Paula Would Be Proud

Paula Deen, the Queen of Butter (and Sugar), wouldn't even bat a perfectly-done-up eyelash at these apple dumplings. But any sane, rational and trying-to-be-healthy person will gawk at the obscene amount of butter and sugar used in this recipe...and then eat the entire pan anyways.

These apple dumplings come from The Pioneer Woman (who's probably the Princess of Butter) and like any recipe from PW, it is unbelievably good. But not only are these dumplings delicious, they're one of the simplest recipes I've ever made. That's a good thing, but also a bad thing. Anything with that much butter & sugar should at least be complicated to bake so you can't bake it everyday. But these dumplings could be an everyday occurrence.

For the entire recipe (and prettier pictures of the dumplings), see PW. 

An overview:

Two apples, two cans of crescent rolls, 2 sticks of butter, 1 1/2 cups of sugar, vanilla, Mountain Dew. Slice the apples, wrap each slice in a crescent roll, put in a pan. Melt butter, sugar and vanilla together. 

Pour butter mixture and Mountain Dew over slices. Sprinkle with cinnamon. Bake.

Serve with vanilla ice cream.

The dumplings really are unbelievably good if you consider how simple they are to make. Besides baking time, it probably took five minutes start to finish to put these together. And they're incredibly filling. Deric and I both tried to eat more than two but we just couldn't. Too much goodness and guilt for one sitting.

The Camping Trip

Last weekend, Deric and I went with the youth group on their annual camping trip. We went to a campground about an hour away and stayed from Friday night to Sunday morning.

We had literally perfect weather for camping. Sunny all weekend, highs in the 60s and lows in the 30s. Perfect for sweatshirts and sitting around the campfire. We spent the weekend grilling hot dogs, playing with the fire, hiking and exploring the campground, throwing things in the fire, playing football (the boys) and knitting (the girls), poking sticks into the fire, playing Mafia, telling ghost stories, and sticking body parts in the fire. The campfire is always the main attraction.

It was a great weekend to kick off fall. I'm ready for another camping trip with Deric. We've always wanted to go camping just the two of us but haven't gotten around to it yet. Hopefully sometime this season we'll go!

Notes in the Margin 10.9.11

"...Any of you who does not give up everything he has cannot be my disciple." Luke 14:33

"Everything he has..." Everything. Yikes. I've been baptized for over ten years, and I still can't fathom giving up everything. I can barely give the minimal 10% for tithe each week. I've heard the sermon on this subject before-- the one about counting the cost of becoming a disciple of Jesus. About being willing to sacrifice your job, family, home, standard of living, etc. I don't even like thinking about giving up everything. I like my comfortable life, my clothes, my house, my food. But Jesus doesn't care about those things...because they're just things. He only cares about people. Jesus focuses on what's most important, and He wants His disciples focused on what's important, too. He wants His disciples ready to give up anything in order to save His people.

Did you notice Jesus said "cannot be my disciple"? I'd never stopped to think about the "cannot" in this verse until Deric mentioned it tonight in youth group. Jesus didn't say that you won't be a great disciple, or that you'll just be a disciple part-time. He said point blank that if you're not willing to give up everything, there is no way you'll be His disciple. Its one way or the other. It made me realize that without even making a conscious choice, I've made the decision not to be a disciple.

I've tried to be a Christian without being a disciple, which I'm pretty sure is impossible. Christians are disciples...or at least, we're supposed to be. But I've been trying to take bits and pieces of Jesus' teachings and fit them into my comfortable life so I can literally get the best of both worlds. I thought that would work, but now that I've noticed the "cannot", I realize that I am not a disciple in any way. That's embarrassing and its hard to admit. But I think its the truth. Unless I start changing my life and my attitude, I won't be a disciple of Jesus. There may not come a time in my life when Jesus requires me to actually give up everything, but I have to be willing to do it if He does require that of me one day. I have to start detaching myself from my love of stuff. I have to become willing to give away more of my money than I keep. I have to change my attitude and start looking for ways to use what I have to take care of other people. After all, my money isn't mine. My house, my clothes, my food, my health and my life aren't mine. Everything I have has been provided by God. Now that I think about it, doesn't it make sense that I should be willing to give it all back to Him?

Ten Dollar Table

I found this side table at our local Goodwill for $10. I was shocked to find it for so cheap because our Goodwill is the most expensive one I've ever been too. Walmart is cheaper. For example, I used to get 8x10 frames (and the glass) for $1 or $2 at our Goodwill in Indiana. Here, an 8x10 with the glass is $5 or $6, but I can get an 11x14 for $5 at Walmart. Its a good thing they've got 50% off days occasionally.

But back to the table. I found it in May and planned to stain the entire thing a dark brown to match our coffee table. Fortunately, my dad saw the cell phone pic I sent my mom and he advised me not to stain it because of all the grooves on the legs that I'd have to sand...by hand. I hadn't thought of that. So I decided I would paint the bottom white and stain only the top. When my family came to visit for Memorial Day, Dad brought his electric sander and it took us no time to sand down the top of the table. I applied the stain the week after Memorial Day but waited to paint.

When I went to paint it, I planned to use primer and paint we already had and roll/brush it on. But as you can see from the picture, that didn't look so good. It also took forever to get in all those cracks and crevices. So I got spray paint and primer instead and covered the top with newspaper and Frog Tape.

It took me at least three more months to completely spray paint that table. I have no idea why I take so long to spray paint things, but it always takes me weeks (at least). I think it was late August when the table finally came in to the living room and I could get rid of the free dorm-room quality table we'd been using.

I can't say I'm thrilled with how the table turned out (if you look closely at the picture above you can see water rings--probably because I didn't seal the stain), but I'm proud of it because it was my first furniture re-do. I'm on the lookout for two more side tables for the living room, each with a drawer or extra shelf and with straight legs so I can stain the entire table. I haven't had luck at Goodwill so far, but tomorrow there's an antique festival in a town nearby...Fingers crossed!

Fall at its Finest

I took these pictures last November at Deric's parent's house in Indiana. We'd just gotten back from a two-week trip to England and I knew the colors wouldn't last much longer, so I hurried out with my camera before all the leaves fell. And sure enough, three days later all the trees were bare. These are some of my favorite scenes of fall.

Can you believe all those colors? I'd never seen such bright yellows before. Fall is the best. :)