2012 October 13 — Patchwork Times by Judy Laquidara

October 13, 2012 · by JudyL

It’s the weekend . . after a long, rough week at our house. How about some baby pictures . . these always remind me what’s really important in life!

Chad is holding her and I can see one of the scars where the arrow went through his arm! It’s a gross picture so don’t click that link if you are feeling squeamish!

Babies make the cutest expressions!

So cute and so sweet and then . . they grow up to this:

That look! And, he better not have been lying!

And then they start driving. And you get the call that there’s been a little accident and you arrive . . way out in the middle of the country . . corn fields as far as you can see. Then as we get closer, you realize the black smoke is actually Chad’s car!

As much as I want to live closer to them now, I am not sure I want to be real close during Adalina’s teen years . . not that it matters a whole lot what I want . . you know?

Spiced Apple Rings

October 13, 2012 · by JudyL

Spiced apple rings have been a favorite for many years. I remember the first time I had them — they were storebought and I thought they were so good. I’ve made them a few times but the last time I made them, which was probably 5 years ago, the apples ended up being rather mushy because I had used an apple that was too soft.

Last week I found some small, crunchy apples and made spiced apple rings.

They will eventually absorb enough liquid to sink ..unless we eat them first. I got 13 pints out of the first batch and 12 pints out of the second batch. And I forgot how many out of the rest of the batches but I now have 36 pints of apple rings.

And when you have a little of that sweet, cinnamon-y syrup left over .. you serve that over ice cream!

Last weekend we did a taste test — spiced apple rings and applesauce. We decided to make as many spiced apple rings as we can while we have crunchy apples and then I can use any apples to make applesauce. The hard part about putting food up like this is that you have to get it while it’s available — get all you want for the year while it’s available and that’s a whole lot of work!