Personal Mini Apple Pies

When I think of apple pies, I get a really warm and cozy feeling inside. After making dinner today, I decided to make mini apple pies for dessert. We are somewhat of a traditional family....The type that eats dinner and dessert on Sundays while watching football...he..he.. I love making food for my family, they really appreciate what I make and they are always so sweet and trust what I give them is good. I take pride in that. 

Instead of making one large pie like I always do, I thought it would be nice to create miniature ones instead. These pies are cool, great for dessert, easy to store, and can fit in a lunch box. Good alternative to cookies, etc. Nothing better than homemade, no preservatives, no sitting on a shelf for two months...yuck.

I went the easy route and used store bought pie crust since I did not have time to make pie crust, that's my next adventure.

Gather these ingredients.

I sliced my apples, but better to chop them into chunks (they fit into the pie crust easier).

Add all your ingredients in. Smelling good..

Mix everything up.

Add apples to a quarter slice of pie crust.

 Fold over and close up ends with a fork.

I baked these in the oven for 30 minutes or until they were golden brown. Turned out well and were yummy to eat!! My husband gave this a thumbs up, plus he ate two.

Recipe Info: 

Crust: 
1 Box of Ready Made Pie Crust

Filling Ingredients: 
6 Large Granny Smith Apples
3/4 cup Sugar, Splenda, or Stevia, which ever you prefer.
2 tbs Flour
3/4 tsp Ground Cinnamon
1/4 tsp Salt
1/8 tsp Ground Nutmeg
1 tbs Lemon Juice

Preheat oven to 425. Mix all of the filling ingredients together. Cut one of your pie crusts into quarters. Take a quarter of it, roll it in a ball. Use a rolling pin and create a round. Place apples in center, fold one side over, and press close with a fork. Place them all on a baking sheet and bake for 30 minutes.

This recipe will make 8 pies. However, I had left over apples and used another box of the pie crust to make 8 more. Try, and you will like. Oh, serve hot with a scoop of Vanilla ice cream.

Apple and Cheddar Meat Pies

I recently ran across this recipe in my Bon Appetite magazine and decided to try it out. Surprisingly, they were a success. I know because, these bad boys didn't even last a full day in my house! At first I was a little turned off by thought of putting this combination together, but it worked out tastefully and were yummy to eat. Try it and you won't be disappointed.

Here's what you'll need:

- One Gala apple diced

- One Onion diced

- 2 cups Medium cheddar cheese

- 1 pound ground beef

- Store bought Pie Crust- name brand preferred

- Start by sauteing the onions at low/medium heat, cook till translucent.

- Then add the ground beef and cook till nicely brown. While browning, season the meat with salt and pepper (to your liking). I added some red pepper flakes, a little garlic powder, and a dash of cumin to season my meat. I don't like bland ground beef.

- Remove from heat and let cool. 

- Add your diced apples and cheddar cheese and stir into the cooled meat mixture. Here's what it will look like... 

Put the filling into the ready made pie crust rolls. Fold them in half, press close with a fork, and bake them at 425 degrees for 20 minutes or until golden brown.

Here they are all done. Here's where I got the idea: http://www.bonappetit.com/recipes/slideshows/2011/11/10-unexpected-ground-beef-ideas#slide=3

Mid-October Harvest

Today I worked in the garden removing old plants from my raised beds. Lots of plants were starting to wilt and die back. The Sweet baby watermelons, cantaloupe, and cherry tomatoes were the ones with the most wilt, so I harvested the fruits from them. Here are some pics of what I harvested today. The best part of this experience was just being able to grow my food and the ability to go from garden to table. The immediate satisfaction of it.

I was only able to get one cantaloupe, but it was the sweetest, most aromatic cantaloupe I have every had in my life. Simply amazing. Will definitely grow more next year. This sweet baby didn't develop so much, it broke off the stem before it could finish developing on the vine. Would have been great I'm sure.

Sweet Cherry Tomatoes!

Baby Mesclun lettuce & bell peppers.

Gift to my neighbor

Growing green beans was very rewarding. Do grow at least six plants worth of these. I only planted three seedlings, not enough as I was only able to make sauteed green beans twice. I could have went for more...always next year.                                                                                                  

Robot Costume

This Halloween was like no other. I made a costume I never thought I could or would do, but it turned out so very cool. With a little time and recycled material, I was able to create a cute little robot costume for my son. He thought it was amazing and he wore it excitedly everywhere. We got a lot of smiles and joyful expressions from this costume. People thought it was cool and loved that it was homemade.




My little robot.

This is the back of the costume, complete with rocket boosters. Made out of Pringle canisters wrapped in fabric. The clip on light came in handy at night. Bicycle helmet covered in foil to finish the look.  

Rocket Boosters!

Dryer vents for arms (you can buy them at Home Depot). I added a tire pressure gauge to help make the costume look more dimensional. The gadget dials were a download that I printed out and glued to the front, same with the Dre 3000 tag.

The box was actually a wine box that has been recycled two times. Once as my son's high school graduation card box, and one final time for this project. The box was cut down the back and the neck area was cut in a u-shape. My son loved putting this on, his eyes would light up every time. I think he felt like a transformer.

If you want to make this: 

- Find a box that fits your child's body

- Silver Metallic spray paint

- Grey fabric duct tape (for comfort and finishing the look)

- Dryer vents

- Serrated knife for cutting the box

- Strong glue- E-6000 (use in ventilated area)

- Recycle any thing you want for rocket boosters. I used Pringle containers, but I thought even water bottles, or 2-liter soda bottles would work just as well.

- Pull together anything around the house you're not using or about to throw away, spray paint and glue it on! We had a blast putting this together. So much fun!