Apple Pie- Two ways

A day trip to Julian...aka apple country!

View from Volcan Mountain.

Is that an apple tree I see..? :)

I couldn't leave Julian without something apple related.  I bought 1/2 a peck of apples (2 bags)!  There was an assorted variety of sizes and colors in each bag.

I ended up making 2 pies.  The first one was a traditional apple pie.  I used pretty much the same recipe as the apple pear pie I made for Thanksgiving, minus the pears this time.

With the second apple pie I decided to make a crumble topping.  The streusel topping was very easy- just flour, brown sugar and butter.

In other exciting news- In Julian I found a lobster cookie cutter! and a tooth cookie cutter! Can't wait to make some exciting sugar cookie cutouts soon!

Sloppy Joes

Is Joe as sloppy as Susan is lazy?

The not so secret ingredient is ground turkey (or beef).

Cook onion for 1 minute, then add meat and cooked till browned.

My favorite recipe for sloppy joes is simple.  The sauce has only 3 ingredients: 

A can of tomato soup..

2 Tbsp of mustard and 4 Tbsp of ketchup.

Just mix that all together and cook until heated through.

Another easy thing to make is fries.

Cut up one potato into pieces and then cook in hot oil until lightly browned.

Drain on paper towels and then serve!

Sloppy joe and fries! Couldn't be much easier

Arugula Pesto Pasta

I got the idea for this recipe while browsing on foodgawker:

http://www.lawfullyweddedwife.com/2011/11/15/arugula-pesto-pasta-with-cremini-mushrooms/

Apparently you can find a similar recipe on the back of bagged arugula at Trader Joe's

Well, excuse me!....

Here are some of the key ingredients:

I stuffed my little food processor with arugula, walnuts, a couple cloves of garlic, and oil from the jar of sundried tomatoes.

I had to keep gradually adding in more of the arugula until it blended down.

I tossed the pesto with just cooked pasta, sundried tomatoes and some parmesan cheese.

Mmmm Mmmmm

It was good and fresh tasting, but not quite as good as regular basil pesto.  It was good for a change of pace though.

Apple Pear Pie

Nothing says Thanksgiving like a homemade apple pie!

I took my best squirrel out on the town to celebrate..

I was in charge of Thanksgiving pies this year.  I made a pumpkin pie and an apple pear pie!  I made homemade crusts for both pies, but I cheated on the pumpkin pie and went with canned pumpkin.

This is the list of ingredients I used for the apple pear pie filling:

4 apples

3 pears

1/3 cup brown sugar

1Tbsp lemon juice

2 tsp freshly grated ginger

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp nutmeg and cardamom

1/8 tsp salt

1 1/2 Tbsp cornstarch

This is my recipe for pie crust:

2 1/2 cups AP flour
1 tsp salt
2 tsp sugar
1 cup (2 sticks) cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
1/4-1/2 cup ice water

1. Whisk together flour, salt, and sugar  in a bowl.  Add butter and quickly cut in with a pastry blender or your fingers until mixture resembles coarse meal with some larger pieces remaining.  Drizzle 1/4 cup water over mixture.  Mix with a fork until mixture just begins to hold together.  If dough is too dry, add 1/4 cup more water, 1 tbsp at a time, and mix with a fork.

2. Divide dough in half onto two pieces of plastic wrap.  Gather into two balls, wrap loosely in plastic, and press each into a disk using a rolling pin.  Refrigerate until firm, well wrapped in plastic, 1 hour or up to 1 day. 

from:
http://www.joanne-eatswellwithothers.com/2011/06/martha-stewarts-lattice-top-blueberry.html

I baked this pie at 425 for 15 minutes and then at 350 for another 45 minutes.

My pie was loved by one and all and was rivaled only by my sister's turkey cake pops..

Victor's B-day Cake

I walked into Michael's to buy some yarn, little did I know that I would be walking out with a set of four naked cake decorating dolls...

Well, in case you don't know, Victor is my new roommate, also the drummer in my boyfriend's band The Last Years.  So far he has been a good roommate, so I decided to make him a surprise Birthday cake.  At first I was going to try to make boobie cupcakes, but when I went into Michael's I was inspired.

Well, these girls love to party, especially atop birthday cakes.  The cake was chocolate with cream cheese frosting, the girls were chocolate, dark chocolate, strawberry, and vanilla...

There was a lot going on atop this birthday cake.

Miss Chocolate tried to start a frosting fight, Vanilla got some frosting in her butt crack, and Strawberry discovered her bi-sexuality...

All in all the cake was a huge success!

Rosemary Shortbread Cookies

Recipe from:

http://thefromagette.com/blog/2011/10/23/salted-rosemary-shortbread/

Check out this awesome blog!

Ingredients:

3/4 lb (3 sticks)salted room temperature butter
3/4 cup sugar,
1 tsp vanilla extract
3 1/2 cups flour
3 T minced fresh rosemary
finely ground pink Himalayan salt

Makes 2 dozen. Preheat the oven to 350. With an electric mixer, combine the butter, sugar and vanilla. In a  separate bowl, mix the flour and rosemary together, then add into to the  mixture on low speed,  just until the dough starts to come together. Place 1/2  of the dough on a large piece of plastic wrap and shape into a flat disk. If the dough is still a little crumbly, you can press it into submission using the plastic wrap as you form your disk.  Wrap in the plastic and chill (do the same with the second half of dough) for 30 minutes to firm up just a little. Roll the dough on a lightly floured surface (or between 2 pieces of plastic wrap) to a nice chunky 1/2 inch thick, and cut into the shape of your choosing using a metal cookie cutter. Place the cookies on a baking sheet lined with parchment, allowing 1 inch between each cookie. Sprinkle generously with artisan salt (table salt is much too salty) and bake for 20-22 minutes, or until the edges are golden. Cool to room temperature and store in airtight container.

I used my wooden mooncake molds to make some cat cookies :)

These cookies are the best I have made in a long time!

The rosemary flavor is subtle, but amazing!

These are so good I would definitely make them again, or make them for gifts.

I also love the simplicity of this recipe.  Basic ingredients combined to make something delicious.  Definitely rosemary is the highlight.  A little sinful considering that these have 3 sticks of butter, but I made them small, so don't feel too guilty.

I went out of my way to get the Pink Himalayan Salt from Trader Joe's that was mentioned in the blog that I snagged this recipe from.  Totally worth it-the salt was approximately $1.99.

Anyways, yes a very classy recipe. YUM!

Posole

Used this blog's recipe as a guide:

http://www.cheekyattitude.com/2010/01/cheaters-posole-recipe-quick-comfort-food-gets-me-back-to-knitting/

MEAT!!!!

Mi gato checking out the vegetables..

A closer look...

Veggie condiments.

Posole cooking.

The finished product

Don't forget to add all the fixin's!

Delicious meal in a bowl! Perfect for a rainy day!

According to Steve Posole was originally made with human meat.  The human meat came from ritual sacrifice, but when the Spaniards came to Mexico they outlawed cannibalism so they substituted pork because it was the closest tasting to human meat.  At first I thought he was making it up, but the Wikipedia page confirms this story.

Also making this recipe I had to ask myself- "What exactly is hominy?"  Steve said corn.  Once again he was right! According to Wikipedia hominy,  "is dried maize kernels which have been treated with an alkali in a process called nixtamalization."  The flavor of hominy reminds me of tamales.

So I learned a few new things from making this recipe!

Pasta Salad

Ingredients

Bow tie pasta

Broccoli

Red bell pepper

Baby carrots

Provolone cheese

Kraft zesty Italian dressing

Mayonnaise or Veganaise

Cook pasta according to directions.  Drain and rinse with cold water.

Cut veggies into bite size pieces.

In a bowl mix together Kraft Italian dressing and veganaise.  (Approximately 1 part veganaise to 2 parts Kraft dressing.)

Mix dressing with pasta and vegetables.  Add sliced provolone and refrigerate.