Apple Season Commences!
September 15, 2011 by Rebecca
Filed under Recipe Websites
I don’t know, it seems kind of early for apple season. Or maybe September has just kind of caught up to me very quickly…. at any rate, all my local news outlets are reporting that Upstate New York has a bumper crop of apples this year!
What’s really amazing is that the apples survived the crazy weather we’ve had this year. A soaking spring, super hot and super dry summer, tornadoes, TWO hurricanes, and now a blight. :-p Gotta love New York apples! They’re hardy little things!
By the way, if you are like me and can’t remember if Spys are for pies or for fries, or what’s a best eating apple versus the baking apples, see this website: Pick Your Own. They have a huge list of all the apple varieties, when they are in season, what you can use them for, and more. They also have some yummy recipes, places to find PYO apple farms, and loads more information on their site. The varieties list is long, though, beware. Better print it out or load it on your pc tablet for easy access…. I had no idea there were so many apple varieties!
Autumn Means Baking!
August 13, 2011 by Rebecca
Filed under Miscellaneous
Oh I am looking forward to autumn. Soon I’ll be able to turn on the stove and bake again! Look what’s growing in my yard!
There were multitudes of blossoms in the spring, but oddly enough the apples are rather few and far between. I don’t know what happened along the way. Although I will add that right now the apples are small and green and perhaps I didn’t see them because they are camouflaged so well. Yah, I’ll have to break out my welch allyn or something, eh?
Oh well, even so I think there will be enough for a nice pie. Yum! I can smell it already!
Spiced Apple Cider Recipes
Store-bought apple cider is so expensive! I did a little research to see how I could make my own. I had no idea it was so complex! :S This video is very entertaining, the guy tells about the basic process of making cider. LOL. I love the guys’ faces when they try their cider. LOLOL!!
The recipe those guys made seems to be hard cider (they add yeast). I’m not looking for that, I’m happy with a basic Super Apple Juice kind of cider.
I did find a more basic Apple Cider recipe at Food.com, that does not require the use of an expensive apple press. This looks like a recipe I can actually do!
Making cider has got to be a terrific job to do with the kids; it can get their minds off acne products and get them involved in the kitchen work. 
Granny’s Apple Pie
October 16, 2010 by Rebecca
Filed under Those Evil Desserts
I saw this photo and it made me totally crack up! Haaa!!! I will have to do one like this sometime!
I made apple pie late last night on this crazy whim. It was a cold evening, and I was desperate to bake something. I enjoyed it so much I almost broke out the led christmas lights and started playing carols! Well, about the pie: this is all that is left. 
I have posted my recipe for “industrial-sized” apple pie, but I have never posted my really easy recipe for “regular” apple pie. It’s a little different than the standard pie, because I reduce the sugar and add molasses. This gives it a heartier, less sweet flavor. It’s very good, especially with vanilla ice cream. I use store-bought pie crusts for the pie. I don’t bother making dough, rolling it, etc. Too much work. The pre-made crusts are always flaky, and they cut the pie-making time down to 1/3 of what it would be, making it all from scratch. I also have bags of pre-sliced apple in the freezer. Whenever we want to make a pie, we thaw out the apples, throw the ingredients together, and lay out the pre-made crusts. SO EASY! It takes me about 15 minutes to get a pie in the oven, from start to finish.
Granny’s Apple Pie
6-7 cups peeled, diced apples
1 Tablespoon cinnamon
1 Tablespoon tapioca
1/4 teaspoon ginger
1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup molasses
Pinch of salt
Mix the ingredients quickly in a large bowl. Dump into the pie pan lined with a crust. Lay another crust over the pan. Pinch the two crusts together firmly, to keep juices from bursting the seams. Make a few slits on the top (or carve out a fancy Macintosh apple as in the photo above) to allow steam to escape.
Place in a preheated oven set to 375 degrees. Bake for about an hour. Allow to cool slightly. Serve warm with ice cream!
Cranberry Apple Crisp
September 30, 2009 by Rebecca
Filed under Those Evil Desserts
Mmm I love crisps, especially crisps with cranberries in them. A dollop of vanilla ice cream on top of warm crisp is SO luscious!! It’s a terrific comfort food, especially after a long, cold winter’s day at the office, or for the weary housewife who has been haggling over term life insurance comparisons all day. And crisps are easy and cheap! Here’s my absolutel favorite crisp, just in time for autumn’s apple and cranberry season!
Cranberry Apple Crisp
serve 6
2 cups fresh cranberries
4 cups apples, peeled and diced
1 cup granulated white sugar
1 packed cup Homemade brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup quick-cook oats
1/2 cup flour
2 tablespoons wheat germ or ground flax seed
1 teaspoon cinnamon
6 Tablespoons butter or margarine (but butter is better), at room temperature
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 2-quart baking dish. Set aside.
In a large bowl, combine the cranberries, apples, granulated white sugar, and salt. Dump into your baking dish.
In the bowl that you just emptied, combine the brown sugar, oats, flour, wheat germ or flax seed, and cinnamon, and mix well. Cut in the butter until it looks like gravel. Dump this on top of your cranberries/apples mix in the dish.
Bake for 50 minutes to an hour, until the fruit is tender and the kids start salivating heavily. Serve while warm, with fresh cream, or ice cream. OH MY WORD, this is SO GOOD!!! It’s great after a turkey dinner. 