0 Apple Crisp

This was REALLY good =]

I liked this a lot and probably most of all because I didn't use a recipe. I will share it with you..

This is basically how it turned out (this is actually before it went into the oven). I'm sorry I didn't get a proper "after" picture but I actually took this over to a friend's house and baked it in her oven. 

Here is what you will need out of your pantry.. 

Of course you will also need some of these =]

I used a potato peeler on the apples

Then slice them up

Cut them to size and mix them all together (I used different kinds of apples, I like the variety in flavor and textures)

Dump the apples into the pan and spread them out fairly evenly. Mix equal parts of brown and white sugar in a separate bowl, add another part flour, throw in a little nutmeg and cinnamon to your liking, mix it really good then pour it evenly over the apples. Cut up some chunks of butter and scatter them over the top. 

Oh, I almost forgot, before you put in the apples, rub some butter in the bottom of your pan

Add  some graham crackers to the top if you want, then bake for 30-40mins @350F. When it's done you can add more graham crackers, I did, or not, either way it was delicious. 

This was a big hit at game night but I have to say I think my friends are getting a little spoiled, they no longer offer suggestions when I ask what I should bring to our gatherings they simply tell me anything I make will be perfectly fine. Which is great to hear don't get me wrong, but I'd like some ideas here and there... 

Happy Baking 

Enjoy =]

0 Melty Crayons

I've been seriously slacking off. I'm sorry. I made this a few months ago and just never posted it. I'm still pretty psyched about it though =]

Okay, once these started showing up everywhere I'm pretty sure we all knew it was just a matter of time before I made my own:

You've seen these around right? Probably about a thousand times. I like them, they come in all shapes and sizes with varying levels of creativity poured into them. Mine is the bare bones version but I'll show you how I did it...

 I picked all these things up at walmart. My walmart happens to have an excellent craft section for which I am very grateful. 

I started by laying out the "regular" colors in the order I wanted them

I lined them up along the side of the canvas to be sure I had enough and not too many..

These are all the "weird" colors and the grey/black/white/browns

I used hot glue to stick the crayons down, label side up, along side each other

Gently press each crayon into place

Then...

Voila! 

Now to melt them...

 It doesn't take long before you start to see the drips

You can direct the drips by altering the angle of the canvas

Keep going

Slowly move across the canvas trying to distribute the heat as evenly as possible, some colors will run a little more than others

And BAM! You can see in the lavender area where the drips go at a kind of slant, this is where I learned the importance of keeping the heat directed at the crayon and not at the drips, try to stay near the tops of the crayons, that will help. Also, don't use the hair dryer on high, use a low setting. 

This was a very fun project I was very happy with it. It now sits on a tiny display easel on a coffee table in my parents' house. 

Happy Crafting! 

Enjoy =]

0 Kiss Pies

Okay, so this is at least a full month late. Remember how I posted about the Bazaar thing from my Indiana trip and I told you about the tiny pumpkin pies? Well we made these too, we called them kiss pies. They sold really well and were beyond delicious. The idea came from >HERE<. Here they are waiting to be put into the oven:

First you have to start with a small candy you like.. it can be any variety of Hershey kiss (which is why they're kiss pies) or any other small candy, we also used Dove chocolates and Andes mints. 

And of course you'll need pie crust, for this one yes.. we cheated and used store-bought frozen pie crust, but in our defense we were making like a bajillion things and it was simply easier this way.

Cut your crust into squares (which would've been easier with homemade pie crust)

Pull up the corners and pinch them together

And there you have it! Make sure the edges are all sealed up really well or they will leak in the oven

Here is one with an Andes mint

A little misshapen but still good, besides, the ugly ones always get sacrificed to the kitchen gods

This is a Dove dark chocolate raspberry thing

Brush them with egg wash so they brown up nicely and have a little gloss to them

And there you have the finished product, this one is an Andes mint. I apologize yet again for my camera's inability to see anything other than orange when it's in that kind of mood. 

There they are bagged up on the tray, they sold well at 50c each and they were wonderful, we had a few left over so we ate all of those.. We also made some with an almond paste inside and called them Amaretto they were pretty amazing and were very much like cookies in that they required a glass of milk, but in a very very good way =]

Happy Baking!

Enjoy! =]

2 Tiny Pumpkin Pie

I'm so SORRY! I totally should've blogged these weeks ago, I'm so behind. Anyway..

Here they are =]

This is the recipe straight out of Betty Crocker

This is everything

Mix it up

Now mix it for real =]

Pour or spoon it into the crust (you can get a recipe for pie crust here)

Bake @375F for 40min

They will bubble then crack when they're ready

All done! Let them cool a bit

They settle back down

And they're delicious, this is Angie, check her out on YouTube

We sold them at a fall festival bazaar (I blogged that too)

These turned out pretty good and they sold just as well, be sure when you make them that you let them bake until the crust is cooked through. Great holiday project and Christmas gift idea or to send home with the family at Thanksgiving.

Happy Baking! 

Enjoy =]

0 Indiana

 Okay, first and foremost I had an absolute blast =] 

Now, I'll tell you about my trip to Indiana =]

Mom saw me off at the greyhound station

This is inside the Louisville bus station

This is outside the Louisville bus station

This is another bus parked near my bus.. I took this picture out the window, the other passengers thought I was surely a crazy person. 

Baking commenced immediately upon arrival =] these babies are called >Kiss Pies< and you can follow the link to find out more on them

This is Tugs McGraw, Angie's 20yr old recently-deaf jack russel 

These are >Tiny Pumpkin Pies< 

This is outside the bazaar where we sold our baked goods

The tiny pies and kiss pies were made to be sold at a bazaar, here they are on display, we made apple, peach and of course pumpkin

They were below the cookies and between the angel food cake and  Angie's homemade caramel corn

This is our booth, there was a bunch of stuff

See the blender? We also made pumpkin smoothies =] they were much better than they sound

Our sign

The kiss pies were bagged up over in that tray

Then we got in some barn time. This is Bogie, he's 20yrs old, I got him for Christmas when he was 6 and I was 8. He has been living with Angie since right around my junior/senior year of high school

An Indiana sunrise

Bogie again =]

Gary and I took Ziggy up to Purdue get his eye checked out (it was really only about a 20min drive)

It actually looks much better here 

He certainly got checked out, the blonde in the white coat is the vet teacher who specializes in large animal ophthalmology 

This is a crowd of vet and vet tech students gathered around Ziggy

We drove around Purdue a little bit, this is part of their agriculture department

They have cool sculptures outside the veterinary department

neat right?

This was a cool building on campus, I think its the student union

This is a statue of a horse made out of driftwood.. only it's made out of bronze.. I had to go up to it and touch it, I tapped my ring on it and sure enough, it's metal. 

Here is his info, he stands outside the arts building

This is Angie's fetal horse. 

One of her mares died a few years ago while she was <100 days pregnant so Angie took out the fetus and preserved it

Indiana sunset =]

The mighty Wabash

The Indianapolis Greyhound station

And here we are pulling out of Indi, past the Lucas Oil Stadium (across the street from Greyhound). Yes, there was internet on the bus, yay WiFi! Yes, I still managed to take every bit of a full week to get this together and get it posted. If you want to know more about Angie and what they do at the Sliding E, you can check her out in action >HERE< and if you just want another picture of how great my trip was... Here:

Enjoy =]