Happy Birthday, Jeff!!! (And a Recipe for Cinnamon Apples)

I have to kick this post off with a shout out to my baby sister, Melissa (in case you aren't following me on Facebook...which begs the question: why aren't you following me on Facebook?!?). She just finished her first round of a P90X/Insanity hybrid. She was tiny to begin with, but she lost EIGHT pounds and went down a dress size!!! Be looking for a guest post from her soon about her experience.

Today was my beloved's birthday. I won't tell you how old he is. All you need to know is he's older than me.

Anyway, around here birthdays tend to mean lots of good food. I started off the day by making him his favorite Shakeology: chocolate with peanut butter. I had to have a tiny sip myself. So good!!!

After he left for work, baby girl and I got started on his cupcakes. The man loves yellow cake with chocolate icing. But not too much icing. I honestly didn't realize there was such a thing as "too much icing," but I try to take that into consideration when I'm making something for him. Baby girl was anxious to assist me!

The finished product.

Next, I started a London Broil for dinner. Then is was time to tackle his all time favorite: Susan's Apples. Don't let the name confuse you. Apples may be a key component of this recipe, but that's where the good nutrition ends.

First, you take about 3 lbs. of washed apples and removed the peel. That's right; start by taking away the part of the apple that packs all the fiber and nutrients. We wouldn't want to compromise the integrity of the dish.

Then we cut the apples into thin slices and place them in a greased casserole dish.

Time for some sugar and cinnamon. Cinnamon is actually not bad for you. We'll just pretend that sugar isn't so bad either.

Now comes the best part: the crust. Combine melted butter, brown sugar and flour until it's the consistency of soft clay. Then pat it all over the top of the apples. I like to flatten a little of the mixture out at a time then place it on the apples.

Bake at 300 degrees for about an hour. You want your crust to brown a little.

Give the apples a few minutes to cool before serving so the juices won't run all over your plate. When we added mashed potatoes and fried okra, it was pretty much Jeff's dream meal.

Hey, birthdays are special, right? Might as well live it up one day out of the year!

After dinner we headed to a soccer game then came home for cupcakes.

Happy Birthday, Jeff!!!

Susan's Apples

• 2.5 - 3 lbs. apples, washed and peeled
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• cinnamon to taste
• 1 stick melted butter
• 1/2 cup flour
• 3/4 cup brown sugar

Grease small casserole dish. Fill dish completely with thinly sliced apples. (They will shrink when they cook.) Sprinkle white sugar and cinnamon on top of apples. Mix butter, flour and brown sugar. The mixture should be the consistency of soft clay. If it's too runny, add more sugar or flour. You need to be able to manipulate it with your hands. Pat the mixture on top of apples. Bake at 300 degrees for 1 hour.

Question of the Day:

How do you celebrate birthdays?