What I Made for Dinner :: Sunday Night Beef Stew

I used the Pioneer Woman's recipe for the beef stew, and served it with farro and sauteed kale. For the stew, I threw in some fresh thyme while it stewed, and because I didn't have turnips, I subbed in potatoes.

What I Made for Dinner :: French Onion Soup

The weather is cooling down here, which means I'm gearing up for a lot of soup making. I bought a ten-pound bag of onions at Costco the other day and had a stale baguette so I decided to try my hand at French Onion Soup.

I used this recipe from Good Dinner Mom and although mine didn't turn out exactly like hers, it was still pretty tasty. My husband liked it more than the (frozen) version we get at Trader Joe's. It is quite a bit of work and it's a lengthy process, but a good portion of the cooking time takes place in the oven, which is almost entirely hands-off cooking.

The kids aren't huge fans of onions, but I think they enjoyed the cheesy bread part so, all in all, not a failure!

Butterflies like books too

Challenge completed three months early!

What I Baked for Dessert :: One Bowl Apple Cake

My friend shared this recipe she found from a random person (Jean Dodd) on Facebook. I had some old-ish apples and a breakfast I needed to bring something to so I gave the recipe a go. It got the thumbs-up from my husband and I was asked for the recipe at the breakfast, so I'm guessing this was a successful recipe!

Ingredients:

• 2 eggs
• 1-1/4 cups sugar
• 2 heaping teaspoons cinnamon
• 1/2 cup applesauce
• 6 medium Gala, Fuji, or Honey Crisp apples
• 2 cups flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350°. In a large bowl, mix the eggs, sugar, cinnamon and applesauce. Peel and slice the apples and add to mixture in bowl (coating as you go to keep apples from turning brown.) Mix together the baking powder and flour and add to the ingredients in the bowl. Mix well (best with a fork) until all of the flour is absorbed by the wet ingredients. Pour mixture into a greased 9x13 pan, two 9″ round pans, or one 9” round pan and a 12 cup muffin pan. Bake for approximately 55 minutes (muffins will finish baking in about 45 minutes).

What I Ate for Dessert :: sweets from Baked & Wired

My husband was kind enough to bring home desserts from Baked & Wired for our 15th anniversary. He had the Honey Pecan Bar and I got the very rich Jolt Brownie.

What I Made for Dinner :: Moussaka