"Playing" Together

The girls really like each other, but Lucy better watch out when Helen catches up and is as big as Lucy is...

As you can tell, I'm enjoying my girls, little sinners that they are.

Beautiful Pacific Northwest Sunrise

The heavens declare the glory of God;

The skies proclaim the work of his hands. 

Psalm 19:1

The sunrise was so beautiful this morning we had to run out and take photos.

  I love how the Mount Rainier casts a shadow on the clouds.

Glazed Apple Bars

My mom, Cathy, wanted to contribute this recipe to the "From the Hearth" recipe share found here. She said she loves this recipe because it's simple to make, but it looks and tastes like a pastry from a fancy bakery. She found it on a post by Edie over at LifeInGrace.



1. First combine 4 C. flour, 1/2 t. salt, and 2 C. sugar.*

2. Cut in 3 sticks of butter. Use hands or mixer on low. The mixture will be crumbly.  Press about half of this crumbly mixture into a jelly roll pan. (A jelly roll pan just means a cookie sheet with sides.)

3. Peel, core and slice 4-5 Granny smith apples and layer over the shortbread mixture.

4. Combine 1/3 C. sugar and 1 t. cinnamon, sprinkle it over the apples.

5. Crumble the remaining flour/sugar/butter mixture on top of the apples.

6. Bake it at 350 degrees for 50 - 60 minutes.until it is crispy on the bottom. After it bakes, let it cool before adding glaze..

7. Make a glaze with 1 C. powdered sugar, 1 t. vanilla, 1 T. water.

   * I love this, but I thought it was a bit too sweet, so the third time I made it,  I decreased the sugar in the first step to 1+ 3/4c, and decreased the sugar in the second part of the recipe to 1/4c. And, I didn't even  put the glaze on that time.  It was still plenty sweet and delicious.

Refrigerating the leftovers was a happy discovery--the bars are wonderful chilled.

~ Cathy

Friday Morning Prayer

Excerpt from a "Friday Morning" prayer in the Lutheran Prayer Book.

"Bless the labors of my hands. Bless our home with Your continued presence.

... and grant that boys and girls may grow in grace and knowledge

of You and Your will ...

Amen

PTSSD

 I knew I had a problem, I just didn't realize there was a name for it!

                               PTSSD

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Simple Pull-apart Dinner Rolls

I'm not a gourmet cook, so I picked a basic recipe for the From-The-Hearth link share. 

These are easy to make, yummy dinner rolls. My sister Jane told me how simple they were to make and gave me the recipe. Lately I've been making a batch every week and we have them with our dinner for 2 or 3 nights in a row. They go great with pot roast, soups, or chicken - really with anything.

Simple Pull-Apart Dinner Rolls

Ingredients:
1 cup milk, warm to help activate yeast
1 stick butter, softened
2 eggs
1/2 cup white sugar                         
4 cups flour (white or wheat)
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp yeast


#1.  Put all ingredients together in a bread-maker and run the "dough" cycle, which will include about an hour of time for the dough to rise. You can also mix ingredients by hand and then knead dough for 20 minutes, then let it rise for 1 1/2 hrs.
#2.  Knead dough again, adding a little flour so it doesn't stick to the counter top or your hands.
#3.  Form little balls of dough, about 3/4" round. Then drop 3 balls together into each section of a standard size cupcake tin. Let rise for another 1 1/2 hrs.
#4.  Bake at 350 degrees for 12 to 14 minutes. I usually turn the oven to broil for the last minute to give the top of the rolls that nice "browned" look, but you don't have to.

Enjoy!

Two Babies...