Oh my, Apple Pie!

Well- it's been a long day!  I wasn't feeling too good today... this past Friday evening I went into Urgent Care and walked out with 10 days of anitbiotics.  What do I have?  I don't know- not ear infection like I thought.  The  nurse practioner said she "did not trust my throat" followed by a long monologue on how she is dissatisfied with our nation's outdated higher education requirements.  Meanwhile- she struggled with the lab computer- eventrally she explained that she had been confusing the backspace with the enter key.  And out I walkd with amoxycillin sans throat swab or true diagnosis.  Weird. Also weird- not being able to hear much of anything because my my ears are all whaked out.  Humph:(


But anyway- I'll survive!  Here's what's cooking this last week:

Betty Crocker Scrumptious Apple Pie

Crust
2 cups Gold Medal® all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup plus 2 tablespoons shortening
4 to 6 tablespoons cold water


Filling
1/3 to 1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup Gold Medal® all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon salt
8 cups thinly sliced peeled tart apples (8 medium)
2 tablespoons butter or margarine


In medium bowl, mix 2 cups flour and 1 teaspoon salt. Cut in shortening, using pastry blender (or pulling 2 table knives through ingredients in opposite directions), until particles are size of small peas. Sprinkle with cold water, 1 tablespoon at a time, tossing with fork until all flour is moistened and pastry almost cleans side of bowl (1 to 2 teaspoons more water can be added if necessary).


Gather pastry into a ball. Divide in half; shape into 2 flattened rounds on lightly floured surface. Wrap in plastic wrap; refrigerate about 45 minutes or until dough is firm and cold, yet pliable. This allows the shortening to become slightly firm, which helps make the baked pastry more flaky. If refrigerated longer, let pastry soften slightly before rolling.


Heat oven to 425°F. With floured rolling pin, roll one pastry round into round 2 inches larger than upside-down 9-inch glass pie plate. Fold pastry into fourths; place in pie plate. Unfold and ease into plate, pressing firmly against bottom and side.


In large bowl, mix sugar, 1/4 cup flour, the cinnamon, nutmeg and 1/8 teaspoon salt. Stir in apples until well mixed. Spoon into pastry-lined pie plate. Cut butter into small pieces; sprinkle over filling. Trim overhanging edge of pastry 1/2 inch from rim of plate.


Roll other round of pastry into 10-inch round. Fold into fourths and cut slits so steam can escape. Unfold top pastry over filling; trim overhanging edge 1 inch from rim of plate. Fold and roll top edge under lower edge, pressing on rim to seal; flute as desired. Cover edge with 2- to 3-inch strip of foil to prevent excessive browning.


Bake 40 to 50 minutes or until crust is brown and juice begins to bubble through slits in crust, removing foil for last 15 minutes of baking. Serve warm if desired.

Did I make my own pie crust?  Heck no, the world gives us these things in the grocery store.  However, I did use these to cut cute little leaf shapes into my pie:

They were a gift from Joe for... our anniversary maybe?  I think that was it- they have these shapes and more fun designs at Williams Sonoma. 

What else is new? Well... I am headed back to school for my Doctorate in Higher Ed Leadership.  Right now I am studying for the GRE (again- did you know your scores expire?) and pulling together all of my application materials.  The first two years will mean traveling for class on Wednesdays nights and taking the whole month of June off for class.  But- by age 30, I'll be done- woot!  I'm excited- I love to learn, so why not get back on the proverbial horse and get back to school?  But, I'm anxious as well- 2 years is a long time to devote all your vacation to educational pursuits. But, I think it will be a good invenstment and a valuable experience. So, here goes nothing- a deep breath and a leap. 

Harvest Baking and Good Read

It's officially autumn!  I can't say it really feels like it yet in Missouri, but that doesn't stop me from getting into the spirit of things with a little pumpkin baking!  Here are are a few recipes I tried this afternoon...

Pumpkin Nutella Bread
1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 tablespoon cinnamon
1 1/2 teaspoons nutmeg
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/2 cup canola oil
1/3 cup water
1 cup canned pumpkin (not pumpkin pie filling)
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon hazelnut extract
8 tablespoons Nutella (2 tablespoons per mini loaf)

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Spray 4 mini loaf pans with cooking spray. Set aside.

2. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Set aside.

3. In a large bowl, whisk together sugar, oil, water, pumpkin, eggs, and extracts. Whisk until smooth and combined.

4. Slowly stir in the flour mixture. Mix until ingredients are combined.

5. Pour the batter into the mini loaf pans, making sure batter is evenly divided. Drop 2 heaping tablespoons of Nutella onto each loaf pan. Swirl the Nutella into the pumpkin batter with a knife. Place the loaf pans onto a baking sheet and place in the oven. Bake for 40-45 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

6. Place the loaf pans on a wire rack. Cool for 15 minutes in the pan and then carefully remove the loaves. Cool completely before slicing.

*Note-You can make regular size loaves. This recipe should make 2 8×4 loaves. Adjust baking time to about 60 minutes.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins
3/4 cup white sugar
1/4 cup vegetable oi
l 2 eggs
3/4 cup canned pumpkin
1/4 cup water
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips
 
1.Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Grease and flour muffin pan or use paper liners.

2.Mix sugar, oil, eggs. Add pumpkin and water. In separate bowl mix together the baking flour, baking soda, baking powder, spices and salt.. Add wet mixture and stir in chocolate chips.

3.Fill muffin cups 2/3 full with batter. Bake in preheated oven for 20 to 25 minutes.
 
And if you're wondering- yes I staged that picture with the nutella and the apple candle- lol.  What else is new around here... I am reading this-

Those of you who know me realize that I am currently not a Republican and probably never will be.  So why read a book by a Republican politician's daughter?  I saw her interviewed on a late night talk show and was intrigued by her perspective.  This book gives me a little hope for the future of the GOP and my fellow twenty-somethings.  Maybe the Millennial wave of the conservative right will put the elitist and exclusive characteristics of the Republican party to bed for good.  And maybe women in their 20's will progressively refrain from yielding to the cultural insinuation that it's best to be seen or heard.  Cheers to a lady with a lot good things to say.

About 4 Things...

Nothing reminds me more of fall than the smell of apple cinnamon roasting... er- dehydrating!  Joe and I picked up on my Dad' tradition for the first time this year- on a much smaller scale.  Smaller because Missouri apples are pretty small and we don't really have a desire to run a 3 dehydrator 24/7 apple shop.  If you want to try this- it's pretty easy!  You chop the apples, shake on some cinnamon, and wait for a while for the dehydrator to do it's thing and you're done!

We made some fruit roll-ups too!  I have to be honest here- Joe did all the work while I documented the experience- hehe.  What a guy:)  Here's what I think he did... chopped apples go in the blender along with a package of raspberries and some white grape peach juice.  This mixture gets poured on a fruit roll up tray (you normally have to purchase this separately- you can find them on-line) and put on the dehydrator overnight.

Hmmm- what else have we been doing... here are the 3 pictures I submitted to the photo contest...

We'll see how that goes!  Oh- and here's What I Wore Wednesday- only got one day recorded and it was a Monday, but I give myself an A for that effort...  Linking up with Pleated Poppy again...

Where I wore it:  Work- crazy amounts of meetings that day...

Dress: Target Clearance- bought like 2 or 3 years ago and just took the tags off this week.

Cardi:  Banana Republic

Tank: Target

Belt:  From a bridesmaid dress- shout out to Cat Standfuss!

Necklace- from that same bridesmaid ensemble

Tights- TJ Maxx

Boots: Target on-line

One last thing- Happy Birthday Mom- 29 and fabulous!

Keeping it Real

Well everybody- if you read my last post, you konw I'm entering a photography contest.  Turns out that if you want to win said contest, you need to start by taking pictures of the right landmark.  LOL- here are some new images- let me know what you think!  I can submit 3.  I didn't get to spend nearly as much time on these- such is life:)

Need your vote!

I just got a new camera!  I've wanted an SLR for quite a while now and I decided it was finally time to just bite the bullet and buy one.  After doing a lot of research I decided on a Nikon D3000 D-SLR.  I am loving it so far... I'm not so much in love with the amount of money I spent on it though!  So- what better time is there to enter a photography contest.  If I win...maybe the camera will pay for itself.  I can enter 3 images... which ones do you think look the best? 

What is that thing?  It's our campus stonehenge... not quite as attractive as the real thing- but kind of fun to have around.

Here are some other shots I captured today and the haircut pictures my mother requested- hehe:)

Leaves in the nuclear reactor barracade cement planter

My office windows- notice the top of the soil testing trailor right at the bottom of the shot- opps!

Pretty flower!

Stella

Mr Carl- very grumpy about the new camera- all his shots look just like this!

Ta-dah- the back is real short.  I still need to mail off my ponytail to Wigs for Kids.

What I Wore Wednesday!

So- I'm linking up with the The Pleated Poppy blog this week for What I Wore Wednesday! Lots of women link up to this blog to show what they wore that week.  I'm kind of a busy girl and let's face it, I am not really on top of things all the time, so  I recorded 2 of my last 7 days- woot! Here we go!

Sunday:  Church, out to eat, Wal-Mart run

Dress:  Target

Necklace:  JC Penny

Merril Sandals:  TJ Maxx

Wednesday:  Work and out to lunch with a friend

Shirt:  Old Navy

Pants: The Limited (actually- they are The Limited pants, but I got them at Marshalls)

Shoes:  Weddings on First (yup- I wear my wedding shoes about once a week!)

Bracelet:  Thrift Store

Ring: Art Gallery in Hattiesburg, Mississippi

Yay! Head on over to The Pleated Poppy to see what are people are wearing this Wednesday!

So, lately my dear cats are creeping into just about every conversation I have... what can I say- I'm one of THOSE people!  Here is some evidence that they are getting along famously!

Doesn't Carl looked thilled?  He loves to give Stella baths- what a guy.  Here's what they do when they are not lounging angelically...

Carl has a leg up on this activity- obviously!  But, Stella holds her own.

STELLA!

Joe brought home a surprise the other night....

I almost started to cry- I was so happy to get a girl in the house:)  Her name is Stella and she weighs about 1 pound at 5 weeks of age.  She was a campus stray that got separated from her Mom and brothers. 

Her and Carl are getting along pretty well so far.  Initially there was some cranky hissing, but now he has taken on the role of Daddy- watching Stella play and sometimes carrying her in his mouth by the scruff of her neck just like a Momma cat!  Nice to see Carl can be domestic!  He looks like such an old kitty compared to Stella!

In other exciting news- here's our new fence!  Up just in time for the proverbial wild neighbor people to

re-inhabit their house for the school year.  Good deal I guess!