Thanksgiving Dutch Apple Pie – A Traditional Favorite

Tags

baking, dessert, Dutch Apple Pie, Thanksgiving, vegan, vegetaria

Yesterday I was a baking fool! First I made cranberry pecan muffins. These were only so-so, so I won’t burden you with that recipe! BUT then, I went on to bake an apple pie and chicken pot pie. Now these two recipes are worth sharing! Today I’ll start with the Dutch Apple Pie. This was my first time ever baking an apple pie! I decided to keep it basic and use a frozen ready made pie shell and went with a dutch topping, instead of crust. The pie was fairly easy to make and it was delicious!!! If you’re looking for a pie to serve at your Thanksgiving dinner, this is an easy version that can fit into your busy cooking schedule. Pies even freeze pretty well, so you can make it ahead and freeze for the big day.

Now I say this was pretty easy, but this is coming from a girl who was blessed to receive a Kitchen Aid spiralizer for Christmas last year. This particular spiralizer has a spiral slicing blade along with a peeling blade, so I did not have to peel and slice 8 cups of apples! Having to do this manually would make this pie more time consuming to make. If you don’t have a Kitchen Aid mixer, but you think you might make this more if you didn’t have to peel and slice apples consider investing in an hand crank apple peeler/corer that attaches to a table. We have an antique one of these and they work great!

Lastly, I cannot take credit for this recipe. This is a Betty Crocker recipe minus the portion to make your own pie crust. I substituted a frozen pie shell.

Dutch Apple Pie

1 frozen pie shell (set out and let thaw for 10-15 minutes)

Filling

8 cups peeled and sliced apples (I used about 5 medium sized apples)

1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup all-purpose flour

1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 tablespoon lemon juice

Topping

1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 cup all-purpose flour

2/3 cup packed brown sugar

1 tablespoon granulated sugar

Preheat ove to 400 degrees. In large bowl, toss Filling ingredients. Pour into pie plate, mounding apples toward center.

In medium bowl, use pastry blender or fingers to mix butter, 1 cup flour and the brown sugar until a crumb forms. Sprinkle evenly over top of pie. Sprinkle 1 tablespoon granulated sugar on top.

Bake 45 to 55 minutes or until pie crust and crumb topping are deep golden brown and filling begins to bubble. Transfer to cooling rack to cool.

Enjoy!

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Stewed Black Beans – Super Easy, Make Ahead Dish!

Tags

Black Beans, Cooking, Food, healthy, low-fat, side dish, slow cook, slow cooker, vegan, vegetaria

  

A week or so ago, I posted a recipe for Mexican Spiced Chicken with a Tomatillo Salsa. Along with that meal, I had made some Stewed Black Beans and they turned out great, so I wanted to share that recipe with my food blog friends. These were really easy to make and very lowfat. Plus, they are a great vegetarian/vegan dish!

A little over a year ago, my oldest daughter got married and even though she lives locally it was a difficult adjustment for me. I have missed not having my baby girl in the house to talk to and watch over. One of the things I did was to establish a weekly family dinner, so every Sunday evening my daughter and her husband come for dinner. Hey! I love to cook and they love to eat, so everyone is happy! This was something I remember from my childhood. Every Sunday, my mom would have a roast slow cooking in the oven or something simmering in the slow cooker while we were at church and then my older brother and sister, along with their spouses and children, would come over for Sunday dinner. Even my grandma would join us some weeks. It was a great family memory!

While the kids are over on Sunday evenings, we usually have some TV shows that we watch together. I try and get a lot of the cooking done before they arrive, so I can enjoy the visit with them. Loading something into the slow cooker is a great way to do early prep and have something ready to go at dinner time. For this particular dinner, I had a Mexican theme of sorts going, so I thought I would make some beans. I didn’t start with a recipe. I just took a look at the ingredients I had on hand and started throwing stuff in the pot and the beans came out great! I hope you and your family enjoy them as well!

Stewed Black Beans

3 – 15 oz cans black beans, undrained

1/2 – 15 oz can kidney beans (I just had this in my fridge, so threw it in. You could leave it out or add a whole can)

1 – 8 oz can diced green chilies

1/2 red bell pepper, diced

1/2 medium onion, diced

1 cup frozen corn

1/4 cup cilantro, chopped

1 clove garlic, pressed or chopped

Juice of 1/2 lime

1/2 tsp cumin

1/2 tsp chili powder

Salt and pepper to taste

Throw all ingredients in slow cooker pot and cook on low for 6-8 hours.