Apple Bars

I have been buying a lot of apples lately - partly because they are on sale at Costco & partly because I am loving eating them with peanut butter for lunch. I love the taste of the two together & you don't have the guilt of eating too much bread. Which is my downfall!

I have made this recipe twice in the last week and need to stop now. It is too good to resist & I am trying to put as many into the kids lunches as possible to get them out of the house! These bars are so yummy. They puff up as they cook and the top gets crackly and crisp while the inside is soft and gooey. They have a bit of a fall feel to them, which I always love.

Apple Bars

Printable recipe here

1 cup melted butter

2 cups white sugar

2 eggs

2 cups all purpose flour

1 tsp. baking soda

2 tsp. ground cinnamon

2 cups peeled, cored and diced apples

1 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and grease a 9x13 pan.

Mix the butter, sugar and egg until creamy. Add in the flour, soda and cinnamon and mix well. Stir in the apples and walnuts. Spread the batter into the prepared pan.

Bake for about 50 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean from the center. Remember, the outside will be crispy and look done while the middle might still be gooey!

Enjoy!

Much Better Now

I am a recipe hoarder. I love to look at cookbooks, magazines and blogs about food. I love to rip out and print all of the recipes that look good to me. And I have a hard time getting rid of them - I might want to try it out soon!

I thought I had a good system down for my recipes, but my printing has gotten a little out of control. I have papers everywhere! I would try some of them out and then stick it into my trusty "binder" but it has become a little bit crowded. This is what my cookbook and recipe cupboard looked like... not good, see all the papers!

I had finally had enough. So while my hubby was out of town this week I started my organizing. I bought a pack of the 1 inch binders at Costco and figured out how I wanted to divide my recipes. I made a super quick cover for the front and one for the spine and then went to work sorting the papers. And I actually threw a bunch away!

I can't ever find any tabs that you can see when you use the page protectors, so I just made my own. I printed out the label on cardstock, cut it out, backed it with the same color page as the divider and then stuck it to the end with packing tape. It looks and works perfect!

I am so happy with how they turned out! They make me want to start baking more and I have so much room for new recipes!

I chose to make 6 binders and divide up my recipes in these categories -

*Bread & Breakfast

*Main Dish

*Cookies & Cakes

*Crockpot & Casseroles

*Soup, Salad & Sides

*To Try

Each of these binders has their own sub-categories also. For example, the Bread & Breakfast binder has a breakfast, quickbread, muffin and bread sections. This is just what works for me!

Much better now, wouldn't you agree?

Chalupa

Remember when I said the Mexican Meat Mix, which makes my favorite Chimmichangas also makes the best soup? Well, this is it. This soup is so good. I love it because if you already have the meat mix in the freezer, this soup takes no time! Everyone can top it the way they like - I like cheese, cilantro, green onions, shredded lettuce, tomato, avacado & chips. It is perfect for a cold night!

Chalupa

2 cans pinto beans (or black)

4 cups water - or to your desired consistency

3 cups Mexican Meat Mix

1 tsp. salt

1 Tbs. chili powder

Toppings

chips

cheese

green onion

shredded lettuce

cilantro

avacado

tomatoes

Add the beans, water, Meat mix, salt and chili powder in a soup pot. Cook uncovered for approx. an hour, stirring occasionally until it is heated all the way through.

Serve in a bowl over the chips. Garnish with the toppings of your choice. Enjoy!