Hello everyone! Arkansas heat is here and in full force. I enjoy the summer but am always ready for fall and Halloween. We all have those family members that are considered crazy. I am one of those in our family, ya’ll know you all have them. I just like being a fun girl. My niece Kelly and I have had some fun and crazy times together. We used to call ourselves Lucy and Ethel because when we were together something always went wrong or something crazy happened. Back when Tonya had given birth to Rheding, Kelly and I decided to go over and help Tonya and see the baby. Tonya was trying to rest and before we left we had knocked half the stuff off the wall in the dining room and making more noise than a wrecking crew. We can’t be quiet. We tried to to put everything back so Tonya wouldn’t know what happened.
The same niece, Kelly, is also the one that loses everything. She has lost wallets, wedding rings, money, a check, and a kid or two, just to name a few. Keep in mind it sort of runs in the family, but her dad, Larry, was always bringing those stories up and reminding her and we all had good laughs at her expense. One year we were Black Friday shopping and decided to eat lunch at Geno’s in Fort Smith and there was a group of us there. We were laughing about all the times Kelly had lost her purse or wallet. We all get up to leave and are in the parking lot walking to our car and one of the workers is yelling out the door “did one of ya’ll leave your purse? You guessed it, Kely had left her purse. We laughed and laughed about that.
Back before my brother Larry owned a smartphone, he had a flip phone. He loved that flip phone and did not want a smartphone, but now he is hooked. Back when he had the flip phone he had everyone in the whole family’s number written down on a piece of paper in his wallet. My niece Kelly, his daughter, gets a call from a man and he says “I found this wallet in the middle of the road and I called your number to see if you knew who Larry Wagoner was.” Talk about giving him a hard time. He will never live that down. He said of all the numbers on that list, he had to call Kelly.
We had a surprise party for Michael and Tony’s 25th wedding anniversary at Western Sizzlin and my brother leaves before Michael, and Michael sees his dad coming back. I’m sure Michael thought he forgot something. He found Michael’s wallet in the floor by the register. Do ya’ll see the pattern here.
Jason Wagoner is the king of losing things. He lost every coat his parents ever bought him while in school. While he was in high school they bought him a Dallas Cowboys nice coat, lost it of course. All of them ended up in the lost and found at school and Coach Fry was wearing the Cowboys jacket one day. We have laughed and laughed over that. You think Jason was going to go look in the lost and found, no. He has lost debit cards, wallets, keys, and just about everything except one of his children.
Okay, this week’s recipe is apple dumplings made by Morgan Marsh for us while we were in Nebraska. You need to make sure you have some vanilla ice cream to put on them when they come out of the oven. Delicious.
APPLE DUMPLINGS
6 Granny Smith apples
Pie Dough for a 9″ double pie crust (store-bought works great in the box rolled up)
Filling:
3 tablespoons unsalted butter cut into 6 equal parts
6 tablespoons granulated sugar
1 teaspoon apple pie spice
Sauce:
1 cup apple juice or apple cider
3/4 cup lightly packed brown sugar
1/4 unsalted butter
Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees. Grease a 9×13 baking dish, and set aside. Peel and core each apple. If using store-bought pie dough cut the dough into 6 equal pieces. In a small bowl, stir together the granulated sugar and apple pie spice. Place a cored apple in the center of each dough piece. In the center of each apple, place a piece of butter you cut up and sprinkle some of the sugar and apple pie spice mixture on top of the apple. Bring the corners of the dough up and pinch the edges together to seal the dough around the apple. Place all the apples in a greased baking dish. Place the sauce ingredients in a saucepan and bring to boil over medium heat, whisking frequently. Once the sauce comes to a boil and sugar is dissolved, pour evenly over the apples and bake for 50-55 minutes or until golden brown. Enjoy.
