Apple Crumble

I love this recipe!


Filling
3 1/2 pounds ripe but firm apples, peeled and cored; cut into 1 inch cubes (about 6 1/2 cups prepared appless)
1/3 cup granulated brown sugar (2 1/3 ounces)
1 1/4 teaspoons cornstarch
3-5 teaspoons fresh lemon juice from 1 lemon
Pinch table salt
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground nutmeg
2 Tbsp apple cider or juice

Topping
1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour (5 ounces)
1/4 cup granulated sugar (1 3/4 ounces) plus 1 tablespoon raw sugar for sprinkling over the top
1/4 cup packed brown sugar (light or dark), 1 3/4 ounces
1/8 teaspoon table salt
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
6 tablespoons unsalted butter , cut into 6 pieces and very soft
1/2 cup roasted pecans (I used a little more than a half of a cup about 3/4 cup)


1. Adjust oven racks to lower and middle positions; heat oven to 350 degrees.2. FOR THE FILLING: Gently toss apples and sugar and other ingredients together in 8X8 pan; cook in oven for about 30 minutes, covered with foil. 3. FOR THE TOPPING: While apples are cooking, combine flour, sugars (reserving 1 tablespoon granulated sugar), and salt in workbowl of kitchen aide; drizzle vanilla over top. Combine mixture. Add butter and half of nuts; process until mixture clumps together into large, crumbly balls, pausing halfway through to scrape down sides of workbowl. Sprinkle remaining nuts over mixture and combine. Transfer mixture to parchment-lined baking sheet and spread (Don't push down just let it crumble) into even layer (mixture should break up into roughly 1/2-inch chunks with some smaller, loose bits). Bake on middle rack until chunks are lightly browned and firm, 18 to 22 minutes.4. TO ASSEMBLE AND BAKE: Grasping edges of parchment paper (following "Transferring the Baked Crumble" illustrations 1 and 2 below), slide topping over apples and spread into even layer with spatula, packing down lightly and breaking up any very large pieces. Sprinkle remaining tablespoon sugar over top and place on lower oven rack. Increase oven temperature to 375 degrees and bake until well browned and fruit is bubbling around edges, 25 to 35 minutes. Cool on wire rack until warm, at least 15 minutes; serve.

Pizza crust

My kids love to eat pizza! This crust is really good which is lucky because it's the first recipe I tried and I've stuck with it. It makes enough to cover the bottom of a large cookie sheet.

3 cups all purpose flour
1 1/2 t. salt
2 T. olive oil
1 T. yeast
1 cup water (more if needed)

Put the flour and salt in a large bowl. Dissolve the yeast in the water and then add this mixture plus the oil to the flour. Stir and then knead until you have a smooth dough. Let rise for about 20 minutes. Roll out and prick with a fork.

I just use Prego spaghetti sauce on my pizza along with whatever toppings and cheeses I have on hand. I like to sprinkle the top with parmesan cheese and then little garlic powder!

APPLE CRISP

Hey guys, I LOVE apple season in the Fall. It's so fun to be up north and experience it all over again. I have lots of apple dessert recipes so here's one I made last night:

INGREDIENTS

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 cups rolled oats
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/4 tsp. ground cloves
  
• 1 1/2 cups packed brown sugar
• 1 1/2 cups butter
• 5 Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored and sliced

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F
2. In a large bowl, combine the flour, oatmeal, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and brown sugar. Cut butter into mixture until crumbly.
3. Take half of the mixture and pat it into the bottom of a 9x13 inch baking dish.
4. Cover crumb mixture with apple slices, then sprinkle apple slices with remaining crumb mixture and gently pat down.
5. Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 45 to 50 minutes or until apples are tender.
6. Serve warm with a scoop of ice-cream or even better the next day cold! Can you say, "Breakfast anyone?"
   

Chicken Enchiladas

1 tsp. salt
2 C. cubed chicken, cooked
1 can tomatoes and green chilies
garlic powder to taste

Simmer above until most of the liquid is gone. Soften 12 corn tortillas (my family prefers flour) in hot oil and blot out excess oil w/paper towels. Fill with chicken mixture and roll up in greased 9x13 pan. (At this point, enchiladas may be covered tightly and refrigerated for later).

Sauce:
2 C. half and half
3 tsp. instant chicken bouillon
1 1/2 C. grated monterey jack cheese

Dissolve together over LOW heat (cheese will curdle if heat is too high--if it does put it in a blender to get it smooth again).
Pour sauce over enchiladas. Sprinke another HALF CUP of monterey jack cheese over all and back at 350 for 15-20 min.

Addendum: I have no patience or time for rolling up enchiladas that may or may not hold their shape. SO, I make the whole thing like a casserole. Not as pretty but tastes exactly the same. I omit the part about soaking the tortillas in oil and I take them and cut them up or tear them up into bite size pieces. I mix this with the filling mixture and dump it into the pan. Then I pour the sauce over all and sprinkle with cheese.

What's for dinner? Help!

Hey guys, all the recipes are terrific! BUT I'm in a rut. I don't know what to make for dinner anymore. I need some new, normal, everyday dinner recipes. I am so sick of alternating between spaghetti, soup, chicken nuggets, pancakes, and macaroni and cheese. Oh yeah, and ramen noodle soup. Yes, I've sunk that low. HELP!

Yummy Salad

This doesn't have a name that I know of...so I don't know what to call it.
I got this from a college roommate; this is the only salad she can get her husband to eat. We've really enjoyed it as well.

LEMON DRESSING CHICKEN SALAD

DRESSING

2 large lemons, juiced

4 med-lg cloves of fresh garlic, chopped

1 cup olive oil

1 tsp salt

fresh ground pepper to taste

1/2 cup parmesan cheese

SALAD
Romaine Lettuce

Bacon bits

Swiss cheese shredded

Croutons

Chicken if desired

Just puree all of the dressing in the blender and then pour it on.

The dressing makes enough for about 3 heads of lettuce. It stores in the fridge, but does coagulate. I usually set it out on the counter to warm when reusing.

Welcome

Also, a welcome to Cindi's sister and friend!!

FYI

Just a reminder: don't forget to label your posts. At the bottom of each post there is a place to include labels. When you do this it makes it easier to find previous posts. Don't forget to add your name as one of those labels.

"Crema" Italian Pasta

My brother-in-law lived in Italy for 2 years (serving as a missionary for our church) and has learned to make some very tasty pasta. Here is an easy one that is one of my favorites. He doesn't have a recipe...so I'm just guessing on the amounts from when I’ve made it; you could play with them a little bit to your liking.

2 T Olive Oil
2 Cloves Garlic-minced
3 t Chicken Base
1 T Fresh Basil (or 1 tsp dried)
Red Pepper Flakes or Ground Cayenne Pepper-season to taste
2 (14.5oz) Cans diced tomatoes
½ C Table Cream (such as Cacique Crema Mexicana)
Parmesan Cheese

Heat oil in pan-sauté garlic until browned. Add Chicken Base, Basil and Red Pepper Flakes. Pour in juice from tomatoes. Let simmer about 10 minutes. Add tomatoes. Continue to simmer to cook off moisture about 10 more minutes.
Turn off heat and stir in Crema. Serve over Penne Pasta. Top with freshly grated parmesan cheese.

Layered Ice Cream Cake

This past Saturday, May had her American Girl Club and Birthday party. It was a surprise and I wish I'd had the camera ready when she found out! She picked out her birthday cake in July. You might have seen it on the cover of Family Circle.
15 Oreo cookies
1 Tablespoon milk
8 to 9 ice cream sandwiches
1 pint mint chocolate chip ice cream
1 pint vanilla ice cream
1 pint strawberry icecream
(or make your own mix of ice creams)
1 container (8 oz) whipped topping

1. Coat bottom and side of a 9 inch round springform pan with nonstick cooking spray. Line side with waxed paper suing spray to hel adhere to pan. Trim paper to height of pan.
2. Finely crush 12 of the cookies in a food processor. Add milk; pulse just until mixture holds together. Set aside.
3. Unwrap 4 ice cream sandwiches. Working quickly, cut each in quarters. Stack them around the edge of the wax paper lined pan, up on the small end, packing them snugly together. Spoon cookie crumbs into center of pan; press firmly over bottom. Freeze 1 hr.
4. Remove all three flavors of ice cream from freezer and let soften for 15 minutes at room temperature. Transfre mint ice cream to a small bowl and stir until good but firm spreading consistency. Repeat with vanilla and strawberry. Remove pan from freezer. Spread mint ice cream on bottom, then top with vanilla and strawberry. Top with thawed whipped topping, swirling top decoratively. Crush remaining three cookies and sprinkle over cake. Return to freezer. Freeze overnight.
5. To serve, remove side of pan, then waxed paper. Cut into wedges
6. ENJOY!!

Fresh spinach salad

You can use fresh spinach or arugula...whichever you prefer or you can mix them together!

Fresh baby spinach and/or arugula
Fresh mozzarella, chunked (ya gotta use fresh; it looks weird, I know)
sun-dried tomatoes, small chunks
handful of pine nuts

Mix all together and serve with whatever vinaigrette dressing you prefer. I use balsamic vinaigrette.

Easy sandwich alternative

Two ideas for quick, easy sandwich alternatives:
1. Sliced french bread
2. Fresh mozzarella (although you could use "un"fresh mozzarella
3. Sliced ripe tomatoes
That's it. Just make a 'sandwich' with these ingredients OR I like to also make it open-faced and toast it in the toaster oven or broil in the oven. I remember eating this in Italy for a sack lunch years ago.

1. Sliced french bread
2. Sliced gouda cheese
3. pineapple rings
This one I had as a quick lunch in Germany. Toast open-faced in a toaster oven or broil. So easy! I get tired of eating sandwiches all the time.

My Friends Chicken Caesar Salad

1 head Romaine
1 small bag penne pasta , cooked
2 chicken breast, cooked and cubed
3 green onions, chopped
1 tsp. minced garlic
1/4 cup each fresh basil and parsley
cherry or grape tomatoes
plain crumbled feta cheese
Kens Steakhouse Caesar Dressing

*Combine all ingredients and pour on the dressing at serving time. Can be served as a side salad without the chicken.

Chewiest Brownies

Ingredients:

• 3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 3/4 cup melted butter
• 1 1/2 cups white sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees F (150 degrees C). Line one 9x13 inch pan with greased parchment paper.
2. Melt the butter really well and then add the sugar, vanilla and eggs. In a seperate bowl mix the rest of the dry ingredients. Now mix the two together.
3. Spread mixture into the prepared pan. Bake at 300 degrees F (150 degrees C) for 30 minutes. Cool completely before cutting.

We got invited over to our friends the Beishline's for a good old fashioned Shed Raising! (Rich needed Geoff's help putting a shed together.) And I brought hot wings and these brownies. This was the first time I had made brownies from scratch (I was out of mixes). I may never use a mix again. These were absolutely delicious! I doubled the recipe and added a bag of chocolate chips to the mix.

Restaurant-Style Buffalo Chicken Wings

I made these for a family reunion on Saturday. They turned out very yummy! I actually fried them on Friday night (I read that you can bake them with really good results too) and then mixed up the sauce on Saturday morning and put the wings and sauce in a crockpot. I also used double the wings that it called for and multiplied the sauce recipe times 5 (because that's how much hot sauce I had). I found this recipe on Allrecipes.com and read through all of the reviews. Many people suggested Frank's Hot Sauce so that is what I used. Click here for the recipe and reviews on their website.

INGREDIENTS

• oil for deep frying
• 1/4 cup butter
• 1/4 cup hot sauce
• 1 dash ground black pepper
• 1 dash garlic powder
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/4 teaspoon paprika
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 10 chicken wings

DIRECTIONS

1. Heat oil in a deep fryer to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). The oil should be just enough to cover wings entirely, an inch or so deep. Combine the butter, hot sauce, pepper and garlic powder in a small saucepan over low heat. Stir together and heat until butter is melted and mixture is well blended. Remove from heat and reserve for serving.
2. In a small bowl mix together the flour, paprika, cayenne pepper and salt. Place chicken wings in a large nonporous glass dish or bowl and sprinkle flour mixture over them until they are evenly coated. Cover dish or bowl and refrigerate for 60 to 90 minutes.
3. Fry coated wings in hot oil for 10 to 15 minutes, or until parts of wings begin to turn brown. Remove from heat, place wings in serving bowl, add hot sauce mixture and stir together. Serve.

Ellie Krieger's Kitchen Sink Cookies

I tweeked it a bit, but the recipe is mostly her's. Love her show!

2 tablespoons butter, softened
2 tablespoons canola oil
1/3 cup dark brown sugar
1/4 cup organic applesauce
1 egg white
1 teaspoon vanilla
2/3 cup whole-wheat pastry flour
1/2 cup oatmeal
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 cup chopped dried cherries
1/4 cup lightly toasted pecans
2 ounces dark chocolate or bittersweet chocolate, cut into chunks
Cooking spray
Combine butter, oil and brown sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer and mix on high speed, stopping occasionally to scrape down bowl, until mixture is light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add applesauce, egg white and vanilla and mix to combine. Add flour, oatmeal, salt and cinnamon and mix just until just combined. Add cherries, walnuts and chocolate and mix to combine.

Spray 1 baking sheet with cooking spray. Using 1 tablespoon cookie dough at a time, roll into balls and place 2-inches apart on baking sheet. Press cookies down with the palm of your hand to flatten slightly, as cookies will not spread as much as cookies with more butter. Bake for 12 to 14 minutes, or until lightly browned but still soft. Remove from oven and cool on racks.

Cook Time: 10 - 13 minutes at 350*

Hot Fudge Sauce

I learned this easy little recipe when I helped feed 3 or 4 hundred youth at youth conference one year. It is to die for!!

INGREDIENTS

• 1/2 stick butter
• 3 oz semi-sweet baking chocolate (I actually use around 1/4 cup of chocolate chips - today I used dark chocolate chips! Yum!)
• one can of sweetened condensed milk

DIRECTIONS

1. In a saucepan melt the butter on low/med.
2. Add the chocolate chips and stir until melted.
3. Add the milk and stir till heated. Voila!!

Very yummy on ice cream or on a spoon!

Chocolate Gravy and Biscuits

I'm not sure if this is a Southern thing or not but I grew up eating Chocolate 'Syrup' and Biscuits. My mom made the 'syrup' out of Nesquick. Though I loved it and have very fond memories of many a Sunday morning eating this with canned biscuits (baked of course), I have since been introduced to Chocolate 'Gravy' which I actually like better. (No offense, Mom.) This is a recipe I found that my family LOVES!

First, I make a double batch of biscuits from scratch. I just barely started doing this because I always thought that it was going to be too hard and time consuming. It's not. The biscuit recipe that I use is from a Special Olympics recipe book that I bought from my friend Dottie last year. The recipe has always turned out very yummy biscuits until today. I think I may have mixed the dough too much because the biscuits turned out a little flat (they still tasted good).

Just a note before you get started: I almost NEVER have buttermilk or self rising flour on hand. This is what I do. For buttermilk, I actually make up 3/4 cups of powdered milk and add 2 TBSP of lemon juice. For self-rising flour, I add 1 tsp. salt and 1 TBSP baking powder to 2 cups flour. These substitutions work great.

LIGHTER-THAN-AIR BUTTERMILK BISCUITS

INGREDIENTS

• 1/3 c. butter or margarine, cut up
• 2 c. self-rising flour
• 3/4 c. butter milk
• butter or margarine, melted

DIRECTIONS

1. Cut butter or margarine into flour with a pastry blender until crumbly
2. Add buttermilk, stirring just until dry mixture is moistened.
3. Place dough onto a lightly floured surface; knead 3 or 4 times.
4. Pat or roll dough into 3/4 inch thickness; cut with a 2 1/2 inch round cutter.
5. Place on a lightly greased baking sheet.
6. Bake at 425* for 12-14 minutes.
   
7. Brush biscuits with melted butter. Yields 7 biscuits.
   

CHOCOLATE GRAVY

INGREDIENTS

• 1/2 cup butter
• 4 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup white sugar
• 2 cups milk

DIRECTIONS

1. Melt butter in a skillet over medium heat. Add cocoa and flour; stir until a thick paste is formed. Stir in sugar and milk. Cook, stirring constantly, until thick.

ENJOY!