German Apple Pancake with Homemade Creamy Syrup

German Apple Pancake Recipe
I found the basis for the recipe on allrecipes.com and tweaked it just a bit. It is good as a spiced apple pancake or great without the nutmeg and less cinnamon. Adjust the spice to your liking (you can add cloves for example or omit the spices all together). We usually have breakfast for dinner every Tuesday and I love to find fun recipes to try. This is definitely a favorite breakfast recipe of ours.

3 T. butter
2 apples, peeled and cored
1/4 c. brown sugar
1/2 t. cinnamon
1/2 t. nutmeg

6 eggs
1 1/2 c. milk
1 t. vanilla
1 c. flour
3 T. sugar
1/2 t. salt

Melt butter in 9x13 pan in preheated oven of 400 degrees. After butter is melted, add the sliced apples and cook for about 10 minutes. Meanwhile, blend together eggs, milk, and vanilla. Gradually add flour, sugar, and salt. Mix until just blended.

Take cooked apples out of oven and sprinkle brown sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg over the top of them. Pour batter over the apples and return to the oven for 25-30 minutes or until edges of pancake are golden brown. Serve warm with homemade syrup or whatever you like on pancakes. See yummy syrup recipe below.

Homemade Creamy Syrup
This is a great basic recipe for homemade syrup. Use buttermilk for a nice rich taste. I used coconut cream the last time I made this syrup and it was to die for! The syrup turns out thick and creamy, especially after it has cooled. The assembly is really easy so don't let the instructions fool you!

1 1/2 c. white sugar
3/4 c. **creamy liquid
1/2 c. butter
2 T. corn syrup
1 t. baking soda
2 t. vanilla

**creamy liquid = buttermilk, half and half, heavy cream, milk, coconut cream, etc.

In a saucepan, stir together the sugar, **creamy liquid, butter, corn syrup, and baking soda. Bring to a boil, and cook for 7 minutes. Remove from the heat, and stir in the vanilla. Serve warm and refrigerate leftovers.

Our Soccer Star

Here's some footage of David playing soccer. I don't know where he learned this but he definitely prefers kicking to throwing...which is nice in some ways.

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The Gender of Baby Two

Sorry no fun pictures or anything to go along with this, but in case you are interested, Brian and I found out we are having another BOY.

We are really excited about this. The boys get to go to HS together. Maybe play on the same soccer team...or more likely be in the same orchestra (ha!). Or even more likely they'll have their own interests. But we do hope they'll be good friends.

I really like Nathan or Benjamin for a name. We'll see if one of those sticks.

Matched

Matched by Ally Condie

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


This was an entertaining book that falls somewhere in between The Giver and Twilight. I think I would have appreciated the storyline more had I read this before any of the other hit Dystopian books that have come out. The story just seemed too familiar. Two love interests that capture one girl's heart. Desperate situations that call for some kind of rebellion. The pretty girl has bronze hair and green eyes.

I don't doubt this series will be a hit. I never read the last Twilight book or any of The Hunger Games (though I probably will soon--HG not Twilight book). I think this book is fairly mild where violence and sensuality is concerned. However it looks like the rest of the series may follow along those lines (as the other big hit series have done).

One idea that has set this book apart from others is the matching of companions and arranged marriages. Of all the elements in this novel, I thought this was most creative on the author's part.

If I had to choose The Giver, Matched, or 1984 for the best book that deals with heavily socialistic government, Matched would probably be my last pick. But still very interesting and worth reading.

The only other flaw I find with the love interests in this book as I did with Twilight is the immature and shallow view of true love. I basically learn that teenage love progresses only as affection progresses and is heavily dramatic. Show me a book like Mrs. Mike or These Is My Words and I'll show you a good love story of depth and value. I just hope that books like this don't give young teenage girls the wrong idea of what true love is all about. If you don't analyze this too heavily (like I'm doing) you probably will find the love story entertaining as I did.

Me and the Epidural

I haven't really had the chance to sit down and write about natural childbirth. Now that I'm up for round two it has been on my mind a lot. Especially because I'm frequently asked if I'm going to go natural again with this baby.

I'd like to say that I gave birth without medication because I wanted to experience the power of my body and what birth was actually all about.

Don't get me wrong, that was an amazing (yet horribly painful) part of having my baby without medication, but I'm going to tell you the real reason I did it.

I'm a chicken!

I know this seems ironic, but really I did it without medication because the word "epidural" kind of makes me shudder. There is something whole and satisfying about letting your body do the thing it was made to do. There is something unnatural and freaky about a long skinny needle inserted into your spinal fluid.

But still I am open to the idea of an epidural because I do remember the pain of natural childbirth. My labor was roughly 12 hours. The first 8 hours were totally manageable. I wasn't even making much noise with those contractions. I did laundry, made Sunday dinner, took a shower, etc. It just felt like bad cramps which were no big deal.

The last four hours were harsh. Real harsh. These were the "scream contractions". Yet I knew that it wouldn't last forever. And it didn't. And I only threw-up once. Not bad.

And so I was going back and forth on the decision with this baby. Part of me feels like I can handle those rough four hours again. Part of me gets exhausted at the thought of doing it the same way again. But am I frightened of natural childbirth? Not really. The epidural is what gets me.

Let's cut to the chase. I'll tell you why I'm posting about this. The other night Brian and I had dinner with a couple in our ward that is about our age. We have a lot in common because they went to BYU-Idaho for their undergrad degrees and now they moved here for a grad program. My friend's husband is finishing his schooling to be a anesthesiologist. In fact he is so far along in his degree that now he is an intern and is basically getting real life experience incubating and epiduraling people up. So I took the opportunity to talk his ear off about the epidural.

Me: "So what exactly happens when you give an epidural?"
Him: "Well you inject a small (but long) needle into the dura mater that is under the epidermis in the lower back to insert anesthesia in to the spinal fluid."
Me: "So my sister got a bad headache after getting an epidural and she had to lay flat on her back. What is that all about?"
Him: "Well the headache is fairly common. Hardly a complication. It just means that part of the spinal fluid leaked out. This caused the fluid that holds her brain in place to lessen so her brain shifted. If that happens you just takes some blood from the arm and inject it into the spine. The blood will help clot wherever the spinal fluid is leaking."
Me: "Oh"
Him: "The needle has a bit of air in it and when you inject the needle you have to wait for a small pop feeling before you know it is in the right place. If the needle is inserted too far than there can be complications. If you get a good anesthesiologist you shouldn't have any spinal fluid leak out."
Me: "What is the biggest reason you wouldn't give a patient an epidural?"
Him: "Patient consent." (I guess the real bad stuff happens when the patient is freaked out and won't hold still)
Me: "What is the worst case scenario?"
Him: "Paralysis."
Me: "Okay, so if you were a woman and were experiencing labor, would you get the epidural."
Him: (After a surprisingly long pause) "To me paralysis is worse than death so I guess I wouldn't risk it even if the chances are small."

Seriously? The anesthesiologist wouldn't get the epidural? That sort of sealed the deal for me. If the smaller side effect is headache, and the worse side effect is paralysis, I think I'll opt out. I know that not everyone experiences a side effect either. I also know that if I need an emergency C-section I'll be sorry I didn't get the epidural because it makes it a lot easier. But the headache and paralysis are only part of a list of other negatives. A catheter to urinate? Dizziness? Prolonged labor? Infection?

Yeah, I'll stick to those horrible four hours of pain. Even if the chances of side effects are small, I'm not going to risk it. I'm with the anesthesiologist.

New Look

Thank you so much to Emily from the Harestad Herald for helping me turn my blog in to something great! I look forward to doing more posts on cooking, reading, and all the other good stuff! Emily is Brian's cousin...I guess that makes her mine too!

Here is a fun recipe to try:

Witch Finger Cookies:

1 cup butter, softened

1 cup confectioner's sugar

1 egg

1 t. almond extract

1 t. vanilla extract (can use 2 t. of vanilla if you don't have almond extract on hand)

2 2/3 cups all-purpose flour

1 t. baking powder

1 t. salt

whole or sliced almonds for the nails

1 small tube of red decorating gel (or strawberry jam)

Combine first five ingredients in a mixing bowl. Beat together. Gradually add flour, baking powder, and salt. Refrigerate dough for 20-30 minutes (this is important).

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Lightly grease baking sheets.

Remove dough from fridge in small amounts. Roll the dough in to a thin finger-shaped cookie. You can use wax paper to help you roll the fingers to prevent sticking (although I didn't find this necessary). Press an almond into the end of the finger to make the appearance of a nail. Gently squeeze the finger near the top middle and bottom middle to make a knuckle. You can also use a knife to make lines at the knuckle before cooking as well. Arrange the fingers on a baking sheet.

Bake the cookies until golden, about 20-25 minutes.

Remove the almond from the end of each cookie. Dab a small amount of the red gel on the imprint and replace the almond.

A few personal notes: I added green food coloring to the dough to enhance the spookiness of my fingers. I also added mini chocolate chips to a few of the fingers to make warts. These are fun to bring to any party, even if it isn't Halloween. To my enjoyment, the cookie didn't turn out like a sugar cookie but rather like a shortbread cookie with more of a crunch (how fitting). Also make sure you roll the fingers really thin. The cookies do enlarge a bit in the oven. Unless of course, your witch has fat fingers.