When friends come to town...

Making Brownies with Anna

 Girls night

Enjoying a visit and espresso

My friend Holly came to visit this week. I had such a great time catching up with her. She moved away a couple months ago and left a big hole in my life. She has been one of my running friends for the last couple of years. It worked out that she was able to stay a couple days with me. We did so many fun things together. We got to go on several runs. She has become quite the speedster. We definitely challenge each other in our runs. We also got to do one of our favorite things. Goodwilling! When she lived her we would go several times a week after the gym. It was such a fun day. On Tuesday night we had our friends over for an appetizer/wine evening. Holly and I both love to cook and share recipes. We spent the afternoon preparing for our special dinner. She made Ina's Brownie Pudding with Anna. YUM! It was an absolutely lovely evening visiting with friends. I did something that I never do on a "school night". I went to a 9:30 movie with several of the ladies. We all wanted to see the movie "The Help" and didn't think our husbands would enjoy it very much. I am glad I drank the espresso at 3:00 PM to keep me awake for the movie but I wish that I had been able to fall asleep before 2:00 AM. I guess that is the side effect of coffee too late in the day. Holly had to head home today. It was such a good visit and I can't wait for the next one!

Fall and Apples



Jonathan and I apple picking!



It hs been such a lovely Fall in Ohio.
We have had warm weather and beautiful Fall change of colors. The kids and I have been staying busy with soccer, school and anticipation of next month! We went Apple picking and have been making lots of goodies with our abundance of apples. Hope everyone else is having a "Happy Fall" as well!

Caramel Apple Muffins

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 egg
1/3 cup milk
2 apples - peeled, cored and chopped
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup butter, cubed
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 TBS chopped candies ginger
Directions
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Grease six muffin cups or line with paper muffin liners.
Stir together 1 1/2 cup flour, 3/4 cup sugar, salt, baking powder, ginger and 1 teaspoon cinnamon. Mix in oil, egg and milk. Fold in apples. Spoon batter into prepared muffin cups, filling to the top of the cup.

In a small bowl, stir together 1/2 cup brown c sugar, 1/3 cup flour, butter and 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon. Mix together with fork and sprinkle over unbaked muffins.
Bake in preheated oven for 20 to 25 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into center of a muffin comes out clean.
To make caramel
1 cup sugar
1 stick butter
1 cup heavy cream
Melt sugar in heavy pan. Stir with wooden spoon. Watch carefully or it will burn. When melted add butter and allow to melt, then add cream. Stir until comes together. It takes about 3-4 minutes for this to happen.
When muffins are still warm cut slit in top and pour 1-2 TBS of caramel down into hole. I add more caramel once muffins have cooled. Enjoy!

TWD Caramel Peanut Topped Brownie Cake

This was such a great weekend off from work and school! We had warm Fall weather and even enjoyed a family hike on Monday. I think Fall is my favorite Season of the year. I love the cool evenings and early mornings. I also love all of the leaves changing colors. It is definitely my favorite time of the year for running outside.

This recipe was for last week but I am a little behind so I chose today to write about it. Tammy of Wee Treats by Tammy chose this yummy, caramel and chocolate goodness! I have been wanting to try this recipe. It has all of my favorite things in it: chocolate, and caramel. I was so excited to read the list of recipes that I get to make this month. I made this into a 9 square baking dish since my spring form pan was destroyed in our move. I could easily eat a couple of these at one time and I did. I made these for a BBQ on Sunday! They were a big hit with the neighbors as well. I decided not to do the peanuts at the last minute but sprinkled the top with Grey Sea Salt. I have a recipe for salted caramel brownies and combined the 2 recipes into 1. After I baked the cake I noticed it being very dry and crumbly. I made a simple syrup and poured over it to regain some of the moistness. I also chose to follow my friend Jeni's family recipe for the caramel topping. I have had too many batches of caramel crystallize on me in the past. She makes the most incredible caramels ever. She shared her secret recipe with me before she left Germany and walked me through each step of making them. They are so good!

P.S My husband deleted all of the pictures for this recipe. This is the third time that this has happened. I think I need to get my own camera to avoid this from happening again!