Autumn Desserts

14 Sept 2014: Mary takes a bite of her sugar-free chocolate apple.

As we do every Sunday, our family gathered tonight for our weekly Sunday dinner. We visit, play games, prepare food, tease and laugh (unmercifully at times), and enjoy a weekly 15-minute phone call from the kids' dad in Tucson. And now, just 3 weeks from our California trip, together we watch YouTube videos of Disneyland attractions, getting ourselves highly psyched for our upcoming vacation!

Jacob and Danielle after dinner, hard at work on our dessert.

Tonight I served up some delicious Chicken Parmesan (the low-carb version, sans pasta) with buttered green beans-and-minced-onion as the side dish. I hadn't really planned on a dessert, but Jacob called me this afternoon to inform me that he and Danielle had dessert covered.

Tonight's dessert.

Autumn is definitely in the air, here in the White Mountains. The nighttime temperature drops into the 50s. The air is crisp in the morning and nippy in the evening, with just a slight tang of wood smoke. The leaves haven't begun to turn yet, but it won't be long. This is my favorite time of year.

Danielle gets photo bombed by Dylan, who is channeling his inner Gene Simmons.

Perhaps inspired by this climate, Jacob and Danielle chose the traditional fall treat of caramel apples. When I commented that I can't eat the sugary caramel, Jacob told me not to worry. He'd solved that problem by buying sugar-free chocolate for Sarah and me (Sarah has lost 17 lbs as of today!). Instead of caramel, we'd get chocolate-covered apples.

Jacob takes the biggest bite possible.

For the non-dieters, they covered the apples with caramel, then coated it with white chocolate, and finally dusted it with a sugar and cinnamon mixture. Sarah and I got apples coated with sugar-free chocolate and dusted with cinnamon and Splenda. They were yummy!

Dylan savors his caramel apple.

Dylan covets Sarah's chocolate apple.

Welcome, autumn! And thanks for dessert, Jacob and Danielle!