Cranberry Apple Pear Crumble

A couple of months ago, when we had some guests for the weekend, I came up with a nice dessert for the four of us. Quick, easy, very customizable, and of course delicious! Seems like it would make an even better dessert now that the nights are getting chilly here. And I think this would also make a really good pie filling.

Serves: 4

What you need:

For the insides:
-2 chopped apples (I used one Gala and one Red Delicious)
-1 chopped pear
-1/4 cup dried cranberries
-1/4 cup of sugar
-1/4 to 1/3 cup of flour (Adding more flour will make the juices thicker, so this depends on how thick you like you filling to be.)
-1 1/2 teaspoons of vanilla
-1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

For the crumble:
-4 tbsp softened butter
-2 tbsp white sugar
-2 tbsp brown sugar
-4 tbsp flour
-1 teaspoon cinnamon

1. Preheat the oven at 350 degrees.

2. Mix the ingredients for all the insides together in a large bowl then split them up amongst 4 ramekins.

3. Mix the ingredients for the crumble together and top evenly among the ramekins.

4. Place the four ramekins on a cookie baking sheet (for easier clean up and transporting in and out of the oven). Bake until the crumble starts to brown.

5. Optional, top with one scoop of ice cream! (We did heath bar crunch.)

Decorating for the Holidays

I guess I'm a little late on this considering Hanukkah is already almost over, but better late than never!

We transformed our apartment from Thanksgiving to Christmas themed the day after Black Friday. Unfortunately, because we won't be here Christmas morning we didn't buy a Christmas tree. The extent of the decorating consists of a lawn ornament, wreath, lights & some ornaments in the window, and a few knick-knacks placed around downstairs. Last year on the other hand we went all out because we hosted Christmas at our place back East. We hung up garland and set up a really nice tablescape too. I think it'll be awhile before we get to do that again...

Since we aren't really getting into the decorating this year, I lived vicariously by going to Crate and Barrel.com and picking out my favorite decorations they have for the season. It's cheaper that way, anyway. Haha.

Holiday gift ideas

I have to admit, I am completely done with my Christmas shopping. What can I say, I am a freak. I do all my shopping as early as possible this way when the holiday season comes if I think of something last minute that's it. No going crazy, waiting on long lines, and being stressed for me!

I don't want to reveal anything that I got for anyone, but if I had to think of some cool ideas to give as gifts this year I might think of these.

For my brother (who is a HUGE LOLcats fan):

$9.99 from Modcloth.com

When you're recently married (or have kids) you can never have too many picture frames. This one is perfect if your wedding was earthy themed, or you're the groom and you want a frame that's not too fancy pants:

$14.99 from Modcloth.com

For the foodie/person who has everything:

Wine Country Gift baskets range in price from under $25 to above $200.

For my mom:

$13 from mylavaliere (my favorite Etsy store EVER)

For the fashionista who wants to protect her designer bags:

$9.99 from Amazon.com

From my Dad (a Beatles fanatic):

$27.94 from Amazon.com

For little kids:

This was one of my favorite toys growing up. My mom and I still buy them for all the little kids in our lives. $24.95 from Amazon.com

For your Ipod/Iphone addict:

Earbuds are $20, case is $25 from Neiman Marcus

For Nick:

$17.99 from Amazon

For me? I've been watching these booties from Modcloth for awhile (and psst. Nick, they're back in stock!)

$39.99

I couldn't find any pictures, but The Gap also has great sunglasses right now that are Ray Ban style for $24.50. They come in blue, green, purple, orange, red, pink, and a few other colors. A must have for all the teens/hipsters in your life.

If you're still stuck, try looking at wishlists and reading this older entry about how to give a good gift. Maybe it'll help spark an idea.

Singings Carols after dinner? That's so old school...

I have to admit, one of the reasons I knew Nick was "the one" was because he put up with my friends and my's wacky antics. At a time when no one had full time jobs and we were often relegated to hanging out at each others' parents' houses, one of our favorite things to do was play Celebrity. It was a charades-like game made up by one of my friend's family. To this day I still make fun of my brother for his poor attempt at acting out Mickey Mouse (it looked like a squirrel) and we joke about a friend's Frodo impersonation. One of the first times I introduced Nick to my friends we played this game and he got into it, it was how I knew he'd fit right in with our off-beat ways.

After reading a recent post on an online forum, I realized it could be a great game to play at a holiday party when you're trying to think of something to do and you don't want to play the same old board games or gather round the old piano to sing carols.

Here's how it goes:

1. Divide in to two teams. We generally split up siblings and significant others because they have psychic powers!

2. Each team member writes down 10 celebrity names on a piece of scrap paper, crumples them all up and puts them in a hat. Names don't have to just be celebrities. They can be made up characters like Mickey Mouse or people you all know, like "so and so's dad." And it's ok to have doubles, or even triples.

3. The game is played in three rounds. Each team takes turns going for 2 minutes until all the names have been used up. Then you put them back in the hat and move on to the next round. Each name is worth one point and only members of your turn can guess when you are acting out the name. So if you are player 3 v 3, Team 1's first player goes for 2 minutes then Team 2's first player goes for 2 minutes. If the names aren't used up yet, Team 1's second player goes for 2 minutes, and so on.

4. First round, you can say and do whatever you want to get your team to guess. So if the person was Donald Trump you could say, "this is a guy with a bad comb over. He has a reality TV show and is really rich. You're fired!" and do the hand motion.

5. In the second round you can only use two words. So for Donald Trump you can reference what you said before and say "comb over" or "You're fired!"

6. In the third round you cannot use any words and only act out the names. You might do the hand motion for "You're fired!" and move your hair over to look like a comb over, and hopefully people were paying attention earlier and can guess it means Donald Trump.

7. At the end, tally up all the points and the team with the most wins!

Another way to give this Holiday Season

I am very upset, I completely forgot to mention another way to give during the Holiday season.

Since I was young I've always had a soft spot for our armed forces. Regardless of your political feelings on the war, it's important to support the men and women who's job it is to risk their lives far away from home. It is no secret the physical and mental strain this causes them, and showing support whether large or small is important. After the recent death of a soldier I never met, but had indirect ties to, I have been that much more moved to support.

One of my family members is very involved in supporting the troops. She's collecting encouragement / thank you / Christmas cards to send to a specific unit who needs extra support during the holiday season. The cards are needed by December 10th, comment here with your email if you'd like her info to help out.

Soldier's Angels - Through this program you adopt a soldier and provide them with care packages and letters on a regular basis for the length of their deployment (6-18 months). You can also donate care packages or other help.

AnySoldier.com - A similar program as Soldier's Angels except you can send to a specific branch of the military and the letters and packages will go to random soldiers who do not get much mail.