Apple Pie

This is my 3rd or 4th attempt at making an apple pie. This pie, was much better than the previous apple pies. I used a combination of Granny Smith and Fugi apples. The result was delightful!

I started with about 4 green apples and 2 red apples.
 

 I peeled one all the way around!

 Then I cut the slices into small THIN pieces. This is what Greg and I like about my apple pies. If the apple slices are too big, they can be too sweet, or too tart and ruin the experience!

 
This is a flour, cinamon, sugar, nutmeg combo.

It goes right in to the apple. I splash some lemon juice on the apples first so they don't turn brown while they're waiting. 

 
Stir it all up!

Sugar and spice coated apple.

I mixed the dough (just flour and crisco with 10 tablespoons of water added one at a time)

I roll the crust up on the rolling pin so it doesn't stretch out and then unroll it on the pie plate. 
 

Then I added the apples.

 Here's the lid. I tried to make this one into more of a circle.

 Then I laid it on top of the pie.

 I trimmed up the edges...
 and cut in the breathing slats.

The baked final product! Still some cosmetic imperfections, but it tasted yum, yum, yum!

I'm making Cornish Hens tonight! Wish me luck!

Why Don't You Have Any Pants On?

I wish I could be endearingly awkward. Instead I'm just...well..awkward. If I was clumsy in a cute way, I might be sitting at a posh coffee shop and may, perhaps, get a tiny bit of foam from my latte on my upper lip. It would be so adorable that Greg would just have to kiss it off. Or maybe, I would drop a handkerchief in the path of a knight riding on a white horse and..... Ok, ok...but you get the picture. 

In my non-fairy tale life, I am constantly making a fool of myself by dropping a whole bowl of crab soup in my lap as the waiter is handing it to me or bumping my beer over at happy hour..on  Friday... in front of a whole table...of new co-workers. Dang it. 

In middle school, I once sneezed and chewed up carrot came out of my nose and squirted all over the lunch table. Another time, I was harshly pointing my fork at my sister while giving her my two cents about some (now long-forgotten) topic and the maccaroni noodle flug from my fork and landed (and stuck to) the tip of her nose. Her terrified eyes crossed staring down at her nose with the noodle sticking straight up into the air. 

Today at lunch I was cutting my apple pie and the hard crust broke off, launched into the air, and hit a co-worker right in the breast. Good Lord. 

But, by far, the worst recent calamity happened just a few months ago and it wasn't even close to endearing.  It was still my first week at my new school. The kids hadn't even come back yet. We had a faculty meeting that morning, so the whole staff was going to be there. I got up bright and early, showered, and put on my brand new linen shorts and a shirt. I realized that it was pouring down rain, but I had to let the dogs out. While they did their business, I turned the dyer on to fluff up the laundry that had finished the night before. Then, I made a large cup of coffee and placed it on the dining room table. I went back into the mud room and opened the door for the dogs. Rylee came in chewing on something enormous in his tiny little mouth. He chews on mulch sometimes, so I dug my finger in there to pull it out. Except it wasn't mulch. It was a giant, gooey, disgusting cicada! All that I could distinguish was that there were guts and a wing left. The bug stuck to my index finger, I screamed and flung it on the mud room floor. I ran, squealing, into the dining room flapping my hands to get any residual bug-gunk off. I decided to let Greg clean up the carcass, so I left it there, not a smart plan I would find out.  Trying to get a grip, but still in a tizzy, I took my running clothes out of my work bag, since it was raining. In the process, I knocked over the large cup of coffee, which I didn't realize had been teetering on the edge of a stack of papers. It fell squarely on my new shorts, right in the crotch, spreading from pocket to pocket. Fuming, I ripped off my shorts in the middle of the dining room (surely waking up Greg by this point) and stomped into the mud room to get a new pair of pants from the dryer. Obviously I wasn't that affected by the squashed cicada, because as I stomped in, I mashed the cold gloppy bug guts into the arch of my foot. Again I screamed, but this time it was like a growl-scream, angry and terrified. In my underwear, I flapped and kicked my foot every which way until the goo finally slapped onto the side of the washing machine. I came out of the mud room looking frazzled and distraught and there was Greg standing in his sweats rubbing sleep from his eyes. He looked at me bewildered and said confusedly, "Why don't you have any pants on?"

Oktoberfest- Davis Style

I had grand ideas of having our very own Oktoberfest right here in the Davis household. But, we ended up downgrading a little bit. I made Bratwursts, and Sauerkraut. But the potato dumplings and German beer that I had planned to pull together this week ended up as boiled red potatoes and a Miller Lite. Just being home together snuggled up on the couch watching the most recent Harry Potter movie together made the night just fine in my book. 

First I browned the Bratwursts. Then I dumped them and the sauerkraut into a crock pot with some beer, pepper, and a few sprinkles of hot sauce. I let them cook for a few hours while I went to the Severna park / Glen Burnie football game, and when I came back, we had our own little German feast. I boiled some red potatoes and just put some salt, butter, and sauerkraut on top. Delish!

Picnic By the Lake

We went camping last weekend near Cumberland, MD.

We had a picnic by the lake. I made chicken salad with bits of apple and onion.

Greg skipped stones.

The dinner I made was hamburger casserole, ground beef, sliced red potatoes, a chopped onion, beef bouillon, and salt and pepper with diced tomatoes on the top. We cooked it in the coals for about 40 minutes. A warm and hearty meal!

Leftover potatoes make great hash browns the next day. And a Coleman stove makes it all the easier ; )

Another Word for Delicious...

I looked up some synonyms for the word delicious today. I realized that I've been horribly overusing the word, and like all things that are overused (your most comfortable pair of jeans, an old toothbrush, a dog's squeaky toy) it's just getting worn out. However, I discovered that there aren't, in fact, any words that mean just that: delicious. Some words get close. Delectable, tasty, scrumptious, are all nice, but none get the job done just right. Delectable doesn't really roll off the tongue too easily and scrumptious sounds too Aunt Jemimah for my taste. Yes, there are other words, but I wouldn't necessarily be thrilled if someone said, "oh Allison, your Turkey Roulade is just toothsome!" Divine is nice, but not specific enough. A nice gesture, for instance, might be considered divine. Just washed bedsheets can be heavenly, and a good back scratch can be gratifying. Other than delicious, yummy was the next best choice, but what self-respecting want-to-be cook says "yummy" all the time? No, I think delicious will just have to do. Sorry for the redundancy, but my overused, worn out word will be just fine.   

 

My midday snack:  I spread olive oil and basil on some french bread and sliced some sweet, firm tomatoes. 

Then toasted them up!

Some fresh mozzarella on top...

 

Melted in the oven with a sprinkle of basil, and oh so delicious! A perfect lunch.

Soupe Du Jour

I went to a cooking class at Baltimore International College last week, which was simply titled "Asian Cooking." I went with my mom, who lived in Thailand for 4 years and who I, as a child,  remember cooking fried rice and other Asian dishes for family gatherings. (So she's pretty credible, right?) We were expecting to learn about the proper Asian chopping and cutting techniques or making a perfect Pad Thai from scratch with fresh lemongrass, or maybe some sushi rolling.  But alas, the class was all about how to make "Chinese" food. I put Chinese in quotation marks because I guarantee that no real Chinese people would ever eat this food. We had fun because of the preposterousness of the recipes and situations.  I would go back for another class, if for nothing else, just the fun of it!

Here I am plating the Mandarin Chicken. Look good? Think again. I almost had to spit it out!!! It was so so so nasty! Everyone in the class was trying to be polite and eat it, but the room suddenly got really quiet. No "yums" could be heard. When the chef tried it, it was soooo awkward. He didn't flinch though!

Here I am pointing to the pot of sweet and sour sauce. It tasted like real sweet and sour sauce from a Chinese carry-out. Want to know what's in it? 1 gallon of vinegar. 1 gallon of sugar. 1 gallon of ketchup. Red and yellow food coloring.... oh and a.....crap load of water. No measurement. A crap load. Literally, the chef took a bucket to the faucet that had dirty dishes piled around and "creek creek creek" turned on the spigot. He filled it with a crap load of water, then dumped it all into this pot that simmered on the burner. Hmmmm. I am totally not used to industrial size or restaurant cooking. I'll stick to my tiny kitchen cooking.

There were a few good things that came out of it. I learned to fold wontons and make wonton soup, which was actually really tasty. I might try to make that recipe soon. Not too soon, but soon enough. I also learned to make some really good lettuce wraps. I've made them before, but these were meat-less and had really good crunch, so I'll try those as well.


Speaking of soups, they can really be hearty meal when chili seems to heavy, but a salad seems too light. Here's the corn chowder I told you I was making last week.

My recipe calls for green pepper, which creates a great flavor. But if you don't like green pepper- don't add it. The soup really takes on the flavor and you won't like it if you're not a fan of green pepper.

Saute the onions and green peppers in 1 tablespoon of oil until slightly soft.

Add the corn, potatoes,  and chicken broth. I used frozen (organic) sweet white corn. Yellow would be a prettier contrast if you want more color. Also- I used carrots, but the recipe calls for chopped potatoes. Either way tastes great! Then, simmer, covered for about 10-15 minutes or until veggies are tender. Stir occasionally. 

In a small bowl combine flour, salt, and black pepper. Stir milk into flour mixture; add to corn mixture in pot. Cook and stir until slightly thickend and bubbly. Cook and stir for one minute more. Add bacon (if using). I used a tablespoon of butter to add some richness.

After simmering and thickening I served it up and added some more pepper (as I always do) and paprika and parsley for color. It tastes so fantastic with crab, if you can get lump crab meat or pick it yourself in the summertime.

Here's the list of ingredients:
6 ears or 3 cups of froze whole kernel corn
1/2 cup chopped onion
1/2 cup chopped sweet green pepper
1 tablespoon cooking oil
14 ounces of chicken broth
1 cup cubed potato (and/or carrot)
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 of a teaspoon of black pepper
11/2 cups of milk

optional:
3 slices of crispy-cooked bacon, crumbled
2 tablespoons snipped fresh parsley

I hope you enjoyed my thoughts about soup, whether it be the chowder of this day or the wonton of that!

All in the Family

After the intense summer heat of the last few weeks, I was thrilled to finally feel some cold weather rolling in. The month of October is definitely made for pumpkin. I think about all of the memories from being a little kids and picking our own pumpkins at the farm near my grandmother's house. Therefore, I was determined to make a pumpkin pie this weekend, half to eat, and half because I just wanted to fill the house with the aroma of pumpkin and graham cracker crusts baking. However, instead of  normal pie, I opted for a pumpkin chiffon, which uses gelatin and sets in the fridge instead of being baked in the oven. Hence, no pumpkin smells wafting through the house. But it tastes so delicious, that my pumpkin spice candle will just have to do the trick for now.

As you can see, I enjoyed some of the fruits of my labor before waiting to photograph.

If you've read some of my other posts, you probably know that my favorite season is fall. I think it runs in my family. We were always out jumping in piles of leaves and taking walks through the neighborhood on cool evenings. I still love it! I also love camping in the fall. Greg and I are going camping in a few weeks with some friends, and I can't wait to make food by the fire!

Foil Packs Cooking Away!

This meal came from foil packs that we made last year on a camping trip. I had never heard of foil packs before this, but they're a great idea, really easy and yummy! We just chopped up some veggies and ground beef, added some oil, salt, and pepper at home and wrapped it in tin foil and stuck them in the cooler. Then we cooked them in the fire for about 15-20 minutes.

Coffee

Michael's Pasta

Kabobs

Cobbler

Eggs and Sausage

Weirdly, I love campfires, but I don't really like s'mores. I roast marshmallows because it's fun, but I usully don't eat them. Greg likes to bring peanut butter for his s'mores.

Shenandoah, Virginia 2009

Cunningham Falls, Maryland 2010

Hunting Creek Lake, MD

The name says it all...

I'm looking forward to hiking and sleeping outside before it gets too cold! I guess it just runs in the blood. My sister, Sarah, just came back from a camping weekend with friends, what a cool idea for a birthday party...I wonder where she thought of that! ; )

Anyways, I'm making corn chowder tonight...hopefully it goes well. Last time I made it was traumatizing because I misread the recipe and added 1 tablespoon of pepper instead of 1 teaspoon. It was horrible. I'll let you know how it turns out this time. Thanks for reading my thoughts about food!