Homemade Cider Carmel Sauce

I've been sharing a lot of apple recipes (caramel apple pie cake and homemade pear applesauce) here this month, and you really can't talk apples without talking carmel as well.  At least I can't!

I saw this recipe several years ago on Studio 5 (a local lifestyle show here in Utah).  The recipe was for an apple bread pudding.  It did look delicious, but bread pudding isn't always my first choice of dessert.  What did catch my eye was the cider carmel sauce she made to go on top of the bread pudding.  

I honestly cannot describe how amazingly delicious this sauce is!  Think of your favorite carmel candy with a hint of apple.  I almost hate to put it on top of desserts because sometimes the amazing flavor of the sauce gets lost in the other ingredients.  Don't get me wrong, I put this on plenty of desserts, but when I'm really craving it, I just eat it by the spoonful!  It is a bit thinner than most carmel sauces I've had, so I just keep it in a jar in the fridge, and it's perfect when I pull it out.  If you're eating it warmed, it will be a bit runny.

Click here for the recipe of cider carmel sauce.  The apple bread pudding, and an amazing cinnamon whipped cream recipe can be found there as well.

P.S.  I've used apple juice in place of cider, and it works just as well.  Not quite the intense apple flavor, but delicious just the same!

Thanks so much for stopping by!  I hope you found a little something worth your time.

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Printable Apple Banner

As you've probably noticed, I love everything apple this time of year.  I've been wanting to throw an all apple party for quite some time now.  I'm not sure I'll get around to it this year, but when I do, I'll have my banner already to go.

I used PicMonkey (as always) to design this cute and simple apple banner.  It would be adorable hanging on the front of you all-apple dessert table, wouldn't it?

Click here to print your 'APPLES' banner today.  Just be aware that when you see the banner letters in Google Docs, they'll appear small, but when you print them each letter will be about 5 x 5 1/2 inches.  

Thanks so much for stopping by !  I hope you found a little something worth your time.

Linking up to these parties & Savvy Southern Style.

Free Halloween Garlands from PicMonkey

I love Halloween just as much as the next person (and probably more so), and I don't even decorate for it until October first.  But, if you're wanting to make a few new decorations for the spooky holiday, then now is the perfect time to get going on them.

If you've been here before, then you know I'm in love with PicMonkey!  I love it year round, but their Halloween themes have to be my favorites!  Today's four free garlands are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to their selection of Halloween images you can use.  As always, there are plenty of free items to use on PicMonkey, but you can always pay the Royale fee ($4.99/month or $33/year) and have access to EVERYTHING they offer.

As always, after you've chosen 'Edit' from PicMonkey's home page, and you've chosen what you want to edit (I just used a plain white document to edit I have saved on my desktop), then you'll see this sidebar come up on the left.  Click on the apple icon at the very bottom of the menu.

'School U' will be the first theme you see, but right under that you'll see all the Halloween themes.  Scroll down just a bit to the 'Trick or Treat' theme.

Once you've click on that, you'll see all these great Halloween overlays appear. 

 Click on 'Grim Garlands' and you'll see all four of these fantastic free garlands appear.  Simply click on the garland you want and then use it as you'd like.  You can change the size, color, and tilt.  Just experiment with them and find what look you're going for.

Here are two printables I created last year using the Grim Garlands.

Trick or Treat Printable

Happy Halloween Printable

These garlands would be perfect on any Halloween invitations your sending out for parties this year, for creating your own printable to hang on the wall, or anything else you can come up with!  I love how easy they are to use, and experimenting with all the different possibilities!  

Thanks so much for stopping by!  I hope you found a little something worth your time.

Linking up to these parties & Savvy Southern Style.

Upcycled $ Store Planner

I love the dollar store, and I love calendars.  This is the time of year that you'll start seeing 2015 calendars and planners popping up in stores.  I know it may seem like 2015 is a ways off, but snag the calendars you can find now while the supplies are plentiful.

I buy multiple calendars and planners for each year, so when you can score ones from the dollar store, then you don't break the bank.  And if they're not quite what you're looking for, buy them anyway!  It's amazing how you can transform many of them.

This is what the planner looked like that I found at Dollar Tree.  Not terrible, but a little juvenile for my taste.  It came in a clear plastic cover, so I was able to take it out of the cover, take off this bright polka dot cover, and add my own.  I used Nob Hill "Framed"paper from My Mind's Eye (from their Market Street collection).  It wasn't quite big enough to fit the size of the original cover, but I just cut a bit extra and added it on to the back.

Then I added a bit of glue down the spin of the planner and attached my new cover in place of the old one.  The planner will slide back into the plastic when you're done, so the plastic will help keep the new cover in place as well.

After that came the embellishments.  The paper was so pretty that I didn't need to add much, but enough to personalize it.

I added a black 'b' sticker for my name, and then cut 2015 out of my Cricut (you could use stickers, or even write it on) in black card stock and added it to the cover as well.  Such a difference for such little effort!

You could also embellish the inside month pages (they're a bit plain) if you're crazy like me.  I added a new label to October and a few bats as well.  Do as much, or as little as you'd like. 

Thanks so much for stopping by!  I hope you found a little something worth your time.

Linking up to these parties & Savvy Southern Style.

Apples Are The Perfect Treat {Printable}

My husband thinks I'm crazy, and a lot of you out there would probably agree with him, but I love Barney!  My twins grew up watching him, and my four-year-old will still watch him once in awhile.  And actually, they won't admit it, but my twins can easily get caught up in an episode every now and then.

Click to Print

I like Barney for a lot of educational and social reasons, but it's the seasonal shows that I really love (surprise!).   I found Barney's Halloween Party at Target years ago when my twins were young.  It was only $5, so I thought, why not?  Well, we have definitely gotten our $5 worth.  We've watched this DVD every year at our house for over five years.  I love to get it out each fall, and my boys really do love it too, they just won't admit it!

Anyway, there's a part of the movie when the kids and Barney visit a farm for items for their school carnival.  They talk about apples, and they do this cute little apple song/chant.  I've always liked it, and one year I was crazy enough to write down the words to it.  It's kind of fast, so I had to rewind, rewind, and rewind  to get it all.  I want to get it all typed up at some point, but for now, the first few lines will do.  

And if you're not into cutesy Barney song lyrics, then I have a chalkboard apple printable that might fit your style better.

Chalkboard Apples Printable

Thanks so much for stopping by!  I hope you found a little something worth your time.

Linking up to these parties & Savvy Southern Style.

Caramel Apple Pie Cake

I have the best mom in the world!  She is wonderful for so many reasons, but her love of helping others (especially her kids) is amazing!  

She's probably the biggest fan of my blog, and I know she worries about me keeping up with it.  And since she doesn't want me to stop blogging anytime soon (it is a great connection when we're a bit far apart), she's always giving me recipe ideas to help me out.  Last time she came to visit she brought a notebook with several fall recipes, and the groceries to go with them so I could easily make them.  See!  She's the BEST!

I keep thinking I've made every apple-related recipe on the Earth, but she proved me wrong.  She left two apple recipes, and I'd never made either.  So, today I have the caramel apple pie cake to share, and next week I'll share the other recipe she left (apple butterscotch bars!).

Click to Print

This cake comes together so, so quickly.   I didn't pour the caramel sauce over the cake after it baked, I just poured it on each individual piece of cake as I served it.  I knew we'd had leftovers, and I wanted to cake to keep a bit better, so that's why I left the caramel off the entire cake.  But go ahead and try it!  I'm sure it's delicious, moist, and it probably would keep just fine.

So, if you're in need of a quick apple dessert any time soon, give this cake a try.  It was a big crowd-pleaser with my family (in-laws included) the other night.

And here's another delicious, favorite apple recipe I make every fall.  Homemade pear applesauce.  Pears have been amazing here in Utah these past few weeks, and they add an amazing flavor to the already delicious applesauce!

Homemade Pear Applesauce

What are your favorite apple recipes?

Thanks so much for stopping by!  I hope you found a little something worth your time.

Linking up to theses parties & Savvy Southern Style.