Caramel Apple Bars

Oh Boy!  I noticed these bars on the Internet the other day, (this first pic is from Google images), and I've wanted to try them ever since.  Although, after reading the original recipe by Paula Deen, I knew a few minor changes were in order to make them healthier.

 

 

Also, the hubby and I are taking a vacation. I'm sooo excited!  Sore foot and all, we're sending our kiddies up north and heading west.  I figured these Fall bars would be a good treat to send with them.   

 

 

To prepare the crust, mix the flour, brown sugar, oats, applesauce, and butter together.  The applesauce makes the crust wonderfully moist and flavorful while omitting the need for the second stick of butter that the original recipe calls for. 

 

The crust easily presses into the pan.  Tip: line pan with foil for easier clean up.  I happened to be clear out.

 

 

As the crust bakes, whip up the filling.

 

A couple eggs, cream cheese, yogurt, a little bit of sugar, and vanilla make up the cheesecake like filling.  Using light cream cheese and the addition of yogurt are a couple more changes I made.  The yogurt ups the protein and enhances the sweet creaminess.

 

After the crust is done baking while it is still hot, pour on the filling and bake it.  Next, is the star ingredient-- Apples!

 

 

I thinly sliced the apples, but the next time I make this, I'm going to try dicing them.

 

The apple slices do look really nice though.

 

Sprinkle with cinnamon and inhale deeply-- AHhhhhhh.

 

Drizzle with caramel.

 

Top with the Streusel Topping and Enjoy!

Caramel Apple Bars

Adapted by Paula Deen

Ingredients:

Crust:

• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened
• 1/2 cup applesauce
• 1 cup quick cooking oats

Filling:

• 2 (8-ounce) packages light cream cheese, softened
• 1 (5.3-ounce) package Oikos yogurt with honey
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 3 Granny Smith apples, sliced
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 cup caramel topping
• Streusel topping, recipe follows

 

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

In a medium bowl, combine flour, oats, brown sugar, and applesauce. Cut in butter with a pastry blender until mixture is crumbly. Press evenly into a 13 by 9 by 2-inch baking pan lined with heavy-duty aluminum foil. Bake 15 minutes or until lightly browned.
In a large bowl, beat cream cheese and yogurt with 1/2 cup sugar in an electric mixer at medium speed until smooth. Then add eggs, 1 at a time, and vanilla. Stir to combine. Pour over warm crust.
Bake 30 minutes, or until filling is set. Top with sliced apples and sprinkle with cinnamon. Drizzle with caramel topping.   Sprinkle evenly with Streusel topping.

Streusel Topping:

• 1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
• 1/2 cup quick cooking oats

        Mix together in a small bowl.

 

Cortisone Injection

Warning: this post contains very disturbing images (and the pic of the shot is somewhat disturbing too).

 

Well, I'm in the lazyboy with my foot propped up for the remainder of the evening. Nothing better to do than to dress up the cat.  As you can clearly see he's thrilled!

 

Today, to my surprise, the doc administered a very painful Cortisone shot in my foot.   My foot is currently to sore to walk on (as it has been for the past week or so), but I'm hoping I will have positive results from this shot in the morning.  Keep your fingers crossed!  Also, the doc took some new x-rays and my metatarsal bones (the long bones in the middle of my foot) are currently pushed together and out of position.  Sheesh, no wonder I can't walk!  The doc gave me little hope of being able to run any for the rest of this year.  Bummer :(

 

Ok, enough about my woes.  Let's annoy the cat some more.  Yeah, after all this he still willingly climbs into my lap.  He loves me! 

 

 

Halloween Party

Last night we attended a Halloween Party.

 

 

The kiddies even dressed the dog up like a Baby!

 

Don'tcha love the way Ironman strikes his poses?

 

Tinkerbell had wing issues, so she took them off.

 

They had FISHING at the party and our creel consisted of 3 KitKat bars.  Nobody was afraid to take those off the hook!

 

Ironman's mission for the evening was to put out the bonfire one bubble at a time!

 

Oh, I gotta tell ya-- this Ironman can dance!  He was hit doing the Moonwalk!

 

The Shuffle!

 

And he won prizes for them and for varies other dances of his own design.  The boy has got some RHYTHM! 

 

This cute little pumpkin was only 9 days old!

 

 

Check out those guns on Ironman as he paints a pumpkin!

 

At the end of the evening, we ventured out on a haunted hayride.

 

Our guide, the lady in the dress, talked about the woods and a witch flew right over our heads!

 

After that, some monsters grabbed a boy from the hay wagon and for the rest of the trip the kids were so scared that they all huddled around Ironman on the wagon floor.  When we returned home from the party we had to watch a little SpongeBob to chill out from being soo scared.  :)

 

October Farm Fun

 

These past few days I've mostly been sitting at home with my sore foot propped up waiting for it to heal.  However, today I actually got to hobble around one of my favorite places-- a farm.

 

 

We started out on a hayride tour to scope the place out.

 

 

I'm pretty sure Glenn is thinking-- Why did I come with?  He's not much for being outdoors.

 

 

The kids and I had a real good time!

 

 

Troy milked a cow!

 

The animals were fun to feed and pet.

 

This cute little burro and his mama were sooo sweet.

 

And the baby chicks!  There was this one little black chick who chased a fly and kept jumping up to try to eat it.  I swear the fly was just tormenting that little one!  It's quite amazing to me how smart they are fresh out of the egg.

 

Silly goose!

 

 

Mooo!

 

Troy called this a hog roast, seeings how they were roasting themselves under the warming light.

 

The farm kept the kids busy for awhile.

 

We seen plenty of tractors too.

 

 

 

 Yeeha, Gladys tried her hand at kid roping-- and I don't mean the baby goat kind.

 Unlike the goats, the kids were willing participants.

Ah, Glenn is remembering why he came with now-- to carry out the big pumpkin of course!! 

 

Troy found his ride home!

 

 

He was ready to roll!

 

Byeee!

 

Calorie Cycling

Woooohooooo, I'm losing weight like crazy!  I'm surprised because I've taken a break from running to give my foot a chance to heal.  However, I have still been doing some core strength exercises.  Mainly, the advice I have to offer is what everybody all ready knows: eat well and exercise.  Eating well to me means plenty of fruits and veggies, protein and whole grains.  Their is something I do naturally that seems to be working out well and that is calorie cycling.  That means to change up the amount of calories eaten.  Thanks to www.Sparkpeople.com it's been rather easy for me to keep track of my calories.  Here's what a typical week of calories looks like:
                                                                        Sunday         1545
                                                                        Monday        1356
                                                                        Tuesday        1875
                                                                        Wednesday   1235
                                                                        Thursday       1780
                                                                         Friday           2200
                                                                        Saturday        1465

As you can see some days I eat a lot, and other days I don't.  Changing up the calorie intake is a good thing because if a person consistently limits the amount they eat than it may trigger the body to go into starvation mode making weight loss efforts more difficult.  Whereas, by changing it up, the body is more willing to let go of the weight.  This, my friends, is what I've been told and what I have experienced first hand.  :)



                                                    

Jean's Concert Hair

The other day I got to braid Jean's hair for her concert.  I started out with a reverse, diagonal, waterfall braid. 


Reverse, Diagonal, Waterfall Braid:                                                          



Classic Waterfall Braid:  (compliments of Google)




The trouble was she had something else in mind-- a classic-- two-braid crown.  What can I say, the girl knew what she wanted!


I was the lucky family member to attend the concert.  Jean was rather disappointed the rest of the household did not attend.  Solely because, and I quote, " I want the kids to be tortured as much as I was when I was dragged to Grace and Hub's (older siblings) concerts".


Jean is the girl on the far left holding her trumpet. Sorry about the poor quality photos.


It's not that I don't like music.  I just find it almost as difficult as the children do to sit still for several hours.  They did have quite the symphony of instruments.



At the end of the two-braided crown worthy evening, we were both glad to finally be home.