Apple Pie Day

Hmm so yesterday after reading an excerpt from a new book, I got  this overwhelming need to bake a pie.
Now for the rest of the world, this would be a definite sign of a psychotic break...but for me, it's just a Wednesday. I was at work...which I must say it the best place to work EVER. Some of my favorite moments so far in life have happened at work. Whether it be dancing in the chairs at the front desk to Michael Jackson or standing on the desk and not being able to reach the ceiling. That place can be so hard, but it's worth it because we love eachother and we make it fun. I did have a run in with the forever mood killing storm system that is more widely known as 'snow' which made me NOT want to bake a this pie when I got home. Instead I curled up in a little ball and tried to get warm. After a lovely nights rest, I woke up refreshed and ready for war. Or just to bake a pie, either or.

Well now that I have decided to bake this pie, what kind of pie will I make? Will it be cherry? No...I don't like pie filling from a can. Will it be pumpkin? Pfft NO, it is the wrong time of year for pumpkin pie. I think apple sounds nummers. Oh well now I must decide if I will make a German Apple Pie, Classic Apple Pie, or make my own that combines a few different recipes and tops it all off with a streusel topping. Duh! the streusel topping. This is just a small look into how my crazy mind works when it comes to cooking. So to tame the voices in my head that say, "Bake something!!!!!" I have created this masterpiece...

Streusel Topped Apple Pie

Ingredients:

Pie Crust

1/14 cups flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon sugar

1/3 cup shortening

4-5 Tablespoons COLD water

Filling

6 cups sliced peeled tart apples(about 6 average apples)

2 Tablespoons butter, melted

2 Tablespoons sour cream

4 teaspoons lemon juice

1/2 cup sugar

1 Tablespoon flour

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

Topping

1/2 cup flour

1/2 cup sugar

1/4 cup cold butter

Directions:

1. Combine the flour, salt and sugar in a small bowl; cut in the shortening until the mixture in crumbly. Gradually add the water, tossing with a fork until a ball forms. Cover and refrigerate for thirty minutes or until easy to handle.
2. Roll out pastry on a lightly floured surface to a fit a 9-inch or 10-inch pie plate. Transfer pastry to pie plate. Trim the edges to 1/2-inch beyond edge of plate; flute edges.
3. In a large bowl, combine the first eight ingredients. Spoon into pastry shell.
4. For the topping, combine the flour and sugar in a bowl; cut in the butter until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Sprinkle over filling. Bake at 375* for 45-50 minutes or until the filling is bubbly and the apples are tender. Cool on wire rack.

Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies

I am pretty proud of myself today! I for the first time in my short little life........ I shoveled the driveway :) Ha, I love that I have never had to do that before now. What can I say, I have two brothers and a Mom that is REALLY into gardening, putting up xmas lights, and everything else that involves being outside and making the rest of us look like lazy fools.

Later on in the day I accompanied Madre to the grocery store and was once again reminded why I don't ever want to leave my parents house. I LOVE spending time with my family and taking care of their needs. Mom wasn't feeling up to par today and she just hands over the reins to me. I love that I can help my family, whether it be calling Mom or Dad on the way home from work to see if they need anything from the store, or if it's helping Goobie with his math homework. He is always reluctant to work with me, but we end up getting it done in the end.

I like shopping, but the only problem is that I HAVE to come home and cook something! I see all this food and think to myself, "Self, you could make that and for sure make it better!"  So I saw some of those sickly amazing looking chocolate yummo cookies and Ha I WILL make them better if it kills me. And here it is...

Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients:

2 cups flour

1/2 cup cocoa powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 cup softened butter

3/4 cup sugar

3/4 cup brown sugar

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

Directions:

1. Whisk flour, cocoa powder, and baking soda together.
2. Beat the butter, sugar, brown sugar together in a large bowl until light and fluffy. Beat in one egg until completely incorporated. Beat in the last egg along with the vanilla. Add the flour mixture just until mixed. Fold in the chocolate chips. Mixing only enough to evenly combine. Drop by heaping teaspoons full onto ungreased baking sheet.
3. Bake in a preheated oven at 350* until edges are light golden, about 9 to 12 minutes. Allow the cookies to cool on baking sheets for a minute before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.

Lasagna and Little Girls

Today was filled with kids! I love children....seriously, I have this ingrained need to hold babies and play hide and seek with bigger kids. All kids love Aunt Kass I mean I have yet to meet a child that doesn't love me. This may be in part because I am their size so they just think that they are playing with another child, but I am not complaining.  I'm sure that my kids won't always love me when I am spanking their butts for drawing on the walls, but that is in the far off future. The day started off bright and early at 7 AM with the arrival of Miss Kinley Boo herself. God, I love that baby. I just want to squeeze her face, of course I just kiss her face instead though. Later after she left :( my two other favorite girls arrived. Miss Gracie and Bella Baby! Now playing with a 5 month old is amazing, but an 18 month old...LOVE IT!!! Bella has so much personality it makes me laugh. Her Mommy taught her to scowl at you when you scowl at her and it is the funniest damn thing you will ever see. So cute! And Miss Gracie, she is just so smart. She seems quiet but then you realize that she is studying you and she will blurt out some question that is WAY beyond her years and you think, "WHOA, where did she get that?" She melts my heart.

I decided that after a long day of playing peek a boo and "So Big" with my girls, I needed to unwind. After consulting the Madre for what she would like her personal chef IE. ME to make for dinner, I decided on this. Now for me, I left a portion of the finished product meatless so that I could enjoy it too. YUMMO...and according to the rest of the fam dam, the meat infused portion was equally YUMMO.

Lasagna with Flatbread

Ingredients:

1 pound hot Italian sausages, casings removed

1 Tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

1 1/2 cups ricotta cheese

Salt and Black pepper

1/4 cup fresh Italian parsley, chopped

3 cups jarred marinara sauce

4 slices Naan

2 cups freshly grated mozzarella

Directions:

1.  Preheat oven to 350*. In a skillet, cook the sausages in the oil over moderately high heat, breaking up the meat, until browned. Season the ricotta with parsley and salt and pepper. Spread 1/2 cup marinara sauce in a deep-dish pie plate. Top with 1 Naan ( I cut the naan to fit.), on third of the sausage and 1/2 cup each of the ricotta and mozzarella. Repeat the layering twice more. Add 1/2 cup of sauce and the last flatbread. Top with the remaining 1 cup of sauce and 1/2 cup mozzarella.
2. Cover the lasagna with foil and bake for 30 minutes. Uncover and let bake for 30 minutes longer. (I turn the broiler on after this and brown the top a bit, after all who doesn't like their cheese a little crisp on top?) Let cool for 20 minutes before serving. IT IS HOT!!!

Spicy Southwestern Chili

I had no intention of cooking or really doing anything today. This was due to the fact that I feel like I have been hit by a truck. A sore throat, cough and a runny nose to boot. I know this doesn't sound like much and that I am just being whiny, but I feel like crap! Last night I thoroughly abused the cough medicine that I got last year. Don't judge me, I was sick and the cough medicine was screaming, "Drink Me, Drink me!!" Who am I to ignore this innocent bottle of loveliness? So I drank it and am pleased to announce that I slept until noon today, Yippee!!

Waking up in the afternoon, I zombie walked my butt upstairs and plopped down on the couch with a lovely mug of coffee in hand. Chilling all day with a good book and working on feeling better was all that was on the agenda for me. This thought must have reached my mother's ears, cause only a few moments later I hear the ever so scary question, "Muff, will you do me a small favor?" Not thinking before I reply, I say of course. Well the favor turns out to be, find a recipe for chili, go the the store, buy the ingredients, and make dinner.
It did come to my attention the other day that, some people don't believe that I can cook actual food and not just bake. So in order to prove these rumors untrue, and to appease Mom, chili it is.

Southwestern Chili

Ingredients

2 pounds ground beef

1-1/2 cups chopped onions

2 cans (14.5 oz. each) canned tomatoes, undrained

1 can (15 oz.) pinto beans, rinsed and drained

1 can (15 oz.) tomato sauce

1 package (12 oz.) frozen corn, thawed

1 cup salsa

3/4 cup water

1 can (4 oz.) diced green chilies

1 teaspoon ground cumin

1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

Instructions

1. In a dutch oven, cook beef and onions over medium heat until meat is no longer pink; drain. Stir in the remaining ingredients. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer, uncovered, for 15 minutes.
2. Serve desired amount. Cool the remaining chili; transfer to freezer containers. May be frozen for up to 3 months. To thaw frozen chili, that in the refrigerator. Place in a saucepan; heat through.

Now, I am a vegetarian but the fam dam is not. I added the meat after I ate the veggies so I can make everyone happy. This was great without the meat and supposedly good with the meat too. But just as a side note, I HATE chopping onions!! I cry EVERYTIME....seriously! I wish I could just buy pre-cut onions. Ahh whatev, I like to eat onions and so I will suck it up and chop them.

Cinnamon Rolls to Die For

If you know me at all, you know that I LOVE to cook. I just have these moments when I think, "Hmmm I'm bored, I think I'll bake a three tiered German Chocolate Cake." I know it seems random, but well that's me. So since today was an unusually boring day for me, I ended up cooking. SURPRISE! I did go bowling with Mom and little Brosef but, then I had nothing to do. So I started thinking, what have I not mastered yet.........Cinnamon Rolls! I know what you're thinking, YOU haven't made cinnamon rolls before now?!?! I know right? Well this may come as a surprise to you, but I am intimidated by yeast and kneading. Probably because the first time that I made bread from scratch, I kneaded a little bit too much. My bread came out looking, tasting, and feeling like a brick. Seriously, I could have baked a thousand and spackle them together to make a house. So I left the bread making to Grandma Sycamore and Wonder bread.

 After a few years of baking and cooking, I decided to try this bread making business again. My first success was on Thanksgiving '10 where I made some damn good rolls if I do say so myself. With my confidence back, I decided I would attempt cinnamon rolls. And we find ourselves here today. Well they came out AMAZING!! Now don't think that you should just take my word for it. My little brother is quite the sweets aficionado and I will quote him, "Wow, you're really good at those." In Straub speak that is DAMN GOOD! And here they are.....

So now since I got enjoy these lovely pieces of heaven, I think you should too! Here is the recipe.

Cinnamon Rolls to Die For

5 to 6 cups all purpose flour

1 package yellow cake mix

2 packages quick-rise yeast

2-1/2 cups warm water (about 125* F.)

1/4 cup butter, melted

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

For the Frosting

6 Tablespoons butter, softened

3 cups powdered sugar

1-1/2 teaspoons vanilla

2 to 3 Tablespoons milk

1. In a mixing bowl, combine 4 cups flour, dry cake mix, yeast and warm water until smooth (the temp. of the water DOES matter, because yeast needs warmth to dissolve properly.) Add enough remaining flour to form a soft dough. Turn onto lightly floured surface; knead until smooth and elastic. This took me 5 minutes. Place in a greased bowl and turn once to grease top. Cover and let rise until doubled, about 45 minutes.
2. Punch dough down. Turn onto a lightly floured surface; divided in half. Roll each portion into a 14x10 inch rectangle. Brush with butter; sprinkle with sugars and cinnamon. Roll up jelly roll style, staring with a long side. Cut each roll into 12 slices; place cute side down in two greased 13x9 inch baking dishes. Cover and let rise again until almost doubled. Around 20 minutes.
3. Bake at 400* for 10-15 minutes or until golden brown. Cool for 20 minutes. For frosting, in a mixing bowl, cream butter, powdered sugar, and vanilla. Add enough milk to achieve desired consistency. frost rolls while warm.