

 

 

 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

 

Spray a 6 cup muffin tin with non stick spray.  I only had a big tin so I used the middle 6 cups : )

 

 

 

In a medium size mixing bowl combine all the dry ingredients. 

I always use a whisk to get out any lumps in the flour ♥

 

Add the milk, eggs, vanilla, and oil.  Mix until just combined. 

Fold in the jam (stir it around 3-4 times).  Don't over mix.

Fill muffin cups about 3/4 full.

 

*reserve a little bit of the jam to add to the tops of the muffins.  I held back about 1/4 of it and then swirled it on the tops with a fork *

 

Bake 15-17 minutes, until the edges are slightly golden and the tops are springy to the touch. 

 

Let cool on a rack.  Dust with powdered sugar and enjoy!

 

 

 

They were light & fluffy and the strawberry filling is the sweetest surprise!

 

Sort of like a jelly donut in muffin form ♥

 

 

I don't buy peanut butter anymore because of John's allergy but for those of you without food allergies I think a schmear of pb on these would be amazing! just sayin...  ♥

 

 

Tomorrow is supposed to be rainy and cold and I wouldn't be surprised if I made another batch of these for breakfast.  I don't know what it is lately, but I'm obsessed with breakfast and MUFFINS. 

I mean, more than usual! LOL

 

Hoping the weather warms up soon so I can get outside and back to walking.  I really miss it! And apparently so do my thighs : ) 

 

 

Before I end this post I wanted to share with you this lovely thought I saw on Facebook today:

 

I think this is something that I will repeat to myself every day, just as a little reminder ♥

(especially #10)

 

I hope you are all having a sweet, sweet, weekend! 

 

Talk to you soon! xo