Apple Berry Pie

I made this pie for Thanksgiving dinner and we ate it right up. It is a favorite but I had not made it for several years. It is tart and sweet at the same time and really delicious. Here is the recipe: Apple Berry Pie

Double Crust Pastry
2 cups sugar
1/3 cup all purpose flour
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg
3 cups cranberries, washed & stemmed
2 large apples, pared, quartered, cored, and sliced (3 cups)
2 TBSP butter or margarine
milk & sugar (topping)

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Prepare pastry and put half in pie plate. Combine sugar, flour, cinnamon, & nutmeg in a large bowl; add cranberries and apples; toss lightly to mix. Spoon into crust; dot butter over fruit. Roll out remaining pastry and cut slits to let steam escape; place over filling, pinch edge & flute. Brush cream or milk lightly over top and sprinkle with sugar. Bake 40 minutes or until pastry is golden. Yield: 1 9-inch pie.

Layered Pumpkin Dessert

I found this recipe AFTER Thanksgiving and it looks really good. It should be called Chris' Layered Pumpkin Dessert because he LOVES Twinkies and Whipped Cream. He will eat both in one sitting! I'm going to try it sometime soon. Maybe for Christmas because we still have plenty of leftovers to eat!

LAYERED PUMPKIN DESSERT

1 package (10 count) Twinkies
1 – 8 oz. package cream cheese, softened
1 cup confectioners’ sugar
1 – 8 oz. container Cool Whip, thawed & divided
2 – 3.4 oz. pkgs. instant vanilla pudding
1 – 15 oz. can pumpkin
1 cup milk
1½ tsp. pumpkin pie spice

Slice Twinkies in half, lengthwise, and place, cream-side-up, single layer, in bottom of 9x13 baking dish. Blend together cream cheese, confectioners’ sugar, and half of the Cool Whip until smooth. Spread over Twinkies.

Combine pudding, pumpkin, spice, and milk. Whisk until well blended and spread over cream cheese mixture. Refrigerate a couple hours and serve with remaining Cool Whip and a sprinkle of pumpkin pie spice.

Thanksgiving Dinner

The Table decorated by MarissaFamily!
Laurie and Apple Berry Pie!

Bird Rolls

I made some "Bird Rolls" today. They actually look like soft pretzels and taste like the Challah Bread that I make. The rolls call for some extra work to make them look like birds with unblanched almonds and making tail feathers with a knife but I skipped that part. People around here eat food no matter what it looks like! Here's the recipe:

BIRD ROLLS
1 package (1/4 oz) active dry yeast
1 cup warm milk (110 - 115 degrees)
1/4 cup butter or margarine, melted
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp. salt
3-1/2 to 4 cups all purpose flour

(Additional ingredients: 1 egg, 1 TBSP water, 16 whole unblanched almonds)

In a mixing bowl, dissolve yeast in warm milk. Add the butter, brown sugar, 2 eggs, salt and 2 cups flour. Beat until smooth. Stir enough remaining flour to form a soft dough. turn onto a floured surface; knead until smooth and elastic, about 6-8 minutes. Place in greased bowl, turning once to grease top. Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 1 hour. Punch dough down. Turn onto a lightly floured surface; divide into 16 pieces. Roll each into a 12 inch rope; tie each into a knot. To form bird's head, tuck one end back into knot. With a sharp knife or scissors cut two slits on opposite end to form tail feathers. Place 2 inches apart on greased baking sheets. Cover and let rise until doubled, about 30 minutes. Beat 1 egg with 1 TSBP water; brush over dough. Bake at 350 degrees for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown. Insert an almond into each for beak. Remove from pans to wire racks to cool. Yield: 16 rolls

MY NOTE: I used the dough setting on the bread machine and skipped the hard work. Just follow the breadmaker instructions for loading the ingredients.

Mashed Potatoes and Noodles

I needed some comfort food today and made mashed potatoes and noodles. Almost as good as Grandma's but not quite. If you want to try it sometime, here's what I did:

Place in crockpot, 3-4 boneless chicken breasts
2 cans chicken broth (I ended up adding a third later)
2 cans cream of chicken soup.

Cook on low all day. Take out chicken and shred - set aside.
In crockpot, add 8 oz egg noodles - the thinner the better. (I tried to find Reames Egg Noodles but ended up using regular ones). Let simmer in crock pot for 30-40 minutes. Add chicken.
I also added a couple spoonfuls of sour cream, salt and pepper. Serve over mashed potatoes! Yum!