Tuesday, January 26, 2010

Tasty Tuesday Crockpot Apple Pie!



This recipe is courtesy of Donna's friend John Michael Lerma from St.Paul who is known for his pies and has appeared on the Food Network's Best Pie Contests.

I haven't made it yet, but just the thought of what it smells like while it's cooking is enough to give anyone a Zetithian-class orgasm!

What's better than Sex? Crockpot Apple Pie!

8 apples peeled and sliced (I recommend these for best taste and crispness: Golden Delicious, Granny Smith, Jonathan, Jonagold, Winesap or Pippin)
Apple pie spice: 1 ¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon, ¼ teaspoon allspice, and ¼ teaspoon nutmeg
¾ cup whole milk
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
¾ cup white sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract or vanilla bean paste
1 ½ cups Bisquick, divided
1/3 cup dark brown sugar
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, very cold
cooking spray
1. Lightly spray bottom and sides with slow cooker. Toss apples in a large mixing bowl with Apple Pie Spice. Gently spoon apple mixture into slow cooker.
2. In a medium mixing bowl combine milk, softened butter, sugar, eggs, vanilla, and ½ cup of the Bisquick. Spoon over apples.
3. Combine the remaining Bisquick with the brown sugar. Cut cold butter into Bisquick mixture with a pastry cutter until crumbly. Sprinkle this mixture on top.
4. Cover and cook on low 6 to 7 hours or until apples are soft. Serve warm with a scoop of vanilla bean ice cream or whipped topping. Serves 8

Tuesday, January 19, 2010

Tasty Tuesday Orange Banana Bread!


















On New Year's Day, I felt like baking something and I had a nice, big naval orange and three aging bananas. This is what I did with them. . .

Cheryl's Orange Banana Bread

3 very ripe bananas
2/3 cup sugar
1/2 tsp salt
3 tsp baking powder
2 1/2 cups flour
the zest (about 1 Tbsp) and juice of one large orange
2 eggs
1/3 cup shortening

Cream the shortening together with the eggs, bananas, and sugar. Add the orange juice and zest and then beat in remaining ingredients. Bake in a large (9 X 5) greased loaf pan at 350 degrees for about one hour and enjoy!

Tuesday, January 12, 2010

Tasty Tuesday Turkey Salad!

This is Donna's take on turkey salad, and it looks mighty tasty!
I'm guest blogging today on The Book Faery, talking about balancing home, career, writing, etc. Come on over if you can!



DONNA's Turkey Salad

"This recipe can be made with leftover turkey, or a turkey breast. The cook time will not include the baking of the turkey, just making the salad. Keeping the salad somewhat chunky is part of what makes it good. No food processors, please. I serve this on a bed of red leaf lettuce and garnish with red and green seedless grapes and candied pecan halves. Cubed jellied cranberry sauce is very good with it, so I place that on the plate around the salad. Serve with assorted crackers or breads."

Ingredients:

  • 6 cups cooked turkey meat
  • 6 eggs cooked
  • 1 (16 ounce) jar sweet pickles, chopped
  • 1 1/2 (10 ounce) jars mustard-mayonnaise blend (Dijon)
  • 3/4 cup mayonnaise

Directions

  1. Place eggs in a medium saucepan and cover with cold water. Bring water to a boil and immediately remove from heat. Cover and let eggs stand in hot water for 10 to 12 minutes. Remove from hot water, cool, peel and chop.
  2. In a large bowl, thoroughly mix the eggs, turkey, pickles, prepared mustard/mayonnaise sandwich and salad sauce (Or Dijon) and plain mayonnaise. Chill in the refrigerator approximately 3 hours before serving.

Tuesday, January 5, 2010

Tasty Tuesday Asparagus Pudding!

I know what you're thinking. Asparagus pudding? EEEWWW!!!! But trust me, even my guys who have a strong aversion to anything green will eat this. Not Sam, of course, (he can't be fooled!) but Mikey and Budley will eat it up!

I developed this recipe as a variation on a spinach casserole, so, if you like, you can make it with one package of frozen spinach, thawed and squeezed until relatively dry instead of the asparagus. If you use spinach, you may want to stir it together as opposed to blending it.

Asparagus Pudding
















Ingredients:
1 egg
1 tall can of asparagus, drained
dash of cayenne
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/3 cup flour
3/4 cup grated colby jack cheese
3/4 cup milk
Directions:
Place all ingredients in the blender and blend until smooth. It will look like really thick pea soup. Pour into greased casserole dish (1 quart size?) and bake at 400 degrees for 45 min until the middle puffs up (it will sink a little after you take it out of the oven) and the top is lightly browned.

The beauty of this dish is that it isn't fussy about cooking times or temperatures. If something else needs to be baked at 350, you can throw this in with it and just bake it until the middle puffs up and enjoy!

I'm guest blogging today on Fresh Fiction. It's a fun character interview with Manx, Drusilla, and Zef. Come on over and join the party!