Glazed Apple Cream Pie

After all that apple picking, I've been making crisps, pies, and lots of other yummy stuff. Here's one of my favorite, super easy apple pie recipes! Enjoy!

Glazed Apple Cream Pie

(see the original over at Allrecipes.com)

1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/4 cup butter
2 tablespoons cornstarch
2 tablespoons milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 tart apples - peeled, cored and sliced
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 (15 ounce) package pastry for double-crust pie
1/2 cup confectioners' sugar
1 tablespoon milk
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon butter, softened

1. In a medium saucepan over medium heat, combine 1/2 cup sugar, 1/2 cup milk, 1/2 cup cream, and 1/4 cup butter. Heat until butter is melted, stirring occasionally. In a small bowl, whisk together the cornstarch, 2 tablespoons milk, and vanilla; stir into saucepan. Cook until thickened, stirring constantly. Remove from heat, and set aside to cool slightly.
2. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). In a medium bowl, combine the apples, flour, and cinnamon. Mix well.
3. Line a 9 inch pie pan with pie dough. Pour thickened filling mixture into pastry-lined pie pan. Arrange apple mixture evenly over filling. Top with second crust, seal and flute the edges. Cut slits in top crust.
4. Bake for 30 to 40 minutes, or until crust is golden brown and apples are tender. Cool for at least 30 minutes.
5. In small bowl, combine confectioners' sugar, 1 tablespoon milk, 1/4 teaspoon vanilla, and 1 tablespoon softened butter. Blend until smooth; pour evenly over warm pie. Refrigerate for AT LEAST 1 1/2 hours before serving (longer is better).

Rainy Weekend

Anybody else still a bit soggy after that weekend?! Wow! I think it rained for 48 hours straight here, then stopped for a little while so that it could rain another 24! As bad as that sounds, we actually had a really great weekend. We were able to catch up on some things that I had been wanting to do around the house, like finishing Max's quilt, and just enjoyed hanging out together. Jared was able to make a measuring stick for the kids (something we kept meaning to do and never actually did!). He even carved an "N" on the top. It looks great! The kids actually enjoyed the time at home too and re-discovered some of their buried toys. Just check out our little Chopin!

Jared got his exercise giving lots and lots of airplane rides, bouncing kiddos on the big blue ball, and giving countless giraffe/ pony/ hippo rides. I'm sure Ruby will be thrilled in a few years that I posted this picture of her on the Internet, but I guess every kid has to live with a little bit of embarrassment from their parents!

We also got an interesting note in the mail. It seems that our car has been totalled. Now wouldn't it have been nice to tell us that BEFORE they decided to spend the last two weeks waiting on parts?! We're not sure if we have any options at all at this point, but almost would rather they didn't repair the car if possible. Since we got such a good price on the car we'd actually end up ahead if they paid us the value of the car and let us walk. Maybe we could upgrade or just have a few thousand dollars in the bank--both options sound nice! Of course that does mean car shopping and you know how much I LOVED that process.

Check in tomorrow for another yummy recipe from my kitchen to yours!

Take Me Out to the Ball Game!

Somehow or another, this post got buried in my unfinished pile, from mid-August. Just so the memories aren't lost completely (as this blog is my memory!) I thought I better post it on up now...

Jared was able to go out to the Red Sox game with Anne, Ken, and the boys last week! It was his first Red Sox game and I think he really had a great time. I insisted that he bring the camera along, so I thought I'd put up a few pictures from the game.



The closest the kids and I have come to a Sox game a visit to Beantown, which is actually a massive furniture store complete with an animated Green Monster! As much as the kids enjoy Beantown, I think they'd absolutely love a trip to the ballpark some day. From the sounds of it we'll be saving up for some time before we go though. Why does everything have to be so expensive!?!


From what Jared said his evening at Fenway Park was fun and the game was pretty exciting with a last minute push for the Sox to win! Yeah Red Sox!

Thanks again to Anne and Ken for including Jared in your adventure!

So Silly

Apple Picking

We've made the rounds this year, picking strawberries, raspberries, peaches, and now apples. The kids have enjoyed every outing, but I think that this one was probably the most popular. I'll let the pictures tell the story...

Meatball Sandwiches

I had my first meatball sandwich back at Wheatberries in Moscow, Idaho and I was hooked.  Over the years I've tried lots of variations with baking the meatballs into the bread (kind of like a calzone), adding various veggies, and of course different meatball recipes.  This is my favorite recipe to date.  It's wicked easy and delish.

Meatball Sandwiches

1 lb. ground beef

1/2 c. bread crumbs

1/2 c. Parmesan cheese

2 garlic cloves, minced

1 tsp. salt

2 T. parsley

1 tsp. oregano

pepper, to taste

1 large onion, sliced

1 red bell pepper, sliced

1 green bell pepper, sliced

Crusty sub rolls

Your favorite spaghetti sauce

mozzarella cheese

1. Preheat oven to 350F.  Mix ground beef through pepper and form into balls.  Bake 30 minutes.  Raise oven temperature to 400F.
   
2. Allow meatballs to cool 10 minutes or so, then coat in 1/3 jar of sauce.
   
3. Meanwhile, saute onions and peppers in a little bit of olive oil.
   
4. Assemble sandwiches, stuffing the split rolls with meatballs, veggies, and plenty of mozzarella cheese.  Wrap tightly in foil and bake for 15 minutes at 400F to melt the cheese.
   
5. Enjoy!!

Friday Footsteps

It's been a wild and crazy couple of days filled to the brim with good times.  Today, though, I wanted to talk about what I get to do on Fridays this fall!  

About a week ago I got an email from someone at church urgently seeking another leader for their Friday Footsteps program.  Friday Footsteps, as it turns out, is NSCBC's outreach to elementary aged kids (K-5).  Jared and I talked it over and decided that we'd go for it.  He'd commit to being done with work a little early on Fridays to spend time with the kids, and I would commit to being a leader.  Way back when we lived in Idaho we were both AWANA leaders and absolutely loved it, so I'm excited I'll have a chance to interact with some kids on a weekly basis and hopefully develop a relationship with them.  

We'll be meeting each Friday evening for a couple of hours to play games, sing songs, make zany crafts, and hopefully grow closer to God along the way.  The curriculum, DiscipleLand, looks like it's chock full of great ideas to teach my NINETEEN (gasp!) second graders all about the fruit of the Spirit.  I'm a bit nervous about the size of the class, but I trust that God will just give me the right words to say and the opportunity to get to know each of the kids throughout the semester.

Pray for all of us that we'll be a blessing and be blessed in the process!