Classic Apple Pie

This is one of my favorites! It's great all year round and everyone loves apple pie! 

1 pastry recipe, for a double pie crust, which can be found here: Easy Pie Crust

1/2 cup of butter

3 tbs of flour
1 tsp of cinnamon
1 tsp of nutmeg

1/4 cup of water

1/2 cup of sugar

1/2 cup of brown sugar

6 apples, peeled, cored and sliced

Pre-heat your oven to 350 degrees.

Prepare a pie dish with the bottom crust.

Core, peel and slice your apples, then place them aside.

Melt the butter in a medium, non-stick pot, this helps with cleanup tremendously! Bring to a simmer and add the flour, which should form a paste. Then add the water, cinnamon, nutmeg, both sugars and bring to a boil. Reduce the flame and let simmer for a few minutes.

Now, pur the mixture onto your apples in the bowl you set aside earlier and then pour the apples and sugar mixture into the pie dish with crust. Add the Lattice Pie Top and place in the oven. Bake for 35-45 minutes, until the apples are soft. 


Enjoy!

Easy Pie Crust

This is a super easy pie crust that you can make with or without a food processor. I will show you both ways and once you get the hang of it, it's easy as a piece of pie! See what I did there? 

It is easy to buy a pre-made pie crust if you're in a hurry but this is so easy and you can refrigerate them for up two two days, which leaves plenty of time for prep work. You will need the ingredients below and about an hour and a half.

2 1/2 cups of flour, plus extra for dusting while rolling 

1 cup of butter, preferably cut into 1/2 cubes and froze for 15 minutes before preparing

1 tspn salt

1 tspn sugar

6-8 tbs of ice water measured off to the side, I keep this in the refrigerator until I need it

Optional: 

1 tspn nutmeg or cinnamon depending on your filling

Add the four, butter, salt, sugar and any of your optional ingredients into the food processor.

Pulse until it's fully combined. Then slowly add1 tbs of ice cold water at a time

The mixture will begin to resemble course cornmeal. You will know the mixture is done when you pinch the mixture and it holds together.

If you don't have a food processor, follow the same instructions but add the ingredients to a medium size bowl and use  pastry knife to cut the cold butter into the flour. Add the water the same way.

Now you want to flour a hard surface, and pour the mixture onto the surface. 

The mixture is going to feel light and fluffy. 

Next, you want to separate the pile into two, which will give you 2 shells. Knead the piles into 2 discs but be careful not to over work it. You want the mixture to come together but overdoing it will lead to a non-flaky crust. 

Once you have two discs, wrap them in plastic and let sit in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour. 

Make sure you work with one disc at a time when you are ready to use your crust.

Once again, flour a hard surface and knead the discs until they are malleable and well combined. Now you are really to grab your rolling pin! 

Make sure to keep your surface well floured so it doesn't stick. Roll outwards until you have a circle larger then your pie dish.

It's not going to be perfect but that's ok! If there are large areas that make it difficult for you to handle the crust, use a pastry wheel to trim it down.

The best way I've found to manage the pastry is to fold it before moving in to your pan.

First in half.

Then in half again

Now it is much easier to move to your dish and unfold. Just take the 90 degree point on your crust and line it up with the center of you dish and unfold.

Now you have a bottom crust for your pie! If you'd like, use a pastry brush to lightly coat the bottom with an egg ad milk mix to prevent the bottom from becoming mushy while baking. 

If you would like to learn how to make a lattice top, please follow the link here: Lattice Pie Top

Lattice Pie Top

This is an easy way to make a simple pie look fancy!

Follow the instructions for a basic pie crust here: Easy Pie Crust

Then roll one of the discs the same way you would for a pie crust.

Now use a pastry cutter to cut strips about a 1/2 in width. 

You want to take the strip and lay it across the pie, each one about one inch apart from the next.

Now, you want to cut more strips and lay them crisscrossing the ones already down. This involves a bit of maneuvering.

Try to be as gentle as possible and don't tug on them because they will stretch and break.

When you're done, it should look like this.

Banana Bread

This is one of my favorites! With only two of us in the apartment, we constantly have left over bananas so this is the perfect way to make use of them.

1 1/2 cups of all-purpose flour

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

2/3 cup of sugar

6 tbs of butter (3/4 of a stick)

1/2 tsp vanilla

1/2 tsp cinnamon 

1 lg egg

3 ripe bananas

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees (f) and grease a 10.5 x 5.5 bread pan.

In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt, and set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, mix together with an electric mixer the sugar, butter, vanilla and cinnamon, until creamy.

Beat in the egg and ripe banana until well blended. Then add the dry ingredients, from the small bowl you set aside, in 3 parts. At this point if you like, you can also add nuts or dried fruit. Gently pour the batter into your greased pan and let it cook for about an hour. 

Test the bread with a toothpick before you take it out and if it comes out clean, your bread is done! 

Left Over Veggies

I constantly have left over veggies from various meals, such as a half of pepper, quarter onion and a bunch of jalapenos I didn't use in a recipe. Instead of these going to waste, they go perfect in a weeknight quesadilla.

1 onion 

1 red or green pepper 

2 jalapeno peppers 

1/2 cup 50-70% reduced fat cheddar cheese

1 tbs olive oil

4 quesadilla shells

Take your leftover veggies and dice them into equal sizes. Feel free to use any type of left overs you have on hand. Crunchier vegetables tend to hold up the best. Saute them with 1/2 tbs of olive oil for about 8 minutes on medium heat

While that's cooking, take a quesadilla shell and put about a handful of cheese on it, add more or less cheese based on your liking. After your vegetables are cooked, place about a handful of them on the quesadilla shell and cheese. You can either fold the quesadilla in half to make a half-moon or add another shell on top for a full quesadilla. 

Add 1/2 a tbs of olive oil per quesadilla and cook evenly on both sides. Cut each quesadilla into even triangles and serve alone or with sour cream, guacamole and salsa.

Lime Rice with Cilantro

1 cup basmati rice

1 1/2 tbs of butter

1 lime

1 1/2 cup of water

1 handful of chopped cilantro

Gently heat the butter in a medium pot. Once the butter has melted, add the juice from the lime. Stir in the rice and let cook for 1 minute. Add the water and let cook for 12 minutes on a medium boil, stirring occasionally. When the rice is finished cooking, fluff with a fork and stir in cilantro.

Red Velvet Cupcakes...yummy!

• Cupcakes
• 2 1/2 cups of all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 cups of sugar
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 heaping tsp cocoa powder
• 1 1/2 vegetable oil
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 2 large eggs
• 1 tbs red food coloring
• 1 tsp white distilled vinegar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

Icing

1/2 lb of cream cheese

1 stick of butter, softened

1/2 tsp vanilla 

2 cups of confections sugar

Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees (F) and line cupcake sheets with liners. This recipe should yield about 24 cupcakes. 

In a mixing bowl, sift together the flour, sugar, baking soda and cocoa powder. In another bowl gently beat together the oil, buttermilk, eggs, food coloring, vinegar and vanilla with an electric mixer. I prefer to add the food coloring to the buttermilk before hand so it mixes properly.

Now, combine the wet and dry ingredients and mix with the electric mixer until the batter is smooth. 

Fill the cupcake tins till about 2/3 full. Bake in the oven for 20-22 minutes and turn them once, halfway through cooking. 

Let cool completely before icing. 

For the Icing:

Using an electric mixer, combine the cream cheese, butter and vanilla. After it is fully combined, sift in the confections sugar. Turn the electric mixer on high and beat until the icing is light and fluffy. 

Ice your cupcakes and enjoy!