Apple Pie

Who doesn't love a hot fresh apple pie! Makes my mouth water just thinking about it. Two years ago the I would've laughed at myself for even contemplating making an apple pie from scratch, now I barely need to look at the recipe to make one.
Pie can be made 1 day ahead of time if you do not want to serve it warm. You could even heat it bake up in the oven if you make it the day before but want it warm.




What You Will Need-
2 Pie Crusts-see Pie Crust recipe
3-4 Apples
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup flour
1 1/2 teasp cinnamon
1/2 teasp ground nutmeg
3 Tblsp butter-cold
1 egg, beaten+1-2 Tblsp milk-for egg wash

Step 1-Peel, Core, and Slice Apples-
Peel apples, I like to use a potato peeler to keep as much of the apple flesh as possible.
Cut into 4ths and cut out core. Cut each 4th into 3-4 slices and place in a large mixing bowl.
You can use whatever type of apples you like, I used Honey Crisp Apples.

Step 2-Mix Filling and add to Apples-
In a smaller mixing bowl combine sugar, brown sugar, flour, cinnamon and nutmeg.
Pour over apples and toss together with hands until well combined.
Pour into pie pan with bottom crust.
Dot top of pie with the cold butter

Step 3: Seal and Bake Pie-
Add top crust onto pie.
Try to find your inner Martha Stewart and seal edges together. I have yet to find mine so my edges are never very pretty.
Brush top of pie with the egg wash and cut slits into the top for the steam to escape.
Bake at 350 for 1-1.5 hours, pie will take longer the more apples you use. I usually use 4 apples and therefore bake mine closer to 1.5 hours.
Remove from oven and allow to cool

Serve warm, vanilla ice cream is good with it this way, or serve cold the next day.

 

Love,
Christy

Pumpkin and apple empanadas (turnovers)

I have always wanted to know how to make empanadas ("ehm-pah-nad-ahs")  but being that my mom was a busy working woman and not the cooking type I never got a recipe, everything I learned from her is simple and quick..

I googled how to make empanadas even did it in Spanish (como hacer empanadas)  I had too many answers and nothing I liked.. I still like simplicity but I wanted something somewhat authentic..  I found things ranging from using frozen pie crust, to ready made from  the brand Goya to overly complicated doughs involving yeast, which to tell you the truth horrifies and scares me.. maybe it's that I love Lucy episode where she added too much yeast to homemade bread and then ended up getting attacked my it  ha ha.. I know silly huh?

Anyway I took things from here and there and experimented..  they came out great, and there is ways to make it easier, tired of pumpkin pie? Scrape the filling and add it to the empanadas..  I did make my pumpkin ones with the same method to make the pumpkin pie filling (minus the clove I think clove is too strong for my palate I never was keen on it.)  and the apple ones were super easy!.

The beautiful part of this.. is that empanadas can handle anything, pineapple pumpkin, sweet potatoes, yams, apple, figs! pretty much any fruit AND on top of that you can make dinner ones not necessarily dessert, you can make "picadillo" (ground beef w/veggies), ham and cheese, chicken, beans and cheese etc.. I truly love dishes that you can make your own... this recipe is a raw one, please feel free to add or take away or to make it different.. if you have a different way please share, I would love to perfect my method.. and  seriously go play with this recipe and share! have fun! I dare you! ;)

You start off  by making the dough of course, you will need:

4 cups of flour
2 TBS of butter COLD
12 TBS of Vegetable Shortening  (about 3/4 of those crisco sticks) COLD
4 TBS of sugar
3 tsp of salt
2 egg YOLKS
1 cup of water

mix the dry ingredients first, flour salt , sugar
add the butter and lard and mix it in with a fork just keep cutting it in with the fork as much as you can.

Whisk the egg yolks and water together and add it little by little while kneading the dough. The dough is going to look a bit like drying play dough don't worry make a big ball with it and saran wrap it and throw it in the fridge, let it cool for at least an hour.

flour the surface you will work on with a rolling pin stretch out balls of dough on the table to about 1/4 inch thick. cut them with a large cup or circular container depending on the size you want them.

Add the filling to the very center do not let the filling extend to the edges or it wont close.  For pumpkin you can use the canned pumpkin pie filling or make your own.  I made half pumpkin and the next day made apple ones..  2 apples chopped into small chunks boiled for 5 minutes then sauteed in a saucepan with 1 TBSP butter, 1/8 cup of sugar and a whole lot of Cinnamon ;).  I tell you, I love easy! <3

close them and mark them with a fork...

Pop them in the oven 350 degrees for about 30 minutes or until dough is firm, sprinkle them with Cinnamon and sugar and enjoy!

post by
Tanya E.

Apples and Pork Chops, the perfect Fall Dinner

Normally I would never post a blog without taste testing the food first but I ma 100% convinced this is going to be yummy.  Maybe its just my apple obsession talking here.  The recipe was given to me and I was told it is good and several wanted me to post it soon so I am taking a leap here.

The original recipe called for only 4 pork chops, we are having company tonight so I used 6.  It also only called for 1 apple and some nutmeg, I expanded upon this based on the reviews Heather gave me when she gave me the recipe.  I am using Honey Crisp Apples with this recipe, of course, you can use whatever kind of apples you like. 

What You Will Need:
4-6 Pork Chops, whatever cut you would like
4-5 good size Apples
2 Tblsp Brown Sugar
1 Tblsp Granulated (white) Sugar
1 Teasp Cinnamon
1/2 Teasp Nutmeg
3-4 Tblsp Butter
Salt and Pepper to taste

Pork Chops-fresh from the pig

Step 1: Prep The Pork-
In a medium frying pan coat bottom with oil.  Allow oil to become nice and hot over medium/high heat.  Lightly Salt and Pepper the pork on each side.  Once oil is hot brown chops on each side.  You are not trying to cook the meat here, just brown and bit and seal in the juices.  You want to cook about 1 minute per side.

Step 2: The Apples-
Peel and core apples.  When I am planning on cooking apples I like to peel them with a potato peeler.  It takes pretty much just the peel and saves all the yummy goodness inside for you to use, no apple is wasted. 
Once apples are peeled and cored chop them into slices as if you were making an apple pie.  Each apple will make about 10-12 slices.

apple slices nicely coated

In a large bowl combine Brown and Granulated Sugar, Cinnamon and Nutmeg.  Add in apple slices and toss with your hand until they are evenly coated.

Step 3: Add Everything To The Crockpot-
Layer 3 pork chops on the bottom of the crockpot, top with half of the apples.  Dot with butter.  I did not measure this part but I imagine I used 1-2 Tblsp of butter per layer.
Layer remaining chops, the rest of the apples and dot with butter again.
In order to get all of the seasoning out I added about 2 Tblsp of warm water to the bowl and splashed it around a bit so that it got almost all the seasoning left in the bowl and then poured this into the crockpot too.  Thats totally optional though, I am a cheapskate like that and want to make sure everything gets used.

Step 4: Cook and Enjoy-

in the crockpot and all ready too cook

Cook on low setting for 6-8 hrs and enjoy.  I will come add more once we have actually eaten this and will post a picture of the finished product.





















Just realized I never came back to post the final results.  Sorry, there is no picture, we were all starving and just starting eating it.
I checked everything at the 6 hr mark and decided it needed more sugar.  I am going to leave the amounts above as a starting point and you can decide for yourself if you want more.  I added another Tblsp of granulated sugar and I am not sure how much more brown sugar.  When I make this again I will most likely use 1/4 of a cup of brown sugar and 2 Tblsp of granulated sugar.

I do plan to make this again, it was very yummy although I wouldn't recommend using more than 4 pork chops.  I used 6 because we had company coming and it just seemed to be too much for the recipe.  I think it would've tasted much better with just 4.  I also plan to layer all of the apples in the middle next time as the apples on top did not cook as well as the ones in the middle did.

So there you have it, the final verdict: Good but needed much more sugar and less meat so as not to overwhelm the overall taste of the dish. 

This is a keeper though and I will be making it again.

Love,
Christy