Apple Pie

This pie is from Pioneer Woman and it's delish.  I added more cinnamon (it only called for 1/8th tsp) and I also added more apples than it originally called for (I made three of these pies this weekend and the first ones were a bit sparse in my opinion).  I also changed it to just Apple Pie in my cook book because I can never find my recipes when they begin with random adjectives haha!

Dreamy Apple Pie

Prep: 20 Minutes	Level: Easy
Cook: 1 Hours	Serves: 12

Ingredients

• 1 whole Unbaked Pie Crust
• Filling
• 3 whole Large (4 Or 5 Small) Granny Smith Apples, Peeled, Cored, And Sliced Thin
• 1/2 cup Brown Sugar
• 1/2 cup Sugar
• 1 Tablespoon All-purpose Flour
• 1 cup Heavy Cream
• 2 teaspoons Vanilla Extract
• 1/8 teaspoon Cinnamon
• Topping
• 7 Tablespoons Butter
• 3/4 cups All-purpose Flour
• 1/2 cup Brown Sugar
• 1/4 cup Pecans (more To Taste)
• Dash Of Salt

Preparation

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. 

Roll out pie dough and place it in a pie pan. Decorate the edges as desired. 

Add apple slices to a large bowl. In a separate bowl, mix together cream, 1/2 cup brown sugar, 1/2 cup sugar, 1 tablespoon flour, vanilla, and cinnamon. Pour over apples. Pour apples into pie shell.

In the bowl of a food processor (or you can mix by hand) combine butter, flour, sugar, pecans (chop if you're not using a food processor), and salt. Mix until everything comes together in clumps. Pour topping over apples. 

Attach foil to the edges and lay a piece of flat foil loosely over the top of the pie. Place pie pan on top of a rimmed cookie sheet and bake for one hour. At the end, remove foil and allow to finish baking and browning. Can bake for up to 15 or 20 minutes more if necessary.

Remove from oven when pie is bubbly and golden brown.

Serve warm with hard sauce, whipped cream, or ice cream.

Perfect Pie Crust

This crust is super flaky and easy to make.  It tastes great!  I found this at Pioneerwoman.com... she's usually pretty reliable when you're looking for fatty foods. ;)

Perfect Pie Crust

Ingredients

·         1-1/2 cup Crisco (vegetable Shortening)

·         3 cups All-purpose Flour

·         1 whole Egg

·         5 Tablespoons Cold Water

·         1 Tablespoon White Vinegar

·         1 teaspoon Salt

Preparation

In a large bowl, with a pastry cutter, gradually work the Crisco into the flour for about 3 or 4 minutes until it resembles a coarse meal. In a small bowl, beat an egg with a fork and then pour it into the flour/shortening mixture. Add 5 tablespoons of cold water, 1 tablespoon of white vinegar and 1 teaspoon of salt. Stir together gently until all of the ingredients are incorporated.

Separate the dough into thirds. ***Note: Separating it into thirds will result in three thin crusts. If you prefer a more substantial crust, separate it in half.*** Form 3 evenly sized balls of dough and place each dough into a large Ziploc bag. Using a rolling pin, slightly flatten each ball of dough (about ½ inch thick) to make rolling easier later. Seal the bags and place them in the freezer until you need them. (If you will be using it immediately it’s still a good idea to put in the freezer for about 15 to 20 minutes to chill.)

When you are ready to use the dough to make a crust, remove from the freezer and allow to thaw for 15 minutes. On a floured surface roll the dough, starting at the center and working your way out. (Sprinkle some flour over top of the dough if it’s a bit too moist.) If the dough is sticking to the countertop use a metal spatula and carefully scrape it up and flip it over and continue rolling until it’s about ½ inch larger in diameter than your pie pan.

With a spatula, lift the dough carefully from the surface of the counter into the pie pan. Gently press the dough against the corner of the pan. Go around the pie pan pinching and tucking the dough to make a clean edge.

Pumpkin Bread with Brown Butter Maple Icing

Mmmm....this is goooood!  I had to use the electric hand mixer to bring the icing ingredients together.
Pumpkin Bread with Brown Butter Maple Icing

1/2 C. butter, softened
1 C. dark brown sugar
1 can pumpkin puree (not pumpkin pie filling)
2 eggs
1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 1/2 C. all-purpose flour
FOR GLAZE:
1/2 C. butter
1 1/2 C. powdered sugar
2 Tbsp maple syrup
3-4 Tbsp milk, optional, if glaze is too thick.

Preheat the oven to 350°.  Liberally grease a 9' loaf pan with cooking spray and set aside.
Meanwhile, in a large bowl, combine all of the above bread ingredients and beat at medium speed with a handheld mixer, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed, until well-mixed.
Pour the bread mixture in to the prepared pan.  Bake for approx. 40-50 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out mostly clean or with a couple moist crumbs (not wet).  Cool for about 15 minutes, then very gently remove from pan and transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
While bread cools, make your glaze:  in a small saucepan, heat the butter over medium-low heat until melted.  Continue cooking, watching butter carefully, until it sizzles and begins to turn amber in color, about 4-5 minutes.  Watch it carefully because it can quickly burn!  When butter looks caramel-colored an smells kind of nutty, it's done.  Remove from heat and stir in the powdered sugar and maple syrup until a soft glaze has formed.  Use a handheld mixer, if needed.  Add the milk, a little at a time, if it's too thick.  Pour/spread the glaze generously over the top of the pumpkin bread and let it set, about 30 minutes.  Serve and enjoy!

Recipe altered slightly from thedomesticrebel.com

Coconut Lime Chicken

Delish.  I served the Serrano peppers separately - they're hotter than jalapenos so a little goes a long way.

Coconut Lime Chicken

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, trimmed

3 Tbsp canola oil

Zest and juice of 1 large lime

1 tsp cumin

2 Tbsp soy sauce

1 – 1 ½ tsp kosher salt

3 Tbsp brown sugar

2 tsp curry powder

1 can coconut milk

¼ C. chopped fresh cilantro, plus extra for garnish

Optional – 1 serrano pepper, finely minced or cut into fine slivers

Place the chicken in a gallon zip top bag and flatten them uniformly with a meat mallet.

In a bowl, add all of the marinade ingredients together: oil, lime juice/zest, cumin, soy sauce, salt, sugar, curry powder, coconut milk, lime juice, cilantro and serrano pepper, if using. 

Pour the marinade over the chicken in the zip top bag, squeeze the air out and allow to marinade at least 30 minutes, or preferably up to 2 hours in the fridge. 

After marinating, remove the chicken and set aside the remaining marinade.  Grill the chicken over medium high heat until no longer pink inside.

While cooking the meat, add the marinade to a small saucepan and bring to a full boil for at least 2-3 minutes, stirring frequently. 

Serve the chicken with additional sauce, as well as fresh cilantro and fresh lime wedges, if desired.

Recipe altered slightly from http://menumusings.blogspot.com/2013/02/coconut-lime-chicken.html

SOFT MAPLE SUGAR COOKIES

Probably not a good idea to make these if you're trying to lose weight.  Or if you don't want to gain weight.  I ate more than I care to admit!  I have a feeling these would be Mom approved as well. ;)

SOFT MAPLE SUGAR COOKIES

INGREDIENTS:

·         1/2 cup butter, softened

·         1/2 cup shortening

·         1 1/2 cups granulated sugar

·         1/4 cup packed brown sugar

·         1/4 cup pure maple syrup

·         1 tsp. baking soda

·         1 tsp. cream of tartar

·         1/8 tsp. salt

·         3 egg yolks

·         1/2 tsp. vanilla

·         1 3/4 cups all purpose flour

Maple icing

·         1/4 cup heavy cream or milk

·         1/4 cup butter, melted

·         3 tbs. pure maple syrup

·         2 to 2 1/2 cups powdered sugar.

DIRECTIONS:

1.      Preheat oven to 300 degrees.

2.     In a large bowl beat butter and shortening with a mixer on medium for 30 seconds. Add the next 6 ingredients (through the salt). Beat on medium for 2 minutes, scraping bowl as needed. Beat in egg yolks and vanilla. Beat in flour.

3.     Shape dough into 1 1/2 inch balls. Place 3 inches apart on an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake 12 to 14 minutes or until edges are lightly browned (tops will still look slightly soft).

4.     Cool on cookie sheet for 2 minutes. Remove; cool on a wire rack. Centers will dip as cookies cool. Drizzle with maple icing.

Maple Icing

1.     Stir together 1/4 cup heavy cream or milk with 1/4 cup melted butter and 3 tablespoons of pure maple syrup. Whisk in 2 to 2 1/2 cups powdered sugar to make icing drizzling consistency.

Recipe from BETTER HOMES AND GARDENS.

Mediterranean Power Salad

I found this recipe at ourbestbites.com... I left out the quinoa/brown rice, but I was brave and left the onion in.  I don't usually do raw onion, but Jeremy loves it and I was pleasantly surprised because it wasn't overwhelming and it all tasted so good together.  I actually didn't add chicken this time either, but I wouldn't be opposed to it in the future.

Mediterranean Power Salad

Prep Time:10 Min

Serves 1

Ingredients

·         3 ounces chicken breast (optional)

·         2 tablespoons Great Northern Beans

·         2-3 slices red onion, finely diced

·         2 tablespoons crumbled feta

·         1 small handful grape or cherry tomatoes

·         4-ish cups crunchy greens (or something like romaine mixed with spinach)

·         2 tablespoons hummus (Sabra roasted garlic flavor)

·         2 tablespoons light balsamic vinaigrette (Kraft olive oil balsamic vinaigrette is great)

Instructions

** I just eyeball the ingredients since this is for a single serving salad!

Mix all ingredients in bowl until hummus is well spread throughout.  Top with dressing.

Magic Milkshakes

These are just kind of a fun and yummy way to use some food storage products! We've tried several flavors and really liked them. These are more of the drinkable kind of milkshake, kinda like a Wendy's Frosty, not the ones that are just ice cream in a cup.
If you happen to have Morning Moo brand powdered milk you'll need less sugar because it's already sweetened (uh, fyi, it's not really milk. It's like kool-aid powdered milk. Too bad I didn't know that before I bought a bunch). I've included the adjustments at the end.

Magic Milkshakes
1 1/2 - 2 c. ice cold water
1 1/2 c. non-fat dry milk powder
2/3 c. sugar
1/4 c. unsweetened cocoa
1 tsp. vanilla
2 T. oil and/or a 5-second squirt or non-stick spray, optional**
ice

Place all of the ingredients in the blender, adding enough ice to make it about 3/4 full. Process for 2 minutes, or until it's thoroughly blended.

**The oil adds creaminess to the shake, so if you want it to be creamy, it needs some fat. The spray has lecithin in it, which is an emulsifier, that helps bind it together. Some people only do the spray to keep the fat content down. I often don't add these and we still like them, but they aren't as creamy. I may try it with coconut oil sometime...

Yield: 4 12 oz servings

Variations:

• Add 1 ripe banana for a chocolate banana shake
• Add a spoonful of peanut butter for a chocolate peanut butter shake
• Add some mint extract or some mint candies for a chocolate mint shake
• Add some orange zest (or orange extract) for a chocolate orange shake 
• To make vanilla shakes: omit cocoa, reduce sugar to 1/2 c. and add 1 T. vanilla. 

Morning Moo adjustments: use 1/3 c. sugar and 3 T. cocoa

Altered from Hillbilly Housewife