Apple Crumb Pots

It all started one day when I was hungry for apple pie. I didn't have store bought crust in the refrigerator and I didn't feel like making the pie crust.

What is a girl to do...Apple Crumb Pots.

The ingredients are simple. Slice 6-7 of your favorite baking apples. I love Ginger Gold for baking. The apple slicer is a well used gadget at our house.



Use non-stick spray or butter to cover the bottom of 6 ramekin cups. Place the ramekin cups on a baking sheet. Fill the cups up with your favorite baking apples. This is a great job for helpful little hands.



Combine 1/2 cup of sugar and 1 teaspoon of cinnamon. Sprinkle about 1/2 - 1 teaspoon of mixture per cup over the apples, depending on the type of apple that you like. Ginger Gold is on the tart side, so I sprinkle a teaspoon on each cup. Set aside the balance of this mixture to make the crumb topping.

The crumb topping...my favorite part. Take the balance of the sugar/cinnamon mixture and add more sugar until you measure 1/2 cup. Combine with 3/4 cup flour and 1/3 cup cold butter. I use my clean hands to mix together until crumbly.



Sprinkle the crumb mixture over the apples. You can also see why you need to use a baking sheet.



Bake at 400 degrees for about 40 minutes or until bubbly.



At this point, your next major decision in life will be what to put on top of your Apple Crumb Pots: Homemade Whipped Cream or your favorite ice cream.

On this day, we chose the homemade whipped cream.


For our anniversary, I made my honey Blueberry and Peach Crumb Pots. We chose vanilla ice cream that night.



Print Recipe for Apple Crumb Pots.

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This post is linked to Tasty Tuesday at Balancing Beauty and Bedlam and Mommy Solutions - Share Your Resources at Crystal & Co .

Breakfast Ideas and Menu Planning Tips

Some of my recent posts at Money Crashers:

"You have five minutes before you need to head out the door to make it to work on time, and you haven’t eaten anything for breakfast. Do you skip breakfast altogether, visit a drive-thru, or stop by the vending machine in your company’s break room? If you answered yes to any of these options", then check out 12 Healthy Breakfast Food Ideas That Are Quick and Easy. Also, offer your tips for grab and go breakfast ideas.

"If your grocery spending has spiraled out of control, yet you often feel like you have “nothing” to eat", then head over to Money Crashers for 10 Family Meal Planning Tips and Ideas on a Budget.

Are you familiar with Money Crashers? Their "mission is to develop a community of people who try to make financially sound decisions. The website strives to educate individuals in making wise choices about credit and debt, investing, education, real estate, insurance, spending, and more." The site is a wealth of information and I encourage you to go check it out.

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How Organized Is Your Purse? Take a Peek Inside Mine

Recently, I participated in the BlogHer and P&G Life Well Lived Blogger Panel where they explored the topic of Getting Organized: When Your Purse Weighs More Than Your Body

The panel was asked: What are the biggest issues you have in keeping your purse organized and neat and what is the best advice you have to keep your purse neat and orderly? What 3 things in your purse are must haves and what 3 could you live without?


I keep a fairly organized purse, but my biggest issue is paper clutter (e.g. receipts, coupons, to-do lists). I found that the bigger the purse I carried, the more I put in it, so I have gone small. My purse now contains my wallet, a small cosmetic bag, a gift card carrier, my phone, and sunglasses. The cosmetic bag keeps my purse organized. It has travel wipes, feminine hygiene stuff, lip gloss, pen, travel hand lotion, and some mints. All of that stuff would be floating around, if I didn’t keep it contained in my cosmetic bag.

The 3 must haves in my bag would be my wallet, cell phone, and lip gloss. I regularly clean out my purse, because I can do without all of the paper clutter.

My current bag of choice:

I have to confess that I am a reformed bag lady. In my past life, I was a handbag buyer for a department store. I was responsible for the handbag assortment for over 70 stores. Some of the companies that I dealt with were Liz Claiborne, Stone Mountain, Coach, Dooney & Bourke, Fossil, and Rosetti. At the time, I was absorbed in the fashion retail world and carried many different bags, depending on my outfit or occasion.

Now, my life is much different. The woman who used to own over 25 handbags, now only carries one and I long ago sold or donated most of those bags. I like this bag, because I can cross it over my body and I am then hands-free. It also happens to be my favorite color. I can see myself carrying this bag for years to come.

Inside my bag (the receipt was promptly filed as soon as the picture was taken):

This cosmetic bag is the reason my purse stays so organized. Can you imagine all of this stuff just floating around if it weren't contained?

This is my favorite wallet. I like it because it has room for me to keep my cash envelopes.

Now it's your turn. What are the biggest issues you have in keeping your purse organized and neat and what is the best advice you have to keep your purse neat and orderly? What 3 things in your purse are must haves and what 3 could you live without? Let us know in the comments.

And then head on over to enter the discussion about Getting Organized: When Your Purse Weighs More Than Your Body.

Also, be sure to read BlogHer's Life Well Lived Campaign, where they are exploring the topics: Looking Your Best, Getting Organized, and Getting Happy. While you are there, be sure to enter to win the $250 Visa gift card in the Life Well Lived Moments Sweepstakes.

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Reusing Glass Jars | Kitchen Economics

I have a grandmother who would never dream of buying containers to store leftovers or food for the freezer. She has always reused food containers, such as glass pickle jars or plastic cool-whip and sherbert containers, so I am not quite sure how or why I got started buying plastic food storage containers. Maybe it was the screw on lids that attracted me and how they were so uniform and neatly fit in my freezer or cupboards.

Several years ago, it struck me that I was using plastic food storage containers (with screw on lids) that I bought at the grocery store to store my homemade freezer food and at the same time I was throwing perfectly usable glass food jars in the recycle bin. It seemed a bit wasteful. I have since made a vow to not buy any more plastic ware and just reuse the glass containers from the pickles, salsa, pasta sauce or any other food that I buy.

The glass jars are perfect for storing my homemade sugar-free applesauce, homemade chicken stock, and roasted tomato sauce in the freezer. They can be used for storing anything and not just in the kitchen. I use recycled jars to store baking goods (those blue Ball jars were a yard sale find), leftovers, matches, Q-tips, cotton balls, and office supplies.

The jars might not all be the same shape and size, but I'm not shelling out money for containers anymore. I soak the jars in water to remove the label and clean in the dishwasher. When using a glass jar for freezing, do not fill all the way to the top, leave an inch open to allow for expansion that will happen when the food is frozen. To label, I have written with a sharpie on the jar or the lid, used a piece of masking tape or my label maker.

Do you buy food storage containers or reuse food containers?

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This post is linked to Frugal Friday at Life as MOM.

Apple Gingerbread Cake with Homemade Whipped Cream

I have loved just about every dessert that has ever crossed my path, but this cake is one of my all time favorites. If you love gingerbread, you'll love this cake.

Apple Gingerbread Cake

• 1/2 Cup brown sugar
• 1/2 Cup butter
• 1 tsp. ginger
• 1 tsp. cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1 large egg
• 1 Cup molasses
• 1 Cup sour milk - 1 cup milk with 1 Tbsp of white vinegar added to it. It will bubble and curdle, but that is what is supposed to happen. Allow to sit for a few minutes.
• 2 Cups flour
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 2 of your favorite baking apples. Peeled and cut into 8-10 slices. I used an apple slicer.
• Homemade Whipped Cream

Mix the sugar, butter, ginger, cinnamon and salt until creamy. Add 1 large egg and beat until fluffy. Add molasses and sour milk. Mix well. Add flour and baking soda and mix until combined.

Prepare a 9 x 9 glass pan with non-stick baking spray. Layer the pan with the apples.


Pour the cake batter over the apples. Apples will float in the batter. Bake at 325 degrees for 50-60 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.



This cake smells so good. You want to dig in as soon as it comes out of the oven, but WAIT, something is not right.




That's it. Much better.

DO NOT eat this cake without the HOMEMADE WHIPPED CREAM. Well, I guess you could, but why?

Print recipe for Apple Gingerbread Cake.

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This post is linked to Real Food Wednesday at Kelly the Kitchen Kop.