Warm Apple Crisp ......mmmmm

Comfort foods......who doesn't love them? Each family has their own collection of comfort foods. Somewhere close to the top of our list is apple crisp! One of our favorite apple crisp recipes is Pampered Chef's Quick Apple Crisp. So, so yummy :)

I was making this for our family tonight and thought it would be fun to share the recipe with you. A big scoop of vanilla bean ice cream brings the dish to perfection.......Enjoy!

Pampered Chef's Quick Apple Crisp

5 Granny Smith apples (about 6 cups)
1/4 cup butter or margarine, melted
1/2 cup nuts, chopped
9oz. or 1 & 1/8 c. yellow cake mix
2 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon cinnamon
Vanilla ice cream or thawed, frozen whipped topping (optional)

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Peel, core and slice apples. Cut apples in half crosswise. Place apples in a deep dish baker. ( a 9 x 13 works too)

2. Microwave butter on HIGH 60 seconds or until melted. Chop nuts. Add nuts, cake mix, sugar and cinnamon to bowl; mix until crumbly. Sprinkle mixture evenly over apples.

3. Bake 35-40 minutes or until apples are tender and topping is golden brown. Serve warm with ice cream, or whipped topping, if desired.

Yield: 10 servings or 20 sample servings

p.s. We've used several different kinds of apples and they've all tasted great! Happy Eating.

Segesta.......

Saturday was sunny and fairly warm so we made a beeline out the front door! Segesta was waiting to be explored less than an hour away. What a great place to be outdoors, get some exercise and be in total awe that we were standing on some very historical ground (of course all of Europe is that way! ).

The Segesta temple and theatre are the two sites I found most interesting. The temple because it sits majestically on a hill by itself. The hill behind it provides a pretty backdrop and helps pop the color of the temple. The Greek temple was built in the 5th century BC and remains unfinished. No one knows for sure why it was never completed. In 416 war broke out again between Segesta and Selinus. It's thought that Segesta built the temple as part of their effort in appealing to Athens for help in the war. That failed so Segesta applied to Carthage, who intervened in 409BC and destroyed Selinus. Segesta was left with little choice but to accept the Carthaginian dominion and therefore a Greek temple is pointless.

The Segesta theatre is a beautiful place to stand. It was built in the 2nd century when Segesta was a free town under the Romans. The upper part has been almost completely lost but it's thought that the theatre held around 4,000 spectators. It is still used in the summer for theatrical programs and concerts. (yes, I hope we can see something there this summer!)

I'm adding pictures to my Photostream. Enjoy them and have a great day :)

Praise & Thank You :)

It's getting late here in Sicily but wanted to pass along a PRAISE. DJ's dad is out of surgery and it went very well! The dr's said there's still some blockage but as long as he continues to not smoke and gets out and walks it will clear up. THANK YOU very much for all your prayers......it's appreciated :)

It's supposed to be sunny this weekend so we plan on getting out and hopefully I'll have more pictures to share with you all Monday!

Baby Brayden is home now too so I'm moving his blog button down. God is good!

Have a fun and relaxed weekend :)

This, That & The Other Thing............

Hello :) I'm not posting about one particular thing today. I'm adding pictures to my PhotoStream. They are from a few small outings over the last few weeks. Just a reminder.....once you click the play button you can also click the small square in the bottom right hand corner to make it full screen size. Click on show info to get descriptions of the photos.

We bought Dani a small keyboard over the weekend. She takes piano lessons back home and is doing so well. The one we just bought isn't as nice as the fullsize keyboard we have back home but it does the trick!!

I spent 3 hours with my friend, Michelle, today. We went to the fish market, butcher and then walked a few blocks to the Aloha Bar and enjoyed a cappuchino. We had a wonderful visit.......God is so good to have blessed me with her friendship in a foreign land.

I wanted to let you know also that DJ's Dad is having his aortic femeral bypass surgery this coming Thursday, the 19th. We appreciate all your prayers and ask that you would continue to pray for the dr's to have wisdom and for DJ's mom and dad (Dan & Vivian) to have peace during this time. The dr. said it's a very big surgery but very doable. They will replace the aorta going down from the naval to the groin area where the aorta separates and goes into each leg. They'll also replace the two aorta's going into the legs. The right aorta is completely blocked and the left aorta is a mess.

Have a wonderful Monday:) (yes...there is such a thing!)

Gentlemen, start your engines!!

Yes, I am a Nascar fan!!! I am one of Jimmie Johnson's biggest fans. #48 :)

The day has finally arrived.....the Daytona 500. It's going to be an exciting year, no doubt about that! Jimmie has won the Championship the last 3 years in a row. He's only the second driver to do that. Can he do it for a 4th year? It's going to be a lot of fun to watch him and Carl Edwards (his biggest competition at this point).

I've loved racing since I was a kid but didn't start following Nascar on a weekly basis til a few years ago. I didn't have a favorite driver. I wanted to watch the drivers for a few races before I picked. It didn't take long until Jimmie Johnson really stood out to me. He's not arrogant and obnoxious. He has a quiet strength that I very much admire. He's an incredible driver who's proven time and time again that he has what it takes to win. He doesn't have the charisma that comes from drivers like Dale Earnhardt Jr. or Carl Edwards but he has a steady passion and aggressiveness for what he's doing. He's shown that he is a champion yet there are still many who consider him an underdog. That's ok. Jimmie and his crewchief, Chad Knauss, will just keep doing what they know best, working as a dynamic team and winning races!

So, yes, today I will sit for 4+ hours watching cars go in circles!!!! It's an adrenaline rush for me. I'd love the chance to get behind the wheel of one of those race cars and let loose (maybe it's better if I don't :).

The Apostle Paul talks about the race we run as we go through life. We may not look like champions to the rest of the world but God looks at the heart. We need to persevere in life towards the goals God has placed before us with a winners heart! Fix your eyes on Jesus:)

"......let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God."
-Hebrews 12: 1 & 2 (NIV)

Amazing Love......

Happy Valentines Day!!

The weather has been unpredictable this week so we are enjoying a lazy, family day at home:) The smell of bbq beef is wafting through the air as it simmers on the stove for yummy sandwiches later.

I love spending lazy days as a family playing games, watching movies, etc. DJ's missed alot of holidays and birthdays over the years ( due to the military & now contract work) so when we are together it's extra special:)

I hope you have a sweet and wonderful day enjoying time with the ones you love.

Millions are being spent today on cards, flowers and gifts. The greatest gift of all time still remains the fact that the God who created you also gave His only Son as atonement for our sins at calvary. He died and rose again so that we could, through faith, believe in Him and have eternal life! (John 3:16 & Ephesians 2:8 & 9

Now that is Amazing Love!

Hung out to dry

Laundry is a daily must here in Sicily for a family of 5! We have a small washer and no dryer so staying caught up is important. There is a small laundry porch off the kitchen. The clothesline is out the windows in that area. It's just like you see in movies where everyone's laundry is hanging out. We also have two drying racks we use on one of the patios off the living room.

Today we did school, cleaned house and made sugar cookies. I was happy to notice it's staying light a bit later. That's one of my favorite parts of summer......longer daylight hours.

I hope you're having a great week!! I just wanted to share some laundry pictures with you:)

Also, I'm putting the Praying for Harper blog button down with the rest of my blog buttons as she finally was able to go home and is doing well! God is good!!

I'll leave the Team Brayden blog button up at the top for now as a reminder to pray for this family. That sweet little baby is doing much better but is still in the hospital. He gets fussy and upset when he eats due to reflux issues.

Caltagirone.....a town on three hills

Sicily has a rugged beauty that for me comes alive as we walk through the towns. The narrow, cobblestone roads take you on a meandering journey through wonderful architecture, walls that would be full of incredible stories if only they could talk, and amidst a people who have a deep love for their Sicilian heritage.

We went over to Sigonella (Naval Air Station & 3 hrs. from here) on Friday and came home on Monday. We had to get Dani a new military ID card as she lost hers and she had to get her iron levels rechecked Monday morning. We've been trying to get her iron straightened out since August. For some reason that the dr's can't figure out her iron was very low in August. It's in an ok range now but on the low end so today the dr. called and said she needs to do 3 more months of iron and then get it checked again in 6 months.

We had a relaxing weekend and did some shopping at the NEX and Commissary. We get most of our food here at the local markets but there are things we can find only at the Commissary. Brown sugar, coffee mate creamers, cheddar cheese and so on. We also went to church at the chapel and that was wonderful! After 5 weeks of not being in a church service it was extra meaningful.

Our sightseeing for the weekend was a drive to the town of Caltagirone. I fell in love with it and we want to go back. It sits on 3 hills and it's name derives from the Arabic words for castle and cave and was settled by the Greeks. Our purpose for this trip was to see the Scalazza, a staircase of 142 steps. It leads you up to the church of Santa Maria del Monte. Each level of the stairs has a different tile decoration. We climbed them and the view from the top looking back over the town was awesome! It started raining so we walked back to the car and ate chips and sandwiches before heading back to Sigonella but we for sure want to go back to beautiful Caltagirone!

We would appreciate prayers for wisdom and guidance as we travel on this journey called parenting. At times you hit potholes that make your heart want to cry and you hold onto the hope that God loves and cares for your children even more than you do! Our greatest desire is that our kids will love God and grow into responsible young adults, making right choices even when it's difficult. I'm sure this is a prayer that most parents share.

p.s. I'm adding Caltagirone pictures to the photostream. Have a wonderful day!!!

Sunny Skies In Erice

It's another rainy day here in Marsala but Saturday was beautiful and sunny! What a nice break from all the rain and wind.
We drove up to Erice with our friends Dave, Sue, Jay and Michelle. Erice is about an hour from here. It's a wonderful, mediaeval town nestled way up on top of Monte Erice. You truly step back in time as you wander the streets and imagine what it must have been like to live there centuries ago.

We ate lunch at the Hotel Moderno and then had yummy dessert at Maria Grammatico's. ( If I remembered the names of all the food we ate I'd tell you :) The atmosphere up in Erice is relaxed and life is uncomplicated........what we all dream of, right?

I was completely captured by the architecture. It is so varied, rugged and enchanting. One of the things that I have found fascinating here in Sicily are the doors, mostly home and church doors. I don't think I've seen two alike. You definitely don't run down to Lowes and grab the same door the rest of the neighborhood has! Many of the doors have a wrought iron design above them and that too is unique. The door handles and knockers add great character to the doors.

It was a wonderful weekend with a chance to get out and enjoy the sun and fresh air.
I put new pictures on my flickr photostream so check them out :)

p.s. Please keep DJ's dad,Dan, in your prayer's. The aorta from his navel to where the aorta separates to go down the legs has some blockage and the iliac going down his right leg is almost completely blocked. The iliac going down the left leg is somewhat blocked. It requires major by-pass surgery to correct this. It looks like the surgery will be the week of Feb. 16th. Pray for the doctors to have wisdom.