Apple-Cinnamon Streusel Muffins

Little Eli and I whipped these up on Monday night, our family night activity you could say.
It was great to have muffins ready on Tuesday morning.

This recipe comes from a cooking blog I like called, Stephanie's Kitchen.
She had taken a little break from blogging and now seems to be back.

There wasn't an overwhelming apple taste,
so I think next time I will use Granny Smith apples, instead of the Fuji I had on hand.

Apple-Cinnamon Streusel Muffins
makes about 18

For the batter:
2 3/4 cups all purpose flour
1 tablespoon + 1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup butter, melted
1/3 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
3/4 cups whole milk
zest of 1 lemon
2 cups diced apples, cook them for a while on the stove with some cinnamon and brown sugar before adding them to the batter

For the streusel:
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup flour
2 tsp cinnamon
4 tablespoons melted butter

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, granulated sugar and salt. Set aside. In a medium bowl, whisk together the melted butter, brown sugar, eggs and lemon zest until smooth. Whisk in the milk until well combined. Add the apples and than pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and gently mix just until combined. Mix the streusel ingredients until well blended. Spray a muffin pan and put one scoop of batter into the muffin cups. On top of each scoop of batter, place 1 tablespoon of streusel and pat down a bit. Place another scoop of the batter on top of the streusel. Place one more tablespoon of streusel on top of that batter and pat down a bit more. Bake at 350 degrees for about 20-25 or until lightly golden.

Time to quilt!

My nesting is in full swing!
I feel the need to have ever single detail and unfinished project done by the time our
little prince arrives.

One thing that is high on my to do list is make a quilt.
I would love to wrap my sweet baby up in a beautiful quilt that I lovingly made for him.

Up until last night I was feeling really overwhelmed my that task.
If I didn't have a 2 year old and a husband who was gone until 8:00 pm every night it wouldn't be a problem, but I do.

My friend Suzi's friend, Vanessa, just started her own craft blog, and she is an amazing quilter!

Score for my team!
She is starting out by giving step by step instructions to wake this amazing quilt!

Yes Please!

She is going to break it down into a few weeks, so you have time to complete each step and not get over whelmed.

So who's in, who's going to join me in making this adorable quilt?
Head over to Vanessa's blog and check it out.

Lella Boutique

I will keep you posted on my progress!

Apple Pie

There is nothing as simple and great as apple pie.
I am kicking off the new year on a great note with a yummy classic.
It has a flaky moist crust, flavorful and not runny filling and a sweet crumbly top!

This apple pie is the prefect combination of 3 different recipes.
It uses my Mom's pie crust recipe,
pie filling from Our Best Bites,
and topping from my Sister in Law.

My sweet Husband thinks we should have a tradition on apple pie every Sunday night,
I don't think that will happen, but we have been eating it a lot more since we found a recipe that we absolutely love!
Pie Crust-
3 cups flour
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder1 1/2 cups Crisco
1 egg, beaten
1/2 cup water
1 teaspoon vinegar

Mix flour, salt and baking powder together. Cut in Crisco, with a pastry blender or 2 forks. Mix together egg, water and vinegar; add to flour and Crisco mixture. Blend together until fully mixed. Chill for at least 30 minutes. Makes 2 pie crusts.

Roll out enough dough for one pie crust. Gently place into pie plate, pinch edges.

Apple Filling-
6 cups peeled, sliced Granny Smith apples (about 1 1/2 pounds)
1 Tbsp. lemon juice
1/2 c. sugar
1/2 c. brown sugar
2 Tbsp. all-purpose flour(I use 2 1/2 - 3 Tbsp.)
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp. ground nutmeg
2 Tbsp. butter, chopped

Combine lemon juice and apples in a large bowl.. Combine 1/2 c. sugar and next four ingredients, mixing well. Spoon over apple mixture, tossing gently. Spoon filling evenly into pastry shell and dot with chopped butter.

Crumble Struesel Topping-
1 cup flour
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
6 Tablespoons butter, chilled
cinnamon and sugar

Mix flour, sugar and salt together, cut in chilled butter.

Pour over pie filling, sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar.

Bake at 450 for 15 minutes. Reduce heat to 350 and bake 50 minutes more. Definitely keep an eye on the pie; you may need to make a shield if it starts getting too brown. If you get worried, go ahead and make a square of foil, cut a center out of the foil, and place it on the pie so the foil covers the edge of the pie.

Enjoy with a BIG scoop of vanilla ice cream!