Apple Cranberry Pie

Last year, my good friend Caitlin taught me how to make an apple pie.  Years ago, a friend made an apple cranberry pie that I loved, so I used Caitlin's recipe and added cranberries to it.  Below is her recipe, although I should note that I am not really a fan of measuring.

The pie came out a bit runny this time, but it was a huge hit!  It was very delicious!  I will post more picture from my wonderful Christmas tomorrow.  I hope you all had a very Merry Christmas!


Apple Cranberry Pie with Crumb Topping


1 pie crust
6 cups (about 4-5 apples) thinly sliced, peeled apples (As recommend by Caitlin, a combination of flavorful red and green apples is the perfect combination.  I used 4 of the 6 apples I purchased.  Two were Braeburn and two were Granny Smith.)
3/4 cup sugar
2 tablespoons all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon (I personally like a little more)
1/8 teaspoon of nutmeg
1/3 cup cranberries (I use more than that, but I love cranberries.)


Prepare and roll out pie crust.  Line a 9-inch pie plate with the crust.
In a large bowl stir together the sugar, flour, cinnamon, and nutmeg.  Add apple slices and cranberries.  Gently toss until coated.
Transfer apple/cranberry mixture to the pie plate.


Crumb topping 
1/2 cup of flour
1/2 cup of brown sugar
3 tablespoons of softened (not melted) butter


Stir together flour, brown sugar, and butter with a fork to cause crumbs to form.  Spread on top of apples.

Bake pie at 375 degrees Fahrenheit for 40 minutes with foil over the crust (or a pie crust protector).  Then remove the foil and cook for another 20 minutes or until the filling is bubbly.

Starting my Christmas with Mint Tea

Merry Christmas!  I wanted to write a quick post about the amazing Christmas gift I got from Chris's sister, Jessica.  My very own loose leaf tea maker.... with my favorite... mint tea!

I am going to get a thermometer and a tea pot.  For today, the microwave worked fine.

P.S.  That is too much!

Definitely too much tea, but it looks awesome!

Go Knights!  (and Tervis Tumbler!)

Definitely had to be diluted, since I made it too strong.

Because I live in Florida, and I love iced tea!  I personally prefer mint tea sweetened and iced.

I hope you all are having a wonderful Christmas.  I most certainly am!  I love my future-in-laws, and I cannot wait to see my family later in the week. (o: (o:

Spaghetti squash spaghetti

I was an odd child growing up.  I preferred steamed vegetables over cake and candy.  I cried when it was pizza night but cheered when we were having brussel sprouts or squash.  Like I said, I was odd.  My dad was the cook in the family, and he loved vegetables.  I remember him making spaghetti, butternut, and acorn squash.  This morning I was reading the latest issue of Runners World Magazine, and I stumbled across instructions for cooking spaghetti squash.  Then I recalled that my mom told me she recently tried spaghetti made with the squash instead of pasta.  I decided I'd do that myself.  I actually had never tried spaghetti squash in spaghetti, so I was excited.  I captured the process in photos.

November 2010 issue

 

My squash.  After removing the sticker, I put several holes in it then baked at 400C for an hour.

Since my meatballs do not come close to Chris's mom's meatballs, I opted to buy the delicious Publix meatballs.  They come on a bed of spinach, which I tossed in the pan as well.  These really are delicious!  They do tend to run a little on the greasy side, so I cook them then pat them on paper towels.  I added mushrooms too after the picture.

Sauce.  These were on sale, buy-one-get-one-free at Publix.  Being on a budget, I love a good sale.

I wasn't sure how much of the squash would be edible, and Chris seemed hesitant to try the squash, so I decided to cook some pasta as well.  This tri-colored fettuccine has a whole serving of vegetables, and it was also on sale. 

 

While the meatballs and pasta were cooking, I let the squash cool before cutting it.

 

The cooked squash.

I scooped out all of the seeds.

Scraping out the deliciousness.

It looks like spaghetti!

 

 

I added some salt and pepper.  Delicious by itself!

I used a few noodles, but mostly the squash.  Then I topped with sauce (including meatballs and mushrooms) and some Parmesan/Ramona (?) cheese.

After mixing it all together.

DELICIOUS!!!!  The squash added a bit of a crunch which I enjoyed.  Chris even enjoyed it and had seconds (including squash!).  I will definitely make this meal again.  I also intend to cook butternut and acorn squash while they are in season.