Caramel Apple Pecan Pie

I've always thought of pies as a little complicated but this easy recipe is a toss and bake so it doesn't get much easier. I got this from Southern Food here and I thought I'd bring it for Thanksgiving! I'll let you know how it goes.

Ingredients:

2 pastry shells, 9-inch
4 Granny Smith apples peeled and cored, thinly sliced
1/2 cup Pecans chopped
1/4 cup Sugar
1/4 lb Caramels coarse chopped
2 tb Flour
1/4 cup Milk
Milk for top
Sugar for top
Preparation:

Preheat oven to 375°. Fit 1 round of rolled pastry into a 9-inch pie pan.
In a large bowl, toss together apples, pecans, sugar, caramels, flour and milk. Spoon mixture into pie shell.

Top with the remaining rolled pastry. Fold the edge of the top pastry under the bottom pastry. Pinch together and flute the edge all around with a fork. Cut several slits in the top so the steam can escape during baking. Brush top with milk and sprinkle with sugar.

Bake until crust is golden brown, about 45 minutes. Pie is best served slightly warm.
8 Servings

Orange Cookies

This easy cookie recipe is basically a orange sugar cookie that makes the house smell amazing. I'm pretty sure the smell should be bottled and sold. My friend gave me this recipe a couple of years ago and I forgot about it until now. I'm so glad I found it for this season!

Take note that you will need to chill the dough at least 2 hours but I like to toss it in the fridge overnight because I lack the control to wait 2 hours. If I pop it in before bed I let it actually let it sit.

1 1/2 cups melter butter (3 sticks)
2 cups sugar
1/2 cup frozen orange juice concentrate (mix the rest of the tub with water for juice in the morning while you bake!)
2 eggs
4 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 tsp orange zest (about 1 orange to make it easier on the measurement side)
4 cups flour
a little extra sugar to coat

Melt the butter in the microwave and mix in the sugar and orange juice concentrate.

Once the mixture has cooled a little, add the eggs, baking soda, salt and orange zest.

Add the flour one cup at a time and mix well.

Let chill for 2+ hours.

Preheat your oven to 350. Roll the dough with your hands into walnut size balls and roll in sugar. Don't flatten the balls as they will spread out fine when baking. Tip: they will roll when you transfer the sheet to the oven so squish them enough so you don't loose them on the transfer.

Bake about 10 minutes and let them cool on a rack. The sugar gives them a nice crispy bottom you'll love!

10 Minute Turtles

Easy holiday recipes made easier? How about a "cookie" that takes all of 10 minutes to make? It is Always a crowd pleaser, my kids love making them and the hardest part is unwrapping the Rolos!

You'll need small twisted pretzels, Rolo candies and pecan halves (although any nut will probably be fine - pecans are nice because of their size).

1. On a cookie sheet, spread flat the pretzels.
2. Place a Rolo on each pretzel.
3. Put in the oven at 350 for 3 minutes just to soften the Rolos - they won't look melted but they are gooey enough.
4. Remove from oven and immediately press a pecan half on top of the Rolo. Don't press too hard or the chocolate seeps through the pretzel too much - just enough to look beautiful.
5. Let cool and serve.

That's it! They make great little gifts and are truly addicting.

Easy Dinner Recipes: Blueberry Muffins

This is no easy dinner recipe but it is a make ahead easy breakfast recipe. I made the dough up to folding in the blueberries and then baked it in the morning. By the time I was done with my shower the whole house smelled like fresh muffins and my kids thought I was a rock star mom! I didn't have the lemon on hand so I skipped it and it was great with the fresh blueberries we got on sale. It made 20 medium size muffins for us but I also use paper so I don't have the tins to clean up.

Ingredients

3 cups of all-purpose flour
1 Tbsp baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
10 Tbsp unsalted butter (1 1/4 stick), softened
1 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1 1/2 cup plain yogurt
1 teaspoon grated lemon peel
1 1/2 cups blueberries
1 Tbsp flour (if using defrosted frozen berries)

Method

1 Adjust the oven rack to the middle-lower part of the oven. Preheat oven to 375°F.

2 Whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt and set aside.

3 In a large mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar together, beating until fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, beating until incorporated after each one. Beat in the grated lemon peel.

4 Beat in one half of the dry ingredients until just incorporated. Beat in one third of the yogurt. Beat in half of the remaining dry ingredients. Beat in a second third of the yogurt. Beat in the remaining dry ingredients and then the remaining yogurt. Again be careful to beat until just incorporated. Do not over beat. Fold in the berries. If you are using frozen berries, defrost them first, drain the excess liquid, and then coat them in a light dusting of flour.

5 Use a standard 12-muffin muffin pan. Coat each muffin cup lightly with olive oil or grapeseed oil using a pastry brush, or with a little butter. Or use one of those convenient vegetable oil sprays. Distribute the muffin dough equally among the cups. Bake until muffins are golden brown, about 25 to 30 minutes. Test with a long toothpick (we use a thin bamboo skewer) to make sure the center of the muffins are done. Set on wire rack to cool for 5 minutes. Remove muffins from the tin and serve slightly warm.

Easy Dinner Recipes: Warm Carmel Apple Cake

Life doesn't ALWAYS have to be about easy dinner recipes.  Sometimes it's about making a looks-like-homemade desert with little work.  This one was emailed to me from Betty Crocker and I loved it! My in-laws loved it and after picking off the apples (we have the same problem with vegetables) my son loved it.

Warm Caramel Apple Cake

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Serve this yummy apple upside-down cake warm from the oven.

 

Prep Time: 30 min

Total Time: 1 hour 25 min

Makes: 15 servings

Cake
1/2	cup butter or margarine
1/4	cup whipping cream
1	cup packed brown sugar
1/2	cup chopped pecans
2	large cooking apples, peeled, cored and thinly sliced (about 2 1/3 cups)
1	box Betty Crocker® SuperMoist® yellow cake mix
1 1/4	cups water
1/3	cup vegetable oil
3	eggs
1/4	teaspoon apple pie spice
Topping
2/3	cup Betty Crocker® Whipped fluffy white frosting (from 12-oz container)
1/2	cup frozen (thawed) whipped topping
	Caramel topping, if desired

1.	Heat oven to 350°F. In 1-quart heavy saucepan, cook butter, whipping cream and brown sugar over low heat, stirring occasionally, just until butter is melted. Pour into 13x9-inch pan. Sprinkle with pecans; top with sliced apples.
2.	In large bowl, beat cake mix, water, oil, eggs and apple pie spice with electric mixer on low speed until moistened. Beat on medium speed 2 minutes. Carefully spoon batter over apple mixture.
3.	Bake 40 to 45 minutes or until toothpick inserted near center comes out clean. Cool in pan 10 minutes. Loosen sides of cake from pan. Place heatproof serving platter upside down on pan; carefully turn platter and pan over. Let pan remain over cake about 1 minute so caramel can drizzle over cake. Remove pan.
4.	In small bowl, mix frosting and whipped topping. Serve warm cake topped with frosting mixture and drizzled with caramel topping.

Substitutions:

You can use cinnamon for the apple pie spice for a slightly different flavor.

Success

Granny Smith and Braeburn are good apple choices to use in this recipe.

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Easy Dinner Recipes: Asian Shrimp in Minutes

I get seriously tired of eating meat all of the time, but are there easy dinner recipes that my kids will actually touch that involve something a little different? Enter into my kitchen SHRIMP. It cooks in minutes, the kids actually enjoy it and it makes me feel like we've gotten out of a rut. The longest part of this recipe is waiting for the water to boil. And yes, I do serve it over TopRamen noodles which the whole family devours for pennies. And of course you know I found it on Tastebook... if you haven't checked them out yet click on their logo below.

Asian Shrimp

INGREDIENTS

• 2 1/2 cups water
• 3 cubes chicken bouillon
• 3 pounds shrimp, peeled and deveined
• 1/3 cup chopped green onion
• 1/4 cup soy sauce
• salt to taste
• 1/4 cup cornstarch
• 1/4 cup cold water
• 12 ounces trimmed snow peas
• 4 small ripe tomatoes, diced

DIRECTIONS

1. In a large saucepan, heat 2 1/2 cups water to a boil over medium-high heat. Dissolve bouillon in boiling water. Add shrimp, green onion, soy sauce and salt. Boil for 3 minutes.
2. Dissolve cornstarch in cold water; stir into shrimp mixture. Cook until sauce is thick, then add tomatoes and snow peas. Serve hot.

Easy Dinner Recipes: Creamy Kielbasa Bake

Kielbasa sausage is one of those staple items we keep in the pantry because it makes an easy dinner recipe. We've been making a version of this creamy bake for years now, although our version consists of kielbasa, an onion, chopped potatoes and a sweet potato in the over for 350 for an hour. It is fun to change it up from time to time so I found this on TasteBook and we tried it tonight - my daughter and I cleaned the baking dish! Creamy, yummy, sausage-y goodness! For more recipe ideas be sure to check out Tastebook here.

Ingredients

• 16 oz of Kielbasa sausage
• 6 russet potatoes
• 1 family size can of cream of chicken
• 1 can hot water
• 1 tsp pepper
• 1 tsp salt

Dice potatoes and put them in large baking dish. Slice kielbasa sausage into rounds and mix them into the potatoes. Pour cream of chicken into a large mixing bowl with hot water, salt, and pepper. Stir with a wisk until cream of chicken is dissolved. Pour the mixture over the potatoes and sausage. Place into oven at 425 degrees F and cook for about 45 minutes to one hour, or until potatoes are tender.

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