An American Classic

Apple pie is classic Americana. It says 4th of July and summertime and picnics. It says family and home and country. And I love making pie, even having a job where I made pie every day for 6 months did not take away my love of baking pie.

In my humble opinion it is the crust that makes the pie. Crust should be flaky and crispy and melt in your mouth. If the crust isn't good, the pie won't be any good. I am torn as to whether I should let you in on my crust recipe. . .not right now. . .maybe later. I will tell you my secret ingredient. I replace a little water with chilled vodka. Here is my apple pie recipe.

Apple Pie
5-6 apples
3/4 cup dark brown sugar
Sprinkle cinnamon
Sprinkle nutmeg
2 Tbsp. flour
2 pie crusts

Preheat oven to 350*F. Peel, core and slice apples. Toss in the brown sugar, flour, and spices until evenly coated. Fill the bottom pie shell and top with 2-3 Tbsp. butter cut into pieces. Top with top crust. I chose to do a woven top crust on this pie. Sprinkle the top of the pie with some cinnamon and bake on a cookie sheet for 40ish minutes. I bake it on a cookie sheet in case it overflows the pie pan. I would rather clean a cookie sheet than clean an oven.


I have used several types of apples, but right now I am stuck on granny smith's because I like the tartness that off sets the sweetness of the brown sugar. I also go back and forth on what to use to sweeten my apple pie. I said brown sugar here because I probably use it the most, but I also really like to use honey. This will make for a slightly more runny pie, though, because there is more liquid.

Tuscan Bean Soup

I saw this recipe on the Pioneer Woman's blog when I was on my cleanse, and I decide to adapt it to fit with what I was eating, so here is my version of her soup. I will have to try it the way she makes it now that I am no longer on my cleanse. Here is the link to her version: Tuscan Bean Soup with Shrimp.

Start with some coconut oil in a pan on medium heat. Add in one medium sized onion, diced, and about 5 cloves of garlic, peeled and minced. Let this cook for a little bit.


Then add in a small can of tomato paste and stir around. Also add in some cayenne pepper, chili powder, dried basil, and dried oregano (which I did not have on hand sadly). Allow this to cook for a little bit.


Add in 6 3/4 cups water (or vegetable broth whichever you prefer), 1 large can (28 oz.) diced tomatoes, and 3 cans Great Northern Beans. Simmer, stirring occasionally.


Add in an entire bunch of kale that you have washed and torn up. Yes, it looks intimidating, but it will shrink as it cooks.


Then add in a bunch of fresh basil that you have also torn up.


Allow to cook so the flavors can combine. This soup is excellent reheat as leftovers because it gives the flavors more time to mingle and get to know each other and achieve a perfect balance.



Absolutely delicious and a nice, hearty winter soup.

just because. . .

. . .everyone deserves birthday cake (or pie or cookies or whatever their dessert of choice is). This is one of my personal beliefs. Life is meant to be celebrated, to be savored, to be enjoyed in every capacity to the fullest. Whenever possible, I like to make that happen for the people in my life. In a day and age of fast food and grocery store baked goods, I have an ability to cook and bake that is rare (especially among my age group), so I don't take it for granted, and I try to bless everyone in my life with my abilities whenever possible.

Chocolate cake is a staple, and I have a go to recipe that will please almost anyone, and it's vegan (shhhh, don't tell anyone I said that). I used to have a running competition with a friend that dessert could be delicious and healthy. I would make dessert and after a proclamation that it was indeed delicious, I would proclaim in return that it was also healthy. This cake is my ultimate achievement of delicious and healthy.

Chocolate Cake
1 1/2 cups dark brown sugar
1 3/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
3/4 cup cocoa powder
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. sea salt
about 1 tsp. cinnamon
6 Tbsp. unsweetened applesauce
1 cup dark chocolate almond milk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 tsp. vanilla
1 cup boiling water

Preheat oven to 350*F. Line the bottoms of two 9-inch round cake pans with a paper towel and then grease the pans.

Stir together flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt in a large bowl. Add in the applesauce, almond milk, oil and vanilla. Beat with an electric mixer until mixed. Stir in the water. Pour evenly into the prepared pans.

I get paranoid about over baking, so I always start with a lesser amount of time and check and then add more time. My oven also cooks a little hot, so I start with 15 minutes and then add 5 minute increments. I think it takes about 20-25 minutes for this to bake. It is done when the middle of the cake springs back up when you lightly touch it.

Allow the cakes to cool completely and then remove from the pans and frost. This is where the cake stops being vegan, but just because of the frosting I choose to use. If you use a frosting without butter in it, then the cake will remain vegan.

Chocolate Frosting
1 stick butter
2/3 cup cocoa powder
3 cups powdered sugar
1/3 cup dark chocolate almond milk
1 tsp. vanilla

Melt the butter and stir in the cocoa powder. Add the powdered sugar and almond milk alternately, beating well between each addition. Add vanilla and beat until smooth. I find that this usually makes just a little more frosting than I need, so I like to lick out the bowl when I'm finished, but you do whatever you feel like. ;)

And make this cake the next time someone tells you it's their birthday. They will thank you, trust me!

My recipe is adapted from the recipe for Hershey's "Perfectly Chocolate" Chocolate Cake and Frosting.

Quick Fixes

I am big on quick, easy to throw together meals because let's face it, life is crazy. As much as I would love to spend all day in the kitchen making meals that require my time and attention for multiple hours, I just don't have that luxury at this time in my life. Therefore, I like making meals that I can make in a short time that are still delicious and healthy and homemade.

Chicken is such an easy to make and versatile food to make. (Confession: I'm pretty sure I made this last summer and I'm just getting around to blogging about it. . .oops!) I love to use the grill (when it's summer), so I grilled this chicken breast, and added a pasta and white sauce on the side.

To make white sauce (not from a can. . .have you ever actually read the ingredients on a sauce can?) start with a couple of tablespoons of butter (or olive oil or other type of oil depending on the flavor you want) in a saucepan. Allow this to melt, and then add a couple of tablespoons of flour. I prefer to use unbleached all purpose flour for something like this, but you can use whatever you feel like. Stir this. It will be sticky. Add in half and half (or milk or almond milk) and continue stirring. You do not want this to boil or it will be scalded. Keep stirring until the sauce thickens. If you want it to be thicker add a little more flour, but be careful that it doesn't clump. Add in whatever seasonings you like. I like to add basil and Italian seasonings to mine, but it's your preference. Herbs of Provence are also good in white sauce (this is a premixed seasoning that you can fine at most grocery stores or international food stores).

White sauce makes a great base to which you can add many things. I usually add in green peas, carrots, and asparagus which I have cooked until soft along with pasta. For the final product, mix together cooked pasta and veggies with white sauce and toss until coated. You could also cut up the chicken and toss it with this, or you can leave it on the side like I did here.

And there you have it! Delicious, nutritious, and easy! Enjoy!

a new adventure

Probably about a year ago, I decided to try to make sourdough because it is a naturally leavened bread, no yeast required. This was very appealing to me, but I was trying to make it without using wheat flour, and it didn't work out very well for me. I decided to try again using wheat flour, so we shall see in a couple of days how this attempt goes.


Stay tuned. . .

Eating Healthy

I love eating squash. It's soooo good and such a fun Fall/Winter food, and it's really good for you too! You can do so many different things with squash, but this is how I have been enjoying it lately.


I used one medium sized sweet potato and one medium sized butternut squash for this. I cut the ends off the butternut squash and then peel it with a potato peeler and then cut it in half and dig the seeds out. I believe that you can roast the seeds just like you can with a pumpkin, but I have not done that myself. I then just cut it up into nice sized chunks. I washed the sweet potato and then cut off the ends and cut it into chunks. I threw these into an oven-safe dish.


Then I topped it with spoonfuls of coconut oil, which I happen to be obsessed with currently. It is so good for you and gives you a taste of the tropics. Yum! I also topped with my favorite seasonings. I used a bit of cayenne pepper, turmeric, nutmeg, cinnamon, pepper, and sea salt, but feel free to use whatever you like. This is about achieving a flavor palate that appeals to your taste buds. Put this in a 350*F oven for 15 minutes and then stir. Repeat in 15 minute cycles until you have reached the tenderness level that you desire. I like my squash soft almost to the gushy point, but not quite there. You can eat this by itself for a healthy and nutritious dinner or you can add something to it.


For instance if you happen to be obsessed with toasted cheese sandwiches (like me) you can eat the squash as a side for your toasted cheese sandwich.


And there you have it, a healthy, easy to make dinner perfect for a cold winter day.

Veggie Chili

You know how much I love good food that is good for you. . .well, I decided a couple months ago to do a cleanse/detox for four weeks this month. No this has nothing to do with a New Year's Resolution (I don't believe in making them) nor does it have to do with a desire to lose weight (I like my curves, thank you very much). What this does have to do with is a great desire to be healthy and treat my body well because I only get one and this one is on loan to me from God. So I've been feeling a bit sluggish, and I thought that this would be good for me. I did something similar to this about three years ago, and I loved how I felt when I finished.

Basically, I'm just eating a lot of fruits and veggies, some whole grains, nuts, seeds, and beans. Just easy to digest foods, so my body doesn't have to work as hard and can get rid of the extra junk in my tissue. It's actually quite easy to cook foods to go along with this, and I've been enjoying some old favorites as well as trying some new recipes to go along with it. I made this last night for dinner, and it was delicious!!


Start with about a tablespoon of coconut oil and add in a couple of cloves of minced garlic and a medium sized diced onion. Let cook for just a moment and add in about 3 stalks of sliced celery. Continue cooking over medium low heat until onions are slightly translucent.


Add in a large can of chunky tomato sauce and a large can of diced tomatoes. I think my diced tomatoes had garlic in them as well. Stir and allow to simmer.


Add in one can each: black beans, great northern beans, kidney beans and pinto beans. Stir and season with chili powder, garlic salt, cayenne pepper, cinnamon, fresh grated nutmeg, basil, turmeric, and pepper.


Allow to simmer until heated through and if you can let it simmer for a while to allow the flavors to combine. Taste and adjust seasonings to taste. I like my chili a little spicier, so I add extra chili powder and cayenne pepper to just my bowl.


You can serve this with fresh sliced avocado on top. You could also add diced red bell pepper and zucchini to this recipe and it would be good as well. Super delicious and super nutritious. Enjoy!!