Easy Fall Apple Crisp

I had the opportunity to go with Madelyn on a field trip to Pleasant View Orchard last week. She was so proud of the apples she picked, it was really sweet!

The day before the field trip I went to the grocery store and in a tired fog forgot we were going to be picking apples. So naturally I bought the largest bag they had!  Needless to say I needed to use some apples and decided to experiment with apple crisp.  My second attempt was the best so I thought I would share the recipe. It's super easy!!!

You will need: 

8" baking dish

6-8 large apples of your choice (I used Gala and Johnathan)

Cinnamon and/ or apple pie spice

1 cup all purpose flour

1 cup quick baking oats

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 stick cold unsalted butter

1/4 tsp salt

Steps:

Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees

Peel, core and slice your apples. Place them evenly in two layers in your dish and sprinkle with a little cinnamon and apple pie spice (optional).

In a seperate bowl combine your flour, oats, sugar, brown sugar and salt. Cut in your cold butter.  

This is the fun part, begin mixing with your hands until all ingredients are combined, it should be crumbly.  Cover the apples with the crumb mixture. 

Bake at 375 for 40 mins, the top should be slightly brown. 

Enjoy!!

Pumpkin Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

Well it's no secret that I love Fall and all things pumpkin. It didn't take long for me to make my first batch of Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies, only this year I changed it up a bit and added in oats as well!

They turned out yummy so I thought I would share.

Ingredients: makes 3 dozen cookies

1 cup unsalted butter

1 1/2 cups granulated sugar

2  large eggs

1 tbsp vanilla

1 tbsp vegetable oil

1 15 oz can pure pumpkin

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt
1 tbsp. cinnamon

2 cups flour

1 cup oats

1 1/2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips

Preparation:

Combine room temp butter, sugar, eggs and vanilla until creamy. Continue to add vegetable oil and pumpkin. In seperate bowl combine all dry ingredients, flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and oats. Gently mix in the dry ingredients with the wet. Once combined fold in the chocolate chips.

The batter!

These are drop cookies, no need for them to be perfect. (Disregard my yucky looking cookie sheet, it's been through a lot)

Final product, they make a great breakfast cookie bar as well.

Enjoy!!

Labor Day Weekend 2013

Labor Day weekend is always a little bitter sweet as we say goodbye to Summer, but in this family we love and embrace Fall.   

We spent the weekend in true McCord style...busy!  Adam made it a four day weekend so we took the opportunity to tour and check out a new pre-school for Madelyn.  We loved it and she will start this week! Madelyn has been home with me everyday since the end of May, we could tell she was becoming bored and needed something else. Lets face it, giving her what she needs with two newborns at home is virtually impossible. Going back to school will be a blessing for all of us.  We took her to buy a new backpack and lunch box on Friday, she is very excited!

Saturday morning we headed to Ohio to celebrate my best friends little boys birthdays, it was our first out of state trip with the boys. Kara has two boys, Ben just turned 4 and Matthew 2. The birthdays are a a few days apart so she does a combo party and she does it well! It has actually given me a few tips on how to throw a party for my twin boys when the day comes.

On Sunday we headed to Adam's parents house for some lake time and a cook-out. We got in a little boating,   fishing, relaxing and family time. We decided to make it our first over night with the boys and it went great. Carter and Colten slept for 7 1/2 hours before waking to eat. It was awesome!! Madelyn got to swim and fish, two things she has become very good at.

   The boys helping me cook on Sunday

On Monday we headed home to rest up a bit and plant some Fall flowers. We are ready for football, tailgating, crisp nights, and all things Fall!!