Non Dairy Apple Cake

This is a very good cake that I have been making for things lately, apples are in season right now.

Serves 12

8 cups, peeled and sliced apples
2 cups sugar
1 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
3/4 cup apple sauce
3 eggs
1 cup liquid, soy milk, water or juice of any kind
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 1/2 cups flour, I use white wheat All-purpose would also work
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking powder

Directions:

preheat oven to 350 degrees
grease pan, 9 by 13 with cooking spray, I used canola oil spray.
In a large bowl mix apples with 1/2 cup sugar and the cinnamon.
Combine flour, salt and baking powder into a small bowl.
In a good size bowl mix the apple sauce and the sugar, the sugar will not dissolve all the way. Whisk in the eggs, then the liquid and vanilla.
Then fold in the flour mix to make a smooth batter.
Pour half of the batter into the pan, spread it around. Place the apples on top.
Pour the rest of the batter over the apples, try to get all of the apples covered.
Bake for 45 minutes or until the top is crusty and golden.

This can be served hot or cooled down.

MileHiCon

Last weekend was MileHiCon, a science fiction convention in Denver. This year it was very much like a family reunion. The all of my close family was there as well as my cousin, she lives only a few hours away. This was very cool. We will not see each other until Thanksgiving of next year. This year there was David Weber! He and his wife were very nice and so were most of the other authors. You get to see them on different panels and talk to them as they walk around. This year at the literacy auction David Weber was auctioning off the ability to have your name in one of his next books. A group of five people could bid together. This is called Tuckerization or Redshirting.
With this the person or persons that wins gets the book when it is sent to the publisher, a year ahead of when you can buy it. The second part of the bid allows that winner to decide of the person or persons being Tuckerized lives or dies. We, my family and someone that my mother had just met had the winning bid on gettingTuckerized. Someone else won the living or dieing part.

New Favorite Recipies

I am really liking Vegan Magic Cookie Bars with the Fat-Free Oatmeal Cookie Crust . I made this for knitting guild and they were all gone by the end of snack time.

allergy meds

DO not forget them. Even though you think that the vegetation has frozen. I went to Milehicon in Denver and forgot my Allegra. This made for a not so fun Sat. I was able to get something like it from my dad for sunday so that helped. I will really try not to forget again. I do not want to go though that again.

International Scarf Exchange 5 progress

I am making up the pattern as I go along. It is entrelac with lace panels. Here is one skein. It is 11-12 inches wide and 22 inches long so far. I like the way it is coming out.

Sockapalooza 4 sock savior

I signed up to be a Sockapalooza Sock Savior. I started the sock but it turns out my gauge is off so I have to rip and start again. I have not gotten that far and I did not like the toe so I am not that heart broken. I need to redo my math for less stitches so when I start again tomorrow it will not take as long. Here is what I have done before it gets ripped.

Sock Pal

Hello sock pal,

Please email me. I got your box but I no longer have your email.

I love the yarn, and the soap is great. I am using it right now as a scent for my wool yarn to keep moths away.

Where I have been

Well to start out with I just found out that I am allergic to all kinds of grasses. This started out with me getting red itchy eyes for about a week. Then I got the dripping nose, sneezing, sinus pain and just not feeling well. I was going to the Dr. to get my back adjusted and while I was there he gave a proscription to Allegra. This took care of most of the symptoms but I had no clue what was causing it. I set up an appointment with an allergist. The soonest was Oct 10. meet him Yesterday and had a prick allergy test.

My back still itches. I reacted to all of the grasses, not much else. I did react to rabbits a little bit. This makes me wonder if I will not like angora yarn. At this point it has cost to much so I have not done anying with it. T he most unfun part of all of this was that for a week before the allergy test I could not take anything. I spent most of the weekend with a box of tissues. Now I am on Allegra, a nasal spray and some eye drops. I go back in 2 weeks. I am debating on weather or not to get allergy shots.

Gym

Since I joined the gym a month ago I have lost 4 lbs and 1 percentage of body fat. Which is great. I have been using a personal trainer. She sets up what exercises that I will be doing for a week and weight and measure me once a week. I go to the gym at least 5 days a week. I tend to skip the day after I meat with Lisa, I am just to sore to go. This week Most of what I doing has to do with balancing. I have just a little more upper body strength but I still have a ways to go.

Tote Bag

I am defiantly getting better at making tote bags. This one only took 2 hours. It is for some one who likes pink. The rest of her box of stuff looks like this. I am mailing it out today.

Canning

Well I have 12 Jars of peach sauce and I have started to make apple sauce. I will have more of those, it is easier and cheaper to make.
I am also done drying peaches and have started drying apples. I have a nice amount of dried peaches though.

Sock pal stuff

I was running a little late so it will be in the mail Sunday. I had to finish the bag. It is of course pink. Here are the finished socks. It was a fun knit. I really like the yarn, it is Socks that Rock.

Peaches

Peaches would be why I have not been here much. I have been drying, freezing and caning Peaches. I made a froze 2 peach pies and I have and am making lots of jars of peach sauce, it is like apple sauce with peaches instead. This has caused my hand to hurt a little bit and I have not been knitting because of this. But my house smells great. I even made some peach fruit roll ups.

This Sat. is the last day to get peaches from the Farmers Market. After this weekend it will be apples. There is less of them because of a late freeze. There was no plums this year which bummed me out. I loved canned plums.

International Scarf Exchange 5 sign ups

Internaional Scarf Exchange 5 is starting sign ups. Yaaa!! It if fun. I have been in the last 2.

Grocery Shopping

I like grocery shopping. Going though the food ads and coupons see what is on sale is fun for me. Unfortunately the main store I went to closed. They are redoing the strip mall that it was in and tore it down last month. It will be back bigger and better next year but that means I have to go some where else now.

It is not so much the fact that I have to drive some where else but the fact that the layout of the store is total different. I was looking for canning lids and I had to walk all over to find them. They where not where I thought they would be. I have this to look forward to.

Gym

24 hour fitness is having a sale and I wanted to go to a gym so I signed up. It comes to just under $20 a month. With this I also signed up for a person trainer. I started going.


The personal trainer was a good idea. She is helping me get the right machine work done and is helping me figure out what stretches to do. It is just that 2 days ofter my first session with her I am starting to feal the effects. I have to go tonight to more too.

Sock It To Me Sock Swap Contest 2

I forgot to enter the first one but I will enter the second one. That and I love Zero's Etsy's stuff.

-So here's the challenge: Post about your favorite yarn. You must post a picture and let us know why it's your favorite yarn. Please leave links too, in case someone might want to get a little of what you got!

Right now my Favorite yarn is Socks that Rock. I have used it for fingerless gloves, mittens, shawls and socks of course. I am glad the I signed up for the sock club this year. I will be getting August's yarn soon.

Sock It To Me Sock Swap progress

I am now starting the ribbing. Partly because I am starting to run low on yarn and partly because my row stitch markers broke. It had 6 rings on it and now it only has 4. This pattern has a 5 row repeat.

stuff

My pain pills changed. I went from darvocet to vicodin. The Darvocet was no longer working. I am very glad that I waited until when I was not on call to try it. Vicodin makes my a little loopy and very sleepy. But the pain is mostly gone. I will at this point make sure that I will take this and drive, I do not think that it would be a good idea.


On to other things, I got a membership at 24 hour fitness. It was $750 for 3 years with the 4th year at $29. This works out to less than $20 a month. This is a very good deal. It also comes with 5 personal trainer visits. My first one is on Monday. I am hoping for some suggestions of stuff I can do to strengthen my back. This should help with the back pain.

I need to stop writing, it is just a little hard to come up with what I really want to say. That and my spelling is going down hill.

trees

I bought a 27 year old house 2 years ago and there are 8 dutch elms in the back yard. These where put in when the house was built. Elms are not a good tree for this area. They are the last to loose their leaves and first to get them. The backyard was not landscaped with a thought for the future. The trees grew together and are crowding each other out. The elms split into 2 and 3 trunks a long time ago. This meant that they have been collecting water for a while. This causes rotting. I had to get the trees cut down, with the wind here they could have hit stuff, like my house.

Getting a tree cut down is not cheap. For the 2 larger trees it was $600 and for the 2 medium trees it was $300. The large tree was rotten all the way to the ground and a little lower. This is the one that would have hit my house. I am very glad that it was cut down before winter. One of the other trees was rotten as well.

Now that the big tree is gone I get so much more light downstairs. It is nice. Where 2 of them come out it would work as my garden.