Dutch Apple Pie.

I've been making this pie for a long time. I don't know when I found the recipe in my mom's recipe box, but I know I offered to make it for Chris back when we weren't even dating and I was supposed to come over for dinner and meet his parents. I chickened out of making it because my mom and a friend convinced me that it was too...oh I don't even remember the phrasing, but that I wasn't to give the impression that we were in a serious relationship. Oh, the sweet, sweet irony. I've since made it for my husband, his parents, and many others over the years. It is my pie specialty, and it's deceptively easy.

Dutch Apple Pie

Ingredients:

6 large baking apples (granny smiths are best, the tartness is helpful.)

1/2 c. sugar

1/2 t. cinnamon

salt

2 T. butter

______________

2 c. flour

2 t. baking powder

1/2 t. cinnamon

salt

1 c. sugar

1 c. thin creme (half & half, evaporated milk, or even whipping cream works here.)

A deep dish pie pan (regular pans work, but 99% of the time they'll overflow a bit while cooking.)

Directions:

Slice apples into baking dish. (I usually peel them first, but you don't have to.) Add sugar, cinnamon, salt and butter.

Add sugar, cinnamon, salt and butter.

Sift sugar, flour, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt. Cover the apples with this. Stir in thin creme.

Cover top with cinnamon sugar.

Bake at 350°F for 45 minutes to 1 hour. (there's no bake time on my recipe, I just check the pie around this time and make sure the dough around the apples is cooked through.

Enjoy!

Asparagus Cashew Stir-fry.

This was a new recipe for us, but we'll be repeating it often. It's vegetarian, but you don't really miss the meat because there's so much other good stuff in it already! This will be a regular on our menu.

Asparagus Cashew Stir-Fry, from Best Light Recipes 2006, Taste of Home Magazine

(Recipe from Christine Sherrill)

Ingredients:

1 lb. asparagus (We used 1/2 lb. and then added 1/2 lb. broccoli instead)

1/2 c. chopped green onions

1/2 c. chopped sweet red pepper

1 garlic clove, minced

1 t. canola oil (If using a wok, use peanut oil)

2 T. cornstarch

1 1/2 c. vegetable broth

3 T. soy sauce, reduced sodium if possible

1/4 t. ground ginger (what we used)

-or-

3/4 - 1 t. minced fresh gingerroot

1/2 c. cashews

1 t. sesame oil (alas, we had none, and so used sesame seeds instead)

4 c. hot cooked brown rice

Directions:

Begin cooking your rice.

In a large nonstick skillet or large wok, sauté the asparagus, onions, red pepper, garlic, and broccoli if using, in oil until tender. Combine the cornstarch, broth, soy sauce, and ginger until blended; add to the skillet. Bring to a boil; cook and stir for 2 minutes or until thickened.

Reduce heat; add cashews and sesame oil (or sesame seeds). cook two minutes longer or until heated through. Serve over rice. Serves 4. Enjoy!

Birthday Cake.

Happy 85th Birthday, Gramma Eva!

This is one of my favorite pictures of my Gramma, my mom, (Gayle) and me at my wedding three years ago.

This is the cake I made in honor of my Gramma's birthday. (My mom made the real birthday cake for her birthday party.) Clearly I haven't mastered the skill of frosting a cake well quite yet. At least not with this frosting...

The cake did still turn out to be pretty good. Unfortunately, the layers cracked as I was transferring them out of their pans, so they got a bit dry. The frosting helped a bit, but we ended up eating most of the leftovers in a bowl with milk poured over top. (A good solution for a dry cake, but really just a good way to eat cake regardless. If you haven't tried it, do.)

The recipes for the frosting and the cake are as follows. I regularly use this frosting recipe, it's an old family favorite, from a cookbook published in my Gramma's hometown the year I was born. The cake was a new recipe, and I haven't decided yet if I'll try it again. It was good, but there are so many spectacular cake recipes out there to really justify wasting time on one that's just good. Still, it was very quick, simple, and with a whipped cream frosting, any dryness that may result would easily be covered up. (As opposed to this frosting, as much as I love it, it develops almost a candy shell, which with the right type of cake is fabulous, but with a dry cake only exacerbates the problem.) Either way, I highly reccomend using either recipe, but perhaps not together. :)

Gold Layer Cake, from The Joy of Cooking by Irma Rombauer

Ingredients:

1 cup sugar, sifted

1/2 cup butter, softened

3 egg yolks, well beaten

1 t. vanilla extract (I used this)

-or-

1 t. grated lemon rind

2 c. cake flour, sifted before measuring

2 t. baking powder

1/4 t. salt

3/4 c. milk

Directions:

Sift sugar. Beat the butter until soft, then gradually add sugar. Blend until creamy. Beat in the egg yolks. Add vanilla or lemon rind.

Sift before measuring the cake flour. Resift with the baking powder and salt.

Add the sifted ingredients to the butter mixture, alternating in three parts with the milk. Beat the batter until smooth after each addition.

Bake in two greased 8 inch layer pans in a 375ºF oven for a half hour. Spread layers with a good frosting or dust top with powdered sugar. Enjoy!

My Favorite Chocolate Frosting, from Sharing Our Best, Turton Centennial Cookbook

(Recipe by Sylvia Biffert and Judy K. Hansen)

Ingredients:

1 c. sugar

1/4 c. butter

1/4 c. milk

1/2 c. chocolate chips

Directions:

Bring sugar, butter and milk to a boil and add chocolate chips, stirring until melted. Spread on cake.

Additional hints with this: If the frosting cools too much, it will harden before you can spread it well. Simply reheat and add a bit more milk, and you'll be fine. If it gets too thin, add a few more chocolate chips. You'll want to frost when it's just barely too thick to drizzle. Enjoy!

Blueberry Cobbler.

I have made this cobbler SO many times this past summer. When blueberries were on sale, $3 for 5 lbs? I made it three times. In a week. Yup, it's just that good. (Please note, I shared the cobbler with other people. Three cobblers to myself? I don't think even I could handle that sugar high.)

The original recipe is for blackberry cobbler, and, well, blackberries are nice and all, but my husband hates the seeds. Thus, blackberries are not often spotted in our home. You can make this with any sort of berry, or maybe even other fruit, sliced small, but fresh works better than frozen. I've done both, and the frozen berries tend to juice a bit too much and it gets soggy. That said, if you let them thaw, drain them, and dry them, it should be fine. Here's the recipe. 

One last thing. The Pioneer Woman. If you haven't been introduced yet, oh my, but you need to be. I've yet to have a recipe of hers come even close to failing, and most I make again and again. On top of all that, she's hilarious. :) 

Enjoy!

Basil Ricotta Omelette.

Delicious Simplicity. I love having this for a quick and easy lunch. Five ingredients, less than 10 minutes to make, and it tastes beyond restaurant quality.

I found this recipe in a lovely FREE downloadable cookbook called Stone Soup, from a blog by the same name. The whole philosophy of the blog and cookbook alike are minimalist home cooking, an idea I can get behind wholeheartedly, even if I do fall short of the idea often enough. :) Really though, it's free. Check it out, you won't be sorry. :) If you're adventurous, try the Laksa Soup. Yum.

Basil Ricotta Omelette, from The Stone Soup Cookbook, by Jules Clancy

I modified this slightly to serve one person.

2 eggs

1/2 T. Butter

A Splash of milk (Whisked into the eggs, makes them fluffy and gives a bit more volume, opt.)

2 T. Ricotta

A few basil leaves (Yes, basil is shown above, I happen to have a miniature variety growing in my garden)

Directions:

Whisk the eggs lightly together and add milk if preferred. Heat an omelette pan or sauce pan over medium/medium low heat and melt butter. (Recipe says med-high, this scorches my meal...adjust as you see fit.) Quickly pour in your eggs. Stir continually to move cooked egg off the bottom.

When the egg is almost cooked, drop small bits of ricotta on top and let melt. I folded my omelette in half and allowed some cheese to cook inside, but this is again optional. When omelette is cooked sprinkle with basil and additional cheese if you like. Enjoy!