Homemade Apple Pie

Dave has been asking for months for me to make him an apple pie, and for various reasons I just never did it. Today, I decided I'd make him that pie since we're having company. I mean, come on. What's more impressive to company than a homemade pie?

INGREDIENTS
1 recipe pastry for a 9 inch double crust pie (Recipe included below)
1/2 cup unsalted butter
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/4 cup water
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
Dash of cinnamon
8 Granny Smith apples - peeled, cored and sliced (I used 5 large apples)

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C). Melt the butter in a saucepan. Stir in flour to form a paste. Add water, white sugar and brown sugar, and bring to a boil. Reduce temperature and let simmer for 5 minutes.


2. Place the bottom crust in your pie plate. Toss apples with sugar and butter liquid and place in pie plate, mounded slightly. Cover with a lattice work of crust or one full crust. Brush crust with egg wash or melted butter.


3. Bake 15 minutes in the preheated oven. Reduce the temperature to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Continue baking for 35 to 45 minutes, until apples are soft.

Pie Crust

INGREDIENTS
1/4 cup shortening
1/4 cup butter
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup cold water

DIRECTIONS

1. Mix shortening, flour, and salt together with a fork or a pastry blender until very crumbly. Add as much water as needed to hold together, and mix lightly with a fork. To double this recipe, use 1 cup shortening, 2 1/2 cups flour, 1 teaspoon salt, and 1 cup cold water.


2. Kneed only to combine, one crust at a time, on a floured pastry cloth, to about an inch larger than pie plate. Fold carefully in half. Lift to pie plate, and unfold. Fit into pan. For a single-crust pie, trim with a small knife to about 1/2 inch beyond rim. Fold up, and pinch so edge of pie is raised from rim. For a two-crust pie, trim bottom crust to edge of rim, fill, and top with crust about 1/2 inch larger than rim. Tuck top crust under bottom along rim. Seal with floured fork.

Sloppy Joes, Sloppy, Sloppy Joes

Holy Crap She Updated!

I have been craving sloppy joes (shut up) forever and four days now. Even though Dave emailed to say he'd be home late tonight, I decided I was making sloppy joes for myself anyway.

I always used to think sloppy joes came from a can, but did you know you can MAKE them yourself, and please do. These were really delicious. I had two. I think I might just go get more joes without the bread...

INGREDIENTS
1 pound lean ground beef
1/4 cup chopped onion
1/4 cup chopped green bell pepper
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon prepared yellow mustard
3/4 cup ketchup
3 teaspoons brown sugar
salt to taste
ground black pepper to taste

DIRECTIONS

1. In a medium skillet over medium heat, brown the ground beef, onion, and green pepper; drain off liquids.


2. Stir in the garlic powder, mustard, ketchup, and brown sugar; mix thoroughly. Reduce heat, and simmer for 30 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.

Lopsided Lego Cake

Don't be like me kids. I decided exactly 3 days before Dave's birthday that I would make him a lego cake. Unfortunately, something came up the Thursday before his birthday, so I didn't get to make it and take my time like I wanted. Regardless, he loved his legos and I got 800 cool wife points.

Normally I would have made the cake from scratch as well as the frosting, but that whole time crunch thing had me using a boxed cake and frosting in a can. Truth be told, I was embarrassed, but no one knew since I always make cakes from scratch. TA DA! My comments are in italics.

INGREDIENTS

1 box Betty Crocker® SuperMoist® cake mix (any flavor)
Water, vegetable oil and eggs called for on cake mix box
Tray or cardboard, 15x12 inches, covered (I ended up getting smart and using my large cutting board.)
2 containers (1 lb each) Betty Crocker® Rich & Creamy vanilla frosting
Red, yellow and blue paste food colors
12 large marshmallows, cut in half crosswise (Use kitchen scissors to cut them.)

DIRECTIONS

1. Heat oven to 350°F (325°F for dark or nonstick pan.) Grease bottom and sides of 13x9-inch pan with shortening and lightly flour, or spray with baking spray with flour. Make cake mix as directed on box, using water, oil and eggs. Pour into pan.


2. Bake as directed on box for 13x9-inch pan. Cool 10 minutes; remove from pan to cooling rack. Cool completely, about 1 hour.


3. Using serrated knife, cut cake crosswise into thirds. Cut one of the thirds in half crosswise to make 2 squares. On tray, place cake pieces. Cover; freeze 1 hour or until firm.


4. In small bowl for each color, tint 1 cup frosting red, 1 cup frosting yellow and 2/3 cup frosting blue with food colors. Leave remaining frosting white.


5. Frost top and sides of 1 square cake with blue frosting. Frost 4 marshmallow halves with blue frosting; place in square design on cake. Frost remaining square cake and 4 marshmallow halves with white frosting; arrange marshmallows on top of cake. Frost 1 rectangular section of cake and 8 marshmallow halves with yellow frosting; arrange marshmallows on top of cake. Frost remaining section of cake and remaining marshmallows with red frosting; arrange marshmallows on top of cake. Store loosely covered at room temperature.

Recipe from Betty Crocker.

Guacamole

I don't think I've mentioned this yet, but anytime I use a photo that's not my own, you can click on it and it will take you directly to the photographer's site. In this case, that's the recipe on www.allrecipes.com because this photo was taken by them for this particular recipe. Moving on, I made this for the 4th of July just like everything else I've posted this week. Even my husband who hates guacamole loved this. It's a really easy recipe, and was no problem for me even though I've never made guac before. Actually, I'd never made anything I made for the 4th before. I'm a daredevil like that.

TIPS

If you're an avocado virgin like me, I think it's best to buy under-ripe avocados and ripen them in a paper bag yourself than trying to figure out just what a ripe avocado feels like.

The unripened avocados are a bright green. Just buy them a day or two before you need them and put them in a brown paper bag. When they are dark all over and give into the pressure of your finger when you squeeze it, they're ripe.

INGREDIENTS

3 avocados - peeled, pitted, and mashed
1 lime, juiced
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup diced onion
3 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro
2 roma (plum) tomatoes, diced
1 teaspoon minced garlic
1 pinch ground cayenne pepper (optional)

DIRECTIONS

1. 1. In a medium bowl, mash together the avocados, lime juice, and salt. Mix in onion, cilantro, tomatoes, and garlic. Stir in cayenne pepper. Refrigerate 1 hour for best flavor, or serve immediately.

Brownie and Peanut Butter Ice Cream Sandwiches

I'm not going to lie. These were a pain in the butt to make. Actually, that's probably an understatement. So many things went wrong, but I looked into my inner Bob Ross to realize mistakes are just Happy Little Accidents and an opportunity to be creative. Because she is Martha Stewart, the recipe actually calls for you to MAKE your own ice cream. I'm lazy so I bought Breyers Double Churn Peanut Butter Fudge Ice Cream. It worked okay, but even after sitting out for 15 minutes, the texture never was really spreadable. It went straight from a solid to a liquid, so I had to work quickly.

TIPS

If you make the full recipe, make sure your cooling racks are as large as the pan you use. Otherwise your brownie will break, but this makes for a delicious ice cream topping.

If part of your brownie breaks after assembly while in the freezer, don't fret. The split topped brownie actually looked really beautiful with some ice cream peaking through.

INGREDIENTS

Vegetable-oil cooking spray
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
11 ounces (2 sticks plus 6 tablespoons) unsalted butter, room temperature
7 ounces unsweetened chocolate
2 2/3 cups sugar
4 large eggs
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
4 cups Peanut Butter Ice Cream

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Coat two 13- by-18-inch rimmed baking sheets with cooking spray, line with parchment, and spray parchment.


2. Whisk flour, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl. Melt butter and chocolate in a large heatproof bowl set over a pot of simmering water, stirring until smooth. Remove from heat, add sugar, and stir until dissolved. Stir in eggs, 1 at a time, and then stir in vanilla. Stir in flour mixture until just incorporated. (Do not overmix.)


3. Divide batter between pans. Use an offset spatula to spread batter into thin, even layers. Bake, rotating pans once, until batter just begins to set, 8 to 10 minutes. (The surfaces will look dry, and testers inserted in the centers will come out wet.) Let cool completely in pans on wire racks.


4. To assemble, place the flat side of a large wire rack over 1 brownie, and invert rack, brownie, and pan together. Remove pan and parchment. Repeat with remaining brownie. Place a clean rimmed baking sheet over 1 brownie, and invert pan, brownie, and rack together. Remove rack. The brownie should be in the pan, top side up.


5. Spread ice cream in a smooth, even layer over brownie in pan. Align pan lengthwise with remaining brownie on rack, and use rack to quickly and carefully flip brownie onto ice cream. Remove rack. Press top brownie gently. Cover and freeze until firm, at least overnight (or up to 1 week).


6. Uncover, and cut into squares. Serve immediately (or cover and freeze ice cream sandwiches overnight).

Yeilds 3 dozen sandwiches.

Spicy Bean Salsa

DON'T JUDGE ME. Sometimes, I crave something that looks complicated, but is incredibly simple. Sometimes that involves vegetables in a can and pre-made dressing. I've accepted my flaws, and enjoyed it without shame! It was delicious. So delicious, that I plan on making this on a regular basis either as a side, or as a salsa served with chips. I made a few changes to the recipe, which I'll post here, but you can click here to see the original recipe.

INGREDIENTS

1 (15 ounce) can chick peas
1 (15 ounce) can black beans, rinsed and drained
1 (15 ounce) can whole kernel corn, drained
1/2 cup chopped red onion
2 Roma tomatoes, diced
1 cup Italian-style salad dressing
1/2 teaspoon garlic salt

DIRECTIONS

1. In a medium bowl, combine chick peas, black beans, corn, red onion, and tomatoes. Season with Italian-style salad dressing and garlic salt; mix well. Cover, and refrigerate overnight to blend flavors.

Crock-Pot Pizza

YAY! I'm back from vacation and it's only taken me 3 weeks and a lot of people beating me with wet noodles to update. We had a GREAT vacation and you can check out a few highlights here.

On Sunday we had some friends over, but I didn't really feel like cooking. I decided to browse crock pot recipes on Taste of Home and found this. I'll be honest. I wasn't crazy about making it, but it was easy and didn't require a lot of prep. Everyone loved it however, except for me. I thought it was just okay. More of a "kids" meal, but hey, most the time I'm a big kid anyway! On a side note, I could NOT bring myself to use 6 CUPS of cheese in one recipe, so I only used 4 cups instead...still a lot of cheese and I could probably get away with using less.

INGREDIENTS:
1 package (16 ounces) wide egg noodles
1-1/2 pounds ground beef or turkey
1/4 cup chopped onion
1 jar (26 ounces) spaghetti sauce
1 jar (4-1/2 ounces) sliced mushrooms, drained
1-1/2 teaspoons Italian seasoning
1 package (3-1/2 ounces) sliced pepperoni, halved
3 cups (12 ounces) shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese
3 cups (12 ounces) shredded cheddar cheese

DIRECTIONS:

1. Cook noodles according to package directions. Meanwhile, in a large skillet, cook beef and onion over medium heat until meat is no longer pink; drain. Stir in the spaghetti sauce, mushrooms and Italian seasoning. Drain noodles.


2. In a 5-qt. slow cooker coated with cooking spray, spread a third of the meat sauce. Cover with a third of the noodles and pepperoni. Sprinkle with a third of the cheese. Repeat layers twice. Cover and cook on low for 3-4 hours or until heated through and cheese is melted.

Yield: 6-8 servings.