Apple Pie

Here's a great apple pie recipe. But be careful: one slice has 13 points in it (serves 8)!
You can either make this in a 9" deep dish pie pan or a 10" regular dish.

Here's what you need for the crust:
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon table salt
2 Tablespoons granulated sugar
13 Tablespoons unsalted butter, cold, cut into 1/4-inch pieces
7 Tablespoons vegetable shortening, chilled
4-5 Tablespoons ice water

1. Mix flour, salt and sugar in a food processor fitted with the steel blade. Scatter butter pieces over flour mixture, tossing to coat butter with some flour. Cut butter into flour with five 1-second pulses. Add shortening and continue cutting in until flour is pale yellow and resembles coarse cornmeal with butter bits no larger than small peas, about four more 1-second pulses. Turn mixture into a medium bowl.
2. Sprinkle 4 Tablespoons of ice water over mixture. With blade of rubber spatula, use folding motion to mix. Press down on dough with broad side of spatula until dough sticks together, adding up to 1 Tablespoon more ice water if dough will not come together. Shape dough into two balls with your hands, one slightly larger than the other. Flatten into 4-inch-wide disks. Dust lightly with flour, wrap in plastic or place in a resealable plastic bag, and refrigerate for 30 minutes before rolling.
3. Flour the work surface very lightly; too much flour will be absorbed by the dough and cause it to toughen. If the dough seems to soft to roll, refrigerate it rather than adding more flour. Roll our the dough by placing the rolling pin in the center of the dough and roll out in one direction. Put the pin back in the center and roll out in a different direction. Don't roll out the dough like you used to roll out playdoh! Roll out the dough to 1/8-inch thickness; about the thickness of two quarters.

Here's what you need for the filling:
1/2 cup granulated sugar, plus one teaspoon
1/4 cup packed light brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon table salt
1 Tablespoon lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon grated lemon peel (peel the lemon before you juice it!)
1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 1/2 pounds tart apples (firm), about 5 medium, peeled and cut into 1/4-inch thick slices
2 1/2 pounds sweet apples (firm), about 5 medium, peeled and cut into 1/4-inch thick slices

1 egg white, beaten lightly

*Good tart apple choices: Granny Smiths, Empires or Cortlands. Good sweet apples choices: Golden Delicious, Jonagolds, or Braeburns.

1. Mix 1/2 cup granulated sugar, brown sugar, salt, zest and cinnamon in large bowl; add apples and toss to combine. Transfer apples to Dutch oven and cook, covered, over medium heat, stirring frequently, until apples are tender when poked with fork but still hold their shape, 15-20 minutes. (Apples and juices should gently simmer during cooking.) Transfer apples and juices to rimmed baking sheet and cool to room temperature, about 30 minutes. While apples cool, adjust oven rack to lowest position, place empty rimmed baking sheet on rack, and heat oven to 425.
2. Remove the larger disk of dough from refrigerator and roll out to about a 12-inch circle (about 1/8" thickness). Place in pie pan. Working around circumference, ease dough into pan by gently lifting edge of dough with one hand while pressing nto plate bottom with other hand. Leave dough that overhangs pan in place. Now roll out other dough disk to 1/8" thickness.
3. Transfer cooled apples to a colander and shake to drain off as much juice as possible; discard juice. Transfer apples to dough-lined pie pan; sprinkle with lemon juice.
4. Place other dough onto apples. Pinch edges of top and bottom dough rounds firmly together. Seal edges of dough, then cut four 2-inch slits in top of dough. Brush surface with beaten egg white and sprinkle evenly with remaining teaspoon sugar.
5. Use foil and tent the edges of crust so they do not over-brown or burn during cooking. Be sure to remove foil tent during the last 10-15 minutes of baking so they brown.
6. Set pie on preheated baking sheet; bake until crust is dark golden brown 45-55 minutes. transfer pie to wire rack and cool at least 90 minutes. Cut into 8 wedges and serve.

Obesity

I'm really looking forward to losing 7 more pounds. That's when I'll move out of the obese category and into the overweight category.

Here's the breakdown for you (it's all based on your body mass index):

BMI Categories:

* Underweight = <18.5
* Normal weight = 18.5-24.9
* Overweight = 25-29.9
* Obese = 30.0-39.9
* Morbidly Obese = BMI of 40 or greater

Half way there...

Fifty down, 50 to go...
Pounds that is.



Yay!

I'm thinking I just took off the 'easy' 50 lbs. The first 25 I lost within 2 weeks of Beka's birth. The second 25 took me 14 weeks with the help of Weight Watchers. I wonder how long the third 25 will take? I'm thinking longer than 14 weeks. Fourth 25? Probably even longer... Good thing I'm in this for the long haul.

Today I'm inspired by lyrics from my past:

"Whooah, were half way there
Livin on a prayer
Take my hand and well make it - I swear
Livin on a prayer" - Bon Jovi

2008 Family Beach Trip

This was our 2nd time going to the family beach trip. This year there were about 20 of us. We arrived at the beach Monday evening. Both kids did great in the car ride over there.

We did the typical beach stuff...went down on the sand and played, went out for fish and chips, shopped, hung out at the hotel pool/jacoozi, etc. I actually don't remember what we did on which day. So here's the totally abridged version:

Here's our fish and chips experience:



























Here's our "walking on the pier" experience. Jeremiah didn't want me to take his picture (kinda moody) but I had to sneek in a couple. He's so cute in his big boy hat.













He wanted me to take a picture of the surfer walking below us. Being a good mommy, I took it. That's why I have a picture of a surfer's butt.
border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5235549498909765314" />







See, I told you Jeremiah was kinda moody...


And here's Beka.

She did pretty good at the beach. But for a few moments this was what we dealt with...

After all, she is a baby.

Thursday we went to the SLO street fair. She slept the whole time: 6pm-3:30am. Then, of course, she was awake...as in awake and ready to start her day. So I put her in the front pack and off we walked around the hotel for a while.
She eventually went back to sleep after a couple of hours. And I got a nap later that day.

We came home Saturday afternoon. It was a great break away from the heat and the normal things of life. Can't wait to do it again next year. Although there are rumors that next year the family is going to camp. Pray for me...I hate to camp.

Ratatouille

Here's a terrific recipe for ratatouille. There was a chef at my abundant harvest pick-up (www.abundantharvestorganics.com) making this to show the people a good way to use the eggplant in their box. I served it over rice. Mmmm good. Of course I modified the recipe slightly. It wouldn't be me if I didn't.

Serves 6 with 1 Weight Watcher point per serving.

1 Tbsp olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 large onion, sliced
3 medium zucchini, sliced
1 small peeled eggplant, cubed
1 large bell pepper, sliced into strips
1 - 15.5 oz can diced tomatoes with juice

1 tsp dried basil
1 tsp dried parsley
I forgot to add the basil and parsley and it was still good. You could add fresh basil and parsley but be sure to add a tablespoon of each.

1 Tbsp capers (Optional) I didn't have extra capers to spare so I left them out.

1 tsp salt
pepper to taste

Heat oil in large skillet and add garlic and onion. Saute until onions are transparent. add zucchini, eggplant, and bell pepper to skillet. Cover and cook on low for 20 minutes. Add the canned tomatoes, basil, parsley and capers and simmer, uncovered, for about 10 minutes until mixture gets thick. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Strawberry Pudding

I was wondering why Jell-O sells vanilla pudding, chocolate pudding, banana pudding, lemon, and pistachio but not strawberry pudding? So I decided to try to make it and find out if it's good or not.

It's chilling in my fridge as we speak but I tasted it while it was hot. That's my favorite time to eat homemade pudding, when it's still hot.

It's good. A light hint of strawberry.

Here's what I did:

In a medium saucepan, I combined 3/4 cup sugar, 1/4 t salt and 3 T cornstarch. Then I added 3 cups of non-fat milk. Cook and stir over medium heat until it thickens and you get tiny bubbles on top. Then cook it two more minutes. Take the pan off the heat. Now put 4 egg yolks in a bowl and beat them lightly. Ladle one cup of your hot milk into the egg yolk bowl and stir to combine. Now pour the egg yolk/milk back into the pot. Bring the milk mixture to a gentle boil. Reduce the heat and cook and stir for 2 more minutes. Remove the pan from the heat and stir in 1 T butter and 1 1/2 t strawberry extract (and a few drops of red food coloring if you want it to look like strawberry pudding). Pour into a bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Put it in the fridge. Serve warm or cold (or skip the whole bowl thing and eat it out of the pot).

I'm thinking cherry extract would be tasty too. I'll try it next time I have $7 to blow on a bottle of that stuff.

Oh ya...and it's a "sometimes" food. This serves 4 and weighs in with 7 points per serving. But when you get 10 extra points for nursing, it's a nice way to get in a milk serving. (Don't tell my meeting leader I said that.)

Turkey and Hominy Chili

This is a weight watcher recipe. It serves 4 and has 5 points per serving. It's also a Core food.

2 tsp olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
2 minced garlic cloves
1 pound ground turkey
14.5 oz can diced tomatoes
4 oz can chopped Ortega chiles, do not drain
6 oz can tomato paste
2 tsp chili powder
2 tsp dried oregano
1/4 tsp salt
15 oz can hominy, drained (I use one big 28 oz can...hey we like hominy)

Garnish:
1/2 cup diced red onion
6 radishes, shredded
1/4 cup chopped cilantro
1/4 cup Monterey jack cheese, fat-free, shredded

Preparation:

1. Heat oil over medium-high heat. Add onion and garlic; cook, stirring frequently, until golden, about 7 minutes. Add turkey and cook until browned.

2. Stir in tomatoes, green chiles, tomato paste, chili powder, oregano and salt; bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer, partially covered, until thickened slightly. Stir in hominy and cook until heated through.

3. Combine red onion, radishes and cilantro in a small bowl. Divide chili into 4 bowls. Sprinkle each evenly with cheese, then radish mixture.