Tasty Tuesdays Premier Recipe!

TASTY TUESDAYS ARE HERE!!!

My sister has been telling me for some time that I really should feature some of my favorite recipes for you all each week. I really don't think that many people read my blog, so I never really felt the need to post beyond our family chronicles. However, my sister has told me countless stories of how vast the blogging community can be, and how her recipes and tips have been used by friends of friends of friends. People she had no idea were reading her blog. So in the interest of all you people that I may not even know (but would love to!), and for those of you who are stalking me (I know, it's in a good way!), here are some things you may enjoy!

I have been saying this for years, so just make a mental footnote: I do not claim to be a good cook. I absolutely love cooking, baking, trying new recipes, etc. And I strive to always improve as a worker at home in all aspects of my homemaking, especially in the kitchen. In my many years of being a wife and mommy, I have learned how to really follow recipes well. But I do not create, so if you're looking for some Alton Brown type and the science behind the techniques, look elsewhere. We will not be learning about reductions, or how to temper eggs, or the like. Wow, I surprise myself that I even know those words. I actually even know those techniques. But I won't be using such culinary skills here. The recipes I will be featuring on my blog are just my beloved, tried and true, often requested by my children, and enjoyed on a regular basis recipes. Most are not complicated, and can be guaranteed success by any home cook, wife, or mother. So enjoy! Just for fun, I may throw in something new I've learned and mastered, so stay tuned. I just may surprise you (or myself for that matter). But be patient with me, I still have yet to master a double layer cake that is not lopsided. But I make some mean cookies. And beef jerky, too. By the way, don't you just love the old-fashioned picture above. It is my goal to have a smiling and happy husband, and children that look at my brownies with love and delight! Except, who's that little girl? And what happened to my other two boys looking at my brownies with delight? And am I serving them soda with their brownies??? And Dave doesn't usually come home from work in a suit and a hat. Maybe it's not such a good picture after all.

I thought I'd start off with a holiday relevant recipe, and one of my go-to recipes whenever I need to make a pie. I am not really good at pies (ask my niece Emma about my peach pie disaster), but I always hit a home run, especially with my hubby, with this easy apple pie.
You only need a bottom crust, so even if your crust isn't perfect, the apples and the crumb topping will shine in this recipe.

Dutch Apple Pie

You can cheat and use a frozen crust, or you can use this simple recipe:

Butter Pie Crust:

1 1/4 cups flour
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup butter, chilled and diced
1/4 cup ice water

Mix flour and salt together. Cut in butter with pastry blender until pea-sized pieces form. Add water, one tablespoon at a time, until the dough forms a ball. Refrigerate for 4 hours or overnight. Makes two crusts, but you will only need one for this recipe. Freeze the other for future use. When ready, roll out your crust and place into pie pan. Do this before preparing the filling.

Filling:

1 cup flour
1/2 cup brown sugar, firmly packed
1/8 tsp salt
1/2 cup soft butter
6 cups peeled and sliced apples (I use a combo of Fuji and Gala)
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp cinnamon

Before peeling and slicing apples, combine flour, brown sugar, salt, and butter. Blend until crumbly, and set aside. Now peel and slice the apples, and combine apples with sugar and cinnamon. Pour into pie crust. Sprinkle all of the topping over the apples. Bake for 50 minutes or until apples are tender. Keep an eye on the pie towards the end. You may need to cover with foil to prevent overbrowning the topping.

Happy Thanksgiving! Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good.

Thanksgiving is Coming!!

While the holidays are usually very hectic, I do love them indeed. I so much enjoy our family traditions, old and new. It has always been my desire to create memories for my boys that they will take into adulthood. Not only memories built around holidays, but year round. And not just frivolous memories, but memories of eternal and spiritual value, as well.


With that said, if you read my sister's blog, you will know what kind of Thanksgiving I grew up having. I was laughing as I read her post, because all of it was true. It made me laugh, but it also made me miss Mom. She always put love into our meal, even if that love did come from a can! And I have truly warm feeling when I recall our many Thanksgivings together as a family of four- Mom, Dad, Karen, and I.


When I got married, my sister and I began taking over the task of making the Thanksgiving meal, and letting my parents enjoy just being the recipients! I remember the first time I cooked my very own turkey. I was very nervous about messing that bird up. I felt like all the expectation for a perfectly moist turkey like my Dad used to make was on me. Wow, what a burden. I remember calling my Mom more than once for directions. OK, pull out bags of stuff from cavity (yucky). OK, temperature, Got it. OK, so-and-so minutes per pound. OK, got it. And actually, it came out perfect. I was surprised. I still get that nervous feeling every time I have to cook a turkey. I am always afraid of undercooking or overcooking!



Anyways, my story of the Thanksgiving meal I grew up having versus the meal Dave grew up with is not unlike my sister's story of her first Thanksgiving with Rich's family. Our table had turkey, homemade stuffing (made by my Dad usually), sweet potatoes with mini marshmallows perfectly melted and browned on top, canned gravy, no vegetables whatsoever, canned cranberry sauce, brown and serve rolls served with "I Can't Believe it's Not Butter", and pumpkin pie for dessert, with a huge dollop of Cool Whip. Dave's Mom made the entire meal, all by herself. It consisted of ham or turkey, mashed potatoes (what?), gravy, sometimes sweet potatoes, "green stuff" (explanation later), no cranberries, and honestly I don't remember the rest. Because it wasn't too many years until I began making my own meal. And when I did, Dave advised me that it was necessary to make mashed potatoes and gravy. Actually the word "necessary" is kind of an understatement. It was more like a "how-can-you-have-Thanksgiving-dinner-without-mashed-potatoes?" kind of statement. I didn't dare to leave them out, out of fear for being questioned by one of his family members. I envisioned someone saying "Where are the mashed potatoes?" I honestly think I made one Thanksgiving meal without them and having one member of his family ask me where they were. Dave insists he would not have let me make the meal without them. Who knows?


Today, Thanksgiving is usually a joint effort between my sister and I, alternating houses each year. Whoever hosts does the turkey, mashed potatoes, and stuffing, and the remaining sides are split up. We usually include my family and Dave's as well. Dave's Mom always brings the "Green Stuff." I promised to elaborate, so here it is. It is actually called "Watergate Salad," and it is made with Cool Whip, crushed pineapple, pistachio pudding, mini marshmallows, and sometimes pecans and mandarin oranges. It is fluffy and green, hence the name "Green Stuff."
For some reason, I have loved that stuff since the first day I tried it. And it's a tradition in Dave's family that I wanted to continue. One year, we spooned a dollop of it onto Austin's plate, and he lamented almost in tears that he "didn't want the Grinch on his plate." Ha! I guess to him green had a negative connotation. This is the same child who now enjoys eating green stuff every year. So I always ask Lorrie to make it. This year I am hosting at our house, so I am doing turkey, Rich's Mom's stuffing (which I have been doing for years...mmm....), of COURSE mashed potatoes & gravy, and rolls. In years past, the rolls have always been homemade. But I am cheating this year and purchased them. Bad, bad, Mommy. I'm also adding in the token canned cranberries just for my sister's sake. When Vance saw the cans I bought at the market yesterday, he said "OH! I love those." So there you go. Karen is doing her amazing sweet potatoes that taste like candy, a kugel (first time for this one, a little Jewish tradition added on this year), and a cold and crisp green bean salad with blue cheese, walnuts, and black olives (yum). Desert will be homemade pumpkin and apple pies, and Karen's amazing banana bread pudding, as requested by my Dad, lover of all things banana.


After the huge Thanksgiving feast, we will head up to the desert with our trailer for our 3rd Annual Thanksgiving Camping Trip! We go with about 8 families, and do an amazing feast out in the middle of nowhere, complete with deep fried turkeys!!! We can't wait to ride dirt bikes and just spend the weekend with our most wonderful friends. So here we are building these memories I spoke of, all because of God's gracious provision and great mercy towards us. To Him be the glory for all of it!

November is here already!!!!!

A broken hand.....

A guy who got electrocuted.....

An M & M and a pirate.....

A Wedding (and me with a guy whom I love wearing a suit-Love it).....

A trip to Keyesville to ride......

I can't believe it is already November and that holiday festivities are upon us. October was jam packed full. Trip to the pumpkin patch, fall dress up parties, a camping trip to Keyesville, the wedding of my best childhood friend, Sandy, a broken hand, some new and yummy recipes, and a whole lot of fun. I thank God for the opportunities and His provision to do all these things.

Vance's hand is fine. I am happy to report he HAS learned to use his hand to break his fall. And he sure did a good job at following instructions. The hand's not too happy about that, but the mouth and face are thankful they were spared this time, for once. He has a pretty red fiberglass cast for a couple of weeks. We will X-ray next week and see where we are at. He's a great sport!

I made a couple of new recipes last week. My sister has suggested I share more of my recipes. I laugh because I don't really consider myself a good cook, just a good follower of recipes! She creates in the kitchen, I only copy! Hehe. Anyways, I do love to cook and bake, I do love to find new recipes, and I do love providing meals my family and other enjoy. With that said, here are two recipes I thought you may enjoy trying. Super easy and fast. Super yummy. I was hesitate to make the Microwave Pumpkin butter, but BOY was I sure glad I tried it. Yummy to spread on toast, waffles, pancakes, etc.

Bacon and Crab Chowder

6 slices of bacon, cooked and crumbled
2 potatoes, peeled and cut to 1/2 inch dice
1 onion, chopped
4 ribs celery, finely chopped
1/2 red bell pepper, finely chopped
1 bay leaf
salt and pepper
3 tbsp flour
2 cups chicken broth
6 cups whole milk (I used 3 cups lowfat milk, 3 cups half & half)
12 oz crabmeat
3 tbsp fresh thyme (or 1 tbsp dried)
1 tbsp seafood seasoning
2 tbsp sherry
4 tbsp chopped green onions

Saute potatoes, onions, celery, and red bell pepper over medium high heat. Add bay leaf and season with salt and pepper. Stir and cook for 7-8 minutes. Stir in the flour and cook for 2 minutes. Add chicken broth, scraping the bits off the bottom of the pan. Add milk, stir well, and bring to a low boil. Simmer on low, covered. Mix the crab with the thyme and seafood seasoning, and add to the pot. Simmer uncovered for 6-7 minutes, or until the potatoes are fork-tender and the soup has thickened. Add the bacon and sherry just before serving, and sprinkle the green onions over each bowlful.


Microwave Pumpkin Butter

1/4 cup brown sugar

2 tbsp sugar

1/4 cup water

1/2 tsp allspice

1/4 tsp each ginger, cloves, nutmeg

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1 1/2 cups canned pumpkin

Combine all ingredients except pumpkin in a microwave safe bowl. Microwave on high for 3 minutes. Add pumpkin, mix well, and microwave on high for another 5 minutes. Mixture will be bubbly. Serve warm, and refrigerate leftovers.

Fall Fun Meets Not So Fun Fall

This cute little M & M.......

Plus this.....

Equals this. Story to follow!