Homemade Apple Pie!

"I'm so happy I live in a world where there are Octobers." -Anne of Green Gables

 

If it so happens that your world is fire-red and orange,

And these sweet things decorate the sidewalk...

 

And it seems the orchard could really be in your house...

 

 

then clearly, it's time to warm yourself by the oven,

and bake one of the best season's best foods  to offer.

 

 

 

Apple pie from scratch? You'll feel like Betty Crocker.

Or Mr. Crocker if  you're a guy....although I'm not sure what he did except

eat too much good food thanks to his Mrs.

 

 

But first. This pie has a history.

You KNOW you've got a best friend when both of you: A.) have food blogs,

and B.) make the SAME apple pie recipe within the same week.

 

Note: I'm in Ohio. She's in Indiana.

 

 

During college, this pie recipe was an excuse for Kathleen and I to scheme ways for her to visit

her future boyfriend/fiancé/husband, Grant, at his house.

 (We needed the pie pan back!! And then conveniently forgot to take it. Woops...)

 

You could almost say this recipe (helped) bring about a marriage.

 

At the least....I can say my family has never had better apple pie.

 

 

For the oil pastry: (makes a lower & top crust)

First step: Warm up that kitchen & pre-heat the oven at 425 F.

 

1 3/4 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1 t salt

5 T cold water

 

Mix flour, oil, and salt. Drizzle in water. Mix together until pastry is

moistened and almost 'cleans' the inside of the bowl.

 

 

The pastry above only needs to be brought together into a ball. Divide pastry into *two* balls and place one ball between two pieces of wax paper. Flatten into a pretty flat circle like so.

 

 

 Strip off one piece of wax paper and place into 9" round pie pan.

NOTE: Check first, to make sure you have rolled out the dough large enough for the bottom crust!

 

 

Cut off excess dough so that the crust fits perfectly into the pie pan.

And now for the APPLE part...
For a 9" pie:
2/3 cup sugar
1/4 cup all-purpose flour (I accidentally left this out and my pie was still super yummy! The flour will prevent the pie from being a little juicy and more stable)
1/2 t ground nutmeg
1/2 t ground cinnamon
*dash of salt
6 cups sliced apples (about 6 medium apples!) NOTE: We usually used the cheaper, less 'pretty' apples from the orchard for apple pie. Same taste, cheaper price!!
2 T butter

I have found one of the world's best inventions and it is a heavy-duty apple peeler.

Shown below! Any sort of peeler will work.

 

After peeling, slice and de-core apples into bite-sizes with this other handy-dandy tool (if you've got it)! 

No need to make the apple pieces any smaller than this.

 

 

Add the rest of the ingredients: sugar, butter, and seasonings, to your sliced apples.

Mix well...and try one, or two. :)

 

 

Pour your apples into your prepared bottom pie-crust.

Layer with the top crust.

 

Snow White used bird's feet to make her edges pretty with marks....

forks will also work. 

 

 

I always cut slits in mine in the shape of a heart...And stuff it full of apples!!

Hearts are not original to me, please copy and share some love :)

NOTE: pies have to have some slits in the top crust to cook properly.

 

 

 

Cover, as best you can, the edges of the pie with aluminum foil. Bake until the crust is brown and juice begins to look bubbly through the slits, around 40-50 minutes. Also, you may remove the aluminum foil for the last 15 minutes of baking.

 

Last but not least......share, because I know that's what you made it for :)

 

Happy autumn!

 

 

Ice Cream from Avocados?

 

 “Without ice cream, there would be darkness and chaos.” 

-Don Kardong (US Olympic runner)

 



 

I couldn't agree more. As of summer 2009 when I found out I was allergic to dairy,

my life has been a shade of darkness and chaos.

No Cookies 'n Cream ice cream.

 

Or Brownie Fudge. 

 

No Watermelon ice cream with the fake seeds.

 

Or Coffee ice cream that my grandma used to make for us when we'd visit the farm. (Highlight of childhood....caffeine at night! Poor parents).

....And, most sadly, good-bye to Mint Chocolate Chip ice cream,

which used to be one of my top favorites.

Tragedy? Yes.

Thankfully life in my lungs is sweeter than ice cream! But I do miss the huge bowl of ice cream I

unnecessarily used to devour every night. Which is why I love this recipe for (dairy-free)

Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream.

 

Made creamy from avocados
 

                                         


 

And sweetened with honey

 

 

 

                                       Mixed with oil, almond milk,

                      & peppermint extract

 

                                         

 

 

Ingredients you'll need:

 

- 2 ripe avocados << slightly mushy to touch is "ripe"

- 1/2 cup almond milk

- 5 Tablespoons honey (or more!)

- 2 Tablespoons oil (Original recipe suggests Coconut, I used Extra Virgin Olive Oil)

- 1/2 t peppermint extract (I added more!)

- lots of mini chocolate chips!! (Make sure to use small pieces! Otherwise when the ice cream freezes these babies will be hard to bite into..)

 

- PATIENCE :) Ice cream has to freeze! I was being my typical slightly-impatient self and got too excited and had to try it before it was completely frozen :P Green pudding was a little weird. But I promise the end result of this recipe is worth it!

 

                                  

What you do:

 

1. Put all ingredients in a blender except for the chocolate.

2. My favorite part--taste test! :) Add more peppermint or honey as needed. Be careful with the peppermint as it can immediately take effect on the taste!

3. Place your green beauty of a mixture into a freezer-safe container.

 

 

 

 

4. Let your ice cream freeze for 4-6 hours.

5. Add coconut, chocolate syrup, shaved chocolate, & more chocolate chips!!

 

My advice: Eat this for breakfast. Eat it for dessert. Eat it while you watch either

The Grinch or Shrek--because it is the *perfect* green shade of Grinch or Ogre.

 

 

 And add too much chocolate too it. :)

 

                                     

 



 Credit: I adapted this recipe from The Detoxinista.

Click on this link for more creative & DE-licious recipes with lots of allergy-free options :)

 

Pumpkin Brownies. Two Ingredients.

 "Only the knife knows what goes on in the heart of a pumpkin."

-Simone Schwartz-Bart

 Pumpkin. Brownies.

I’ve been trying to eat gluten-free for the past few weeks, and I blame these as the culprit to my diet breaker. (Okay, not diet...fake allergy slash experiment...)

I just….had to try one brownie.

And one…turned into three.

This is why baking, my friends, is an action verb on “how to love your neighbor.”  J I made these for a sweet family I’ve met in Ohio—otherwise the pan would’ve been gone in seconds.

YUM. YUM. YUM.

     

 

 

You only need two items and two minutes to prep:

-          1 can of pumpkin

-          1 box of brownie mix (we aren't adding the eggs, oil, and water)

(This cost me just a little over $3 dollars. Perfect dessert gift if you have no piggy bank like me)

 

Directions:

-          Blend the mix and pumpkin. Pour into a pan. Bake for 25-30 minutes at 350 F, until toothpick comes out clean.

 

-      Savor some autumn-y chocolate goodness in your mouth. :)

 

(Funny side note: I sprinkled cocoa powder on my brownies, which looks pretty but I *don't* recommend. Almost choked on the powder. Awesome.) 

 

 

To lovingly harp on the nutrition side (my personal fave), these brownies are now lower in calories, cholesterol, fat, and higher in Vitamin A compared to the boring box recipe. (The serving size for 1/2 cup of pumpkin is 300% of the "daily value" for Vitamin A...). Seasonal, different, cheap, and PUMPKIN.

 

Would you like a taste of autumn?

 

 

 Credit: I adapted this recipe from the 'Six Sisters' blog site. Worth checking out!

Jesus > Religion: A Book Review

 "Jesus > Religion" by Jefferson Bethke

 

Being the book lover that I am, when I saw an application to pre-read and review Jefferson Bethke’s book “Jesus > Religion” available on October 7th, I didn’t think twice about signing up. I figured I wouldn’t get asked…considering I hadn’t blogged since March, and my last post was a recipe… (scrambled eggs, anyone? …yeah, not relevant to books!). So I’m as shocked as you to be given this opportunity. Other than a free PDF I am not being compensated, so rest assured my words are not being paid for.

 If you don’t know who Jefferson Bethke is, he wrote the YouTube script for “Why I hate Religion, but love Jesus,” which had over 12 million views in the span of 12 hours. While Bethke had meant to speak to maybe 100 peers at his college…his video went viral instead. Talk about God having another plan. Click here for a link to Jefferson's videos! 

“The paradox of the Scripture is that it calls us way more sinful than we think we are,
and it calls us way more loved than we think we are.”

-          Jefferson Bethke, Jesus > Religion

 

This book isn’t about Bethke.  

It isn’t about you (as the reader).

This book isn’t about hating religion. (In fact, Bethke spends quite a few pages on defining what he meant by hating religion, for those of you who found this confusing.)  

It IS about a homeless, rumored-to-be-born-illegitimate man who lived in Nazareth 2,000 years ago. A man who raised controversy with the practiced religion of his time, who was brutally killed for no crime committed & who said and did things that no man could accomplish.

    It IS about why his resurrected life means everything to yours and mine and Bethke’s.  

                     This book IS about Jesus, Son of God.

I was humbled by how vulnerable Bethke was in intertwining the grace of the cross with his own story. He grew up in a broken home just above the poverty line, was addicted to pornography for 8 years, admitted to feeling suicidal at the end of a serious relationship, and even shares a personal story of choosing sin after becoming a Christian:

One night during my sophomore year of college, God

decided to show me just how inadequate I was to fight my own

sin and just how powerful his grace was to break that sin. I was

sitting on the couch in my room playing Halo 3, but quickly

became bored. Lustful thoughts started to call my name. I

knew I shouldn’t give in, but there was still a part of me that

thought, Who cares? What’s a little fun? No one will know.

So I texted a girl I had previously had a completely physical

relationship with. She said she wasn’t doing anything and

wanted to hang out, so I drove over to her house with us both

knowing what our intentions were. Even while driving there,

I felt this cosmic battle waging in my soul. Part of me deeply

wanted it, but another part of me knew there was something

better and tried to convince me that sex wouldn’t bring the

satisfaction it promised. Ultimately, I went through with it.

Rather than seeing her as another soul made in the image of

God, I saw her as an object. Rather than trusting that God

actually wanted to bring me deeper joy, I thought I knew better

what would make me happy.

I’ll never forget the feeling when I got home. I felt hollow,

sick, dirty. I was a Christian now. I knew better. I wasn’t

supposed to do that anymore! On top of that, I felt even

more shame because I had planned what I did and had many

opportunities to say no. I’d never had this happen before,

and I’ve never had it happen since. The shame and guilt

were so palpable that I literally became sick. I stayed up until

six o’clock that morning throwing up, feeling so dirty and

worthless and thinking I had completely failed God and that

he must hate me now.

I thought, What’s more evil? Being blind and living in ignorance,

or knowing what is right and still doing what is wrong? I

had known it was wrong, but I did it anyway.

I was just lying there, swimming in my own shame and

guilt, when this still, small voice whispered into the depths of

my soul:

 

I love you.

I desire you.

I delight in you.

I saw you were going to do that before I went to the

cross, and I still went.

 

I had a feeling of utter quiet and peace. I didn’t hear those

words in my ears, but felt them whispered into the depths of

my bones. Immediately, relief and the epiphany that I hadn’t

surprised God rushed over me. I hadn’t caught him off guard.

When Jesus went to the cross, he saw all I’ll ever be, all I’ll

ever do (including that), and all I’ll ever want outside of him;

but he joyfully came and got me (Hebrews 12: 1-2).

He looked down and said, “I want that one.”

I couldn’t earn it, and I don’t deserve it. But he freely loves

me and gave me grace. Not only did I not deserve his love in

that moment, but if anything, I deserved the opposite. But he

chose to let his beauty and splendor pour out of him and into my ugliness.

 

That’s when it hit me: God’s grace isn’t nice and cute.  It’s scandalous.

-Chapter 8 of Jesus > Religion

 

I am grateful for Bethke’s book and the transparency he has with admitting his failures and his need for grace. It takes humility to come to the cross, and it takes humility to stay at its foot. And it took Real Humility, a perfect God dying for imperfect man-- to make each of us a new creation. Isn’t it beautiful?!

Here is one last quote from Bethke’s book that cut straight to my heart:

“All of us have become like one who is unclean,

and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags.” –Isaiah 64:6

 

“We often miss that our “righteous acts” are “filthy” before God.

Not just our bad days, but our extremely good days too! Praying, reading

the Bible, giving to the poor, and going to church nine times a

week? Filthy rags apart from Jesus and his cross. Tell me that

isn’t just a little bit controversial. And if that God isn’t shocking enough

for you, author Francis Chan shares in his book Crazy Love that the Hebrew

word for “filthy rags” can be interpreted as “menstrual garments.”

In that verse God says our good works are no better

than a bloody tampon. Next time you’re in a public restroom

and you see the waste can, feel free to remind yourself that’s

your righteousness apart from Jesus. (Gross, I know.)”

                        -  Jesus > Religion, Chapter 1

 

Wow. That just put my whole life in perspective.

My good works are bloody tampons. Your good works are….bloody tampons.

 

Are you thinking: EWW GROSS NEW MENTAL IMAGE NOW!?

 

I know I am!! But my heart needs to hear this: the truth of Scripture. Otherwise, I’ll start thinking 22 is a good amount of years to draw out my own wisdom and that living for me is the only thing life is for.

 

I hope that struck you as visually disgusting and prompted your heart to awe-struck appreciation of the beautiful, scandalous grace that is offered freely in Christ.

 

And I hope it makes you curious to hear what Bethke has to say in his book.

Whether you are a believer who speaks Greek and Hebrew with fluency, or simply someone curious about this controversial homeless Jesus dude who Bethke can’t keep his mouth shut about….this book is relevant to you.  

 

I pray you don’t stop reading my blog here and forget that you were interested in hearing more about Jesus (or learning more, if you are a believer!). Read the Scriptures for yourself. Read books like Bethke’s. Pray. Don’t settle for coping with addictions, with depression, with anxiety, or with guilt. Jesus didn’t die for the sake of suffering….he suffered so that you and I may live. And not for ourselves but for HIM.

 

If we’re doing the star system, I’d give Bethke’s book a  4.3 out of 5. There were several times that Scripture was paraphrased, and while Bethke’s interpretation was accurate and worded beautifully…there is something about hearing the direct Word of God that has a more lasting impact.

 

All in all, this is a book very worthy of my time and your time.  Click here to learn more about the book or to pre-order "Jesus > Religion."

 

Praying that you and I have seeking hearts. And reading hearts. ;)

 

 “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. ⁸ For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.⁹ –Matthew 7: 7-9

 

 

 

 

~  (Obviously) I'm not the photographer of the book cover! :) Retrieved from Jefferson Bethke.