Apple Pie Afternoon

Welcome to the past 2 hours of my day...worth every minute.

Apples, sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg (aka, fabulousness!)

Homemade 1/2 wheat flour pie crust (aka, a shitload of work!)

Ready for the oven, with an indiscernable ghost cutout to let steam escape...

Done!  With only minimal damage to my oven in the form of sugary apple juice that spilled into the bottom of it...which will provide a nice cloud of black smoke next time I run the oven.  Guess I needed a bigger ghost.  Ta-Da!

Fall-Weather Dinner, Part I

On tonight's menu:  Chicken Paprika (recipe of my own creation), mashed Yukon Gold potatoes, homemade biscuits, sliced beets (have I mentioned how much I love beets?!?  They are so delicious.  Anthony suggested "Hot Beets" as a title for this post, hehehe.)

Dessert:  Oatmeal Scotchies. 
Mmm, fall food...lots of flavors, comforting ingredients, and oh yes, calories.  Are we preparing for winter hibernation or what?

Apple(s) of My Eye

In honor of the impending fall season, this post is dedicated to my deep and abiding love for apples. The love affair started when I was a kid, thanks to the local apple orchard and the family that owned it. I remember our family going to the orchard every fall to pick boxes and boxes of apples in the warm sunshine of September, and the sweet deliciousness of eating a few straight from the tree, their skins warm and smooth. We stored them on the back porch or in the garage in the coolness of autumn, and they lasted for months. Is there anything more delicious than a crisp juicy apple? I think not. It's a treat for all senses...aromatic, sweet, crunchy, heavenly.

Our latest favorite apple: Ginger Gold, an early-season apple. With the sweetness of Golden Delicious and a hint of tartness like Granny Smith, it's a little piece of crunchy delight. And at $6 for 5-1/2 pounds (thanks Costco!), the price can't be beat. Yum!

Fall Themed Carrot Cake

Can't wait to taste it...carrot cake made 100% from scratch to bring to the Greenblatts' football season kickoff party.

Recipe: Ruth Glass' Carrot Cake (Rane gave me this recipe a few years ago, Ruth Glass is the wife of owner of the Royals), with homemade cream cheese frosting and decorated with mellowcreme pumpkins. (Not decorated very well, granted, but decorated nonetheless).

I tweaked the recipe a bit:

• reduced oil from 1-1/2 c. to just under 1 c. (1-1/2 c. of oil is A LOT, and it made it kind of greasy the first time I made this recipe)
• added 1 t. nutmeg
• reduced nuts from 1 c. to 3/4 c. (because not everybody likes a lot of nuts. And yes, I'm giggling at that line.)
  
• used 1 t. each of baking powder and soda instead of 2 t. soda.

What I learned: the longer you screw around with frosting, the worse it starts to look. LOL.