Fall fun and friends

Every year there are so many things that I want to do and it seems like the time/days/months/seasons just pass me by... well not this year! I made a list of the things I wanted to do this fall and scheduled them all before our Calendar became too busy. I have never made caramel apples and really wanted to give it a try. Our newly married friends, Jereme and Melodi wanted to give it a try too so we made a whole date night of it. I made a simple soup for dinner and they provided some bread to accompany it. 

After dinner the Bintzs wanted to try out their new chocolate fountain and we sampled TONS of different dippers... pickles, bacon, potato chips, 3 types of marshmallows, nutter butters, oreos, strawberries and bananas !  

After we ate ourselves sick,  (pretty much one of each of those dippers will get you there) we started our caramel apples. 

We used this recipe - 

Carnival Caramel Apples

 With four kids (one child whose birthday is November 1), we celebrate Halloween in style around our house. These caramel apples are a tried-and-true favorite year after year. —Gail Prather, Bethel, Minnesota

10-12 ServingsPrep/Total Time: 30 min.

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup butter, cubed
• 2 cups packed brown sugar
• 1 cup light corn syrup
• Dash salt
• 1 can (14 ounces) sweetened condensed milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 10 to 12 Popsicle sticks
• 10 to 12 medium tart apples, washed and dried
• 1 cup salted peanuts, chopped

Directions

In a large heavy saucepan, melt butter; add the brown sugar, corn syrup and salt. Cook and stir over medium heat until mixture comes to a boil, about 10-12 minutes. Stir in milk. Cook and stir until a candy thermometer reads 248° (firm-ball stage). Remove from the heat; stir in vanilla.  Insert Popsicle sticks into apples. Dip each apple into hot caramel mixture; turn to coat. Dip bottom of apples into peanuts. Place on greased waxed paper until set. Yield: 10-12 apples.

Nutrition Facts: 1 serving (1 each) equals 526 calories, 17 g fat (7 g saturated fat), 32 mg cholesterol, 231 mg sodium, 94 g carbohydrate, 4 g fiber, 6 g protein.

The caramel came out SO tasty and our apples looked pretty good too!! We double the reciepe so each couple would have 10 to take home and share. We had plenty of caramel left over so we probably could have made another 5 or 6 apples. 

We had planned to carve our pumpkins that night as well, but time would not allow once we got everything pick up and packed up to take home.

Pretty much anything you do can be fun (or not fun) depending on who you are doing it with. The Bintz are a great couple to try new things with and we always seem to have a good time together.