Apple Pie

Were you wondering what to put in that delicious flaky crust you now have sitting in your fridge?  How do you feel about a classic?  Apple pie!  Warm, cinnamony, and always delicious.  In my opinion, it's even better the next morning for breakfast!  This is one of those recipes that I always thought was some Flinn family revelation.  A secret only for us.  It is so good, it had to be something special.  Nope.  It's in the checkered cookbook (Better Homes and Gardens) that every home is almost guaranteed to have on its shelf.  But a delicious recipe like this, has to be shared.

If you're lucky, it might just be the best apple pie you've ever had!

Pie Crust

It finally feels like fall here!  Actually, the past few days have felt a little more like winter, but I'll take it either way.  I am 100% ready to walk outside and not have my hair stick to my sweaty face.  I love fall.  Fall means sweet potatoes and pecan pie.  Fall also means the holidays are on their way, and you know what that means?  I get to go home!

Speaking of pie...I've never made it that much.  Maybe it's because up until a few days ago, I didn't have a rolling pin.  Maybe it's because I (still) don't have a pastry brush.  Maybe it's because I'd rather have cake.  Who's to say really?

Anyway, when I did make pie, I never made crust.  It seemed like a pain.  I'm not going to lie: it is kind of a pain, and the frozen pillsbury kind that you roll out tastes good anyway.  I don't blame you if you just use that.  BUT!  If you want to feel fancy, make this super simple pie crust!

"Easy as Pie" Pie

Sometimes do you wonder where the phrase "easy as pie" came from?  Peeling and coring fruit, mixing, baking, checking to make sure the filling doesn't explode or flow over the crust onto the bottom of the oven and set the house on fire.  That doesn't sound that easy.  This pie is where that phrase came from.  This is easy.  Any way you slice it!  (Haha, pardon my pun!) 

An added bonus is that you can pretend that it's still summer.  Here in DC, we're not really having to stretch the imagination too far.  This is probably the easiest pie you will ever make and it tastes just like pure summer!  It's especially easy if you cheat on the crust like I did.  If you have a great crust recipe, make that one.  I'm sure it's better anyway.  Better yet, share the recipe with me.  You can make this pie in any flavor that pudding comes in and the hardest part is waiting for your pie to set in the fridge!

Irene's Brownies (German Chocolate)

We've been through a lot since last Tuesday.  First, there was the earthquake.  I'll admit for a split second I too thought that we were being attacked, but then I realized what it was.  I realized that everything was fine.  And I didn't feel the need to tell everyone in the world that I felt a shake (Yes, I realize the irony of this post because of course, I am doing exactly that.  Nonetheless...).

Then on Friday we had to make hurricane preparations.  Having never been in a hurricane before, I didn't really know what to expect.  I can now say that there was a bit of over-preparation in DC for Irene, but I gave in and filled my bathtub with water too.  I sat around all day Saturday watching the Weather Channel as they tried desperately to hold onto their spike in ratings for as long as possible.  When we got bored of that, we went up to the roof to really feel it.  You know what a hurricane feels like when your are at a safe distance inland?  Windy.

Peach Cobbler

I talked to my mom since my last post (of "my dad's macaroni and cheese") and I was politely informed that, "he's not the only one who makes that."  So anyway, today I thought I would share a recipe that I can credit to my mom.

I'm not saying that my dad never made it, but I did always remember watching my mom put it together and thinking it was magic how the peaches start on top and get to the bottom.  Still don't quite understand that one!

I guess we'll just call that one of life's little mysteries.  Don't look it up on your iPhone...it's ok to just not know.  I promise, it will all be ok.

You know what the best part of this recipe is?  It's mostly fruit.  You know what that means?  You could call it breakfast and I wouldn't judge you for it.  Warm it up and pour some milk over it call it hot cereal. Who could argue with that?  No one, that's who.

better than a snack pack (Cream Puffs)

I remember once when I was little, my parents left town and I got to stay with my friends down the street.  One night after dinner, Mrs. Sale brought out dessert.  Any dessert would have been good but this dessert was homemade vanilla pudding with whipped cream on top!  My sisters and I still haven't stopped talking about it.

So, it's a little surprising that today was the first day that I made some of my own.

...then I put that into some cream puffs - in short, I promise this will be better than a snack pack :)

See you in 2 weeks (+ a parting gift!)

Tomorrow, I am going to New Jersey to meet my parents and sisters and then Sunday morning we are going on to Kenya for a safari!  I have been looking forward to this for a year and a half now still can't quite believe that it's here.  

I think I have everything packed up and ready to go.  I'm sure I forgot something, but hopefully it's not too important.  

So, I apologize in advance for the posts that will not be coming your way for 2 weeks - but stay tuned because I promise it will be worth the wait!

But before I go, I wanted to give you something sweet :)

APPLE CRISP

6-8 Apples - peeled, cored and sliced

1/4 c. Water

Salt

1 stick Butter

1 c. Sugar

1 c. Flour

1 tsp. Cinnamon

1.  Place apples in 9x13" casserole.  Pour water over top and lightly salt.

2.  Melt butter.  Add sugar, flour, and cinnamon.  Stir gently with a fork until crumbles form.

3.  Cover apples with crumble mixture.

4.  Bake at 350˚ for about 30 minutes.

*I make mine with extra crisp on top (since that's the best part anyway!), and it tends to take longer than 30 minutes to cook up (more like 45).

Get out of the Pool (Keylime) Pie!

The summer before 9th grade, my sister taught me how to swim.  Not that I didn't know how to swim - I wasn't going to drown in the bath tub or anything like that.  I decided I wanted to join the swim team the next year.  That was my attempt in high school to be a "team player!"

You're probably wondering what that story could possibly have to do with keylime pie.  Well, do you remember those giant keylime pies you can get at costco with a little dollop of whipped cream on each slice.  We had one of those in the fridge that summer and when we were done with our 2 hour swim at 8 a.m. (yes, that means we got to the pool at 6), we would have a slice of that.

Well, subsequently each time I raced in high school I would get a ridiculously strong craving for keylime pie - maybe that's why I swam so fast...the faster I got out of the pool, the faster I got to indulge in my craving :)

Even if you don't like to swim, and even if you don't have crazy associations that stick with you forever, make this pie!

Strawberry Cupcakes

At this point, it is too hot for fires or even the thought of fires to make s'mores cookies.  It was 97˚ yesterday and I needed something refreshing.

Enter Strawberry Cupcakes (actually white cupcakes with strawberry meringue buttercream icing - strawberry cupcakes rolls of the tongue a little easier).

Not only do they taste good, they look good.  They look like they have strawberry ice cream piled on top of a perfectly white cake - all topped off with a giant deep red strawberry!

S'mores Cookies!

Is it summer yet?  As far as I can tell, it definitely is.  What I'm worried about is the fact that people keep telling me that this is the "nice season" here.  90˚ with 91% humidity is not nice.

Anyway, my favorite part about summer is camping.  And I especially like to camp when our meals include more than just rice and oatmeal.

Sometimes when we are feeling extra fancy we pack marshmallows!

Chocolate Chocolate Cupcakes

Sure, I like to make homemade cakes and cupcakes from scratch, but I also like to mix together a box that Betty Crocker has prepared for me with some eggs, oil, and water and have cake in 20 minutes that I know will come out well.  Especially when I am giving the cupcakes to someone else for their birthday.

Strawberries

My favorite thing to do when I have a big flat of strawberries from Costco that are going to go bad soon is to pile them on top of delicious homemade pound cake and then smother them in homemade whipped cream...that's just what I'd do.  You can do whatever you want with them.  This morning I resisted the urge to have more cake for breakfast and instead used some of those strawberries to make a smoothie - still delicious, but not quite as satisfying.

Don't you want some? :)

I also got these little guys ready.  I love dying Easter eggs...I am still trying to convince Austin to get up early on his day off and hide the eggs around the apartment for me :)

P.s.  Happy Earth Day!  For all of you that are lucky enough to live someplace that has beautiful landscapes everywhere you look and nice weather 99% of the time - go outside...do it in my honor!

I make a great "house-girlfriend!"

My temp job already ended yesterday (tentatively starting again at the end of the month/beginning of next month), so I had a whole day to do whatever I wanted!  And I took full advantage of it.  First, I woke up and made these Reese's Cup cookies which are definitely going to be added to my list of favorites!  I got the recipe from the Smashed Peas and Carrots blog and just adapted it a little bit since I didn't have all the ingredients.  Basically I used twice as much butter and no shortening.  Also, I didn't really have enough peanut butter cups so I added about half a bag of milk chocolate chips...delicious!

After that, I spent about two hours trying to figure out how to load the thread into my mom's ancient Sears Roebuck sewing machine that I inherited in the move out east.  (Thanks again!)  Then I set to cutting and sewing and generally attempting things that I don't have any experience doing!

...and voila!  I have a cute new skirt that I made all on my own!  And, did you notice, it has pockets!  Can't get any better than that!

If you would like to make your own click here (from Freshly Picked).  I followed her directions pretty much to the T and found it surprisingly easy.  Then when I put it on, it seemed really big and poofy so I ended up taking out about 3 inches in the waist and 9 down at the bottom to make it a little more streamlined.

Plus I did some laundry and dishes all by 3:00 pm!  I had to take the opportunity to pat myself on the back!