This past week I spent two full days canning applesauce.  I canned 4 bushels of apples and made approx. 68 quarts of applesauce.  Can you tell we love our applesauce here.  I make it with no added sugar or cinnamon...just the apples and I must say it's really good.    I used my apple peeler/corer/slicer all in one machine and it worked great.  This year I put it right at the edge of the counter top and put a bucket on the floor and the peeling went right into the bucket...it worked slick.  I put some press and seal on the cabinets to keep them from getting sticky.  

Now I will leave you with some pics and some apple fun facts.  Enjoy!!!

Apples are fat, sodium, and cholesterol free & about 80 calories

 Applesauce can be substituted for oil in cake and muffin recipes

 Apples ripen six to ten times faster at room temperature than if they were refrigerated.

 The old saying, “ an apple a day, keeps the doctor away ”. This saying comes from am old English adage, “ To eat an apple before going to bed, will make the doctor beg his bread.”

 A bushel of apples weight 42 pounds and will yield 20-24 quarts of applesauce.  (I only got about 16 quarts...no far. :)  )

 Astronaut John Glenn ate the first space meal aboard Friendship 7 in 1962. He ate pureed applesauce from a tube.

Americans eat 19.6 pounds or about 65 fresh apples every year.  Europeans eat about 46 pounds of apples annually.  INTERESTING!!!!

Bacon Cheeseburger Bites

I've been trying lots of new recipes thanks to Pinterest.  Most of them have been very easy and simple, using ingredients I already have in the house...which is so nice.  The latest one I tried was these yummy and delicious bacon Cheeseburger bites.  Brendan gave it a raving review...even added to his prayer that he was thankful that I was so creative with our meals lately.    I hope you try them and let me know what you think.

photo credits : Taste of Home

Note:  the recipe includes making a dough, I cheated and just rolled out some Grand Biscuits, it worked really good and way more easy.  I only made eight because that's all the biscuits I had, so I have leftover meat mixture for a second (maybe even a third) meal.

Bacon Cheeseburger Bites

Ingredients

• 2 packages (1/4 ounce each) active dry yeast
• 2/3 cup warm water (110° to 115°)
• 2/3 cup warm milk (110° to 115°)
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup shortening
• 2 eggs
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 4-1/2 to 5 cups all-purpose flour
• 
  FILLING:
• 1 pound sliced bacon, diced
• 2 pounds ground beef
• 1 small onion, chopped
• 1-1/2 teaspoons salt
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper
• 1 pound process cheese (Velveeta), cubed
• 3 to 4 tablespoons butter, melted  ( I didn't use)
• Ketchup or barbecue sauce, optional

Directions

• In a large bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water. Add the milk, sugar, shortening, eggs, salt and 3-1/2 cups flour; beat until smooth. Stir in enough remaining flour to form a soft dough.
• Turn onto a floured surface; knead until smooth and elastic, about 6-8 minutes. Place in a greased bowl, turning once to grease top. Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 1 hour.
• Meanwhile, in a large skillet, cook bacon over medium heat until crisp. Using a slotted spoon, remove to paper towels. In a Dutch oven, cook the beef, onion, salt and pepper over medium heat until meat is no longer pink; drain. Add bacon and cheese; cook and stir until cheese is melted. Remove from the heat.
• Punch dough down. Turn onto a lightly floured surface; divide into fourths. Roll each portion into an 12-in. x 8-in. rectangle; cut each into six squares. Place 1/4 cup meat mixture in the center of each square. Bring corners together in the center and pinch to seal.
• Place 2 in. apart on greased baking sheets. Bake at 400° for 9-11 minutes or until lightly browned. Brush with butter. Serve warm with ketchup if desired. Yield: 2 dozen.  
• Weight Watchers PP+ 8 per bite (if made according to recipe)

Pumpkin Chocolate Brownies

Fall is one of my favorite times of the year.  I love the changing of the colors.  I love being able to bundle  up in my comfy clothes.  I love comfort food, including all things pumpkin.  Here's a new recipe for me, it's something very similar to the Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bread that I have made in the past.  I would highly recommend you making this if you are like me and love pumpkin.  ENJOY!!!

Pumpkin Chocolate Brownies

Ingredients

2 c all-purpose flour

1 & 1/2 tsp cinnamon

3/4 tsp ginger

1/2 tsp nutmeg

1/8 tsp allspice

1/8 tsp cloves

1 tsp baking soda

3/4 tsp coarse salt

1 c unsalted butter, room temp

1 & 1/4 c sugar

1 egg

2 tsp vanilla

1 c pumpkin puree

12 oz chocolate chips

Directions

1.  Preheat oven to 350. grease a 9x13 pan

2.  In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, spices, baking soda and salt.

3.  In a separate bowl, cream together the butter and sugar on medium-high until smooth. Beat in the egg & vanilla. Beat in the pumpkin puree.

4.  Add the dry ingredients and mix on low just until combined. Stir in the chocolate chips.

5.  Bake for about 35-40 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.  Cool completely in the pan.

Bubble up Pizza Casserole

So I've been spending way too much time on pinterest lately...especially looking a food.  Never a good thing...it makes me hungry all the time.  But I came across a recipe for  Bubble Up Enchiladas and while I was looking at the comments on the blog post, someone mentioned that did a similar recipe but made it with pizza sauce and mozzarella cheese and that sounded better to me...my family likes LOVES pizza.  Then later that day, I was on another food blog for freezer meals and the same recipe was there. So I knew I just had to try it.

Bubble Up Pizza Casserole

Ingredients
2 cans Pillsbury biscuits
2 14oz jars pizza sauce
1lb ground hamburg, browned and drained 
3 cups Mozzarella cheese (reserve 1 cup)

Directions
1.Cut Biscuits into quarters. 
2. Add jars of Pizza Sauce, Hamburg,  & 2 cups cheese; mix well.
3. Place in greased 9x13 dish. Top with remaining 1 cup Cheese. 
4. Bake at 350 degrees uncovered for 40-45minutes.




The family score on this recipe is a 5 out of 5 stars....the boys gobbled it up and Mike couldn't stop sneaking his fork back into the 9x13.  I'm hoping they will like the enchilada style as well.  Happy Thursday y'all!!!!

Fritos Sweet Snack Mix

I putt together a cookbook for Brendan's fourth grade as an auction item for the School's harvest sale.  I had all the students submit a favorite recipe and I wanted pictures in the cookbook so I made about 18 of the recipes (it wasn't a good thing for the weight lose thing.)  So I made the snack mix that my amazing friend Chelle's son submitted and it's to die for....I fall head over heels in love with it.  It's an best mixture of salty and sweet...it's a good thing that I had to give some away otherwise I would have eaten the whole bunch.

Fritos Sweet Snack Mix

INGREDIENTS

*2 cups brown sugar
*2 sticks butter
*1/2 cup Karo® syrup
*1 box rice Chex®
*1 bag Fritos®
*1 can peanuts or mixed nuts (I used peanuts)
*1 bag M&M's®

DIRECTIONS

1. In a large bowl mix all dry ingredients (minus the M&M's).
2. Bring sugar, butter and syrup to a boil.
3. Pour caramel mixture over the mix and stir.
4. Spread in two 9x13 cake pans.
5. Bake at 350 for 8 minutes, stir and bake another 8 minutes.
6. Pour in brown paper bag to cool, mixing every so often to keep from clumping together. 
7. Once totally cool, add M&M's.

Enjoy!

Weight Watchers Version of my Mozzarella & Beef Roll-ups (made with Turkey)

A few months back I posted a recipe for some Mozzarella and Beef Roll-ups, well I really like this recipe but don't like all the points that were involved with eating one.  So I slimmed it down and came up with a great alternative.  Enjoy!!!

Mozzarella & Turkey Roll-ups

Ingredients

	1 medium green pepper(s), chopped
	1/2 cup(s) red onion(s)
	8 oz pizza sauce
	1/2 tsp dried oregano
	20 slice(s) Hormel Pillow Pack Turkey Pepperoni
	14 serving(s) Mission Carb Balance Mediun tortilla (42g)
	1 pound(s) Jennie-O Turkey Store Extra lean ground breast, cooked
	7 piece(s) Weight Watchers string cheese

Instructions

1.Brown turkey, onions and green peppers until turkey is cooked.
2.Add pizza sauce, chopped pepperoni, and oregano.
3. Put 1/4 cup of turkey mixture into middle of tortilla. add a string cheese on top of turkey mixture. Fold in side of each tortilla over the filling and roll up from the opposite side. Place seam side down on an ungreased baking sheet. Bake at 350degrees for 10 minutes or until heated through and cheese is melted.

Point Plus = 4 per serving

14 servings

Cooler Days = Soup Days

With the temperatures getting colder the last couple weeks I've been having a jonesing for some soup.  I cam across with this recipe in a magazine at my local grocery store.  And seeing how I'm too cheap to buy the magazine just for a soup recipe, I quickly pulled on my smartphone and snapped a picture of the recipe, grabbed a few ingredients I didn't have and headed home to make it.  It's really good and very filling.

sorry about the soup all over the bowl...note to self;  put into a different for picture next time.

In the magazine they had in labeled as a Fat Flush Soup,  I hoping that's a good thing that maybe it will help me get back on track with losing some more weight, but that's a topic for other day.  The serving size is very generous I think...it's 2 full cups.  Only once have I been able to eat that much at one sitting.  I usually have a cup and that fills me up.

Here's the recipe:

Ingredients

	1 medium onion(s)
	2 clove(s) garlic clove(s) (medium)
	1 item(s) bell pepper(s) (medium)
	1/4 cup(s) parsley
	4 tsp olive oil
	16 oz mushroom(s)
	64 oz Campbell's Low-Sodium Tomato Juice
	2 1/2 pound(s) Jennie-O Turkey Store Extra lean ground breast
	2 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
	2 Tbsp ground cumin
	28 oz canned crushed tomatoes
	1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
	7 serving(s) Bush's great northern beans, drained and rinsed

Instructions

1.  In a stockpot, heat 2tsp of olive oil over medium-high setting.  Saute meat until cooked through.  Drain and set aside.  

2.  Saute onion, garlic, peppers, and mushrooms in other 2 tsp of olive oil until soft.

3.  Stir in remaining ingredients, except the parsley.  

4.  Cover and simmer for 20 minutes.  

5.  Stir in parsley.  Cover; simmer 10 minutes longer.  

  

Store soup in refrigerator up to 5 days.  Freezes well

1 serving equals 2 cups

1 serving equals 4 pointsplus