Falltime Apple Pies

We visited an apple orchard last month, and while the picking was slim we did buy a bag of already harvested apples and enjoyed them mostly in pie form. Then two weeks ago our neighbor Jim cut down his apple tree because it was beginning to rot and offered us as many apples as we wanted. Tom and Cassie picked enough for me to make three apple pies. Acutally my mom and I made two apple pies and three mini pies to give to Jim.

I started with Paula Deen's recipe and tweaked here and there. I added a little more spice and a little less butter (but don't be fooled, there's a good amount of butter in the crust) and some baking changes. Viola! A wonderfully delicious apple pie that even my husband, who doesn't care for apple pies enjoys. And Susan told me I could "make it anytime". It's worth passing along.

Apple Pie

crust:
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt

3 Tablespoons granulated white sugar
2 sticks unsalted butter, cold and cubed

1/4 - 1/2 cup ice cold water

filling:

3/4 cup light brown sugar

1/4 cup all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon, plus more for sprinkling

1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

7-8 medium apples, peeled, cored and thinly sliced

lemon juice

In a food processor add flour, salt and sugar and pulse briefly. Add the cubed butter and pulse until crumbly. Do not over mix. Add cold water, a bit at a time, and toss until the mixture pulls together forming a dough. You might have to use your hands to get a nice ball formed. Do not over work it.

Divide the dough in half and flatten slightly to make rounds. Cover with plastic wrap, or bags (I don't have wrap) and refrigerate for 30 minutes. If you leave it in longer then allow it to warm a little before rolling out.

While the dough is chilling, mix together sugar, flour, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Then peel the apples. It helps if you have a peeler/corer, but I don't so I use a regular peeler, and peel all the apples at once. Then I cut the apples in quarters around the core and use my food processor to slice the apples. After slicing two or three apples I put them in a large bowl and sprinkle them with lemon juice to prevent them from browning. Once they are all peeled toss with cinnamon-sugar mixture.

Preheat your oven to 450'. Remove dough and roll out one round on a floured surface, flipping the dough over every couple rolls and reflouring dough and counter. This prevents the dough from sticking to the counter top. Roll out one round for a 9 inch pie pan. Gently fold this round in half, and place in the pan. Then unfold it to fit the whole pan. Trim off excess dough around the edges, making sure to leave enough to fold around the edges once the top is in place.

Now pour in the apples, mounding them up a little in the middle.

It's time for the top crust. You can roll out another one and lay it on top to make a simple top. I would suggest cutting some slits in it but not too many. Personally I enjoy the lattice top, even though it takes a little longer. Roll out the dough like the first crust, but cut strips through the dough. You can do skinny (too skinny and you have a lot of criss-crossing to do) or wide (too wide and there's a possibility it will tear.) Lay down strips in one direction to cover the whole pie. Trim off the excess, there should be quite a bit. Now re-roll remaining dough and cut more strips, same width as the first ones. Take one strip and lay it down perpindicular to the others, starting from the edge. Cross the strip back and forth, lifting the original strip to create the crosshatch. Continue with the remaining strips to make a lattice covering the apples. I prefer to place them close together to keep the steam in and let the apples bake completely.

Tent the pie with a piece of foil, and use another piece of foil to put on top of a cookie sheet. Place pie on the cookie sheet and bake for 25 minutes. Prepare an egg wash, adding a dash of vanilla. After 25 minutes, remove foil, cover with egg wash and sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar. Return to the oven for another 20 minutes. This should bake the apples completely without burning the crust.

Of course, this is delicious warm, but if you can't eat it all in one sitting, then there's always the, um, mircrowave. Sorry. Much success to you in your pie making, and eating, fall. Hopefully some pumpkin dishes will be next.

Time Saving Tip: Seasonings & Marinades Part 2

If there's something I'm expert on, its emotions. You can tell by how well I'm connecting with the other two people in this photo...

that was a joke by the way. I just thought it was awkwardly funny picture

You know the phrase, or should I say the condition, that diet magazines refer to as, " the emotional eater"? Well, I'll gladly claim that one; not as some kind of disorder or shortcoming but as a personality trait. I mean, let's face, what do I do that IS NOT emotional?

Yeah, I couldn't come up with an answer either.

So you have to think on your feet when you are a mood driven eater. It may work for some personality types to plan meals days (or weeks... eek!) in advance, but that simply doesn't work for me. I've come up with several strategies to accommodate this... ehem.... emotional disposition to food:

Pre-marinading your meat speeds up your prep time considerably. Instead of having to thaw out meat and then marinade for hours, when it's thawed out- it's ready to go.

It is also a few less ingredients you have to measure and dishes you have to dirty at dinner time.

Pre-marinading eliminates that 'thawed out taste' meat can sometimes have.

For the sake of this example, I'll use flank steak. Flank Steak has had this reputation of being 'tough' like one of the Outsiders from S.E. Hinton's Novel.

Flank steak used to be the kid from the other side of the tracks,

but we're changing that right quick

The flank has captured my foodie heart. Its an inexpensive cut of beef, and when marinaded properly is pretty amazing. I pick up mine at Costco where they come in the twin pack, so I always freeze at least one, if not both at the point of purchase.

Step 1:

Mix the Marinade (for 1-1.5 lbs of flank):

• 1/2 cup full bodied red wine (i.e. Shiraz, Cabernet)
• 3 Tbsp. soy sauce
• 2 Tbsp. canola oil
• 2 garlic cloves, coarsely chopped
• Freshly ground pepper or red pepper flakes if your feelin' frisky

Step 2: Bag it up

Then pour the marinade in a plastic freezer bag overtop the flank steak. TIP: do NOT use the cheap freezer bags. Buy the pricy kind, and if you need to, double bag it. Trust me, its not worth the savings in this application.

Mark the bag with a sharpie, indicating the date and contents.

Step 3: Thaw the Meat

When you are ready to thaw: thaw in the refrigerator for 24 hours. Quick thaw: let sit in room temperature water for a few hours.

Step 4: Make it happen

To cook: throw it on the an oiled grill for a total of 8-10 minutes for medium; 10-12 minutes for medium -rare. Let it rest for a couple minutes before slicing.

Step 5: Serving

The steak is excellent solo with red potatoes and steamed asparagus (or green beans). However, we also like it on tacos, salad, or steak sandwich. It makes excellent leftovers and keeps well for up to a week.

Now get in that kitchen and make me a sandwich.

Ingredient in Focus: Basil Pesto

Dear Marinara,

I've become tired of you. You really don't do anything for me... in fact you never really did much for me. Its not that I 'disliked' you... I just didn't like you. And as Bob Dylan put it so eloquently, "If it ain't right; its wrong!"

And I found someone else. He's green; real green.... and now that I found him at Costco in a huge jar, at bargain price I might add, there really is no more competition.

Best,

Maeret

I know he's not much to look at, but he's really versatile.

Having a key ingredient is like having a backbone to your meal. When you have one (or two) key ingredients, you can get away with using other less expensive, possibly prepackaged, or leftover ingredients like canned/frozen vegetables, store-bought stocks, bottled salad dressings or marinades, and minute rice (even though I personally hate the stuff).

Q. What constitutes a 'key ingredient'?

A. I'm so glad you asked. A key ingredient is something that's fresh, preferably in season, and has a degree of emphasis in the meal's composition.

Example A:

Key Ingredient: Fresh Pineapple

Application: Using minute rice, frozen stir-fry vegetables, and a store-bought stir-fry sauce, toss the pineapple in with the veggies (and meat if you prefer) and serve over rice.

Example B:

Key Ingredient: Fresh Avocado & Chevre Goat's Milk Cheese

Application: throw together a tortilla soup with store-bought chicken stock, leftover chicken and seasonings; garnish with avocado, chevre, and tortilla chips.

Key Ingredients can also be found in unique or gourmet condiments, sauces, oils, vinegars, and fresh herbs. Enter Basil Pesto.

It is the ideal companion whether trying to figure out a last minute side dish or looking for that one ingredient to pull your meal together. So many times you find yourself with everything but the ____ to make _____. Coming up with alternatives and substitutes on the spot helps mealtime become less stressful and your meals become more creative in the process. Check out some ideas for using this incredibly versatile ingredient:

• Toss it with your favorite pasta and voila, instant side dish! Make it a meal by adding chicken, tomatoes, nuts (walnuts, or pine nuts) and cheese (parmesan, feta, ect.)
• Use it as the sauce on your next homemade pizza (if you aren't into making the crust from scratch, you can get several pre-packaged options at the supermarket)
• Put it on your favorite sandwich and cook it like a panini in a skillet
• Drop a huge dallop into your next batch of soup (I recommend vegetable soup) and it gives it that extra 'somethin somethin'.
• Rub it on some chicken breasts, let it sit in the fridge for 30 min, and then throw them on the grill or bake them in the oven.

We Love it on pizza with sundried tomatoes, feta cheese, pine nuts, and caramelized onions.

Strawberries

What's not to love about strawberries? They're delicious as a part of breakfast, lunch, dinner or dessert. Pictured here (courtesy of Maasen Photography, if I'm not mistaken) is a platter of dipped strawberries. I had great success with the chocolates I used, which included milk chocolate discs specifically for dipping, dark chocolate baking squares, and dark chocolate morsels.  Some recipes tell you to mix your morsels with shortening, but I didn't find that necessary (or desirable, given what shortening is).

I tried the traditional dipped strawberries for this platter, but I also branched out with some new flavors - dark chocolate with toasted coconut and cream cheese frosting with crushed graham cracker.  Both new flavors had fans, and they were as easy as they sound. You don't need a recipe, but sometimes it helps to see it spelled out.

Dark Chocolate Strawberries with Toasted Coconut

Fresh strawberries, washed and thoroughly dried
Dark chocolate for dipping (morsels, squares, whatever you have)
Shredded coconut

1. Lightly toast the coconut in a small pan.  The coconut bag should have directions for toasting. (This was my favorite part, because the coconut was like candy.)
2. Make sure the strawberries are ready and completely dry. Set out some cookie sheets with wax or parchment paper.
3. Melt the chocolate to a good dippping consistency, which means pretty runny.
4. Dip about half of the strawberry in the chocolate, pull out, dip the strawberry in the coconut, and place on the cookie sheet. Repeat.
5. Place the cookie sheets in the refrigerator to harden the chocolate and keep the strawberries until you're ready to serve.

Strawberries with Cream Cheese Frosting and Crushed Graham Cracker (using Betty Crocker's Cream Cheese Frosting recipe, halved)

Fresh strawberries, washed and thoroughly dried
4 oz. cream cheese, softened
2 Tbsp. butter, softened
1 tsp. rice milk
1/2 tsp. vanilla
2 cups powdered sugar
Graham crackers

1. With an electric mixer, beat cream cheese, butter, rice milke, and vanilla on low until smooth.
2. Gradually beat in powdered sugar until smooth and spreadable.
3. Place several graham crackers in a sealable bag and crush with a rolling pin.  Place in a bowl for easy dipping.
4. Make sure the strawberries are ready and completely dry. Set out some cookie sheets with wax or parchment paper.
5. Dip the strawberry in the frosting.  Since the frosting is a different consistency than melted chocolate, these might not look as pretty.  Don't worry, the graham crackers covers imperfections and the taste is worth it.  Now dip the strawberry in the crushed graham crackers and place on the cookie sheet.  Repeat.
6. Place the cookie sheets in the refrigerator to harden the frosting and keep the strawberries until you're ready to serve.

2 for 1: Homemade Stock & Tortilla Soup

I don't know what it is about taking the long route in life that intrigues me. Where my overachieving roots came from, I'll never know. However, I find it particularly satisfying to make something from scratch- old school style.

Homemade breads, pizza doughs, sauces, dressings, and anything else most people buy pre-packaged can be much easier to make from scratch than you think. Chances are, you'll prefer the taste too; not to mention the absence of unpronounceable ingredients. You save money, and if that still doesn't appeal to you, consider the principal philosophy of the Arts & Crafts movement...... the act of creating something changes the creator.

Chicken Stock

Ingredients:

Whole 4 lb. Chicken

2 Yellow Onions, quartered

2 small leeks, white & pale green parts: halved, rinsed, & chopped

4 Carrots, quartered

4 Celery stalks, quartered

6 Sprigs of fresh Parlsey

6 Sprigs of Thyme

10 Peppercorns

Kosher salt

*note: Do NOT finely chop vegetables; cut them into quarters so

they stay in large chunks.

Instructions:

• After removing the chicken from the packaging and rinsing it under cold running water, place the bird in a large stockpot. Add water to cover the bird by about 1-1/2". Bring the water to a simmer (i.e. a light boil) over medium-high heat. Skim any foam that forms at the surface with a large spoon and discard.
• Add the rest of the ingredients with 2 teaspoons of salt. Return to a boil; reduce heat to low and simmer gently, uncovered, until the chicken is cooked through; about 1 hour.
• Transfer the chicken to a platter and let cool for a few minutes. Remove the meat from the, reserving the skin and bones. Reserve the meat for another recipe (See Tortilla Soup below)
• return the skin and bones to the pot and continue to summer for 1 more hour.

• Pour the contents through a fine mesh sieve into a large bowl.
• Press down on all the solids to extract all the liquid, using a large spoon, or hand held potato masher. Discard the solids.

Choose a large bowl that has a pouring edge and is made of plastic or glass. Metal bowls get too hot to handle easily.

At this point, you can either freeze the stock for another day or you can use it for a homemade soup; (you will have plenty leftover to freeze even if you make it into a soup at this point).

To store, pour the chicken stock into plastic containers with really nice tight fitting lids after the stock has been allowed to cool to room temperature. It will keep for 2-3 days in the refrigerator and 2-3 months in the freezer

Tortilla Soup(from William Sonoma Weeknight Cook)

Most of the flavor in this soup comes from the stock, so I highly recommend making this recipe with homemade stock. As you can see, making this soup right after you make the stock, makes it super easy & efficient. The cooked chicken from the stock can be used immediately, and the stock is already hot and ready when you finish running it through the sieve. In a pinch, however, you can make this recipe with boxed chicken stock and a rotisserie chicken from the supermarket.

Ingredients:

1 Tablespoon Olive Oil

1/2 white or yellow onion, finely chopped

2 teaspoons Chili Powder

6 cups Chicken Broth or Stock

2 cups cooked Chicken, shredded

Juice from 3-4 limes

Kosher Salt

Instructions:

• In a large saucepan or stock pot, warm oil over medium-high heat. When its hot, add the onion and saute until translucent, about 3 minutes.
• Add the chili powder and stir until fragrant, about 1 minute. Pour in the broth and bring to a boil.
• Add the shredded chicken, reducing the heat to medium, and simmer until the chicken is heated through, about 3 minutes.
• Add the lime juice and salt to taste.
• Ladle into bowls and service with garnishes of broken tortilla chips, cubed avocado, fresh chopped cilantro, and shredded Monterey Jack cheese.

The garnishes really make this soup special. Not to mention the fact that the leftovers can be used on nachos or tacos later in the week. To make the soup a heartier meal, serve with cornbread (from a box) and honey butter.

Time Saving Tip: Seasonings & Marinades Part 1

I prefer to buy all my meat for the month at once. I do this for a couple reasons. First of all, it allows me to take advantage of sales on certain cuts of meat. Second, it minimizes trips to the store throughout the course of the month. I absolutely refuse to spend my child's naptime (when that actually happens) and bedtime hours running errands or doing household chores. Those precious hours when I'm not watching a child are spent doing the things I absolutely can not do when he is awake.

When you buy meat ahead of time, this means you are most likely going to be freezing most of it. In order to expedite this process of thawing and preparation when mealtime arrives. I've devised a system (I use that word 'system' very loosely). I pre-season or marinade my meat when I freeze it so that all I have to do is put it in the oven or on the grill when its thawed out... instead of thawing it out and then having to let it marinade for 30-60 min. That is one less step I have to think about and less ingredients I have to think about having on hand the day I decide to make that particular entree.

It may not seem like a large savings of time at first glance, but think of all the time you take measuring ingredients, removing meat from packaging, and not to mention the additional cleanup involved. In other words, 15 extra minutes really adds up when you have 25 minutes to get dinner on the table before the whole house goes into flames. (Okay, that was really dramatic, but seriously, it feels like that some days)

Here are some examples to give you the idea...

Whole Chicken:

These are usually priced very well at Costco. They come in packages of (2) 4 lb. birds. We usually will make one right away and then I freeze the second one for later. Before freezing, you will want to remove the bird from the packaging and rinse it under cold running water. Then pat it dry with a paper towel.

**Note: You really want to follow this procedure whenever dealing with any meat or poultry, regardless of when you plan on cooking it. Patting it dry with a paper towel ensures that the bird will brown nicely, especially when on the stove top (e.g. stirfry, pan seared chicken, ect.)

Next you will go ahead and season it as if you were going to cook it that night. I rubbed Kosher salt, freshly ground pepper, and fresh rosemary all over this one. (You could use whatever fresh herbs you have on hand for a variation.)

Citrus Variation: Stuff with lime, lemon, and/or orange segments. Rub salt & pepper over the body. Brush with honey and juice from the fruits you put inside

Lastly, place it *gentley* into a very high quality plastic freezer bag. (don't get the store brand for something like this. Trust me, its not worth the savings..)

Defrost in the refrigerator for 2 days for best results.

To cook:

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Place the bird breast side up onto a rack in a large roasting pan. Roast for 20 minutes. Reduce oven to 400 degrees and roast for an additional 40 minutes, or until an instant read thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the thigh (away from the bone) reads 170 degrees. If you have glazed the chicken with honey or something of that nature, it will begin to brown before it is done inside. Simply cover it with aluminum foil once it starts to do this and return it to the oven until its done cooking. Let the chicken rest for 10 minutes before carving.

Serving Suggestions:

• green salad and wild rice
• carrots with almonds and roasted new potatoes
• grilled vegetables and sweet potatoes.

You can also just remove all the meat from the bird and use it for a number of other recipes. I typically have something like this in the refrigerator at all times. The tender meat from this chicken is great in salads, quesadillas, panini sandwiches, and soups (e.g. chicken noodle). Pictured right is the meat I removed from the

chicken and hand shredded (which is the best meat for a panini, by the way)

I tried to think of something witty or insightful to add to this post instead of a bunch of instructions... and the best I could do is: remember to put your oven mitt on before you pull the pan out. oh yeah, and keep it real.

quiche, pronounced keesh

if the recipe is good and i made it and it wasn't one of my mother's recipes, i got it from betty. betty crocker. in the pies/pastry section there is a recipe for a generic pie crust and this has served me well for quiches. without further ado, here is the recipe for the homemade quiche, with adjusted instructions for the fillings.

Quiche: noun

a pielike dish consisting of an unsweetened pastry shell filled with a custard and usually containing cheese and other ingredients, as vegetables, seafood, or ham: spinach quiche.

Pie Crust                                                      Quiche Filling
1 cup all purpose flour                                    4 large eggs
1/2 teaspoon salt                                           1 cup whipping cream
6 1/3 tablespoons butter, softened              1 cup rice milk
2-3 tablespoons cold water                          freshly ground salt & pepper
                                                                         red pepper flakes

mix the flour and salt in a medium bowl. cut in butter. my interpretation of this is to use my hands to mix it all together until it turns into pea sized clumps. or thereabouts. sprinkle cold water 1 tablespoon at a time and toss until it is moist and pastry almost leaves the sides of the bowl. what does this mean? "almost leaves the sides"? should i ask it when it would like to leave and then stop adding water two minutes before that time? anyway, this is probably why i have trouble getting the dough to roll out nicely in step 2 really but more on that later...(i realize i should have taken a picture of the dough in its "pea size" state, but i'll be honest, it very rarely gets pitcuresque. it's more clumpy than pea sized.) gather the pastry into a ball. shape into a flattened round and wrap in plastic wrap. put it in the fridge for 30 minutes to firm it up.

while your dough is getting firm gather all the filling ingredients you want to put in the quiche(s).  i chose: turkey breakfast sausage (honeysuckle white has a good one), an italian cheese blend, green onions, turkey bacon (oscar mayer), cheddar and monterey jack cheeses, and feta cheese.

remove the dough from the fridge and let it warm up a bit before rolling it out onto a lightly floured surface. supposedly you can roll this into a nice flat, cohesive piece of pastry, however i have not had quite that much success. sometimes it rolls out ok and i can pinch a few pieces together to make a pastry large enough to cover a 9 inch pan. typically i end up flattening the pastry in the pan and pressing it out to cover the bottom and up the sides a bit. thankfully this does not lead to sticking to the pan since there is so much butter involved. if it comes to this, no worries, it's still a delicious crust.

from here on out it's cake (or pie). add the ingredients to the crust that you previously laid out. i made three different quiches: sausage (1/2 pound) and italian cheeses (1 cup), green onion (4) and feta (1 cup), and bacon (8 pieces) with cheddar/monterey jack cheeses (1 cup).

now beat 4 large eggs in a large bowl. beat in 1 cup whipping cream and 1 cup rice milk (you can do 2 cups whipping cream if you like but i have found the 1/1 allows for a great consistency without being too rich). add a bit of freshly ground salt and pepper and a dash of red pepper flakes. pour this into the pie dish.

bake at 425' for 15 minutes. then lower to temperature to 300' and bake for an additional 35-45 minutes, until it is firm and a knife inserted in the middle comes out clean. this becomes a little tricky as the cheese sometimes makes you think it's not done. rest assured it is after 45 minutes.

one of the best things about this recipe is that you can make and bake it a day ahead and stick it in the fridge overnight. in the morning (or whenever you plan to serve it) put the quiche in a cold oven and let it warm up to 325'. check the quiche until it's warmed through. how long is that? i'd say about 15-25 minutes, but you be the judge.