this is how...

every summer evening should be spent! Eating outside, enjoying the summer weather, bbqing with friends and enjoying a nice old-time favorite dessert! Saturday night we had the Andrus's over for dinner. We ate outside...Jay bbqed chicken and corn and I made the most delicious french bread you'll ever have! *recipe to follow. The set up was perfect. We have a slide and a house for the girls to play in on the grass...so when they were done eating their dinner, they played while the adults ate! After dinner we used the BBQ as a fire pit. Jay threw a couple of logs on and we all moved our chairs around it. It totally felt like we were camping! I loved it! It was so relaxing and refreshing. I wanted to roast marshmellows, but was still full for dessert. Drum roll please...for dessert we had CANDIED APPLES! They are a childhood favorite for me. I grew up going to the Santa Cruz Boardwalk a lot during the summers and I would always get the candied apples... They were my all time favorite and apparently still are! I love them and they brought back so many fun memories. I had never made a hard candy like this before, it was fun trying something new! Not to mention that eating these babies were very entertaining! The candy got so hard, it was funny to watch everyone eat them! I never knew that food could be that funny! The recipe was so easy to make, I thought I'd share.

*the best french bread you've ever had...
1 cube o' butter (no wonder it's the best)

1/4 cup mayo (or miracle whip-which ever you prefer)

3 cloves of garlic, minced (or garlic powder)

salt and pepper

lots of italian seasoning

parmesan cheese

paprika

Cut loaf in halt the long way. Melt the butter until it's all melted but not all the way. Mix butter, mayo, garlic, salt and pepper, and italian seasoning. Spread mixture over both halves of bread. (It should be a generous amount on both sides) using all of the mixture. Sprinkle parmesan cheese over the whole surface of bread then sprinkle paprika over cheese. Bake at 350 degrees for 5 to 10 minutes, until butter mixture has melted! Cut, serve, and enjoy!

CANDIED APPLES

8 wooden ice cream bar sticks

1 c. water

1/2 c. light corn syrup

1/2 tsp. red food coloring

8 sm. apples

3 c. sugar

1/4 red hot candies

Insert a wooden stick part way through the stem end of apples. Grease a large cookie sheet; set aside.

In a 2-quart saucepan, combince remaining ingredients. Over medium heat, heat mixture to boiling without stirring. Boil, without stirring, until candy thermometer reads 290 degrees, or when a little of the mixture dropped into cool water separates into thin hard threads, about 20 minutes.

Remove saucepan from heat. Tip saucepan, swirl each apple into mixture to caot. Quickly swirl apple over saucepan to allow any drips to fall back into the pan. Place apples on a cookie sheet to cool. Cool at least 1 hour before serving. Yield: 8 candy apples.

The girls had so much fun playing together!

Tessa wanted to hold Charley practically the whole time...she loves babies!

An entertaining dessert moment.