A is for Apple Blueberry Pie

I am joining in for another round of blogging through the alphabet. I don’t have a theme this time. I am just going to write about what comes to mind for that letter.

To start I have a recipe that I have wanted to share. It is my grandmother’s. It may seem strange to put these two fruits together, but it tastes great. My grandmother use to make her own crust, but I have not mastered the crust making yet, so I buy store bought refrigerated pie crust. Below is the recipe. Let me know if you try it.

Apple Blueberry Pie (click for printable recipe)
Ingredients:

• 3 cups sliced apples
• 1 cup blueberries
• ¾ cup sugar
• 3 tbsp flour
• 1 tbsp lemon juice
• ½ tsp ground cinnamon
• Pinch of salt
• 3 tbsp butter cut into small pieces
• 2 9-inch pie crusts (pre-made or homemade)

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 425 degrees
• In a bowl combine the apples, blueberries, sugar, flour, lemon juice, cinnamon, and salt.
• Let stand for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.
• Place one pie crust in the bottom of a deep dish pie pan.
• Pour the apple-blueberry mixture into the pie pan.
• Dot the top with butter.
• Cover with other pie crust, sealing the edges.
• Cut steam holes on top and place on baking sheet (in case of spills).
• Place in oven and bake for 40 minutes.
• Reduce the temperature to 350 degrees and bake for another 40 minutes.
• Stick toothpick in middle to be sure apples are tender.
• Let cool before serving.
• Serve with ice cream if desired.

Easy Chocolate Eclair Cake

Easy Chocolate Eclair Cake Recipe

Ingredients:
2 packages French Vanilla pudding
3 cups milk
9 oz. Cool Whip

Directions:
Beat pudding with milk on low for 1 min. Scrape. Beat on speed 2 for 4 minutes. Fold in Cool Whip. Line pan with Graham Crackers. Cover Graham Crackers with 1/2 of pudding mix. Add another layer of Graham Crackers. Add rest of pudding mix. Top with one more layer of graham crackers. Ice cake and chill for 3-4 hours before serving.

Icing
1 1/2 cup powdered sugar
6 TBSP Cocoa
2 TBSP Oil
2 TBSP Corn Syrup
3 TBSP Milk

Mix powdered sugar and cocoa together. Add other ingredients. Mix until smooth. Quickly pour icing over entire surface of cake. Spread. ICE IMMEDIATELY. (Icing goes stiff very quickly)

Autumn ~ My Favorite Time of Year

I love this time of year. I know I made a similar post last year, but it never gets old. After enduring a hot, North Carolina summer, it is refreshing to be able to step outside and be able to breathe. It also makes sleeping at night more enjoyable. I also love trying out new recipes during the cooler Autumn days. My favorite Autumn recipes are anything made with pumpkin.

We usually grow our own pumpkins during the summer. We are then able to freeze the flesh and have fresh pumpkin to use all winter. I freeze it raw and steam it right before I need to use it. It worked out well last year.

Since, it is almost fall, I was craving something made with pumpkin last week. We never got a chance to plant any pumpkins this year as it rained almost every single day. If we had planted them they probably would not have turned out anyway from having too much rain. I had to buy canned pumpkin, something I have not had to do for about three years. I decided to make a pumpkin cheesecake (recipe below). It was delicious. In fact, it was so delicious, I almost forgot to take a picture. 

My kids enjoy the fall just as much as I do. They love to go to the nearby state park to hike. They love being able to go outside and not be eaten up by mosquitoes. They love eating pumpkin goodies too!

Since we do live in Eastern North Carolina, fall temperatures sometimes do not come until mid-October or even later. I remember some years wearing shorts on Thanksgiving Day! We will still start eating fall weather foods and goodies before the temperatures get cooler. When we have fresh/frozen pumpkin, I usually have something made once a week. I make pumpkin bread, pumpkin pie, pumpkin cheesecake, and even pumpkin flan.

We will really miss having our fresh pumpkin this year, but maybe I can get some from the grocery store. It won't be the same since we didn't get to grow it, but it will be nice to have a few fresh pumpkin pies this year.

Pumpkin Cheesecake

One graham cracker pie crust- I made my own by processing graham crackers with melted butter. Melt butter, grind up graham crackers until fine, mix together, press into pie plate.

1 can pumpkin or 2 cups fresh (steamed and pureed) pumpkin
1 block 8 oz cream cheese
3/4 cup white sugar
2 eggs
1 tablespoon pumpkin pie spice

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl combine eggs, cream cheese, and sugar. Beat with an electric beater on medium until smooth. Add pumpkin and spice. Continue beating until well blended. Spoon mixture into pie crust and bake for 40-45 minutes or until set. Let cool and refrigerate.

Click here for a printable recipe

Blueberry Muffins

One day, about 4 years ago, I wanted to make some blueberry muffins. I looked in my fridge and noticed I was out of eggs. We were, at the time, a one car family. I decided to try to find a blueberry muffin recipe on the internet that I could make without eggs. A lot of vegan recipes came up, so I decided to give one a try.

I found my recipe and made substitutions where necessary.

Here is the recipe with my substitutions in parenthesis.

Ingredients:
1/4 C margarine (I used butter)
1/2 C unsweetened applesauce (I have used cinnamon applesauce before too)
1/2 tsp salt
1 C sugar
2 C flour (I use whole wheat)
1 tbs baking powder
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 C soymilk (I use cow milk)
2 C blueberries, fresh or frozen

Directions:
Mix all ingredients, except blueberries, in a bowl. Fold in blueberries. Put into muffin tin and bake at 350 for about 35 minutes.

You can print this recipe here.

Quick bread

I found this recipe while looking for a quick and easy bread to make for dinner.  I just basically halved the original recipe.  I don't have any whole wheat flour right now, so I just used all purpose.  When I make pizza dough or bread, I usually do half whole wheat and half all purpose.  I will definitely try it again when I get some more whole wheat flour.

In the oven

1 ¼ C warm water
3 TBSP sugar

1 ½ TBSP yeast

1 TBSP oil

3 C flour (OR 1 1/2 C all purpose flour and 1 1/2 C whole wheat flour)

1 tsp salt

½ tsp baking powder

Stir water, yeast, sugar and oil together. Leave for 5 minutes until it becomes frothy on top. Add flour, salt and baking powder. Mix well. Knead. Roll out if making a pizza base or shape for use as buns / bread / loaf. Paint with oil or milk (if you can be bothered). Bake at 400 degrees F for 10-15 minutes.

Fresh out of the oven with butter added to the top

Printable Recipe

Flan recipe

One of our favorite things to eat for dessert is flan. My son loves it so much that he asked for a flan for his birthday instead of a cake.

The recipe I use is from Daisy Martinez.

Flan 

Caramel Topping:
2 Tbsp water 
1 c sugar 
Put in heavy saucepan or skillet and cook over medium heat without stirring, until golden and the bubbles die down. Be sure to wipe down the sides of the pan with a pastry brush dipped in water to prevent crystals from forming. When golden, pour into a pie plate and rotate the plate to coat the bottom and sides of the pan with the caramel. Be sure to work quickly as the mixture will cool and get firm as you spread. . 

Crema Fresca:
1 can evaporated milk 
1 can sweetened and condensed milk 
3 eggs 
3 egg yolks 
1 tsp vanilla 
1 can Nestle media crema (table cream) (I can find this at Walmart)

Boiling water for hot water bath 

Put everything, except boiling water, into a blender and blend well. When blended, pour over the caramel in the pie pan. 

Place the pie pan into a roasting pan with sides that is large enough to hold the pie pan comfortably. Pour boiling water into the roasting pan so that the water comes to half way up the sides of the pie pan. Place immediately into a 350F oven and bake for about 35 minutes or until the flan barely jiggles when shook. . 

When cool you can serve or place in the refrigerator until ready to serve. 

To serve, lightly run a knife around the sides of the flan to make sure it does not stick and invert onto a deep platter, shaking lightly if needed to dislodge the flan. If you shake too hard it will break. 

Garnish with whipped cream.