Scott's Old Fashion Apple Pie

How was everyone's Thanksgiving?  Ours was really wonderful.  The house was filled with family, friends and, of course, food.  Both my kids were home and our friends from Northern California came down.  We all laughed, visited, relaxed and ate ourselves silly.  Scott, who is famous for his fabulous homemade pies, was of course in charge of dessert.  He made apple, pecan and coconut cream.  They were all delicious!  My favorite was the apple pie. It is the perfect Old Fashion Apple Pie!  It's filled with thinly sliced apples which were gently spiced and topped with a wonderful crumb topping.  It's the perfect pie when you're craving and old fashion taste of home comfort!!!  This is my new go to recipe for apple pie. YUM!!!

Anne

Kent

Scott.  There was a whole lot a peeling!

 Ingredients:
Filling:
8 medium granny smith apples- peeled, cored and thinly sliced
1/3 cup flour
2/3 sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon lemon juice-optional
Topping:
1/2 cup butter-firm
1/2 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup flour

Instruction:
1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
2. In a large bowl combine all filling ingredients ans set aside.
3. In a 9 inch regular pie pan fit crust.  Crimp edges decoratively. Add filling.
4. Combine topping ingredients with a pastry blender until mixture resembles crumby pebbles.  Sprinkle over top of pie.
5. Bake at 400 degrees for 15 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 350 degrees and continue to bake for 35 minutes or until apple mixture is bubbly and topping is nicely golden brown.

My Favorite Cranberry Sauce

 Do you make your own cranberry sauce for Thanksgiving?  For years, I didn't.  I did have a secret trick though.  I mixed a jar of whole cranberry sauce with a jar of jellied cranberries and considered it almost homemade and extremely original.  LOL!!!  The main reason I didn't bother with making my own was because when I tasted the homemade versions I frankly didn't think they tasted all that much better.  I didn't think it was worth the trouble of dirtying another pan at a time when I seemed to be washing a million and one pans and dishes. Then I tried this cranberry sauce.  I loved it.  It's nicely spiced but not aggressively so. It's not too sweet and it's good and thick.  All these years of cheating!  Who knew it could be this good and this easy!

Over at Cinnamon Spice and Everything Nice, Reeni, is hosting a Thanksgiving side dish show down. There's some great looking stuff over there. Click HERE to check it out.

Cranberry Sauce: From Gonna Want Seconds

Ingredients:

1 bag fresh cranberries
1 1/2 cup water
15 whole cloves
15 whole allspice berries
10 cinnamon stick (about 3 inches each)
1 1/2 cup sugar
2 tablespoons Grand Marnier

Instructions:

1. Rinse cranberries and place in a saucepan with the water. Place cloves and allspice in a stainless steal tea diffuser and add to pan.  Tie the cinnamon sticks with butchers twine and add to pan. Over medium high heat bring to a boil and cook at an aggressive simmer for 10 minutes. Stir often so mixture doesn't burn.
2. Stir in sugar and reduce heat and simmer another 10 minutes.  Remove from heat and stir in Grand Marnier.  Remove tea diffuser and cinnamon sticks and discard spices.  Refrigerate overnight to allow flavors to marry. Serve at room temperature.  Happy Thanksgiving!!!!

Tyropita

Have you ever had these incredible little Greek treasures before? Believe it or not, I never had them before my darling friend, Kali came to stay with me a few months ago. I have had Spanikopita before, but never these little cheesy wonders. Thank heavens Kali came to stay! Tyropitas are little pies filled with two cheeses and lots of fresh dill all wrapped up in delicious flaky phyllo dough. These are perfect to serve as appetizers or as a part of a Greek dinner. They are easily made ahead of time and frozen then quickly baked straight from the freezer whenever you want them. Perfect for the holidays!

Ingredients:

1 lb feta cheese crumbled
3/4 lb ricotta
3 large eggs, lightly beaten
ground black pepper to taste
3 tablespoons chopped fresh dill
½ lb phyllo dough
 2 sticks butter, melted

Directions:

1. Mash feta with a fork breaking up larger clumps. Blend both cheese until smooth. Add eggs, black pepper, dill and 1 tablespoon melted butter.

2. Place 2 sheets of phyllo, one on top of other. Brush with melted butter. Cut into strips. ( I split the smaller width of the phyllo into equal thirds. )

3. Place 1 tablespoon filling at bottom of each strip. Fold flag fashion from bottom to top. Place seam side down on a buttered cookie sheet. Butter tops. Bake at 375 degrees for 6-8 minutes or  freeze on cookie sheet and cook in an oven preheated to 375 degrees for 12-15 minutes.

Graham Cracker Bars

So, my sister told me about these cookies. I read the ingredients and thought -what evah.  Frankly, they didn't sound any too great to me. I thought to myself, whats the point of even trying this recipe. She pushed. She never has. She's soooo not even into food. I'm the only one in the fam that got the crazy " food is my WHOLE life" gene. So, eventually, I felt guilty about blowing it off and not making these. I finally tried these. Wow!!!  Honestly, these were unbelievable!  I personally ate almost the entire pan of cookies. Seriously. These were delicious in a way that words really can't quite describe. I guess it wasn't just the fabulous taste but also the chewy texture that made these cookies, well frankly, all that. They're super quick and easy so you have to give them a try.

Ingredients:
Graham Crackers
2 Stick Butter
1/2 Sugar
1/2 Cup Sliced Almonds







Instructions:
1. Preheat oven to 325degrees.
2. Melt butter, and sugar in a medium sauce pan and boil for 10 minutes oven med-low heat.
3. In a greased jelly roll pan, lay out graham cracker quarters, covering the pan with a single layer.  Pour boiling mixture over graham cracker and sprinkle sliced almonds on top. 
4. Bake at 325 for 9-10 minute (no more they will brown)  Remove immediately (topping will bubble and then immediately soak into crackers) move to wax paper and let cool.

Super YUM!!!

 

Butternut Squash and White Bean Soup

Here's another gem of a recipe from the fabulous Fog City Diner Cookbook.  It's a wonderful soup that has a unique combination of white beans, butternut squash flavored and a lovely mix of fresh herbs. The butternut squash gets really soft and creamy and takes on almost buttery taste. The broth of the soup becomes nicely thickened from the starch in the beans. (It's slightly thick the day you make it and gets thicker if you serve it the day after it's made.) All these nice qualities without the addition of extra fat and calories. What more can you ask for from a bowl of soup? Baby Girl, aka my daughter, saw this recipe when I had this cookbook out. One look and she was putting it on the top of here request list. Well, I'm so glad she did because we all LOVED it.

Butternut Squash and White Bean Soup from Cindy Pawlcyn, The Fog City Diner Cookbook

8 ounces white beans
8 cups water, or possibly more
1 meaty ham hock (I used a 2 pound hock)
2 bay leaves
1/2 onion peeled and stuck with 1whole clove

3 tablespoons olive oil
1 1/2 cups minced onion
1 1/2 cups diced leeks, white parts only
1 1/2 stalks celery, diced
2 medium carrots, peeled and diced
4 cups peeled and diced butternut squash
salt and black pepper
1 tablespoon chopped sage
1 tablespoon chopped thyme
4 tablespoons chopped parsley

Directions:

1. Wash the beans and check for stones. Soak the beans in water overnight, or boil them for 5 minutes and then soak for 1 hour. Drain beans, transfer to a pot, and add the ham hock, bay leaves, the onion stuck with a clove,. and water to cover. Bring to a boil, lower heat to a simmer, and cook, skimming often, until the beans are tender. This will take about 1 hour, possibly more, depending on the freshness of the beans. Remove and discard the bay leaf and the onion. Remove the ham hock. When meat is cool enough to handle, remove meat from the bone, shred and reserve.

2. Heat the oil in a large pot and saute the minced onion, leek, celery and carrots over medium heat until tender. Add the sauteed veggies and the squash to the soup and simmer for 10-15 mintues, until the squash is tender. Add the reserved meat, sage, thyme, and 2 tablespoons parsley. Simmer for a further 30 minutes until the flavors are developed.  Serve garnished with the remaining parsley.

Baby Girl ;)

Addicted

Hello, my name is Kathleen, and I'm addicted to cookbooks and cooking magazines. No, seriously, I am.  A couple of my girlfriends, who will remain nameless ( you know who you are K and K ), say they think I have the early stages of that hoarding disease.  How RUDE!  LOL!!! I consider myself a collector.  There is a very big difference.  Don't you agree?  Anyway, I do seem to have a problem saying no when I see, say, a cooking magazine with a luscious red velvet cover.  I have a current favorite red velvet recipe but what if a new one is just a wee bit better.  How am I ever to be sure I actually have the ONE.  Does anyone out there in the blogisphere feel me on this one?  Well, here's my latest acquisition on the red velvet front.  I'm hoping to make it soon.  Do you have a favorite red velvet recipe?  If you do, I'd love to here about it!

Red Lentil Soup with Lemon

This delicious soup is one I have made many times. I haven't posted it sooner, because we eat it so quickly, I never get a chance to snap a picture. I love that it is chock full of healthy good nutrition while still tasting fabulous. I found the recipe on the wonderful blog, The Kitch     The team from The Kitchn saw this recipe posted on Orangette,  Orangette describes this as "a quiet soup" and that's just what it is. Soothing,comforting and very satisfying.  The lemon juice is absolutely crucial to the flavor of the soup.  It adds a lovely brightness and ties all the rest of the earthy flavors together.  So, don't even think about skipping it.  If you forget to buy the lemon at the market, save the soup for the next day, and go and get a lemon!    


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Red Lentil Soup with Lemon Adapted from  In The Kitchen With A Good Appetite by Melissa Clark

4 Tbsp. olive oil, plus additional good oil for drizzling
2 large yellow onions, chopped
4 garlic cloves, minced or pressed
2 Tbsp. tomato paste
2 tsp. ground cumin
½ tsp. kosher salt, or more to taste
A few grinds of freshly ground black pepper
Pinch of cayenne or Aleppo pepper, or more to taste
2 quarts chicken or vegetable broth
2 cups red lentils, picked through for stones and debris
2 large carrots, peeled and diced
Juice of 1 lemon, or more to taste
1/3 cup chopped fresh cilantro

In a large pot, warm the oil over medium-high heat until hot and shimmering. Add the onions and garlic and cook until golden, about 4 minutes. Stir in the tomato paste, cumin, salt, pepper, and cayenne, and cook for 2 minutes longer. Add the broth, 1-2 cups water, the lentils, and the carrots. Bring to a simmer, then partially cover the pot and reduce the heat to maintain a gentle simmer. Continue to cook until the lentils are soft, about 30 minutes. Taste, and add more salt if necessary.( I add about another teaspoon of salt and 1/2 teaspoon black pepper. ) Using an immersion or regular blender, puree about half of the soup. It should still be somewhat chunky, not completely smooth. Reheat if necessary, then stir in the lemon juice and cilantro. Serve the soup drizzled with good olive oil and dusted very lightly with cayenne, if desired.

Yield: 6 to 8 servings