Easy as pie

A few weeks ago my very sweet sister-in-law brought us bags full of yummy little apples fresh from her trees. Auden has loved having them around to eat because they are small, so they are the perfect size for his little hands. He will usually eat two or three a day. I have loved how fresh and pretty they look all piled up in glass bowls and decoratively placed throughout my house. And as for Nathan, he loves that all these apples means homemade apple pie.

Making apple pie only sounds hard. It's actually very easy and it's very, very worth it because;

#1 Homemade apple pie is the yummiest thing ever
and
#2 Your husband will love you forever for making one for him.
I decided to make a fresh apple pie for my hubby just this past weekend. Here's my recipe, just in case you ever want to make one of your own. And trust me... you do.

Grandma's Apple Pie

4-5 large granny smith apples -- peeled and sliced

1 cup sugar

1 Tbsp cinnamon

2 Tbsp flour

2 shakes nutmeg

2 Tbsp butter -- cut into smaller pieces

recipe for 2 crust pie dough -- prepared

(I like to use Martha's, but any pie dough will do. Or if you want to save yourself a lot of time, pick up a package of refrigerated pie crust dough. I do this all the time and it turns out great)

Combine apples, sugar, cinnamon, flour, and nutmeg in a large zip lock bag and shake well until all the apples are evenly coated.

Roll out dough for bottom crust and gently press into the bottom of a 9" pie pan.

Pour apples into pie pan.

Top apples with butter. Cover with top crust dough.

Press the top and bottom crust dough together around the edges and trim off excess dough.

Flute the edges. Cut slits in the top crust for ventilation.

Bake at 350* for about 30 minutes, then cover the edges with foil to prevent browning and bake about another 20 minutes or until it's done.

When it comes out it should look something like this...

Um... Yum.

Let it cool on a cooling rack for a few minutes while you make up a glaze by mixing together:

1 Tbsp melted butter

1/2 cup powdered sugar

1 tsp vanilla

milk - to consistency

Brush the glaze over top and edges of pie. Let pie finish cooling then slice, and enjoy!

Kiss Me, I'm Irish

No he's not, but I'll kiss him anyways.

I've been in the kitchen most of the day preparing a Saint Patrick's Day feast that would make my mother proud. On tonight's Menu:

Corned Beef

Fresh Steamed Cabbage

Potatoes

Dinner Rolls

Seafoam Salad

Grasshopper Pie

The secret to this meal is my Magic Pan. And if you don't know what a Magic Pan is then you really have been missing out. But that is a post for another day.

Happy Saint Patrick's Day!

And happy birthday to Robert who turns 15 today and also to Grandpa Nile, who just informed me he would like to change the pronunciation of his name to Nee-Lay. Happy Birthday to you.

Green goodness

Look what came straight from our garden...

The best looking green leaf lettuce I've ever seen!

Last nights dinner menu included taco salads, so I sent my husband and son out to our garden for lettuce. Nothing beats fresh produce and nothing is as fresh as straight from our backyard.

After years of putting it off, we finally planted our first family garden just a few months ago. We had no clue how to grow a proper garden, all we knew is that we have been counceled to do so. What started out as a little fenced off patch of dirt in our backyard is now a variety of corn, lettuce, cucumbers, broccoli, carrots and brussel sprouts.

It felt good, feeding my family something so fresh, and something we grew with our own hands. We were quite literally enjoying the fruits of our labors.

Cookie Love

My friend Jenna sent me a text this afternoon. "I'm craving snickerdoodles. You? I can contribute ingredients." Snickerdoodles? Yes Please! Jenna came over and brought our freind Kenzie along too. Here is what we came up with.

Snickerdoodles

1 c. shortening

1 1/2 c. sugar

2 eggs

2 3/4 cup flour

1 1/2 tsp cream of tartar

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

Mix together all ingredients. Roll cookie dough into balls and then roll balls in cinnamon sugar mixture (about 2 Tblsp cinnamon and 2 Tblsp sugar). Bake at 350* for 8-10 minutes. Makes 3-4 dozen cookies.

Enjoy!

Comfort for a cold day

It's cold outside today, and when it's cold outside there's nothing better than hot comfort food for dinner. Tonight we had the ultimate comfort food, my famous chicken pot pie. Except it isn't really famous, that just makes it sound really exciting. But my husband loves it, so thats good enough for me. Want to make one? Your husband will probably love it too! You will need:

1 bag (12 oz) frozen peas, carrots and corn

6 Tbls butter or margarine

1/3 c. all-purpose flour

1 c. chopped onion

1 c. chopped celery

1/2 tsp sea salt

1/4 tsp pepper

1 can (14 oz) chicken broth

2/3 c. milk

2-3 c. chopped cooked chicken

pastry for two-crust pie (save yourself a lot of time here and just buy refridgerated pie pastry. That's what I do when I'm in a hurry)

1. Rinse frozen peas carrots and corn in water to seperate. Drain well.

2. Melt butter in a large saucepan over medium heat. Stir in flour, onion, celery, salt and pepper. Stir in broth and milk. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Boil and stir 1 minute. Stir in chicken and peas and carrots. Remove from heat.

3. Roll out bottom pastry to fit a 9-inch square pan. Ease into pan leaving some pastry hanging over the edge. Pour chicken mixture into pastry-lined pan.

4. Roll out top pastry. Place over chicken mixture. Turn edges of pastry under and flute.

5. Bake at 425* for about 35 minutes or until golden brown.

ENJOY!

Everyone here at our house loved dinner tonight.

Yup. Everyone.

Have a happy weekend!