March 18, 2012 • 3 notes
Incredibly Impressive Apple Pie Baking a pie can be just as easy buying a roll of pre-cut cookie dough: Insert canned filling into store bought crust, pop in oven, and you’ve got pie. You can still pass it off as homemade but when you want to make mouths water, this updated apple pie will do the trick.  The secret is adding a few delicious ingredients— crystalized ginger, cranberry, pear. Top it off with a lattice crust, which anyone who has mastered Play-Doh can handle.   You’ll need: 3.5 lb. Golden Delicious apples, peeled and chopped (Peeling apples is less of a chore if you core them first) 1 Bartlett pear, peeled and chopped 1 1/2 cup cranberries 1/4 cup chopped crystallized ginger 2 9-inch frozen pie crusts (If you want to make your own crust, you have my admiration but you’re on your own.) 3/4 cup sugar 1/4 tsp. salt 3 tbs. all-purpose flour 1 tbs. fresh lemon juice To make: Let crusts thaw Preheat oven to 400 degrees Peel apples and pear Stir all ingredients in a bowl Pour filling into one pie crust Cut the other pie crust into strips about 1 inch thick, then layer on top of pie so that they make a lattice design (as shown above) Pinch the top and bottom crusts together making a thumbprint design on the edges Cover the edges of the pie with aluminum foil so they don’t get too dark Cook the pie for about 1 hour until crust is brown and filling is bubbling   - Ashley

Incredibly Impressive Apple Pie

Baking a pie can be just as easy buying a roll of pre-cut cookie dough: Insert canned filling into store bought crust, pop in oven, and you’ve got pie. You can still pass it off as homemade but when you want to make mouths water, this updated apple pie will do the trick.  The secret is adding a few delicious ingredients— crystalized ginger, cranberry, pear. Top it off with a lattice crust, which anyone who has mastered Play-Doh can handle.

 

You’ll need:

  • 3.5 lb. Golden Delicious apples, peeled and chopped (Peeling apples is less of a chore if you core them first)
  • 1 Bartlett pear, peeled and chopped
  • 1 1/2 cup cranberries
  • 1/4 cup chopped crystallized ginger
  • 2 9-inch frozen pie crusts (If you want to make your own crust, you have my admiration but you’re on your own.)
  • 3/4 cup sugar
  • 1/4 tsp. salt
  • 3 tbs. all-purpose flour
  • 1 tbs. fresh lemon juice


To make:

  1. Let crusts thaw
  2. Preheat oven to 400 degrees
  3. Peel apples and pear
  4. Stir all ingredients in a bowl
  5. Pour filling into one pie crust
  6. Cut the other pie crust into strips about 1 inch thick, then layer on top of pie so that they make a lattice design (as shown above)
  7. Pinch the top and bottom crusts together making a thumbprint design on the edges
  8. Cover the edges of the pie with aluminum foil so they don’t get too dark
  9. Cook the pie for about 1 hour until crust is brown and filling is bubbling

 

- Ashley

June 1, 2011
You never forget your first drink. Mine was Zima. Because it was all the rage in 9th grade and my mom kept it in the fridge, next to her carton of Marlboro Lights. I have no idea what Zima tasted like, but I never drank it again. Instead I drank pretty much anything fruity, alcoholic, and available at the 7-11. Strawberry Hill Boones. Mike’s Hard Lemon-aid. Etc. I’ve never been much of a beer drinker, and tried choosing the more sophisticated drinks, but I always felt like a poser when I ordered a Gin & Tonic or Jack & Coke. Finally, I found my cocktail of choice, the cheap and classy Cape Cod.  Naturally, I had about 500,000. So lately I’ve been trying out a new drink. The Greyhound. (Above.) Like me, it’s a little bitter, a little bit healthier, but basically the same damn thing.  It’s made with grapefruit juice instead of my beloved cranberry. It’s working so far, but I’m not committing. The June/July issue of my favorite new mag, The Food Network Magazine, has a story called 50 Summer Drinks. I’m dying to try the Peach-Ginger Iced Tea and the Pink & Green Aperitif. Cheers! — Ashley

You never forget your first drink. Mine was Zima. Because it was all the rage in 9th grade and my mom kept it in the fridge, next to her carton of Marlboro Lights. I have no idea what Zima tasted like, but I never drank it again.

Instead I drank pretty much anything fruity, alcoholic, and available at the 7-11. Strawberry Hill Boones. Mike’s Hard Lemon-aid. Etc. I’ve never been much of a beer drinker, and tried choosing the more sophisticated drinks, but I always felt like a poser when I ordered a Gin & Tonic or Jack & Coke. Finally, I found my cocktail of choice, the cheap and classy Cape Cod.  Naturally, I had about 500,000.

So lately I’ve been trying out a new drink. The Greyhound. (Above.) Like me, it’s a little bitter, a little bit healthier, but basically the same damn thing.  It’s made with grapefruit juice instead of my beloved cranberry. It’s working so far, but I’m not committing.

The June/July issue of my favorite new mag, The Food Network Magazine, has a story called 50 Summer Drinks. I’m dying to try the Peach-Ginger Iced Tea and the Pink & Green Aperitif. Cheers!

— Ashley

May 30, 2011 • 1 note
Everything I Needed to Know About Food I Learned From a Jar of Peanut Butter One day, not long ago, I stood in my kitchen with all of the ingredients necessary to make a delicious peanut butter and jelly sandwich: Seven-Grain Wheat bread, Smucker’s Grape Jelly, and Creamy Peanut Butter from Whole Foods. As soon as I dipped my knife into the new jar of PB, I knew something was wrong. Instead of clumping easily onto my knife, the goo that came out of the jar slid off and onto the counter.  Damn Whole Foods, I thought. They overcharge for everything, and then the food isn’t even fresh. With a crinkled nose, I smelled it, expecting it to give off an odor like bad yogurt. It smelled fine, so I tasted it. Fine again. I’m notoriously cheap when it comes to buying groceries, and have never noticed anything different about generic peanut butter. I checked the ingredients: PEANUTS, SALTS. That seemed right. I checked the label of the just about gone jar of JIF in the fridge: ROASTED PEANUTS AND SUGAR. CONTAINS 2% OR LESS OF: MOLASSES, FULLY HYDROGENATED VEGETABLE OILS (RAPESEED AND SOYBEAN), MONO AND DIGLYCERIDES, SALT. Oh. I don’t know what that list of stuff does to my peanut butter to give it the creamy texture pictured above. I doubt it’ll make me have a heart attack or give me cancer. But by accidentally comparing apples to apples, I realized that there really is a difference between natural foods and whatever the other stuff I’ve been eating is. My PB&Js and I will never be the same.  - Ashley

Everything I Needed to Know About Food I Learned From a Jar of Peanut Butter

One day, not long ago, I stood in my kitchen with all of the ingredients necessary to make a delicious peanut butter and jelly sandwich: Seven-Grain Wheat bread, Smucker’s Grape Jelly, and Creamy Peanut Butter from Whole Foods.

As soon as I dipped my knife into the new jar of PB, I knew something was wrong. Instead of clumping easily onto my knife, the goo that came out of the jar slid off and onto the counter. 

Damn Whole Foods, I thought. They overcharge for everything, and then the food isn’t even fresh. With a crinkled nose, I smelled it, expecting it to give off an odor like bad yogurt. It smelled fine, so I tasted it. Fine again.

I’m notoriously cheap when it comes to buying groceries, and have never noticed anything different about generic peanut butter. I checked the ingredients: PEANUTS, SALTS. That seemed right. I checked the label of the just about gone jar of JIF in the fridge: ROASTED PEANUTS AND SUGAR. CONTAINS 2% OR LESS OF: MOLASSES, FULLY HYDROGENATED VEGETABLE OILS (RAPESEED AND SOYBEAN), MONO AND DIGLYCERIDES, SALT.

Oh.

I don’t know what that list of stuff does to my peanut butter to give it the creamy texture pictured above. I doubt it’ll make me have a heart attack or give me cancer. But by accidentally comparing apples to apples, I realized that there really is a difference between natural foods and whatever the other stuff I’ve been eating is. My PB&Js and I will never be the same. 

- Ashley

January 6, 2011

The Cure for Mover’s Remorse

It took only 15 seconds, but I did something today I’ve been dreaming about for a decade: I resigned a lease.

Ever since I moved out of Crumley Hall in 2000, I’ve been schlepping all of my worldly possessions (see above) from dorm room to apartment to dorm room (yes, again) to apartment. I looked to every new home with hope— this would be the one where I would grow old, or, at least a little bit older. 

How often do you move?

  • A) I’m a rolling stone, baby.
  • B) My bags are packed by the time my lease is up.
  • C) I like a change of scenery every few years.
  • D) They’ll have to carry me out of my house in a box.

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— Ashley

December 29, 2010
Eat These For Good Luck“Hoppin’ John” is an old southern recipe often made on New Year’s Day for good luck. Here’s my version of this classic New Year’s Day meal. Makes 4 servings.You’ll need: 1 onion (chopped) 4 scallions (slice bulbs and green tops into 1/2-inch pieces) 1 10-ounce package frozen black-eyed peas 1 1/2 cups long-grain rice 1 package of sliced deli ham  3 cups canned low-sodium chicken broth or homemade stock 1 tablespoon olive oil  1 3/4 teaspoons salt 1/4 teaspoon fresh-ground black pepper 1/8 teaspoon cayenne To make: Brown onions and scallion bulbs in stock pot with olive oil Add chicken broth, salt, black pepper, and cayenne pepper and bring to a boil Slice deli ham into thin strips Add black-eyed peas, rice, ham and reduce heat to low Cook for 20 minutes or until rice is tender Top individual servings with scallion tops - Ashley

Eat These For Good Luck

“Hoppin’ John” is an old southern recipe often made on New Year’s Day for good luck. Here’s my version of this classic New Year’s Day meal. Makes 4 servings.

You’ll need:

  • 1 onion (chopped)
  • 4 scallions (slice bulbs and green tops into 1/2-inch pieces)
  • 1 10-ounce package frozen black-eyed peas
  • 1 1/2 cups long-grain rice
  • 1 package of sliced deli ham 
  • 3 cups canned low-sodium chicken broth or homemade stock
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil 
  • 1 3/4 teaspoons salt
  • 1/4 teaspoon fresh-ground black pepper
  • 1/8 teaspoon cayenne


To make:

  1. Brown onions and scallion bulbs in stock pot with olive oil
  2. Add chicken broth, salt, black pepper, and cayenne pepper and bring to a boil
  3. Slice deli ham into thin strips
  4. Add black-eyed peas, rice, ham and reduce heat to low
  5. Cook for 20 minutes or until rice is tender
  6. Top individual servings with scallion tops

- Ashley