Some times simple is best..

 like with my Mile High Apple Pie.  My Mom has been making this apple pie for years and now I do the same.  Both the pie crust and the filling are from a 1970's version of Betty Crocker, as I said, it is hard to improve upon perfection.  The pie crust you can find here.  The apple filling recipe here.  In my cookbook there is a scaled up version of the filling for a 10" pie, below are the measurements I use for my mile high apple pie filing:

Anyone want a piece?

3/4 to 1 cup of sugar depending on apples
1/3 cup flour
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground nutmeg
dash salt
10 cups thinly sliced peeled apples (I prefer Arkansas Black and Granny Smith mix)
2-4 Tablespoons butter

First off, although everything says 10" pie, I am actually making a 9" pie, I just pile the apples a mile high, get it??  ok, enough :)

pastry cutter ready to do its work

Anyhoo, first step is to make the pie crust.  It is easiest for me to use the shortening that is in stick form.  There is nothing I hate more than trying to spoon shortening into a measuring cup.  I also find that if I try to make the crust and the filling all in one sitting I get very grumpy.  So I now make the pie crust ahead of time and refrigerate it or freeze it until I need it.  Around the holidays, I usually make enough pie crusts for 4 double crusted pies at once and freeze them.

size of shortening once it is cut into the flour

The secret of good pie crust is to make it by hand using an old fashioned pastry cutter.  I've tried making pie crust in the food processor and it is no where even close to the texture you get using a pastry cutter.  Cut the shortening into the flour until the shortening is the size of peas, then stop!  Over mixing is not your friend.  The next crucial step is to mix in the cold water with a fork.  I know it sounds weird but it works.  Use enough water until your dough will stick together.  I usually stop here and package up my crust for later.

Just enough water

crust ready to be stored, if I am freezing it I wrap it in parchment paper, then place it in a Ziploc bag

Now onto the apples.  Again, simple is better.  I have one of those peel/slice machines I can suction onto my counter top but it is too much work unless the kids are helping.  I prefer to use a hand peeler and then just slice up the apples.  I also mix the sugar/flour/spice mixture in a small bowl and then pour it over the apples.  That way each apple gets evenly coated.

Once the apples are ready, I roll out my crust.  I've included a bunch of step by step photos here, because lots of people are intimidated by working with pie crust.  Really, crust is easy.  If you still don't want to make your own crust, Pillsbury makes a pretty good pre-made crust.  You can find it in your refrigerator section.

step 1, I have this Tupperware silicon sheet I like to use when I roll out pastry

folded into quarters, ready to place in the pie pan

crust ready to be unfolded.  Do it gently and don't pull the crust

ready for apples

mile high apples!

 I pour in the apples, arrange them to they all fit, then dot with butter.  The butter does something magical with the flour, sugar and apple juice.  You don't want to leave it out.

almost ready to bake

Finally I put on the top crust, cut some slits to vent steam and put the pie in the oven.  Now, through trial and error, I've learned to cover a cookie sheet with foil and set the pie on that to bake.  This stops any drips from landing on the bottom of my oven and catching on fire.  I also always put some foil around the edge of my pie to keep is from burning.  It is much easier to put the foil on first then after you've noticed that your pie is burning.  I pull the foil off with about 20 minutes left to bake.

ready to go into the oven!

Hot out of the oven

Pie cut while still warm, notice the gap between the apples and the crust, during baking the apples shrink

True story about this pie, when Nadim and I first met we went apple picking and then I made this apple pie for him.  According to Nadim, this pie sealed the deal for him, it is that good.  Enjoy!

Field Trip Day..

otherwise known as Head Count Day.  Today, I accompanied the 4th grade class on a field trip to the San Juan Capistrano Mission, along with a couple of hundred 4th grade students from other schools.

These feet were made for walking

I take my job as chaperone pretty seriously and have attended every single field trip my kids have had except for one.  What about the one field trip I missed, you ask?

Well that happened way back when Son 1 was in Kindergarten.  The class visited a pumpkin patch. When my neighbor picked Son 1 up from school (we have a walk pool) she immediately noticed that he looked sick and was wearing his sweatshirt zipped all the way up in the 90 degree heat. Come to find out, Son 1 walked around in 90 heat, with his sweatshirt on, with no water to drink the entire duration of the field trip.  He tried to get his teacher's attention to tell her something was wrong, but was not able to speak he was feeling so bad.

Once I got him home, I gave him a cool bath and rehydrated him with water.  It took several hours for him to recover and I seriously considered taking him to the ER for fluids.  Once he was feeling better, I got mad.  Really, really mad.  I talked to the teacher and the principal about the total lack of supervision and attention paid to my son, and probably many other children as well.  I made a pretty big stink.  The Principal agreed that there had been serious problems and promised to make changes.

Fast forward 4 years and all the teachers know they can count on me to chaperone.  I don't care if I have to drive myself or pay my own way.  I will be there. 

Today I had 14 kids in my group all of whom were pretty well behaved.  After a few dozen head counts, blocking doorways and herding cats we had a successful trip.  Son 1's favorite part of the trip, the Koi pond.  My favorite part?  Students asking if I was going to be their chaperone :)

More school assigned family fun

This post continues the saga of the "fun family" assignments that we have been receiving.  With the 1st grade blend extravaganza done, it was time to move onto my 4th grader's Mission Report.  Yes, it is time to learn some California history, people.

4th graders no longer do Mission dioramas because the parents ended up doing all the work - hmm, sounds familiar - so instead Son 1 gets to write a 5 paragraph report on the mission of his choice.

Assorted parts of the Mission report

Luckily, Son 1 picked Mission San Gabriel Archangel, close enough to visit.  We headed up to the mission, took lots of pictures and did a whole enrichment thing, which honestly was pretty fun.  This is the kind of "fun family project" I like.  We also had lunch at a great local deli, but I digress...

More papers

After we visited the mission, Son 1 started writing.  It was pretty painful, trying to manage a 10 year old into producing work that will earn a grade higher than a D.  But the worst part was waiting for the cover page and bibliography to come home from school.  Those two elements along with a information sheet were the only things completed at school.  The information sheet came home in a timely manner, but the cover page and bibliography were MIA.  I started sending the teacher emails and asking for updates on when these two papers might actually make it home.  Really, I'm just trying to be helpful (hear the sarcasm in my voice).  Finally we had the report all done, except for the two MIA pages so I sent off another email.

The MIA cover sheet

The cover page was finally sent home along with a handwritten bibliography just a day or two before the report was due.  I should point out that the picture my son selected is blurry, not sure if it is a resolution problem, printer problem or what.  But at least the report is done.

I know I can be a thorn in the side of my kids classroom teachers, but I'm only saying what everyone else is afraid too.   Besides, I balance out my high maintenance side with volunteer time.  That counts for something right?

Dancing Chicken...

or what other people call Roast Chicken.  Son 1 came up with the name Dancing Chicken and it stuck.  I guess because it is a whole chicken and somehow the drum sticks and wings look like arms and legs.  Anyhoo, my recipe started out as Barefoot Contessa's Roast Chicken Recipe, but it has evolved over the years into something new.  Well as new as a roast chicken recipe can be, which really isn't very new.

Ready to start

I start out with an organic chicken.  Sometimes I use a regular roasting pan, but today I used a disposable tray.  If I do use a real roasting pan that I'll eventually have to clean, I line it with foil.

On the plate you will find all the goodies I put inside the bird's cavity or where all the guts came out as Son 2 likes to call it.  First I liberally salt and pepper the inside.  Then I put in sage and a lemon or two from my yard and rosemary from my neighbor (thanks A!), I also cut a head of garlic in half cross ways and stick it in as well.

Notice that I have the bird breast down, I do this because the breast meat comes out super juicy and we don't eat the skin anyway.  After the cavity is stuffed I poured some olive oil over the top of the bird and spread it around using a cooking brush.  Lastly I salt and pepper the outside.

I don't cook vegetables underneath the chicken anymore because my dear husband complained that they were too greasy.  So I roast the vegetables in a separate baking sheet.  Tonight I roasted butternut squash with a bit of olive oil and salt, delicious!

risotto still cooking

I also tried out a risotto recipe.  It was ok, but I think I will keep looking for a better recipe.  It's not worth posting here.

chicken out of the oven and resting

As always the kids surprised me.  Daughter loved the butternut squash, Son 2 the risotto and Son 1 the chicken.  At least there was something for everyone.

It's beginning to look a lot like

... Mom homework.  So I admit it, I'm getting pretty annoyed with the "fun family project" homework coming home from school.  Over the last couple of weeks I've, ok my kids, been assigned two pretty big projects. 

From the 1st grade class came, what I consider busy work, a "blend" assignment.  This entailed finding 4 pictures for each of 24 constant blends. For those of you not familiar with consonant blends let me refresh your memory:  br, cr, dr, fr, gr, pr, tr, bl, cl, fl, gl, pl, sl, sh, sm, sk, sp, st, sw, tw - AND - for good measure the "H brothers" also known as th, sh, ch, wh.  If you are counting, which I am, that is 24 total blends which means a total of 96 pictures.  Let's pause for a second and take that in... 96, yep 96, still 96.  Hmmm, for a 6 year old this might as well be 1 million.

Here is the completed poster, fun times...

I helpfully pointed out to the 1st grade teacher that perhaps 96 might be a bit much, when I complained spoke to her about the assignment the next day.  I repeated 96 several times just to make sure that she really understood my point, but it didn't help.  The teacher responded that it took her only 4 days to complete the project and I had 3 weeks.  Not very helpful.

When Nadim came home that night I complained to him about the stupid, busy work assignment and he famously replied "That sounds like fun!", so I put Nadim in charge of the assignment.  Perfect!  The "fun" assignment lasted until he couldn't find any more pictures with the blends he needed.  So good Dad that he is, he sat down, made himself a list of all the words Daughter needed, googled them, and printed them out at work the next day.

"H" brothers side of the poster

When all was said and done, Daughter's part of the homework project consisted of writing the words underneath the pictures.  I'm really not sure how much educational value this had.  Now the poster board gets to live under my stairs for the next two weeks until it is time to turn it in.

A Day With Emeril Lagasse

Well, not really.  I should say a day with Emeril Lagasse's 1-2-3 Lasagna.  I love this recipe and I've used it for years.  Here is a link to it on Food Network.

The first time I made this recipe I didn't realize that the sauce recipe made enough for two lasagnas.  So I wound up with an extra batch of sauce to freeze and only one lasagna.  Since then I make the full batch of sauce and then double the lasagna recipe so I end up with two lasagnas.  Back when the kids were little, I would make 4 8x8 size lasagnas, but now I just make two 9x13 pans.  One for tonight and one to freeze.

Dinner is served, btw the egg shaped thing is actually a roll :)

A quick mom tip, use disposable pans (I get mine from Target) for easy clean up.  The other change I've made to the recipe is to cut the amount of ground beef in half and to add 1 cup of wine and 1 cup of water instead of 2 cups of water.

Here is how it comes together:

Right after I dropped the kids off from school I started making the sauce.   Since I'll be putting the lasangas together today I cooked the ground beef at the same time I sauteed the onions

Sauce just beginning to simmer

All done and ready to layer

I'm saving the cans to make luminaries later

cheesy filling needs some mixing

 ready to layer the lasagnas

All done!

Clean up time

I'm serving Bridgeford frozen rolls and Barefoot Contessa's lemon vinaigrette on the salad.  Here is the link to the salad dressing, keep scrolling past the delicious chicken recipe.

The best part is that dinner is basically ready, I just need to throw it in the oven plus the kitchen is all cleaned up before the kids come home!
Yummy!

It's my birthday!

and I'll cry if if want too...  I'm turned 45 yesterday and I really don't know where the time went.  The kids were excited though.  Nadim came home early from work to take me and the family out to dinner before I had to run off to lead a Cub Scout Den meeting, what a great husband!

I realized after I dropped the kids off at school, that if I wanted a birthday cake I was going to have to make it myself.  So that got me thinking about birthdays growing up and how my Mom would always make us the cake of our choice.  Then I remembered my favorite chocolate cake I had when I was younger called "Feathery Fudge Cake".  I thought the recipe was in my 1970's era Betty Crocker but it wasn't.  I vaguely remember it being a Better Homes and Garden recipe, but then I realized that alas, I got rid of my old BHG cookbook in the great new year clean out, so off to the internet I went.

I found 2 Feathery Fudge Cake recipes and this is the one I remember from my youth:

I frosted the cake with my favorite frosting recipe here from Betty Crocker.  In my cookbook there is a version of the recipe that yields a little more frosting, I usually use that.

Anyway, you can see from the picture above that the cake is already half gone.  Nadim and all three kids took some for their lunch today. The flowers are from my lovely husband and my folks.  Here's to another year!