Karin's Apple Pie

Pie Crust:

• 1.25 cups flour
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup butter, chilled and diced
• 1/4 cup ice water

1. Add ingredients in a blender in the following order: 2 Tbs. ice water, salt, half of the butter, flour, the rest of the butter. Blend until the mixture can be formed into a ball. Add the rest of the water if/as needed. 
2. Form the dough into a ball and wrap in plastic. Refrigerate for an hour or more. 
3. On a piece of floured parchment paper, roll out the dough into a sheet that is 13 inches in diameter. 
4. Place your 9 inch pie dish upside down on top of the dough sheet and flip it over so the dough is in the dish. Peel off the paper. Fit the dough to the dish.
5. Fold the edges under to create a thicker crust along the lip of the pie dish. Finish off the edges with a fork or spoon for a pretty design. 
6. Refrigerate the pie crust while you make the filling. 

Filling: 

• 8 Granny Smith apples, peeled and sliced.
• 2/3 cup packed light brown sugar
• 1/4 cup plus 1 Tbs. granulated sugar
• 3 Tbs. cornstarch
• 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon; more to taste
• 1/4 tsp. kosher salt

1. Fix the dry ingredients together and then add the apples. Let these sit 1/2 an hour or so. 

2. With a slotted spoon, scoop the apples into the pie crust. 

3. Boil the rest of the juice/sugar mixture until it becomes a gooey carmel. Pour these over the apples. 

Streusel Topping:

• 4-1/2 oz. (1 cup) unbleached all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup old-fashioned rolled oats
• 1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
• 1/4 tsp. table salt
• 4 oz. (8 Tbs.) unsalted butter, melted

Mix the ingredients together and sprinkle over the filling. 

Bake for 25 minutes with tin foil around the edges. Then remove the tin foil and bake for an additional 55 minutes. 

Bean and Corn Salad

• Claire requested this salad after Karin had made it, and we had it with garlic toast made on homemade French bread, watermelon and peaches. Awesome summer meal.
• 
  
• Place in bowl:
  1 cup cherry/grape tomatoes, halved
  Sprinkle with 1/2 tsp salt and let stand 10 min.
  
  
  Toss with 1 TB olive oil and roast/grill:
  3 ears shucked corn or same amount frozen corn
  1 medium white onion, coarsely chopped
  1 jalapeño pepper
  Then after they've cooled, cut corn off cob and finely chop jalapeño (discard stem).
  
  
  Combine everything together with the following:
  1/3 cup chopped fresh cilantro
  1/3 cup fresh lime juice (I cheated and used lemon juice I always have)
  1 (15-ounce) can pinto beans, rinsed and drained
  1 (15-ounce) can black beans, rinsed and drained
  1 (15-ounce) can kidney beans, rinsed and drained
  2 diced peeled avocados
  
  
  Salt to taste (up to 1/2 tsp).
• 
  

Chocolate Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies

These might actually rival brownies for me. I just can't seem to come up with non-gooey brownies--either too gooey or too crispy. I love the consistency of these.

Preheat to 350.

2 1/4 c flour
1/4 c and 2 TB unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tsp baking soda
2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp salt (I'm debating whether this was a little too much)
1 c butter (2 sticks), softened
1 1/2 c brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
2 eggs
4 tsp vanilla extract
2 1/2 c oats (I used quick cooking)
2 cups chocolate chips
1 cup chopped nuts (optional but I love--I used pecans)

Spray cookie sheets. Mine needed 12 minutes to bake. Let cool 10 min on cookie sheet before removing them.

Cheesecake Tarts for Ali

Makes 12 mini cheesecakes, using vanilla wafers as the crust.

Preheat oven to 375.

With an electric mixer, mix:
2 (8 oz.) packages cream cheese, softened
3/4 cup sugar

Once smooth, add these:
2 TB flour
1/4 tsp baking powder

Then add these:
1 Tbs fresh lemon juice
2 eggs
1 1/2 tsp vanilla

Fill a muffin pan with foil cupcake liners and place one of the vanilla wafers at the bottom of each one. Divide batter between the 12 of them, filling each cup up to about 1/4 inch from the top. Bake for 15-18 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. 

When you take them out of the oven, place them on a cooling rack and let them cool completely. While they cool, it's normal for them to sink down in the center. Refrigerate until chilled.

Optional toppings:
berries and whipped cream
chocolate and caramel sauces
pie filling
chocolate chips

Overnight Oatmeals

Blueberry Maple (4 servings)
1 cup uncooked old fashioned rolled oats
1 1/3 cup milk or almond milk
1 cup Greek yogurt (I used Mountain High plain--not Greek--instead)
2 TB dried chia seeds
3 TB maple syrup (or less to taste)
1 cup blueberries
Let soak overnight and eat cold or warm (I like warm)

Slow Cooker Steel Cut Oatmeal

This apple cinnamon oatmeal was awesome. I followed the recipe exactly, using unsweetened almond milk. Ours was done after 6 hours on low. There are other varieties at the bottom of the page to try!

Apple Pie

Mr. Brady is always trying for the perfect apple pie. I don't usually care for apple pie much, but I wanted to get in on the action. So I found a top rated recipe and read a bunch of its reviews. I loved this one.

Lower your oven rack one notch. Preheat oven to 350. Line deep dish pie plate with bottom crust. Plan out your top crust before you start the other stuff: cut strips for a lattice or fun designs (even using cookie cutters) for venting.

The filling involves 2 easy parts: peeling/cutting the apples (easy if you have a corer slicer tool) and making the syrup to go with it. If you're doing it by yourself, do the apples first; the syrup hardens quickly, reviewers say. We used 5 large apples: 2 Granny Smith and 3 sweeter firm apples. We chopped them pretty small.

On stovetop melt 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter

Add, stir constantly and bring to a boil:
3 TB flour
1/4 cup water
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar

Mix about 2/3 of the syrup with the apples and pour onto the bottom crust. Add the top crust (crimping the edges) and brush the rest of the syrup onto the top crust. Bake until golden brown (I forgot to time it)--somewhere between 45-60 min.

Other reviewers suggest brushing the bottom crust with egg white to avoid crust sogginess, as well as adding cinnamon if you like it. I think I'll try those next time.