Homemade Cheese Sauce (for Mac and Cheese)

Ingredients

2 tbsp salted butter

1 tbsp flour

1 cup milk

2 handful (or more) of shredded cheese (till desired amount of cheesiness) (any cheese you want)

Directions

• In a medium sauce pan, medium heat melt butter (not to boiling or sizzling) just melted.
• then add 1 tbsp of flour whisk continuous till well incorporated. do not let burn
• once hot and mixed thoroughly add milk. Continue to whisk until a low boil. and becomes a little thicker
• once it has thickened add cheese at least a couple handfuls but make as cheesy as you want.
• keep whisking till all is incorporated.
• turn off heat. If you want it thinner you could add more milk or to thicken - more cheese or put over heat to make hot again and then pour over pasta etc.
• Salt and pepper to desired taste

**do not let sit through entire process while on the heat. KEEP WHISKING.

Cheese sauce

Broccoli Mac and Cheese

Spiced Apple Cake

AMAZINGNESS!

4 peeled, cored and diced Granny Smith apples
1/2 cup of light brown Sugar
1/2 white sugar
2 tsp of white granulated sugar
1 egg (beaten)
1/2 cup chopped toasted walnuts***
1 tsp of vanilla extract
1/4 cup of shortening (or healthy version - Unsweetened applesauce)

Dry ingredients
1 cup of all purpose white flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp of baking soda
1/4 tsp of salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp Apple Pie Spice

1.) Preheat oven to 350 and grease and flour an 8x8 inch pan. (glass or metal)
2.)  Take peeled, cored, and diced apples and put in a microwave safe bowl and cover tightly with plastic wrap. Poke several holes with a knife for vents.
3.) Microwave apples for 5 minutes on high
4.) Meanwhile combine dry ingredients in a medium sized bowl.
5.) In a large bowl, cream the shortening (or unsweetened applesauce), brown sugar and beaten egg.
6.) Take the cooked apples out of the microwave, throw away the plastic wrap.
7.) Pour the apples into a medium sauce pan and cook on stove on medium/high till all the water has evaporated. (about 5-7 mins). Take off heat. Let apples cool about 2-3 mins.
8.) To the 'creamed' mixture (from step 4) add apples, chopped toasted nuts, vanilla, and sift in the dry ingredients. Mix with a wooden spoon until just combined. **do not over mix or you will create too much gluten and cake will be tough**
9.) Spoon batter evenly into 8x8 pan. Sprinkle 2 tsp of granulated white sugar evenly over the top,
10.) Bake in 350 oven for 35-40 minutes - or until toothpick comes out clean.
May be served hot or cold. With or without whipped cream.

***How to toast walnuts (or any nut)
1.) Preheat oven to 350
2.) Put the amount of desired nuts on cookie sheet
3.) put them in the oven on the middle rack
4.) WATCH CLOSELY - should take about 5-7 mins. DO NOT LET THEM BURN.
5.) they will be slightly browned.
6.) take out and let cool.

Conner 2011 Christmas Letter

For those of you who did not get a copy:

Our 2011 Christmas  to our dear Family & Friends,

            We hope this letter finds you all in good health and a smile. This year we decided to write a family letter for Christmas, and we hope to make this a tradition.  We are very excited to give an update on us!

            A little introduction about us, we rent a house in South Charleston, West Virginia with our “furry kids:” 4 yr old golden retriever Autumn and our 5 yr old ragdoll cats Mayberry & Wassail. David works for the state of West Virginia, Disability Determination Section supporting the IT department and Caryn works at CDI Engineering Solutions, as clerical Human Resources supporting engineering divisions Aerospace, Process & Industrial, and Life Sciences.

            We found a new church home this year that we absolutely love.  We are growing more in our faith than we have in a long time. Recently, we just finished a class called “Not a Fan,” teaching us to be more than a fair weather friend to Christ.  Please continue to pray for us in our faith journey, as we are never done growing when it comes to faith.

            Caryn has taken on a new hobby, couponing. Very much like the “Extreme Couponing” show on TLC, but on a lesser scale. Yes, we have a rather large ‘stockpile.’ We have not paid more than $.25 for a toothbrush or toothpaste since April.  This is not only a hobby but also saves a lot of money! (the best kind of hobby). In addition, Caryn has started a family blog just about our daily lives, creative home décor ideas, and recipes. Our blog, “Conner’s Corner” can be found at http://davidandcaryn.blogspot.com/, please stop by and check it out occasionally and see what we have going on throughout the year.

David has picked up a hobby volunteering in the Free and Open Source Software community, on the Ubuntu Linux Operating System. Ubuntu is just one of many community driven computer software projects, and David participates in quality assurance testing of new software releases.  He has also been maintaining a website for a local AKC Golden Retriever breeder, and has enjoyed the opportunity to expand his web design and development skills. 

Caryn’s sister Catherine came for a month long visit during July. We had a great time spending time with her! During her visit we took a long weekend and went to Dublin/Columbus, Ohio to visit our friend Amy and we all went to the Columbus Zoo for the day.

            In September; we had a fantastic vacation, we went to Connecticut and stayed with Caryn’s Aunt Carol, Uncle Gerry and cousin Matthew. We had a great time visiting Caryn’s father and his family.  We went to the historical Mystic Seaport in Mystic, CT. It is a 19^th century historical seaport.  David really enjoyed the whaling ship that they were restoring.  We even made an impromptu trip to Boston, MA and LOVED it! It was our first time going to the City of Boston, so it was great to have Matthew with us, since he knew the “T” (the metro) very well! We even met a cousin of Caryn’s that she had never met; he came into city for the day with us.  We took a tour of Boston, from Prudential Building Observatory called the Skywalk Tour and by way of the “Duck-mobile”, which is an amphibious “restored/remake” WWII DUKW vehicle. We were able to see the city by land and sea! If you ever get a chance to go on a duck tour it is really worth your time and very entertaining!

            Thanksgiving Dinner was at David’s Mom’s. On Saturday after Thanksgiving instead of going to the crazy busy stores, we went with all of David’s family to see a movie, “Arthur Christmas.” In addition we, with David’s Uncle  Eugene, cousin Paul,  and niece Katianne took a side trip to an old rail tunnel called the “Flinderation Tunnel” which is now part of the ‘Rails to Trails’ in Salem, WV.  It is supposedly haunted, but we met no unexpected company while at the tunnel.  We had a wonderful time visiting with the family, playing games and catching up.

            Since we do not have any kiddos yet, we will share that our dog, Autumn, and our two cats – that is right I said two, we have a new cat named Wassail (a rescue) and of course the resident cat Mayberry are cute as ever. They provide us endless amusement and companionship.

            This is life at the Conner’s Corner – always busy but never dull; 2011 has been filled with exciting things and has gone by fast.  God has blessed us with good health, good jobs and you – our loving and loved family and friends. We hope this year –end finds you as blessed as us and we pray that the New Year brings you more than you can ask or imagine.

                        Peace be with you this holiday season!

                                                David & Caryn

Cow Pie Cookies aka No-Bake Cookies!

Ingredients

2 cups sugar
4 tablespoons of powdered cocoa
1 stick of  softened butter
1/2 cup milk
1 1/4 cup peanut butter
1 tablespoon vanilla
3 cups oatmeal
1 large marshmallow or 8 mini marshmallows
cookie sheet - lined with wax paper

Directions

In a saucepan bring to a boil sugar, cocoa, butter and milk, stirring continuously. Let boil for 1 minute then add the peanut butter, vanilla, marshmallows and one cup at a time the oatmeal.
On the waxed paper, drop the mixture by the teaspoonfuls, until cooked and hardened.
**may place in refrigerator to make cookies set quicker.