Hello, Fall!!!

My poor, neglected blog!!!! Will it ever forgive me for being too busy to post on it?? I hope so. Things have been balls to the wall (pardon the term, but it just works) around here for the past couple of weeks. I started school with the kids and that's always a major adjustment for everyone. I didn't think I was ready to start, but it's been nice to have a solid schedule during the day again. So far, so good!! Ethan's doing 4th grade workbooks & readers and taking piano lessons this year, Abby's doing first grade workbooks & second grade readers and still doing gymnastics. I started doing some reading aloud with Olivia too and might work up to some 'letter of the week' if she seems interested enough. We're coming up on her third birthday next month! I can't believe it!!!

Summer went out on a good note, even though I wasn't quite ready for it to be over. We got to go to the county fair in our home town which is always the highlight of summer for me. There is nothing better than fair food!! I had a list that I was working from as far as what I wanted to eat and I pretty much made it happen - jumbo corn dog, lemonade shake up, fried oreos, red caramel corn, cotton candy, homemade vanilla saltwater taffy....... Ya. It was an amazing day. The week of the fair always signals the end of summer for me. That and the sound of the locusts in the tree out front. Those two things right there mean that fall is on its way!! Even my playlist is ready for fall. There are some good tunes about autumn and even more songs with the word "fall" in them. Who knew??

I happen to love fall - Halloween (dressing up and hello, the candy!), the cooler weather, football season (Go Bears!!), wearing jeans and cute sweaters, baking yummy treats, going to the orchard and winery, cooking in the crockpot. All of these are my favorite!! So, in celebration of the upcoming season I am posting a very delicious recipe for apple cake. And guess what, it's in a bundt pan. You know I love bundt pans - they look cool and bundt is just fun to say.



Apple Cake

2 cups flour
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp ground cloves

Preheat oven to 350 and grease bundt pan. :) Stir all these together in mixing bowl and set aside......

1/2 cup water
1/4 cup melted butter
1/4 cup applesauce
1/2 tsp vanilla
3 large eggs, beaten
3 cups chopped apples

In small mixing bowl, stir together water, butter, applesauce, vanilla and eggs. Add to flour mixture. Mix well and add in chopped apples. Pour into greased bundt pan and bake at 350 for 45-50 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean. Cool completely. Then.......

Glaze

3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup lowfat buttermilk
1 Tbsp light corn syrup
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp vanilla

Stir ingredients into small saucepan and heat over medium heat until golden brown. Pour over cooled apple cake!!! Yay, fall!!!!