Delicious Apple Dumplings from WLW

 

 

I have tried these twice now and we just love them.   I found the recipe at Women Living Well.  They are apple dumplings made with a secret ingredient that you would never guess in a million years.  And is my husbands all time favorite drink.

 

Mountain Dew!  Weird right!

 

 

They are also easy as pie, well actually even easier than that.

 

 

Look at that bubbling.  We had these for breakfast on Thanksgiving for Breakfast.

 

 

Cooked and golden brown!

 

 

Easy Mountain Dew Apple Dumplings

Prep time: 20 mins

Cook time: 35 mins

Total time: 55 mins

Serves: 12

Ingredients:

• 3 large Granny Smith Apples, peeled, cored, and sliced
• 2 (10 oz) cans pillsbury refrigerated crescent rolls (I used Grands)
• 1 cup butter
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 tsp cinnamon (for spinkling)
• 1 (12 oz ) can of Mountain Dew

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 350
2. Butter a 9×13 dish and set aside
3. Peel, core and slice apples
4. Unroll crescent rolls
5. Take one crescent roll and place one piece of apple at the bottom of the triangle- roll up enclosing the sides. Make sure the apple is completely sealed and enclosed.
6. Continue doing this – if your apple slices are small, put a couple in.
7. Place your dumplings into your 9×13
8. Make your sauce by combining butter, sugars, and vanilla in a saucepan on medium high heat- bring to a slight boil.
9. Pour sauce over dumplings.
10. Add Mountain Dew to the sides.
11. Sprinkle with cinnamon
12. Bake uncovered for 35 mins.
13. Serve with vanilla ice cream!

 

Hope you try them.  They would be a great dessert or brunch item for Christmas.

 

Enjoy!!

 

Jeannie

Are SAHM wasting their education?

Our daughter felt very lead to go to a private Christian college after high school.   The price tag on a Christian college as oppose to a state college is very, very different. We are a larger family on only one income so that helped with FAFSA, but it is still spendy, as they say up here in these parts.


As we looked at this, and as I think I know my daughter’s heart, I am pretty sure she will not make a huge income, if any, after she graduates.  Her major is Youth and Family Ministry, and we all know ministry is not a financially profitable field of employment, rewarding in so many other ways but not financially.


Will she be a stay at home mom?  I don’t know.  Will she ever make as money as she put into this education?  Again, I don’t know.

What I do know is that knowledge is never a waste of money.  The experiences gained are not a waste of money. 
 

The knowledge and experience gained from an education may not bring in an income if you choose to be a SAHM but it is not at all a waste.  You are equipping yourself for a life of raising your children and running your home.




Can you raise children and manage a home without a degree, of course.  I have done it and you still can, but the next generation is very different than mine and it will be a great benefit to your family if you have gained that educational experience, plus it is not a bad place to find a spouse if you have no prospects.



I do want to say that going back to school once you have had children needs to be handled very carefully as not to effect your goals of being a godly wife and mother.



I  want to encourage mothers who have earned their degree to stay true to the convictions they have, to stay home with your children either part time or full time.  If using your education to raise your children is considered a waste by others, they may need to take a look at what they deem as important to them. 

 Follow God’s leading not the world’s.


God Bless

Jeannie

Follow Up to Girl Power

Last week I wrote a post titled “The Dangers of Girl Power”.  The post talked about how this message of self reliance and strength, that is being taught to our girls. 



I had a comment given on that post and wanted to write a post in response to it.  Her comment was that she learned a great deal of good things also from the girl power message.

Comment:

I'd just like to point out that the Girl Power movement isn't necessarily all bad. I got the Girl Power message - learned to fix stuff, build stuff, get myself out of jams, think for myself...the whole bit.
When I met the guy that is now my husband, he actually found these to be appealing qualities in me.  
My point is that the Girl Power message doesn't have to mean disregarding the contributions of the men in our lives. Like anything else, we need to train our daughters to take it with a grain of salt and evaluate it for themselves.

  I don’t want anyone to think that strength and skills are better left to men.  Oh no!  I just think that we need to find our guide for living a life of strength and courage in the word of God rather than from the world, who has tainted the message.  Proverbs 31:10-31 is the best example of a woman of many talents, strengths and abilities.  The difference is that she was also guided by selfless motives as oppose to the self-centered motives being taught to girls today.  The P31 woman was motivated by a love for God and her family in everything that she did.   


 Just wanted to clear that up!  


Jeannie  

Princess Training

 



I was just out browsing the web and saw that my favorite Character study is on sale.

 

Princess Training 

 

 

Head on over to Under the Golden Apple Tree to order.

 

 

Also, I don't know if you notice but I do not do any advertising for my own benefit.  If I list something like this, it is meerly because I love it and want to pass the greatness on to you.

 

Enjoy!!

 

Jeannie

The Tough Days of Motherhood

The other day I was reading a post on a blog that I like.  The writer is a young Mama.  She was pouring her heart out, and venting about some of the frustrations in her life connected to being a young, stay at home mom.  Some of the frustrations were loneliness, boredom and just feeling out of touch with the world.

 

I remember those says so clearly.  I was just like her, I married right out of high school and had our first child within 2 years.  Even though I choose all of this it still was a struggle.  I longed for a best friend as she does, someone I could confide everything and share the struggles of motherhood.  But she never came.

 

Now I am thankful that she never came.  I learned to confide in and share my struggles with two best friends that I had hiding in the wings, my husband and my mom.  They have both always loved my unconditionally.

 

I also remember feeling unable to do some of the great things that I wanted to do, which lead to boredom and feeling out of touch.  I knew God had big plans for me.

 

I am thankful that I didn’t do big things back then.  Now I realize that I was not equip, I thought I was but I was not.   I also realize that I had then and still have 4 gigantic ministries I take care of, in the lives of our four children.   We now have one adult child and one very close to being an adult and I see the impact that my life has had on them.  Our faith, values and love for others has been multiplied by 4 more lives. 

 

I love to serve others, if I had spent my time and energy on that alone, instead of in my family, I would have been just me, but when we go to serve today we come as a army of 6 very willing servants.

 

The days of loneliness and boredom(of mind not body, those little ones keep you hopping) will be their.  Seek out those who are in your life right now, pour into them all of you and draw strength from them as well.  The days of constant activity and the desire for boredom will be on your door step before you know it.

 

God Bless!!

Jeannie

Hot Oatmeal Cooler

In the morning we eat Oatmeal often and it is always to hot for my kids.  We used to put an ice cube or 2 into the bowl, but that just watered down the Oatmeal and it didn’t taste as creamy.

 

 

One day as I was reaching for the ice cubes, I saw a bag of frozen Berries.  I thought well we can try it.  We used frozen berries in place of ice and had great results.  My daughter especially loves the berries instead of the ice.  My son (Mr. Picky) would rather eat watered down Oatmeal.

 

 

 

So, have some fun trying different combinations:

Peaches with cream

 

Raspberries with Cinnamon

 

Strawberries with a little Nutmeg

 

Blackberries with a dash of Ginger

 

Blueberries with Pomegranate seeds

 

Enjoy Breakfast!!

 

 

Jeannie
 

 Check out one of my favorite places to hop!!

Is There Something High Schools are Leaving Out?

Sadly, with our first daughter it didn’t occur to me till her Senior year of high school, but I realized that one very important option was left out of my daughter’s array of choices for after high school career choices.


The idea of motherhood was never once mentioned as a possibility.  The recommended path is of course finish high school, go on to college and then on to your career and live happily ever after. 



What about children?  Why aren’t children in that path?  Why is the thought of, a plan for having children not in the equation?


So in my daughter’s senior year we began talks about what life after college could look like.  Most woman want children at some point.  We talked about how that might look in her plan. 


Did she want to work and have children?  Did she want to be a stay at home mom?  Did she want to work part time? 


I know you are thinking how in the world would an 18 year old know what she wants.  She didn’t completely answer those questions of course but it did get her mind thinking about the options and that was my goal.  How many of us wish that we would have thought about these things a little sooner that 2 months before our first child is born or worse yet the last 2 weeks of your maternity leave?


Now she is able to think about jobs that will work well with a family, careers that she can do from home or part time when needed.  It has even made her think about children and her relationship with a future husband, and what that may look like.

Hopefully those of you with future Mommies in your home, will prepare them with the knowledge that you have about being a mom and what it takes and the sacrifices that you very willing make for her.

Jeannie