Open Face Apple Pie

Happy Thanksgiving! I hope your holiday was great. We celebrated at my house this year. It was a smaller feast than last year, both in numbers and in scale, but we still had a good time. This recipe was one of the pies that I made this year.

Open Face Apple Pie

1 single crust pie crust in 9 inch pie pan
2/3 c. sugar
2 Tb. flour
1/8 tsp. salt
1 tsp. grated lemon peel
2 tsp. lemon juice
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
5 c. peeled, cored, and sliced apples
2 Tb. soft butter

In large bowl combine sugar, flour, salt, lemon peel, lemon juice, nutmeg, and cinnamon. Toss gently with apple slices. Arrange slices in pie pan, then dot with butter. Cover with foil and bake at 325 for 45 minutes. Then remove foil and bake another 10-15 minutes until crust is golden brown.

I especially like this recipe, as I am not crazy about pie crust. It's the filling I love. If you buy the crust, the frozen ones are so much better than the refrigerated ones.

Caramel Sauce

I made a Bundt cake for book group, and was so unhappy when half the cake stayed in the pan! Despite greasing and flouring the pan too. So this was my save:

I got my 9x13 pan and grabbed some of the cake. I pressed crumbled cake firmly onto a solid layer on the bottom of the pan. Then I spread 1 quart of softened vanilla ice cream on top. Then I repeated the layers and put the whole thing into the freezer for a couple of hours.

In the mean time, I made this caramel sauce from the Better Homes and Gardens cookbook.

Caramel Sauce

1/2 c. packed brown sugar
1 Tb. cornstarch
1/3 c. half and half or light cream (I used cream)
2 Tb. light corn syrup
1 Tb. butter
1/2 tsp. vanilla

In small heavy saucepan combine brown sugar and cornstarch. Stir in 1/4 c. water. Stir in cream, corn syrup, and butter. Cook and stir over medium heat until bubbly. Cook and stir 2-3 minutes more. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla. Serve warm or cool. Store in refrigerator. (I have to admit that I ate the leftover caramel from the pan with a spoon. What diet?) Easy and yummy.

Pralines

I have always wanted to make pralines, but I didn't try it myself until I found a super easy recipe in the cookbook, In Julia's Kitchen with Master Chefs. I wish you could taste them! They are so incredibly yummy and so easy to make. The hardest part is waiting for them to cool so you can eat them.

Pralines

1 1/2 c. sugar
1/2 c. water
2 c. unsalted nuts, pecans are best!

Prepare a pan or work surface before starting. In a heavy saucepan, combine sugar and water. Bring to a boil over medium high heat. Add nuts and return to a boil. Continue boiling, stirring constantly, until the sugar gradually caramelizes. Keep boiling and stirring until sugar becomes a sandy brown caramel and nuts separate. Immediately turn out onto work surface, spread them apart, and let them cool. Supposed to keep for a month in a tightly covered container, but I bet they won't last that long.

"Philly" Cheesecake

I know, you're thinking, 'Another cheesecake!' Yep. This one I made for back to school this year. I chose this recipe because I only had 2 packages of cream cheese. Frankly, though, it is not my favorite. It wasn't bad, but it had a light and fluffy texture more like a chiffon cream cheese pie than what I would call a real cheesecake. Still, that might be just what appeals to you!

"Philly" Cheesecake

1 c. graham cracker crumbs
3 Tb. butter, melted

2 pkgs. cream cheese, softened
1/2 c. sugar
1 Tb. lemon juice
1 tsp. lemon peel
1/2 tsp. vanilla
2 eggs, separated

Combine crumbs and butter; press onto bottom of 9" springform pan. Bake at 325 for 10 minutes.

Combine cream cheese, sugar, juice, peel, and vanilla, mixing at medium speed until well blended. Add egg yolks, one at a time. Fold in stiffly beaten egg whites; pour over crust. Bake at 350 for 45-55 minutes. Loosen cake from rim of pan; cool before removing rim of pan. Chill before serving. 10-12 servings.

Cookbook Review: Top Secret Recipes Lite

Review for Top Secret Recipes Lite

I would really give this about 1 1/2 stars. It was written in 1998, and you can tell. That was when everyone was still into the low-fat craze, before everyone started talking about 'good fat' and 'bad fat.' This book seems to be designed to cut all the fat possible out of every single recipe. Only once does the author acknowledge that some fat, namely Omega-3 fatty acids, is in fact good for you.

There are two main problems with the book. First, that he doesn't seem to realize that too many calories, too much carbohydrates, other kinds of junk, those are all bad for you. Fat alone is not the bad guy.

Second, I am not about to use Butter Buds or whatever instead of real butter! Maybe lite margarine, but that's as far as I am willing to go. And fat-free cheese is disgusting! Low-fat yes, but fat-free is more like plastic that actual food.

I just can't recommend this book. There are a few recipes that sound pretty good - he has the Guiltless Grill entrees from Chili's in here. Otherwise, don't bother.

Currant Pumpkin Bars

Currant Pumpkin Bars

2 c. flour
2 c. sugar
1/2 c. currants or raisins
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. nutmeg
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. cloves
1 c. oil
16 oz. can pumpkin
4 eggs

Frosting

2 c. powdered sugar
1/3 c. butter or margarine, softened
3 oz. cream cheese, softened
1 Tb. milk
1 tsp. vanilla
1/2 tsp. grated orange peel

Heat oven to 350. Grease 15x10x1 baking pan. In large bowl, combine all bar ingredients at low speed until moistened. Beat 2 minutes at medium speed. Pour into greased pan. Bake at 350 for 25 to 30 minutes or until done. Cool completely.

In small bowl, combine all frosting ingredients; beat until smooth. Spread over cooled bars. Store in refrigerator. Makes about 48 bars.

For high altitude, decrease baking soda to 1/2 tsp. Bake at 375 for 30 to 35 minutes.

Back on the Diet!

After watching my weight hit - yes, I'm going to say it! - 190 pounds again, I am back on my diet. I'm not thrilled about it, but I decided I just CANNOT allow myself to weigh more than that. Here's my diet strategy:

count every calorie
keep it under 1500 calories a day
3 meals, plus a snack
plan for 1 cheat day, usually Saturday

So far I have lost 2 pounds, and it's only been 2 days. So I know I CAN lose the weight. I just have to stick with it.

But I feel like I am either hungry all the time, or thinking about food and how many calories everything has, or tired. I was happy to see some change when I got on the scale this morning. But it really is hard.

Apricot and Almond Chutney

Thanks to our apricot tree, we always have more of the fruit than we can eat in the summer. So I found this recipe and it is a big hit. Chutney goes well with Indian food, ham, pork, or roast beef. This one is good as a dip with cream cheese.

Apricot and Almond Chutney

1 c. cider vinegar
1 c. sugar
12 apricots, medium sized, chopped
1 red bell pepper, seeded and chopped
1 green bell pepper, seeded chopped
2 onions, chopped
1 garlic clove, minced
1 orange, chopped fine
1 lemon, chopped fine
1/2 c. candied sliced ginger
1 tsp. salt
1.2 c. raisins, golden raisins, or currants (I used currants this time)
1/2 c. blanched almonds
1 tsp. ground ginger

Pour 3/4 c. of vinegar in large saucepan; add sugar. Stir over low heat until sugar is dissolved. Increase heat and simmer for 5 minutes. Add apricots, peppers, onions, garlic, orange, lemon, candied ginger, salt, and raisins. Simmer over medium heat for 30 minutes.

Add almonds, ground ginger, and remaining vinegar. Simmer for 30 more minutes, until chutney has reduced and thickened.

Spoon into sterilized jars, seal, and label. I made 3+ pints this year, with enough leftover to almost fill the jar, but not quite.

Tie Dye Birthday Cake

Ellen's Birthday cake 2009

I got the idea for this cake from a cookbook. The directions said to use a cake mix, then make the frosting from scratch, and decorate with icing gel. I did it backwards, making the cake from scratch and buying the icing. Here's the recipe for the cake.

White Cake

4 egg whites
2 c. flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/8 ts. salt
1/2 c. shortening or butter, softened (I used butter flavor Crisco)
1 3/4 c. sugar
1 tsp. vanilla (I used the expensive kind from Williams-Sonoma)
1 1/3 c. buttermilk or sour milk

Allow egg whites to stand at room temperature for 30 minutes. Grease and flour 2 9" cake pans or 13x9 pan. (Really coat both pans - I didn't, and my cakes stuck to the pan a little bit.) In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside. Preheat oven to 350.

In large mixing bowl, beat shortening at high speed for 30 seconds. Add sugar and vanilla; mix well. Add egg whites, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Alternately add dry ingredients with buttermilk. Beat just until well combined. Spread batter into prepared pans.

(To get the tie dye effect, add a few drops of one or more colors of liquid food coloring. Use a toothpick to swirl the colors.)

Bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes, longer for 13x9 pan, or toothpick test comes out clean. Cool in pans for 10 minutes. Remove cake and let cool thoroughly.

Set one layer on bottom and spread with frosting. Top with second layer and frost.

To get the look on the picture, make concentric circles with several colors of gel frosting. Then make patterns using a toothpick. My cake was not as cool as the picture, since most of the colors were so dark that they looked black. But it was still pretty cool, and it tasted really good.

Cooking with Xylitol

If you are a gum chewer, you have probably tried the sweetener Xylitol. It is about as sweet as sugar, with a little bit of a fruit taste, and measures spoon for spoon the same. Since we are trying to cut carbs, I tried using some Xylitol in chocolate chip cookies. The recipe called for 1 c. sugar. I used about 2/3 c. Xylitol and 1/3 c. sugar, plus regular brown sugar, plus used fewer chocolate chips.

The cookies tasted good, but were a little different. Randy asked if they had banana in them. They didn't, but that sort of fruit taste was noticeable. The other difference is that these did not spread out when cooking, but puffed up a little. Otherwise they cooked about the same. I did undercook them slightly, so they would not be dry.

The main drawback to Xylitol, in my opinion, is the price. I paid about $8 for a pound, which is a lot more than sugar. However, I haven't had much success with Stevia or other natural sweeteners, and I don't really want to use Equal or something similar because of the laxative effect. Not what I wanted out of a cookie!

Of course, it would be better to just skip the cookies altogether, but that is hard to do, especially when we've been used to enjoying treats. I found the Xylitol in the health food store. It's also sold in individual packets for drinks.

Mormon Mommy Blogs

If you haven't taken a look at this website yet, it is a fun place to find other LDS folks, moms and otherwise, who have similar interests and similar blogs. I can't wait to take a look at all the yummy recipes out there. I always need new things that my kids will eat, especially now as we are trying to cut the carbs and still enjoy the food. Check it out at: http://mormonmommyblogs.blogspot.com.

Yellow Chicken

This was originally called Trinidad Chicken, but I didn't have one of the ingredients, so it wound up being Yellow Chicken. Despite a little hesitation on the kids' parts, we agreed it was good stuff.

Yellow Chicken

2 large chicken breasts, halved or 1 lb. chicken breasts, boneless and skinless

1 c. milk
2 Tb. butter or magarine, softened
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. ginger
1/2 tsp. turmeric (that's what makes it yellow)

In large bowl, combine chicken with milk; let stand 30 minutes. Preheat oven to 400. Remove chicken from milk and place in 2 quart baking dish. Bake 10 minutes; remove from oven and reduce heat to 350.

In small bowl, mix softened butter with salt and spices. Spread over chicken pieces. Bake 15 to 20 minutes or until chicken is tender and done. Great with couscous.