Happy Birthday Mom! 

My mom celebrated her birthday on Friday April 30!  Aren’t we glad she was born?!

Nathan, my grandmother, Lamb, and I met my mom and dad for dinner last night.  We went to Hickory, NC, about halfway between our two homes.  We had some recommendations for yummy places to eat and settled on Josh’s on Union Square. 

The meal was wonderful!  It came out quickly, was creatively presented, and tasted great!  I have a few pictures of our meals…they all didn’t come out well, but here are a few to whet your appetite.

Steak on an arugula salad with grapes and goat cheese

Duck with blueberries

Lots of good sides including mac 'n' cheese

And of course dessert!  I had bourbon pecan pie in honor of The Kentucky Derby

And Mom had a delicious blueberry cheesecake.

Nathan and I gave my mom a lunch “bag”  with little Tupperware dishes   Yep, a little silly (however practical!) but I noticed last time I was home that she was taking her lunch to work in a plastic grocery sack with lots of plastic baggies.  So I decided in the spirit of being green, I wanted to give her something good for the environment, cute to carry around, and also super usable.  She seems to like it…especially that it’s orange   Plus I included a little sack of apple chips!

So thanks mom for delicious dinner with wonderful company!  Hope you had a wonderful birthday!  Much love!

I bought a big bag of organic Gala apples earlier in the week.  They have been super crisp and sweet, but we were having a difficult time getting through all of them.  They were starting to bruise, and I wanted to make sure we ate them before they went bad.  I went to my new favorite search engine and found lots of recipes for apple chips.  The recipes all seemed super easy and the ingredients very common.  So I decided to go for it! 

I don’t have a mandoline slicer, so I had to cut them by hand   I was a bit worried but with a sharp knife it worked out well!  I think if I ever take a cooking class, a knife skills one would be my first choice.  I am in definite need of some tips.  But…it worked out ok this time.

I sliced them and placed them in a bowl of water to keep them from turning brown.

I then placed them in a single layer on some parchment paper lining a baking sheet.  I sprinkled them lightly with cinnamon and sugar…And that’s it!  No oil…no butter.

They cooked at 225 degrees for approximately an hour and a half.

The end product proved great!  They still had a nice bite to them and had retained a lot of flavor.  The cinnamon and sugar were of course a nice addition too! 

We snacked on them all day long…A perfect treat!