Apple Turnover

For those of you waiting for this, I apologize I am a day late. I was racking my brain for what yummy treat to make and realized I had a couple of apples in my fridge just taking up space so I decided to make something like an apple pie. I have decided that making an apple pie probably would have been easier. It's a hard recipe for kids to help with but Hannah was an excellent apple scooper. It was yummy and a fun way to have individual apple pie treats. The recipe below should make about 6. Feel free to add or decrease as desired. When I bake with apples I really like Granny Smith one but just make sure it's a baking apple.

Apple Turnovers

Makes 6

Pie Filling

3 cups sliced baking apples (about 2 large apples)
1/2 cup sugar
1 1/2 tbsp flour
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp nutmeg

Slice the apples thinly and uniformly. The smaller the chunks the better for these turnovers. Stir in the other ingredients and set aside.

Pie crust (you can make your favorite recipe for a double pastry crust)

2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt
2/3 cup shortening
8 to 10 tbsp cold water
milk
cinnamon and sugar

Stir flour and salt together. Cut in shortening until the mixture has pea sized chunks.
Add water a little at a time until crust is moistened. Divide into six equal portions. On a lightly floured surface roll into 6 inch circles. Spoon 1/2 cup apple pie mixture to one side, leaving about 1 inch clearance for sealing. Fold over top half of crust. Pull bottom crust over top and seal with a fork. Place on two foil-lined baking sheets. Brush with milk and sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar mixture. Bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes or until crust is a golden brown. Enjoy warm with a scoop of vanilla ice cream or cold all by itself.

What's she saying?

One of the great things about having a toddler around is the fun things they say. Hannah is a sauce girl. Her meat always has to have sauce: BBQ, gravy, ketchup, ranch, it doesn't matter. Any drink other than water and milk is juice. I love it when she says apple.

At night when Hyrum gets home from work/school it's fun to decipher for him. I really love the fact that I can finally understand her and though blanket, pig, and drink all sound the same (don't ask me why) it's fun to learn her way of communication and help her learn how to say new things. Right now we're trying to teach her how to say "Yellowstone." Big word for a little girl.

Some of her favorites are church and temple. It makes us happy. She always asks me if daddy has taken the bus to church or the temple. Her sentences are generally missing articles, prepositions and even verbs, so I guess they aren't sentences but it's fun anyway.

Something to Look Forward to . . .

For those of you who don't know, I have sworn off chocolate. It may come as a shock, especially if you know my mother's cooking. It has happened for many reasons but mostly because I'm addicted and I really believe that addictions of any kind aren't very good. Mother's Day of 2007 marked the last day of chocolate for me until this last Father's Day weekend. Hyrum and I spent a night at this great bed and breakfast in Half Moon Bay and for breakfast they brought us this great hot chocolate. It was wonderful. I decided that it would be my free day. I really wanted to indulge in a huge hot fudge sundae but I had to settle for a couple Ghiradelli chocolate bars in San Fransisco. I was good for a couple more months and then Jonathan came and totally broke my resolve. I think eating chocolate was a coping mechanism for me. Well then Christmas came and we all know how bad the holidays can be to our waistline so, I have determined, no more cheating.

Why am I telling you this? Well one of the hardest things about this is going into the kitchen and only having chocolate treats or not having any idea what kind of treat to make without chocolate if I really want one. So, I am going to try to post a new recipe every week without chocolate. I'm shooting for Fridays but we shall see. So if you're looking for yummy treat ideas without chocolate I hope to deliver.

Little Victories

Some days I just want to pull my hair out because of my struggles with life. Recently though, I challenged my young women to see the joy in their experiences. I am taking that challenge too and you know what, my days are better. Hannah is happier and I'm a better mom. Wow, what an amazing thing our attitude is. That is one of my little victories.

Hannah though is growing by leaps and bounds. I am so impressed with her growth and intelligence. She's amazing. One amazing thing she has started doing is saying "Please" and "Thank you". We've been prompting her to say it for a while now but in the last week and a half she has started saying it on her own. My favorite is when she say asks me for something and then when she gets it she says, "Thank ye (you), Mommy" in her cute little voice. Oh it melts my heart. She's also on her way to potty training. I think we still have a ways to go but she is a little more enthused about it this time around.

Yay for life. Oh the adventures we have when we just enjoy the journey.

25 years

The 25th years seems to be a pretty big deal; it's a silver anniversary, the 25th anniversary edition of movies, restaurants, businesses, books, and so much more is celebrated with bells and whistles. Yesterday, I heard no bells and no whistles but it was great.

25 years ago I was born. It was February morning in Portsmouth, New Hampshire when I arrived on the scene. I sure am glad I did too. I think my parents were pretty happy too. It's funny because though an awful lot has happened in the last 25 years I really don't feel that old. There are times I feel just as insecure as I did at age 16, just as silly as I was at age 12, and just as innocent as I was at age 5. I definitely feel just as tired as I did Fall of 2001 (a busy semester; volleyball, junior miss, senior year, Nathan's wedding, college applications).

Thanks to my wonderful family, I had a beautiful cupcake arrangement for my birthday cake. We weren't sure if Hannah was going to be able to wait until after dinner to eat them. She was pretty excited. We also enjoyed having a couple from church over to help us celebrate.

The teller at the bank asked me how if I did anything exciting. I found it kind of funny considering I dragged my children into the bank with me. I told him no but as I've thought about it, I had a great day. Because it was Sunday, I didn't feel like my house needed to be super clean, I was able to go out for a bit while we were at church, and due to Hannah's seemingly inate ability to wake up before 6 on Sunday morning, we were at church with plenty of time for me to relax and sit back before the meetings started. It was great considering that after sacrament meeting the child juggling began.

I got to spend the day with my family and that is precious to me. Well, here's to 25 years. I hope the next 25 are just as blessed.