Apple Heaven

There is nothing like fall in New York. The crisp air. The smells of leaves, harvest and chimneys. *Sigh* I can close my eyes and the memories of my childhood come rushing back in an instant. This is my favorite time of year . . .well this and Christmas.  While I firmly believe moving to Florida was the best decision ever there are about 10 days a year that I miss the good 'ol North East.

The Mr spent a few days in my old neck of the woods last week and when he called and asked what I wanted him to bring me back, I practically yelled APPLES! NEW YORK APPLES! For some reason you just cant find quality apples down here. I come from the land of pick your own and the stands on the side of the road sell apples and corn not peanuts and gator jerky! Needless to say he went to the wonderful Wegmans and picked me up apples and by apples I mean a TON OF APPLES!

Due to the crazy of life I finally put all those apples to good use after sitting in the fridge for 4 days. Here we are 2 apple pies and an apple crisp later and I am sure to get my apple craving fulfilled.

The apple pie is my own recipe. I eye ball the ingredients and am convinced that I have yet to make the same pie twice or else I'd post the recipe. Being from a family of 7, when we went apple picking there were a lot of apples and a lot of baking. I always made the pie and others made crisp, sauce, or another apple based dessert. I always got complements on my pie but then I married the Hubs whose Grandma created and perfected the art of Apple Pie. While mine comes no where close to her Delicious plate of goodness it makes for a tasty treat morning noon or night. ( * side-note* Oh and don't you love the fall table setting? I've become quite obsessed with table cloths, place settings and napkins! The flowers are courtesy of my wonderful Love in celebration of our 11 months of marriage . . . wow can you believe we are only three weeks away from the 1 year mark! - Well that will be a post all its own!)

Anyhoo back to apples . . . Being that my only responsibility was the Pie with out a mother or sister close by I had to expand my baking horizon and find an additional use for so many apples. I am a fan of allrecpies.com and tried this recipe. I enjoyed it with a nice cup of tea, only thing missing is Family but I guess we all cant have our pie and eat it too huh?

Stay tuned  . . . tomorrow brings BIG NEW BLOG!

Guest Post - Table for Four

Not Your Momma’s Carrot Cake

Hey!  I’m Nicole from Table For Four and I’m so excited to be featured on Amie’s fabulous food blog!  I am NOT a cook.  I have a few good recipes that I repeat over, and over and… over.  But Amie asked for some guest bloggers and I couldn’t resist. 

I named this recipe “Not Your Momma’s Carrot Cake” because it’s not like anything you’ve had before… it’s not a “traditional” carrot cake.  It’s not like the carrot cake your momma makes… because it’s the carrot cake my husband’s momma makes!  It’s my mother-in-law, Rosana’s famous carrot cake. 

This cake is seriously good.  It’s light and airy with a chocolate frosting that wont leave you feeling like a fatty.  In fact, we eat it as a breakfast cake mostly.   Yes, I just used the words “breakfast” and “cake” in the same sentence… are you hooked yet?

Here’s what you’ll need:

For cake:

Flour- 3 cups

Sugar- 2 cups

Vegetable Oil- >1 cup

Baking Powder- 1 Tbs

Baby Carrots- 8 oz (half bag)

3 Eggs

Preheat oven to 375.  In a large mixing bowl, add flour, sugar and baking powder.  In a blender, place eggs and oil and blend.  Then add carrots little by little and continue blending for about 2 more minutes or until all is smooth and creamy. 

Add carrot mixture to dry ingredients and stir.  If it becomes too thick and hard to stir, add a splash of milk to help thin it a bit. 

Once it’s all smooth and creamy, add mixture to the baking dish and bake for 25 minutes or until golden. 

Now for the frosting… try not to drool ok?

You’ll need:

Milk (the fattiest the tastiest… just sayin’)- 3 Tbs

Butter- 1 Tbs

Chocolate Chips- ¾ bag  (of 12 oz bag)

Add all ingredients to a microwave safe bowl and nuke it for 1-½ minutes, stopping half way to stir.  

When cake comes out of the oven, immediately spread chocolate frosting.  Don’t wait for it to cool, because the idea is to have the frosting melt into the cake a bit. 

Wait for it to cool.  Serve and enjoy!  Mmmmm.

Come on now, you guys didn’t actually think I was going to make a recipe.  Let’s face it… I’m not domestic!  I have to give a huge thank you to my mother-in-law who has taught me all I know in the kitchen.  (Sorry, Mom!)  She was really nervous, but the cake came out great!

Try it… I’m sure you’ll LOVE it and maybe one day it’ll be your recipe too.  Then your kids will say, it’s “My Momma’s Carrot Cake!” 

Aunt Lori's Chicken Tortilla Soup

4 Chicken Breast halves, frozen
1 Garlic Clove ninced
2 Tbs Margarine
2 14 1/2 Oz Cans Chicken Broth
2 14 1/2 Oz Cans Chopped Stewed tomatoes
1 Cup Salsa
1/2 Cup Chopped cilantro (optional)
1 Tbs ground Cumin


Combine all the above ingredients in a crock pot. Cover and cook low 8-10 hours. Shred chicken.
Spoon over shredded chedder cheese, sprinle with chips and top with Sour Cream - add Avacado (optional)


I love a good crock pot recipe! This was beyond easy and very good. We like hot and spicy so we added a little hot sauce to give it a kick. I also think I may add a jalapeno next time to add another flavor. Over all this is a keeper. Its still in the 90's here so I think I'll save it for a rainy or wintery day but I will def be making t again!

Best Blueberry Muffins

In a large bowl combine
1/2 Cup rolled oats
1/2 Cup Orane Juice


In another bowl Combine
1 1/2 Cup Flour
1/2 Cup Sugar
1 1/4 Tsp Baking Powder
1/2 Tsp Salt
1/4 Tsp Baking Soda
1/2 Cup Veg Oil
1 Egg Beaten


add to oats and OJ mixture - mix until all is coated. Gently fold in 1 Cup blueberries. Spoon into muffin tin with liners.

Blend 2 Tbs Sugar and 1/4 Tsp Cinnamon  sprinkle over batter.


Bake at 400 for 18-22 mins- makes 12 muffins

Laura's Cheesy Scalloped Potatoes

3 Tbs Butter
2 Tbs Flour
2 Tsp Salt
Pepper to taste
2 Cups hot milk
1 1/2 Cup Shreddd Chedder Cheese
6 Potatoes, pealed and sliced
1 Small Onion Chopped

Melt butter in a double broiler or sauce pan over medium heat. Add flour, salt and pepper. Cook stirring constantly until smooth, Gradually stir in hot milk. Cook stirring constantly until thickened. Add cheese and cook continue stirring until melted. Layer potato slices, onion and cheese sauce in a lightly greased  9x13 baking dish. Repeat layers.

Bake @ 350 for 1 hour

If you love scalloped potatoes this is the BOMB! I usually make the boxed ones but these were super easy and better tasting. I added ham so that it could be an all in one meal, and the turn out was a success - both of us went back for seconds and there is still enough for me to take for lunch. It was a rainy day and this is a perfect meal for that kind of weather or for a winter meal.

Laura's Grilled Flank Steak

1/2 Cup Soy Sauce
3/8 Cup Veg Oil
1 1/2 Tbs Oriental Sesame Oil
5 Garlic Cloves minced
3 Tbs minced Ginger
6 Green Onions White and Green parts trimmed and minced
1 (2-21/2 lb) Flank steak
Salt
Fresh ground pepper

Process first 6 ingredients in a blender for 1-2 minutes
Reserve 1/3 of marinade for basting
Rub Steak with salt and pepper
Combine steak and Marinade in large zip lock bag for 1-2 days
Remove steak from marinade and discard marinade
Grill steak 4-5 inches above hot coals for 5 minutes each side for rare - or to your liking
Basting occasionally with reserved marinade - Steak may also be broiled

TIP - always bring meat to room temp before grilling to reduce cooking time and ensure more even cooking.

This was very simple and taste. I love prepping food the night before so that when I get home from work dinner is effortless and delish! I am not very good at choosing meat so I admit I took quite a while searching out with Steak to buy and honestly I don't remember what I picked and will have the same look of confusion next time i am in the Meat section of the grocery store. I added a baked potato and a summer salad that my sisters MIL made while I was in NY. Tomato, Cucumber and Onion drizzled with Oil and Vinegar salt and pepper. I still need to work on my proportions because hers def tasted better than mine but i'll keep at it.

Aunt Jeanne's Cheesy Rice and Beans

1 Cup uncooked Brown rice
1 Can drained Red beans (or half and half red & Black)
3 Tbs Margarine
1 Cup chopped onions (red/green peppers optional)
1/2 Cup chopped Celery
16oz can chopped tomato
2 Tsp chili powder
1/2 Tsp salt
2 Cups shredded cheddar of jack cheese


Cook rice
Saute onions, peppers and celery in margarine
stir in tomatoes, chili powder and salt
In a casserole dis layer mixture, rice and cheese
repeat and end with cheese

Bake at 350 45 mins

Aunt Jeanne's Chicken Pot Pie

2 pie Crusts
3 Cups cooked cubed Chicken
1 Can All Veggies drained
1 Cup Chicken broth
1 Cup milk
4 Tbs butter
4 heaping Tbs flour

Cook and thicken with flour. Pour into uncooked pie crust
Bake at 425 for 25-30 mins

Pork Chop & Apple Bake

1 Can Apple Pie filling
4-6 Pork Chops Browned
Pork Flavored stove top stuffing

Brown Pork Chops and make stuffing per the box directions

Grease a 9X13 pan.  put apple pie filling in bottom of dish, put pork chops layer next. Spread stuffing over top.

Cover with foil and bake at 350 for half hour
Uncover and bake for 10 more minutes.

This dish was DElish! The hubby is not the biggest pork eater and I don't usually make it well. This recipe was so simple and tasted so good! I will defiantly be making this again and again!

Buckeye Balls

1 1/2 Cup Creamy Peanut butter
1/2 Cup Butter or Margarine softened
1 Tsp Vanilla extract
1/2 Tsp salt
3-4 Cups Powdered Sugar

coating
1 lb Chocolate flavor candy coating
2 Tbsp Crisco

Combine peanut butter, butter, salt and vanilla in a large bowl. Beat at low speed with electric mixer until blended. Add 2 cups of sugar and beat until blended. Continue adding sugar a half cup at a time until mixture can be shaped like a all and will hold onto a tooth pick, Shape into 3/4" balls place on tray and chill.

Combine candy coating and shortening in microwave safe bowl and heat at 50% for 30 seconds, stir and repeat until mixture is smooth. Insert tooth pick into chilled candy bowl and then dip into melted coating. Place on wax paper. Remove tooth pick and smooth over holes. Refrigerate until coating is firm them remove from paper and store at room temp in covered container.

Hot Chicken Casserole

2 1/2 Cup cooked chicken, cubed
1 Cup diced celery
1 Tbs lemon Juice
1 Tsp Salt
2 Tbs minced onion
3/4 Cup mayonase
1 Cup cooked rice  (3 Cups)
1 Tsp Chicken Seasoning
1 Can water chestnuts, sliced
1 Can cream of chicken soup

Combine all ingreadents spoon into 2 quart casserole dish, Top with 1 cup oleo, 1 Cup crushed corn flakes, 1/2 cup sliced almonds crumble on top of casserole.

Bake at 350 for 35-40 minutes

I took a few short cuts, #1 I used uncle Ben's rice in a bag because I had my chicken cooking whent to grab the rice from the pantry only to find I was out. I made a quick run to Publix and grabed the rice - 10 minutes was what sold me.

I also used onion salt instead of fresh onion and used crunchy nut cereal since thats what I had and I didn't want to buy corn flakes that were buy one huge box get a huge box free when I only needed one cup.

I dont have a traditional casserole dish so I used two pie plates. Worked out perfectly. Steamed some veggies and dinner was a served.

Aunt Bean's Easy Chicken Enchiladas

10 Large Flour Tortillas
1/2 Cup Salsa
2 Cups Shredded Cheddar Cheese
1 Can Enchilada Sauce
1 Can White Chicken in water (10oz)

Coat bottom of 9x13 pan with 1/2 of enchilada sauce
Mix chicken, 1 Cup cheese and salsa in a bowl
Place mix into Enchilada rolls and put in pan
Pour remainder of enchilada sauce on top
Cover with foil and bake 30 mins at 350

remove from oven and sprinkle with cheese

(you can also top with sour cream, onions, tomato, lettuces  or any other toppings you like on your Mexican food)

Grandma Crisman's Spicy Hot Dogs

1 lb Pkg of Hot Dogs
2 tsp of Four
11/2 Cup Water
1 Cup Ketchup
4 tsp Vinegar
4 tsp Sugar
2 tsp Mustard

Cut hot dogs in half length wise. Mix flour with 4 tsp of water. add remaining ingredients except hot dogs. Cook stirring constantly until thickened. Add hot dogs and simmer for 30 mins.

(Family fav is to serve with mashed potatoes)

Grandma Josie's Manicotti

6 Eggs
3 C water
1 1/2 C Flour
Pinch of salt

Beat until blended then drop 3T into a frying pan until firm and flip (like a pancake). Stack and set aside

Filling:
3 lbs Ricotta
6 Eggs
1/2 C grated cheese
4 lbs Mozzarella

Put 2T filling into each pancake and fold over put in 9x13 pan and cover with sauce.

Bake for 30 minutes at 350.

Grandma Josie's Pinch Cookies

6 Eggs Beaten
2 C Sugar
2 C melted Crisco
2 C Milk
1 Whiskey Glass full of Lemon, anisette or Vanilla (3 Tbs)
6 Tsp Baking Powder
9 C Flour

Mix in a large bowl
Put on board and kneed a little
Pinch tsp size piece of dough and drop on wax paper

bake at 350 for 20 mins to a flint brown

cool and cover with butter icing

Momma D's Chicken Pot Pie

4 Chicken Breasts Cooked and diced
2 Cans Cream of Chicken Soup
2 Cans Cream of Celery Soup
2 Cans Cream of Corn soup

Mix together in 9x13 pan

Crust
2 Cups Flour
2 Cups Milk
4 Tsp Baking Powder
2 Sticks Melted Butter

Mix together and pour over chicken mixture

Bake Uncovered at 375 for 45 mins or until golden brown

Mom's Lasagna

1 Onion chopped
1 lb ground turkey
1 pkg Sweet Turkey Sausage
1 Jar Pasta Sauce
Brown onion in 2tbs oil add turkey and sausage add pasta sauce and let simmer.

3 Cups small curd Cottage Cheese
1/2 Cup Parmesan Cheese
2 tbs Parsley flakes
2 Eggs beaten
2 tbs Salt
1/2 tsp pepper
Mix together

Layer 2x
Cooked Lasagna noodles
Cheese mixture sauce
Mozzarella cheese

Bake at 375 for 30 mins- let stand 10 mins before cutting.

Salad-e Olivieh

AKA - Persian Chicken Salad.

5 Medium Potatoes boiled, peeled then grated
4 hard boiled eggs - grated
3 or 4 Chicken Breasts boiled & torn into bite size pieces
3 dill pickles grated

Combine above ingredients and mix in
5 table spoons lemon juice
5 table spoons vegetable oil
3 tsp salt
add Mayo to make it a potato salad consistency
gently fold in
1 can drained Peas

Enjoy with some Pita Bread

Aunt Kim's Tongo Bars

This week I am not hosting our weekly dinner with friends. Since I don't have to worry about a menu I offered to bring dessert. So here is what I'll be making tomorrow

2/3c Melted Butter
2c packed Brown Sugar
2 eggs
(beat these together)

add
2c flour
1tsp Baking Powder
1tsp salt
1/2tsp Baking Soda

Put in a greased 9x13 pan
Top with 1 cup Chocolate Chips
Bake at 350 for 35 mins

Mom's Chicken Tavern Style Ingredients

I'm planning to make this Thursday or Friday, depending on how work and my day "off" go. :)


Here's what you'll need . . . . 


2 Chicken Breast
Celery
Onion
Salt
2 cups Cooked White Rice
1/3 C Margarine
1/2 C Flour
1 C Evaporated Milk
2 Cans Mushrooms
1/2 tsp Tumerik
1/2 tsp Oregano
3/4 C shredded Cheddar Cheese 




Cook 2 Chicken Breasts with Celery, Onion and salt to make a broth.
Remove the chicken and tear into bite size piece. Save broth. Cook 2 cups of rice.
In a sauce pan melt 1/3 cup margarine & whisk in 1/2 cup of flour until smooth. Remover from heat. 
In a separate bowl mix 1cup evaporated milk, juice from mushrooms and remaining chicken broth so  it makes 4cups. add 1 tsp salt 1/2 tsp tumerik and 1/2 tsp oregano.Cook with flour mixture until thick.   add 3/4 cup cheddar cheese.


Layer rice, then mushrooms, chicken and  top with sauce


Bake 30 mins at 350!