Pittsburgh 'n' Pie

H. and I took a roadtrip to Pittsburgh this weekend and we did a lot of fun things. I'll make sure to post about the trip starting tomorrow, as I'm too tired to get all the pictures together with words that make sense. :)

But right when we came home I realized we had no desert (as we were away and did no shopping) but luckily I had some cherries (tart cherries which I can not find in the grocery stores around here) from my Mom. She froze a few batches for me (in convenient 4 cups packages, perfect for pie) from their backyard tree.



So here is the pie... and a close-up of my decoration. Please do not point out that I mis-wove my lattice and one piece is wrong. I know. I just couldn't fix it because of the hot pie filling. So while I had enough energy to make pie, now my energy is gone and I have to go fold and put away my laundry. But I promise to show you lots of Pittsburgh pictures during the week.

Recipes inside

I know, I know.
Not much of a poster lately.

Not much is new - right now my eyes are stinging from an onion I cut up earlier to throw into my dinner. I heard if you throw it in the freezer for 5 minutes before you cut it, this doesn't happen. I need to try that. I never remember, though, until after the fact.

Tried three new extremely easy and rather healthy recipes this weekend.

One is an easy healthy dessert. You just take a ripe banana (not too ripe though) and cut it in half length wise. Then you heat a pan over medium heat, spray some oil on it and throw the banana in. Put some cinnamon (and some Splenda or sugar if you like). Cook it about 3 minutes, see if the bottom is turning brown, and if it has, flip it. If not wait until it does. Then do the same thing to the other side.

It's kinda like fried plantains, but with less fat.
It's super yummy.

The other recipe is just as easy. You take 2 cups of steel cut oats (you know the chewy ones - the ones that are really really healthy for you) 3.5 cups H2O and 3.5 cups milk (I used soy) and add a 16oz bag of frozen fruit (I used peaches) and 1 teaspoon cinnamon and pop it in your slow cooker. I cooked it on low for 2 hours and high for 1.5 hours and then it was done! Yummy and wholesome.

It will fill your crockpot, so when you turn it on high - make sure it doesn't bubble over. There you have a really healthy breakfast for the entire week.

The last one stems from the fact that I am (as you can tell from above) trying to eat healthier and more whole foods, less processed foods. So one thing is my yogurt is so full of sugar (or full of chemicals that fool you into thinking it is sugar, and I hear the more fake sugar you eat the more you crave sweet things - and since those are my weakness, I am trying to cut down).

Anyway - take plain yogurt, take a bag of frozen berries, and blend them together in a food processor. Yes berries have sugar, but since it is natural, maybe it is healthier. So we'll see how this goes. Eating more whole foods has been good so far, but a little more time consuming which is why I cooked my oatmeal and made my flavored yogurt on a Sunday afternoon.

Fall Fall Fall

Well, I haven't posted in a little while. It has been a sad week for several of my friends, and I just couldn't think of what to post that didn't seem insignificant or silly or both.

So I encourage all of you to take the time today and tell a loved one you care, and to take a minute of of your day to think about America's Veterans and how they have sacrificed in many ways so that we can all be free.

...And what's more American than apple pie?

We have an interesting twist in this household this weekend -
What is it??
Apple Pie Wontons of course.
These are fairly easy to make. And they are so much lower in fat than apple pie crust. Wow. I hate to say it, but you could eat 18 apple pie wontons per one slice of pie. And they're baked, not fried. They're a Weight Watchers recipe, or else I'd share it with y'all.

Yum. They are tasty.
I'll probably end up making another batch tomorrow.

Anyway, We also went out to enjoy the fall air today - lately it has been raining so a lot of the prettier leaves are now gone... except in our apt. complex where there are bright yellows, oranges, rusty reds, blood reds, and cherry colored reds. It is so pretty, but I don't want to be "that weird person" who is taking pictures in the apt complex, especially after this bad ex-cop in our apt complex.

What a crazy world. Now I'm glad there was no trick-or-treating this year.

Anyway - happier subjects. Here are some pretty fall pictures from our day today. And we also renewed our National Parks Pass (which is now called the National Parks and Federal Recreational Lands Pass And so we will be looking forward to all excuses to use it in the next year to make sure we get our money's worth.

Apple Pie and Other Achievements

Okay - so as a few of you know... Before last night I had made 2 apple pies in my life. And both were absolute disasters. I mean, if you could think of anything that would make an apple pie inedible - that was what was wrong with my pies. They were somehow extremely watery (even when I added to one pie a 1/2 cup of flour). And the crusts would burn in one spot and be gooey in another. I mean the worst pies EVER. It was especially terrible because apple pie is my husband's favorite desert. And these pies were made during our courtship. I was worried he wouldn't marry a gal who couldn't make an apple pie that was at least edible. But mine came out embarrassingly bad. So I went on strike. Whenever anyone says "why, that's easy as pie" I secretly got mad! I haven't made an apple pie in over 3 years. And I certainly never made my own crust.

But for whatever reason last night I got a bee in my bonnet to make a pie with apples fresh from my parents orchard (alright, backyard). And since I was too lazy to drive to the store to get crust, I made my own.

And it somehow actually worked! I made a really good apple pie! With homemade crust! And it turned out the correct consistency! Not only can one eat it, One can actually ENJOY it. Hooray, I now have the opportunity to become the perfect wife!


(of course I used the apple pie and the pie crust recipe from my favorite cookbook ever - except I used butter instead of shortening because that is what we had, but I know why those pastry chefs get those doodad that you can cut the butter into the flour, because it took forever with two forks).

Also - got my bloodwork back today and I do not have any dangerous diseases like leukemia or bone marrow diseases or anything. They do not know why my platelets are too high, but they are not high enough to cause problems yet, and my platelets are normally shaped, so I just have to get checked up in a year. Yay!

Also I spent some time this evening watching various clips of human tetris on google. OMG, we need a TV show like this here in the States. It total cracks me up. In case you haven't seen it, I'm enclosing it below.