Homemade Caramel Apples

image via

I almost forgot to share these amazing caramel apples that Mike and I made a few weeks ago. They were sweet and tart and oh so decadent. We used a recipe from Food Network for the caramel, and we were pleasantly surprised how easy it was to make it (we were also surprised by the amount of sugar and heavy cream involved). But what the hell, it's the beginning of the holiday season so time to get to those decadent sweets.

We chose granny smith apples because they provide a tartness that went well with the sweetness of the caramel.



Here's the caramel starting to come together. We had to use a candy thermometer to ensure the right consistency.

We had some chopsticks lying around that we used for the sticks. They worked well because they were tapered. The following few images of apple dipping were all Mike. In high school he worked at Hot Dog on a Stick and this apple dipping required that same skill and technique.

After all the apples were coated, we put them on a silicone mat, to keep them from sticking (I imagine wax paper might work equally well), then popped them in the fridge for a few hours and they were set and ready to eat.

P.S. We had a little bit of leftover caramel so we added some chopped walnuts and made little candies. These were crazy delicious and we plan on making homemade turtles for Christmas.

Nail Polish Pretty

I'm not really too into nail polish, but now that I am not allowed to wear it during labs and clinicals, I've suddenly developed an interest in them. These are some of the beautiful colors on my wish list.

OPI in Ski Teal We Drop



Zoya in Envy


American Apparel Nail Lacquer in Mount Royal




Priti Polish in Rabbit Tracks

Bonus! All of these polishes are nontoxic which means they are free of formaldehyde, toluene and phalates (find out exactly what that means here)

Happy Friday

What's everyone up to this weekend? For me this weekend includes another round of Friday night classes, early Saturday morning Health Fair and Sunday nursing lab. After that Mike and I are packing up Olive and heading to the Family cabin in Michigan for a late weekend getaway. We're going to relax as we sit by the fire and probably venture out to some of the local wineries.

Here's some things I'm digging this week:

This gratitude jar

A Greener Gobble

This yellow gold scarf

7 Fall Superfoods

Saucey

As previously mentioned, I wanted to start canning vegetables this year. So after grabbing a bunch of tomatoes in season (we canned in September), we got to it:

We started with about 15 lbs of tomatoes



Clean the tomatoes and score an X into the bottom. This makes it easier to peel them.



Boil the tomatoes for about 2 minutes. The skins should slip off easily at this point.



Remove the core and seeds of the tomatoes



At this point, you can either leave them chunky or puree them for either canned whole tomatoes or tomato sauce. Fill each jar to about an inch from the rim (the ones below are a bit under filled). Place them in a boiling hot water bath for 25-45 minutes depending on the size of the jars.




Remove the jars with kitchen tongs or a sweet can grabber and let them sit for 24 hours. As they sit you will here little pops as the cans seal themselves. Make sure the cans are sealed before putting them in the pantry. We managed to produce about 5 jars of canned tomatoes and 4 jars of sauce.

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Happy Friday

Hi Friends. It's Friday, and that means class tonight, followed by a Health Fair on Saturday and Nursing Lab on Sunday. It's a little bit of a bummer because Mike is off all weekend, so he'll stay busy working on/winterizing the house. For a little respite from the busyness we're heading to a friends on Saturday night for pizza and drinks with her and her husband. What is everyone else up to this weekend?

Here's some things I'm loving this week:

New to me online boutique Ruche

I loved when my grandma used to make these

This necklace

The sweet deals in the Anthropologie sale section