Life is a beautiful thing, oh don't waste it doll.

Today I decided I was going to take it slow. Every time I saw a photo opportunity I stopped, shot a few frames before I moved on.

It slowed me down quite a bit, it took me an hour to get to the grocery store, it usually takes only 20 minutes.

And even though I was less than thrilled with most of the results, it was worth it. It's beautiful out there, if you take the time to look.

You can see the rest here.

Is it fall yet? Apple Crisp.

I wore a sweater today. I realize it was a bit premature, as it’s still 80 degrees outside, but my crazy longing for fall made me do it.



You see, I really, really love fall. I love the cool, crisp air. The bright orange, red and yellow leaves. The smell of bon fires in folks backyards. So towards the end of August I always go a little crazy. Wearing scarves, sweaters, the occasional pair of boots.



My bout of crazy was only furthered by finding the first apples of the season at the farmers market yesterday. As soon as I tried one, I was smitten, they were delicious. I had to have some.



Apple crisp might be my favorite dessert ever. It contains all of my favorite things: apples, cinnamon, oats, brown sugar and butter. And this one might be the best I’ve ever had. (but that could be the crazy talking.) I used a mix of gala and jonathan in this and it came out perfectly. It’s a little bit of fall in every bite.



Apple Crisp
Adapted from here.

bake in an 8×8 baking dish or double the recipe and bake in a 9×13 dish

Filling:

5 to 6 medium-size apples , peeled, cored and cut into 1/4-inch slices. (About 7.5 cups)

6 tbsp granulated sugar

2 1/2 tsp cinnamon

Topping:

1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour

1 1/3 cups lightly packed brown sugar

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1 stick unsalted butter, well-softened

1/3 heaping cup quick oats

Preheat the oven to 350. Generously grease an 8×8 baking pan with butter.
Place a layer of apple slices in the bottom of the pan and dust with sugar/cinnamon mixture. Continue layering apples and dusting with cinnamon/sugar until done. The apples should be just about to the top of the pan (they will cook down).

For the topping, place the flour, brown sugar, cinnamon and oats in a large bowl and stir well with a wooden spoon. Work the butter into the mixture with your fingertips until evenly distributed. It will be sort of dough-like. Spread the topping evenly over the apples.

Bake the crisp in the dish on a baking sheet on the center oven rack until the topping is crunchy and the apples are bubbling, 55-60 minutes.
Serve hot.

Photos from the last couple of weeks.

Homemade Butter

Making butter sounds hard, right? That's why I'd always avoided it, even though it sounded like it would be amazing. Then I was reading through this beautiful blog and found this post. I was inspired.

The instructions are so easy. Fill up a mason jar half way with cream, put the lid on and shake. And shake. And shake some more.

And what do you get? Delicious butter and a sense of accomplishment.

Make some butter tonight. You won't be sorry.

Purple (well...brown) Velvet Cake.

Today is my lovely sisters 15th birthday. I can’t believe she’s driving. It seems like just yesterday we were yelling at each other in the back seat of the car. She’s become this awesome bluegrass loving, mandolin playing, Jesus following young woman. She rocks.



And how else could I celebrate but to make her a cake? She requested her favorite, Red Velvet. Since red velvet is essentially just chocolate cake dyed bright red, I thought it would be more fun to dye it purple. Sadly, it came out more brown, but it’s the thought that counts, right?



This is definitely the best recipe for red velvet I’ve found, it’s a little more chocolate-y
than most, super moist and slightly tangy. Plus, the cream cheese frosting was delicious, and I don’t even like it normally.



To top it off I used this little birdie, he was once a christmas ornament. It’s so Sarah.

Happy Birthday baby sister, I hope you liked your cake!


let's pretend I can actually frost cakes! haha.

Red Velvet Cake
Adapted from “The Confetti Cakes Cookbook” by Elisa Strauss via Smitten Kitchen.

Yield: 3 cake layers

1 tablespoon unsalted butter
3 1/2 cups cake flour
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa (not Dutch process)
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
2 cups canola oil
2 1/4 cups granulated sugar
3 large eggs
6 tablespoons (3 ounces) red food coloring or 1 teaspoon red gel food coloring dissolved in 6 tablespoons of water
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
1 1/4 cup buttermilk
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 1/2 teaspoons white vinegar.

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place teaspoon of butter in each of 3 round 9-inch layer cake pans and place pans in oven for a few minutes until butter melts. Remove pans from oven, brush interior bottom and sides of each with butter and line bottoms with parchment.

2. Whisk cake flour, cocoa and salt in a bowl.

3. Place oil and sugar in bowl of an electric mixer and beat at medium speed until well-blended. Beat in eggs one at a time. With machine on low, very slowly add red food coloring. (Take care: it may splash.) Add vanilla. Add flour mixture alternately with buttermilk in two batches. Scrape down bowl and beat just long enough to combine.

4. Place baking soda in a small dish, stir in vinegar and add to batter with machine running. Beat for 10 seconds.

5. Divide batter among pans, place in oven and bake until a cake tester comes out clean, 40 to 45 minutes. Let cool in pans 20 minutes. Then remove from pans, flip layers over and peel off parchment. Cool completely before frosting.

Cream Cheese Frosting

Makes 6 cups

8 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter room temperature
3 cups confectioner’s sugar, sifted
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Place cream cheese and butter in a medium bowl. With a handheld electric mixer, beat until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add sugar and vanilla. Beat, on low speed to combine. If too soft, chill until slightly stiff, about 10 minutes, before using.


Oh, for those interested, I did get a new lens! I upgraded from the 50mm 1.8 to the 50mm 1.4. So far I love it! You can see the shots I've taken so far with it at my flickr.

My beautiful, wonderful 50mm f 1.8 lens died today.

I have no idea what happened to it, it just fell apart. Maybe from over use. hahaha.

So until I can get it fixed/replaced (hopefully very soon!) there will be no new posts. Sorry guys!