FINALLY!

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2.  We watched it yesterday and Ted actually kept his eyes open, didn’t read a book, and watched most of it with me.  Another good Harry Potter movie and the last one.  So sad. 

I haven’t got myself absorbed into a series since Harry Potter came out years ago.

Are you reading any series right now? Any you would recommend?

Apple Crumble Pie

This is my self declared famous pie. You can find it on my recipe page. I only made one change in the following recipe which was to increase the spices by 1 teaspoon.

Pastry recipe:  Buy the refrigerated pie dough if you want to save time.

• 1 1/2 cups flour
• 3/4  tsp salt
• 2/3 cups cold unsalted butter
• 1/4 cup cold milk

Mix flour and salt. Cut in the butter to resemble course meal. Sprinkle the milk over the dough and mix with your hand only until it holds together. This is when you can really ruin pastry if you over mix it or handle it too much. Divide the dough in half and flatten to a disk. Wrap and refrigerate for one hour.

Roll the dough out into a 12” round. Fit into a 9” pie plate. Crimp edges and pierce all over with a fork. Put back into the fridge for 1/2 hour while you mix the filling and preheat the oven to 450 F.

Topping:

• 1/2 cup + 2 TBS Flour,
• 1/2 cup light brown sugar,
• 1/3 cup granulated sugar,
• 2 tsp. apple pie spice,
• 1 stick cold butter (cut into small pcs.).

For topping: mix flour, sugars,  spice and cut in butter. Blend to make a course crumb. I end up using my jewelry free, washed hands (I say this because jewelry and fingernails carry a lot of germs- so wash up!).

Filling:

• 7 med. apples (about 3 1/4lbs)-peeled, cored, sliced *about 1/8″ thick slices.
• 1 TBS lemon juice.
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar.
• 3 TBS flour.
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon.
• 1 tsp apple pie spice.
• 1 tsp vanilla-butter extract. (If you can’t find vanilla-butter extract, simply use 1 tsp vanilla and add 1 TBS unsalted softened butter to the filling.)

For filling: place the prepared apples in a bowl and toss with the lemon juice. Mix the remaining ingredients into the apples and toss to coat. I use a wooden spoon to mix the filling together.

Prepare Pie: layer the apple slices in pie shell, mounding high in the center. Pat topping over top of the apples to form a crust. In the picture with this recipe, you might notice walnuts around inside edge of pie crust, if there is a little gap, make use of it and put walnut pieces in there. They come up semi-caramelized due to the filling melting and bubbling up around them. Place on foil in the oven (because it probably will boil out) and bake 15 minutes. * Recommended you use a pie crust cover – but not necessary. Reduce the heat to 350 F and bake an additional 45 minutes.

Heat it up. Add some French Vanilla ice cream, let it melt a little bit, then get ready to experience one of the best apple crumble pies EVER.

Today was the first day of the new workout.  Remember the one I showed you: Get Your Body Back Weeks 3 and 4? Today begins week 3.  This is today’s workout ( I changed Day 6 on the plan to my Day 1 because I don’t want sore or tired legs going into the weekend):  Quads & Hams

• Barbell squat 4 sets:  15, 12, 10, 8 *Last two of all the exercises are to failure and need to be heavy
• Hack squat 4 sets: 12, 10, 10, 8 *
• Leg Extension 3 sets:  12, 10 , 10*
• Walking Dumbbell Lunge 2 sets:  12, 12* These two sets are both to failure
• Romanian Deadlift 4 sets:  15, 12, 10, 8*
• Seated Leg Curl 4 sets: 12, 10, 10*

A warm up of a 3.25 mile treadmill run was just right to get the blood flowing.  The weight workout was followed by a healthy fast paced walk (jogging in places) of 3.4 miles.

Today’s AM good eats:  weekday oats, fruit and a healthy protein shake. 

1/3 cup dry Steel Cut Oats cooked with 1/4 of a banana and dried cranberries.

Chocolate PB Spiru-Teen Shake with raspberries

I felt good. Maybe it was due to enjoying this little treat after dinner.  I don’t usually indulge in desserts but this one somehow made it into my mouth after I took the photo….What is fruitola?  It is a delicious mixture of fruit and your favorite healthy granola, baked like a “fruit crisp”. 

 Baked Fruitola – Serves 8

1. 2 apples – peeled and sliced thin
2. 1 peach – peeled and sliced
3. 1/4 cup lemon juice
4. 1  cup Granola
5. 1 tsp cinnamon
6. 1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
7. 8 oz Unsweetened applesauce

Peel and slice the fruits and mix with the lemon juice and vanilla.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Spray the bottom of a baking dish with non stick spray and add the lemony fruit.  Sprinkle with cinnamon. Top with the granola.  Top the granola with the applesauce.

   Cover and bake for 30 minutes.  After 30 minutes, uncover and continue baking 30 minutes. Remove from oven. Turn the top over with a fork so you just mix the baked applesauce and granola – don’t mix the fruit slices at the bottom.

Turn the oven to broil and when hot, put the “Fruitola” back into the oven for 2 1/2 minutes.  Serve with light whip cream or frozen low fat vanilla yogurt.

It’s back to work after a terrific weekend spent in Newport.  I’m ready to get things moving again with all the hope of it being another busy week for orders.  Happy Monday!