Just Desserts

Good evening, Kitschies!  It's Wednesday - and the afternoon lasted forever.  It was staff meeting day at the clinic and this one went a little better than usual (I have an opinion as to why, but I'll keep that to myself).  I'm just not feeling it much tonight, so this post probably won't be very wordy.

A couple weeks ago, we had a cold snap.  And during one of those cold days, I was home with the boys.  What do I do when it's cold out and the boys are asleep?  I make a yummy dessert.  I got this recipe years ago, but I have no idea where it's from.  I'm sure it's not the most original recipe out there, but I like it!  I prefer baked apple crisp, but this is good for a fix it and forget it recipe.

Apple (Not So) Crisp

6 medium apples, peeled, cored and sliced

1 1/2 cups flour

1 cup packed brown sugar

1 Tbsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp ground nutmeg

1/4 tsp ground ginger

3/4 cup butter, softened

Grease slow cooker.  Place apples in the bottom of the slow cooker.  In a separate bowl, mix together flour, sugar, spices and butter.  Cover the apples with the mixture, pressing down.  Cook on high 3-4 hours.

NOTES:  I don't usually grease the slow cooker, but there's so little liquid in this recipe that it really is a necessity.  Love this recipe.

I used Golden Delicious apples this time, but have used others in the past.  I think Golden Delicious apples are great for cooking - they're sweet and a little soft.

 This is a horrible picture of the end result.  I guess you're going to have to trust me that it tastes delish!  It's especially good over cinnamon ice cream.  Mmmmm!

On a side note...my hubs had me look this video up on You Tube.  This should give you some insight of how the mind of my hubs works.

I asked him why he had me watch this video.  He said "because it's cool".  Yeah.  Apparently we have a difference of opinion on the definition of cool.  Well, there's two and a half minutes of my life I'll never get back.  LOL  Seriously, though.  I do love my hubs and I find it interesting to see/hear/read what he thinks is cool.

Good night my readers.  I hope you have pleasant dreams.  OH!  I had somebody ask if I'd do a water marbling tutorial.  I think I might just try it.  I haven't had 100% success with water marbling, but the two that did turn out were awesome.

Easy As Pie

Good morning, Kitschies!!  How's your day?  Mine is being spent at home with the boys because we're having some daycare issues.  I'm not going to get in to that now, but let's just say that I feel a change coming.  Anyway...the weather has certainly cooled off compared to a week ago.  Just last week we were having temps close to 90* and today we wore jeans and sweatshirts to the park!  I love this time of year (minus the balloons).  The cooler temps, the food - it's all good!! 

Today's recipe is no exception!  While at the library a couple weeks ago, I borrowed the Better Homes & Gardens New Cookbook, limited edition pink plaid cookbook.  I think everybody has the red plaid book, well, except for me, so this pink book grabbed my attention.  And, it's rather fitting that I chose that considering that October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. 

This cookbook has a special section in the back for healthy living.  It has some good tips and some yummy-looking recipes.  But, I wasn't on a mission to start healthy living this time.  I was on a mission to use some awesome Fall apples.  Let's look at what I found.

Apple Pie
1 recipe for double-crust pie
6 cups thinly sliced, peeled cooking apples (about 2 1/4 lbs)
1 Tbsp lemon juice (optional)
3/4 cup sugar
2 Tbsp all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/8 tsp ground nutmeg
1/4 cup dried cranberries (optional)

1. Preheat oven to 375*.  Prepare and roll out pastry for double-crust pie.  Line a 9-inch pie plate with pastry circle.

2. If desired, sprinkle apples with lemon juice.  In a large bowl stir together sugar, flour, cinnamon and nutmeg.  Add apple slices, and, if desired, cranberries.  Gently toss until coated.

3. Transfer apple mixture to pastry-lined pie plate.  Trim bottom pastry to edge of pie plate.  Cut slits in remaining pastry circle; place on filling and seal.  Crimp edge as desired.

4. If desired, brush top pastry with milk and sprinkle with additional sugar.  To prevent over-browning, cover edge of pie with foil.  Bake for 40 minutes.  Remove foil.  Bake 20 minutes more or until fruit is tender and filling is bubbly.  Cool on a wire rack.  To serve warm, let pie cool for at least 2 hours.

NOTES:  I took the easy way out and used store-bought pie dough.  I don't own a rolling pin and having made pie crust from scratch, I can tell you it's worth the cost to buy pre-made dough.  I used Granny Smith apples.  I did use the lemon AND the cranberries.  I like the tiny touch of tart they lend to the pie. 

I have no idea how many apples were actually used in the end, but this sure made a heaping pie!  Good thing they cook down.  The apples are so good mixed with the sugar and spices!

Ready to be baked!  Our family has a tradition of baking a *bunch* of pies for Christmas.  A group of the womenfolk get together a morning before Christmas and make pie after pie after pie.  We're talking 20 or more pies!  Anyway, along with making dough from scratch, we learned how to make the crimped edges and the vents on top.  And let me tell you - crimping the edges with long fingernails is not fun.

I

It kinda looks like my pie is wearing a foil hat to ward off an alien invasion.  But it's not.  I'll call this a pie hat - it helps protect the edge of the crust from getting too brown while allowing the inside to bake and the middle to brown.

Baked to perfection!  This smelled so good - I almost didn't want to wait til the hubs got home to dig in to it.  But, luckily for him, I did.

I had never made a double-crust apple pie before.  Usually the hubs prefers crumb-top apple pie, but I gave him the choice and he said "What the hell?  Let's go with double this time."  I was kinda surprised, but the man never ceases to surprise me.  The spices in this pie weren't too strong - I hate it when you bite in to an apple pie (or any kind of pie, for that matter) and you can't taste the apples.  Oh, and the crust came out perfectly browned with the aid of the pie hat.

Do you have a favorite pie?  Or even a favorite dessert?  This isn't my *favorite* dessert, but it's definitely up in the top 5.  I don't know what it is about cooking, but things always seem to taste better when somebody else makes it for you!

Well, I can hear Thing 2 has woken from his nap.  I guess that means my blogging session is over and it's time to feel the animals.  Have a great rest of your day!

An Apple A Day

Good evening, Kitschies! I hope you had a productive Monday. Mine was...notsomuch. But that's kind of a good thing. The docs I work with were off today, so that means I was off, too. I had grand plans of going to the library, Target, Sam's Club, to an appointment with the hubs, go by the office, get stuff done around the house. You know - work my butt off on my day off. Well, I didn't do even half of my wish list. I went to the appointment with the hubs, went by the office, Sam's Club...AND I spent a couple hours playing Rock Band...by myself! I bought/downloaded a couple new songs so I sat on my butt, by myself, playing Rock Band. Man, I love that game!! The people who came up with this stupid thing were evil geniuses! I'm sure my neighbors appreciated the loud music coming from my living room, but I didn't care!! It was fun! But, it's back to the grind tomorrow. All good things must come to an end, right?

My coworker and I are going to get back on the exercise wagon again. I had to pinkie-swear with her that we were going to do this. I could do it on my own, but it is so much better to have somebody to complain to who's going through the same hell. We did Jillian Michaels' 30-Day Shred a couple months back. Well, I finished all 30 days...she did about 20. Either way, it really did work. It consistently kicked my butt! I didn't lose any weight, but the one time I did check, I had managed to lose at least 1% body fat in the course of a week. I'm going to keep better track of it this time around. Today was workout 1. That workout is THE WORST!! Why? Because my fatt butt hasn't seen that much activity since...well...since the last time I did this dang workout. The sessions are only 20 minutes but you work every single second of that 20 minutes and by the end, I'm dripping sweat, my legs get shaky and I'm panting like I'm going to die! I just have to keep reminding myself that the end result is worth it. On top of working out, I'm going to start modifying my diet and trying to cut out some carbs. Not all because I don't want to set myself up for complete failure. I've written down my weight and my measurements and though I won't give you the specifics, I will periodically keep you posted on my progress. Wish me luck! I'll need it - because my legs are going to be on fire in the morning - I can't wait!

Now, speaking of exercise...this is part of the reason I'm having to exercise in the first place. I love to cook. More specifically, I love to bake. If I could bake something new every night, I would. That also means that I'd probably be 300 pounds. That wouldn't be a good thing for anybody. I usually don't do apple things in the summer, but I was craving an apple pie yesterday. So, I hopped on my favorite recipe site, Allrecipes, and I did a search for apple crisp. I didn't have any oatmeal on hand, so I lucked out with this recipe as it didn't call for oats. Have a looksee...

Apple Crisp

4 cups sliced apples
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 cup water
1 cup white sugar
1/2 cup butter
3/4 cup all-purpose flour

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease an 8x8 inch baking dish.

Place apples in prepared dish. Sprinkle with cinnamon. Pour water over all. In a bowl, cream together sugar and butter. Blend in flour. Sprinkle mixture evenly over apples.

Bake in preheated oven 30 to 40 minutes, until apples are tender and crust is golden.

NOTES: I used a little bit more than 4 cups of apples. Who can go wrong with *more* apples? I used Royal Gala. Instead of 1 cup white sugar, I used 1/2 cup white sugar and 1/2 packed brown sugar. I think it gave it a nice pastry taste. I don't know if I melted my butter too much, but it says to *sprinkle* the mixture evenly over the apples - yeah, mine more like plopped on to the apples. I had to pick it up and put little globs all over until the apples were covered, more or less. I don't know that it made any real difference in the long run because I thought it turned out just fine.

See? The "crust" is just kinda blobbed on?

My helper, Mr Nate :)

Fresh out of the oven!

The finished product - perfect with vanilla ice cream!

I really like how this turned out. The "crust" wasn't too sweet and it was pretty light. It had a little bit of juice - a little thicker than water, but not quite as thick as syrup. The extra juice would be good drizzled over the ice cream. We have about a third of the pan left and it's taking all of my willpower to not go into the kitchen and pull a big spoon out of the drawer and...

Enough of that nonsense! I forgot to mention before that if you try a recipe of mine, I'd love to hear how it turned out for you. Please drop me an email at megharmeyer @ gmail . com - any and all comments are welcome! Thanks for reading - good thing looking at pictures can't make you fat! :D

Listening to: Dead and Bloated by STP (how eerily appropriate - thanks Pandora!)
Mood: determined