Blanket, Food, Turning and Toes

August has been a fun month watching Benjamin do adorable things. I have to keep a constant watch during nap time.

He loves falling asleep with his soft blanket and during his nap he will grab onto it and rub it against his cheek. However, he covers his entire face sometimes.

 We have noticed Benjamin constantly stare at us when we eat. So, I've had him practice sitting up in preparation for solids. Then we had his 4 month check-up, and our doctor gave us instructions for when we were ready to start feeding him solids. Sadly, he also got shots that day and ended up with a high temperature the next day. So, when he was feeling better we decided to give him the solid food. We gave him some rice cereal, which I don't think he cares for, but he loves the spoon. However, he loves the squash we gave him. I had to strap him down so he wouldn't jump out of his seat 'cause I couldn't get the food to him fast enough. He's a clever little fellow.

During one of Benjamin's morning naps, I found he had rolled on to his side. It made me laugh!

 This is a first, playing with his toes. I almost thought he couldn't get any cuter until...

 I caught him with his toes in his mouth! Precious!

Playing Cards

It's been a while since we played Skip-Bo, so we decided to play cards as a family. Benjamin liked looking at the cards and was very excited to be involved in the game. However, I think I'll have to teach him a few tricks since I ended up winning this game. Heehee!

Applesauce Bars

Yummy! Moist Applesauce Bars that make me think of Thanksgiving and Christmas time! Make sure to see my notes below for what I did differently from the recipe. I got this recipe from allrecipes.com.

Applesauce Bars

1/4 c butter, softened
2/3 c brown sugar
1 egg
1 c applesauce
1 c flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp pumpkin pie spice

Icing:
1 1/2 c powered sugar
3 T butter, melted
1 T milk
1 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 9x13 inch baking pan.

In a medium bowl, mix together the butter, brown sugar and egg until smooth. Stir in applesauce. Combine the flour, baking soda, salt and pumpkin pie spice; stir into the applesauce mixture until well blended. Spread evenly into the prepared pan.

Bake for 25 minutes in the preheated oven, or until edges are golden. Cool in the pan over a wire rack.

In a small bowl, mix together the confectioners' sugar and margarine. Stir in vanilla and milk until smooth. Spread over cooled bars before cutting into squares.

Well, if I have homemade Apple Butter (see previous post) then, of course, I'm going to substitute the applesauce in the recipe with the Apple Butter. Also, if you ever read the comments made by other bakers, you will see that not everyone has pumpkin pie spice on hand. I don't either. So, the Apple Butter has a sufficient amount of cinnamon and all you have to do is add 1/4 tsp ginger and 1/4 tsp nutmeg. I try to always have fresh nutmeg. It makes a huge difference in baking.

I would have loved to add nuts and/or raisins, but my husband is not fond of them in anything baked.

The icing is nice because it gives the bars a thin layer of added sweetness. I had heavy whipping cream on hand and used that for the milk and added a dash of cinnamon so you could see the specks in the icing. A nice combination.

I think that you could leave off the icing and serve it with vanilla ice cream (or eggnog ice cream, if in season and your into eggnog) or with whipped cream.

Apple Butter

My sister, Wendy, made me some apple butter while she was visiting with us. I've never heard of apple butter before, but I would describe it as a spiced-thick applesauce. I couldn't believe how easy it was to make.

Apple Butter

8-9 apples, chopped (any apple variety)
2/3 c apple juice (or water)
1/3 c brown sugar
1 tsp cinnamon

Put all ingredients in crock pot. Cook on high for 8 hours (approximately) until apples are soft and mush easily. Put contents in blender and blend until smooth. Put back in crock pot on low for another 4-8 hours. Time depends on how thick you want your apple butter.

As a note, make sure to leave the skin on the apple since it's a good source for nutrients. Also, I will be using water instead of the apple juice and leaving out the cinnamon in the ingredients so I can make this for baby to eat.

This will last for two weeks in your refrigerator.

Plum Tart

This tart is similar to one my mom made me a few years back. Her version is much more simple. This one is a little more involved and comes from one of Martha Stewart's magazines. My sister, Wendy, has been vising me and baking for me. It's been awesome. So, she decided to try out this recipe from my stack of "I'm going to make these someday".

Striped Plum Tart

2 tablespoons skin-on almonds, toasted
2 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour, plus more for surface
1 sheet frozen puff pastry, thawed
1 large egg yolk
1 tablespoon heavy cream
5 black plums, pitted and cut into 1/4-inch slices
5 red plums, pitted and cut into 1/4-inch slices
1 cup apricot jam, heated until loose, and strained

Pulse almonds, 1 tablespoon sugar, and the flour in a food processor until ground to a fine meal.

Roll out puff pastry into a 10-by-14-inch rectangle (1/8 inch thick) on a lightly floured work surface. Using a paring knife, score a 1/2-inch border on all sides. Place pastry on a parchment-lined baking sheet, and freeze until firm, about 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Whisk together egg yolk and cream. Brush border with egg wash, then sprinkle almond mixture evenly over center of pastry. Evenly alternate rows of black and red plum slices. Freeze tart until firm, about 30 minutes.

Sprinkle remaining tablespoon sugar over top, then bake until edges are golden brown, about 40 minutes. Brush plums with warm jam; let cool. Serve warm or at room temperature.

 

We did a few things differently in this recipe (as I almost do with all recipes I try). We didn't have any almonds on hand, so we used pecans. We used pluots in stead of plums. Pluots are a hybrid of plum and apricot...interesting! Then we used only 1/4 cup of my sister-in-law, Rynell's homemade apricot jam. A full cup seemed a bit too much to cover the whole pastry. The result was very tasty. I love tart fruits with just the right amount of sweetness.