Fritters, Flowers, and Fiction

So this will be my spring update post since I've decided that, even though spring doesn't officially end until June 21, summer is definitely here! This has been a most beautiful spring and I have enjoyed many new things that I have not done before. For starters, I had never encountered real live chickens before this spring let alone raise them! Some other firsts for me this spring include reading the Love Comes Softly series by Janette Oke, helping to put together a craft show for the youth group, spending so much time in my gardens and my backyard and enjoying every minute of watching my plants grow, and most recently today I made apple fritters for the first time! This was a very exciting experience for me and I thoroughly enjoyed it! Of course, because I had never done this before I was fully expecting to fail at it but to my surprise and my tastebuds' delight they were delicious! I have never made any kind of doughnut before but I've always wanted to try and today was my day... I had a whole bunch of left over apples from the craft show because I was planning on making some apple pies but I ran out of time so today I looked up the recipe for apple fritters since they are my favorite kind of doughnut! I already had everything I needed to make them so this was a no-brainer that I should try it! I hope that you will try them out too. I think you will be pleased.

On another note, hasn't it been delightful outside this week? Sure, it's been HOT and even a little uncomfortable at times, but this has been a wonderful week for getting outside and enjoying the world around us! I have been so pleased with how my flowers are doing in the heat and they have been blooming for a week now and I'm loving it! I wish they could stay in bloom forever but I know that they need their "resting" time in the winter too.... ugh.

What I've been reading in May is the Love Comes Softly series by Janette Oke. This is a series about the Davis family's journey through life in the Midwest and Western territories of the United States in the late 1800's. This is a series that will pull at your heart strings, challenge your faith to grow, keep you reading every day, and keep you wondering "how did they ever live like that?". It's a beautiful series of books that include love stories, family stories, stories of courage and death, mourning and rejoicing, challenges and victories and the God of yesterday, today and tomorrow who holds this family together through it all. If you've seen the movies and you enjoyed them, you HAVE TO read the books! They are so different from the movies and so much better!

Sleep well, God Bless,

CW

Apple Fritters:

Ingredients:

1 quart vegetable oil for deep frying

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1 tablespoon sugar

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon cinnamon

dash nutmeg

2/3 cup milk

2 eggs-beaten

2 tablespoons apple sauce

3-5 cups apples-peeled, cored, and chopped

1 cup cinnamon and sugar mixture

Directions:

1. Heat oil in a deep fryer or electric skillet to 375 degrees F.

2. In a large bowl mix together flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg.

3. In a separate bowl wisk together milk, eggs, and apple sauce.

4. Slowly add milk mixture to the flour mixture until well blended. Add apples until they are well coated and evenly distributed.

5. Drop spoonfuls of batter into hot oil and fry, turning once, until brown on both sides (about 5 min. depending on how large your spoonfuls are. I used a serving spoon.) Fry in small batches so they are not crowded. Using a slotted spoon, remove and let cool on paper towel briefly. Toss with cinnamon and sugar while they are still warm.