Cake of Spices with Autumnal Fruit

Otherwise known as:

(photo by Taste of Home)

Apple Gingerbread

4-5 c. sliced peeled baking apples

1-1/2 c. sugar, divided

1 c. dark molasses

1/2 c. butter or margarine, softened

2 eggs, lightly beaten

2-1/2 c. all-purpose flour

1 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. ground ginger

1 tsp. ground cinnamon

1 tsp. ground cloves

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 c. boiling water

Arrange apple slices in a greased 17x11x1 inch pan. Sprinkle with 1/2 c. sugar. Bake at 350 for 5 minutes. Remove from the oven. In a large bowl, mix remaining sugar with molasses and butter until smooth. Mix in eggs. In a large bowl, combine flour, baking soda, ginger, cinnamon, cloves and salt. Add molasses mixture and beat until smooth. Add boiling water and mix. Pour batter over apples and spread evenly in pan. Bake for 309 minutes or until cake tests done. Serve from dish, or invert onto foil-covered cookie sheet.

Yield: 1 large pan of spicy deliciousness.

Eat warm, but try to catch the scent in a bottle, so you can open it up when your want your house to smell like fall and Thanksgiving and Christmas all at once. :)

Don'tcha wish?

Branches

Abide in me, and I in you.

As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself,

unless it abides in the vine,

neither

can

you,

unless you abide in me.

I am the vine, you are the branches.

Whoever abides in me and I in him,

he it is that bears much fruit, for

apart

from

me

YOU CAN DO NOTHING....

You did not choose me,

but I chose you

and appointed you

that you should go

and bear fruit

and that your fruit should abide,

so that whatever you ask the Father

in

my

name,

He may give it to you.

John 15:4-5;16

.....drumroll.....

675

Yes indeed, folks.

Grand total.

The number you see at the top of the post...

is how many

pounds

of

fudge

I made during the month of October.

Over 1/3 of what we made

TOTAL

last year.

Crazy, no?

Sweet Victory...

Date: October, 21, 2009

Enemies: pollen, fingerprints, grubbiness

Objective: Obliterate the enemy

Weapons: Windex...

...paper towels...

...chair...

...soapy water...

...sponge...

...cheerful little helpers...

Allies: Big little sisters who can scrub, spray, and otherwise root out the enemy from their most overlooked strongholds (namely, screens)

Weather: not too promising for a day all the windows had to be opened, but hey, now or never.

It never did rain. :)

Morale: Good, because it was so much fun to watch the cat bird-watching. :D See her?

But the day didn't start out with good morale. One of the windows popped out. And whilst in the process of attempting to get it back in (HEAVY window), something fell off onto the porch roof. And while I was out getting it, our indoor cat decided she wanted to come out and explore the roof too. So I then had the added challenge of trying to keeping her inside while still getting the window back in....all the while balancing on a little blue plastic chair, with a 15lb window that REFUSED to click into it's rightful place. After finally completing THAT objective, I noticed the TOP half of the window wasn't in right either, and had to take it out and fix it, too. Can you say

h-e-f-t-y w-o-r-k-o-u-t!?!?!?

So morale had room to improve at that point, considering it was only my second window of twenty-five. :D

I was in bad need of a cup of tea.

But, by the end of the day--

Mission: accomplished

The enemy is vanquished for another season!