Category Archives: Recipes

For those of you who are baking—and from  what I hear it’s a lot of you—here is a fantastic apple pie recipe courtesy of Patricia Dorph:

 Apple Pie

Pastry  for two 9 inch  pastry pans:

• 2 cups flour
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 2/3 cups butter
• 2-3 tbs. cold water
• Sift flour and salt together
• Add butter and cut it through with pastry blender until mixture is in pieces , pea size
• Add cold water a few drops at time until moistened enough to hold together in a ball
• Wrap in plastic and chill in frig. for 15-30 mins.
• Take more than half for the under crust and roll out and fit into 9” pie pan

Filling:

• 5 cups , cored ,peeled and thinly sliced Granny Green and Mackintosh
• Mix together and add to apples
• 3/4 cups brown sugar
• 2 tbs. flour
• 1 tsp. cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp allspice
• 1/4 ts. nutmeg
• 2 tbs. butter
• Place into pie pan
• Roll out top dough for crust and place on top
• Make 4 slashes in top crust

Bake  450 degrees  for 15 mins. Turn heat down o 350 degrees  and bake for 20 to 35 mins. Remove when golden brown

Serve with whipped cream or ice cream . Enjoy

If you’re craving the traditional pumpkin pie, this is courtesy of Heidi Dugan.

Pumpkin Pie

Pastry  for two 9 inch  pastry pans:

• 2 cups flour
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 2/3 cups butter
• 2-3 tbs. cold water
• Sift flour and salt together
• Add butter and cut it through with pastry blender until mixture is in pieces , pea size
• Add cold water a few drops at time until moistened enough to hold together in a ball
• Wrap in plastic and chill in frig. for 15-30 mins.
• Take more than half for the under crust and roll out and fit into 9” pie pan

Filling:

• 2 Large eggs, beaten
• ¾ Cup brown sugar (may also use white sugar)
• ½ Teaspoon salt
• 1 Teaspoon cinnamon
• ½ Teaspoon ginger
• ¼ Teaspoon nutmeg
• ¼ Teaspoon clove
• 15 Oz can pumpkin puree
• 1 12oz can evaporated milk
• In a medium bowl combine ingredients in order listed above.
• Pour the mixture into unbaked piecrust. Bake in pre heat oven at 425 for 15 minutes.
• Reduce heat to 350 bake for 40-50 minutes or until knife inserted in center comes out clean.
• Cool 2 hrs and serve or refrigerate.

Both are absolutely delicious and I want to thank Heidi and Patty for sharing their family recipes with us.

Since it’s apple harvest time I want to share an extremely easy apple crumble recipe.

Preheat oven 350
Butter an 8×8 baking pan
6 applies peeled, cored, and chopped – slices or squares —up to you
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
¾ teaspoon cinnamon
1 ½ tsp lemon juice
Mix together and place in baking pan.

In a separate bowl combine
½ cup cold butter cut up in cubes
¾ teaspoon cinnamon
½ cup light brown sugar
1 cup granola
¼ cup flour
Pinch of salt

Once combined spread on top of apple mixture. Bake 40-50 minutes.

Grilled Swiss Cheese, Bacon & Tomato – I like it on Rye Bread

Make sure the bacon is cooked first.
*Slather up two slices of bread with either butter or mayo.  Place slathered side down on medium heat in frying pan.
Place 2-3 slices of swiss cheese on each slice of bread.  When cheese starts to melt top with bacon and a slice of tomato.  Let melt for another minute.  Carefully flip one of the slices over and place on top of the other – cheese meets cheese.   Yummy.

If you want a little tang:
Sourdough bread
Provolone
Cheddar
*Same routine as above substituting cheeses

Even more tang:
Your choice of bread
Monterey Jack
Jalapeno peppers – as much heat as you can stand
*Same routine as above substituting cheese and adding peppers

For something fresh and easy try a Caprisi salad or sandwich.

Get fresh mozzarella, I mean fresh, not the stuff hermetically sealed.  If you can.
Fresh beefsteak tomato
Fresh Basil
Make ¼ inch slices of the cheese and tomatoes.
Lay them out like a fan alternating cheese, tomato, basil leaves.
You can make a sandwich out of this, or serve it with bread on the side
Drizzle a little balsamic vinegar.  It looks refreshing and tastes delicious
Note:  never refrigerate fresh mozzarella.  It makes it hard.  You can keep it in a cool place for up to a week. Cheese never lasts that long in my house.

Southern Sweet Tea:
1 gallon pitcher for serving
(12) bags of Black Tea
4 cups of water
1 cup granulated sugar
Fresh Mint
Boil the water and place the teabags in the pot. Turn off the stove and let bags steep for 5 minutes.
Add the sugar and stir until completely dissolved.
Pour steeped tea into the pitcher and add 3 quarts of water to mixture.
Chill in refrigerator until cold.
Add mint and voila.

Watermelon Iced Tea:
Prepare tea mixture as above.
Scoop out the pink flesh of a small watermelon. (I buy it already cubed!)
Place watermelon in a blender and liquify it. You should get about 4 cups.
Mix equal parts watermelon juice with tea mixture – let stand for 15 minutes.
Add Fresh Mint to serve.
If you want to get fancy, save some of the watermelon and cut into cubes and use them in the glass when you serve it.

Here is an easy Apple Rollup Recipe

Preheat oven to 375
I like to use parchment on the cookie sheet.  Easy clean-up.

• 1 small Granny Smith apple, peeled, cored, cut into 8 (1/2-inch) slices
• 3 tablespoons butter, melted SAVE 1/2
• 1 can (8 oz) refrigerated crescent rolls (unroll them and divide them up on sheet)
• 1/3 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon apple pie spice (or mix your own with pinches of allspice, cardamom, nutmeg, cinnamon)

Mix the apples with half the melted butter, sugar, and spice.

Place one apple slice on each crescent and roll them up.  Brush remaining butter on tops.  Place in oven bake for 10-12 minutes and you’ve got a fun finger-food dessert.  Please make sure you let them cool for five minutes.

Traditional Peach Cobbler

Ingredients:
For the filling:

• 5 peaches, peeled, cored and sliced (about 4 cups)
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon salt

For the batter:

• 6 Tablespoons butter
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cup milk
• 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon

Instructions:
Mix sliced peaches, sugar and salt to a saucepan and stir to combine.
Cook on medium heat for about 5 minutes, until the sugar is dissolved.
Remove from heat and set aside.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Slice butter into pieces place in 9×13 baking dish.
Put the pan in the oven while it is preheating until the butter melts, then remove pan from oven.
In a large bowl mix the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt.
Stir in the milk until combined.
Pour the mixture over the melted butter and smooth it into an even layer.
Spoon peach mixture over the batter. Sprinkle cinnamon generously over the top.
Bake at 350 degrees for about 38-40 minutes.  Best if served warm—with ice cream!