Pie #2 Rustic Autumn Fruit Tart

Here is the recipe for today’s pie Rustic Autumn Fruit Tart

 

And here is the verdict on yesterdays Walnut Pumpkin Pie

5 STARS FOR EASE OF PREPARATION It was made and out my door by 12:30 all while I was watching 5 kids under 5, making 3 loaves of bread and cleaning the house.  Seriously it was that easy. 
The critics gave the pie a 4.5 stars for taste.  They said that they preferred regular pumpkin pie but it still tasted great.  ALSO the Pecans were also preferred far and away above the walnuts.  As for the ginger snaps they said you couldn’t really tell any difference. I personally thought that it tasted just as nasty as every other pumpkin pie I’ve ever eaten :).  But I REALLY liked the crunchy pecan topping and would use it again on something else.   The only thing I didn’t like about this recipe was the random amount of pumpkin.  I wish it would have been an entire can but it’s such a little thing that it wouldn’t stop me from making it again especially if I needed a quick pumpkin pie.

PIE #2 Rustic Autumn Fruit Tart

Today we have to make a crust.  This is a crust that has butter and cream cheese mixed into the flour.  Maybe for some of you this will be new but it’s not to hard just mix it in like you normally would then form it into a disc and place in in the refrigerator like so

While that’s in the refrigerator you can cut up and peel your apples and pears.  Then add your orange juice.

 

Then mix together your spices and cornstarch. 

Add spices to your apples and give it a mix.

When I was done with these steps I took my disc out of the refrigerator it was nice and cold because I used already cold butter and cream cheese when I made it, it really didn’t need anymore time in the fridge. So I just used a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper *HINT* (I wanted to roll my dough out on the paper so I sprayed a little bit of cooking spray on my cookie sheet before I put the paper down it makes the paper stay in place very nicely as you roll.)  Roll out disc to desired size.  You’ll probably need a little flour I just dusted my rolling pin it worked our great. 

Place the fruit in the middle and fold up the edges.  Bake at 375 for about 30 min.

After it comes out of the oven you brush it with apricot jam AND ENJOY!

 

Variations -

When you are done mixing all the fruit in the orange juice and spices and then putting the fruit filling in the crust there is a lot of juice let over.  So I was thinking that if you didn’t have apricot jam on hand you could just thicken the leftover liquid by heating it up in a sauce pan and then drizzle that over the top. 

THE VERDICT

I would make this again.  I made a tiny little one for our family and my kids gobbled it up in a second it was a big hit.  My kids said that they would give it 5 stars for taste and I give it a 4.5 stars for ease of preparation. I’ll post any other feedback I get as so as I get it.   

Confession

So this recipe calls for cardamom.  I didn’t have any so I called around to my friends to see if any of them had any they didn’t so I went to the store to get some because I want to try the original recipes as they are written.  I after much searching found the cardamom and it was $13.69 for a tiny little bit of it so I have to say that I wasn’t 100% true to this recipe it is missing the 1/4 tsp of cardamon… sorry

PIE #1 Walnut Pumpkin Pie

  It’s finally here 25 pies in 25 days.  The first recipe is Walnut pumpkin pie.
Well I would give this pie a
5 STARS FOR EASE OF PREPARATION It was made and out my door by 12:30 all while I was watching 5 kids under 5, making 3 loaves of bread and cleaning the house.  Seriously it was that easy. 

The critics gave the pie a 4.5 stars for taste.  They said that they preferred regular pumpkin pie but it still tasted great.  ALSO the Pecans were also preferred far and away above the walnuts.  As for the ginger snaps they said you couldn’t really tell any difference. I personally thought that it tasted just as nasty as every other pumpkin pie I’ve ever eaten :).  But I REALLY liked the crunchy pecan topping and would use it again on something else.   The only thing I didn’t like about this recipe was the random amount of pumpkin.  I wish it would have been an entire can but it’s such a little thing that it wouldn’t stop me from making it again especially if I needed a quick pumpkin pie.

Here is what I did

1 store bought graham cracker crust. I don’t normally have these on hand but in preparation for the next few weeks I picked a couple up.  I’m glad I did

Next you mix the pumpkin with the egg, sweetened condensed milk and spices.  I LOVED how easy this part was.  It mixed very easily with just a plain old wooden spoon and there are very few ingredients making this a very quick process.

Then you pour it all into your graham cracker crust. You bake it just like this at 425 degrees for 15 minutes.

 
While it’s baking  you make the walnut topping.  You mix up your butter, flour and sugar until it’s crumbly then you add the nuts I used a fork to mix the nuts into the sugar stuff.  

I used my handy little food chopper to chop up the walnuts it worked great.

 

After the 15 minutes at 425 degrees you turn down the oven to 350 degrees and add the walnut crumble.  Then you bake it for another 40ish minutes.

   All done!  Pretty huh?

MY VARIATIONS TO THE RECIPE

I’m one of those people who like to mess with recipes and try different things.  My dear husband’s favorite pie is pumpkin so he was very sad when this pie as already gone.  So I made him a little one with a few changes.

First I used ginger snaps to make a crust in a little ramekin.  Then the filling I left the same.  And instead of walnuts in the crumb topping I used pecans.

Now I’m just awaiting the verdict on how it tastes.  I’ll let you all know as soon as I can. 

Faux Tile Backsplash & Dining room

A couple of things that we have done to our home.  When we moved into our home 5 1/2 years ago we painted every wall.  On of those walls was the kitchen backsplash.  I picked a color I thought I liked and put it up.  From the moment it was finished I HATED it.  Not that it was a bad color or anything it was just basically the same color as the cabinets and it looked really strange. (a few painful years later when I could finally talk my husband into painting again)  We had the idea to make faux tile on the back splash instead.  I have loved it ever since.  Recently (like Friday) I helped my super talented friend Sharon over at This Thrifty House (I know I actually get to know her in real life) paint her backsplash I LOVE how she did hers so you should go check it out.  (and yes, those are the only things that get to live on my counter tops)

 
One thing I have always loved and still love 5 1/2 years later is our dining area.  We added the crown molding and the other wood at the bottom it was super easy and I LOVE the look.
   

Last Minute Halloween

My mom sent me the cutest Frankenstein Halloween treat box inspired by a take-out container.  When I saw it I knew the possibilities could be endless.  I have lots of other ideas to explore but here are the ones I’ve done so far.

The Spider

(My daughter took this one to school with an apple in it for her teacher.)

  The Bat

The Black Cat

 

The Owl

(I didn’t get him finished but you get the idea)

The original Frankenstein

The Jack-O-Lantern

The Ghost

Group Shots.  I could imagine these lined up on someone's mantel with other fun Halloween decorations.  

 

I filled these little guys with treats and gave them away. 

Just a little ribbon and a tag. 

25 Pies in 25 Days

So I signed up for allrecipes New! Pie Countdown Newsletter and I was thinking that it would be really fun to try and make all the pies.  So starting November 1st I will be making a new pie everyday until Thanksgiving and blogging about the experience.  Now some of you are probably thinking what are you going to do with a pie everyday?  Well obviously I don’t want to eat one pie  everyday so some of you LUCKY people we soon be the recipients of a pie.  Feel free to join in of the fun my leaving comments on how you thought the pie turned out and if you would make it AND if you check out what pie I’m making that day and you really want it feel free to request it after all it has to go somewhere.  If you don’t live close I'm sorry I probably won't be mailing you a pie BUT maybe you could get some great ideas for your Thanksgiving dinner.

Butternut Squash Soup

 
It’s fall and fall to me means soup.  So I wanted to make a butternut squash soup but I really couldn’t find a recipe that looked good so I just threw this one together and I think it turned out wonderful.  I'm linkin it up here to SAMM.  It's a great way to get new ideas for dinner.

1 butternut squash peeled and cubed
2 potatoes peeled and cubed
2 carrots peeled and sliced
1 onion peeled and sliced
4 cups of vegetable stock
water, milk,  cream or more stock
2-3 TBS butter/ olive oil
garlic to taste
salt and pepper to taste
parmesan cheese
Your favorite spice blend (sorry it’s not super specific but use what you like)

The directions get a little tricky.  I was in a hurry so I just boiled all my vegetables including the onion until soft and pureed it with my hand blender thingy.  And it turned out great.  BUT this is how I would have done it if I had more time.
Sauté the onion and garlic in the butter or olive oil until transparent.  Then add the squash, potatoes, carrots, onion and the vegetable stock.  When all the vegetables are soft puree it with my hand blender thingy.  Then add the water, milk, cream, stock (whatever) until it’s the consistency that you want.  Then add spices to taste.  I also added some parmesan cheese and part of a packet of a Knorr spice blend. * NOTE* I really thought that this soup was great how it was BUT if only my husband and I were eating it I would have liked to spice it up a bit maybe with some green chilies or jalapenos.  ALSO if you have a Costco that sells the artichoke jalapeno parmesan dip that would be really yummy mixed into this soup.  Happy eating!

Carrot Fennel Soup

Another fall favorite this soup is awesome! Check out other meal ideas here SAMM

2 bulbs fennel, sliced

2 TBS of olive oil

4 lbs of carrots (about 12 medium) peeled and sliced

6 cups vegetable stock

6 cups of water

2 tsp of salt

1/2 tsp pepper

Sauté fennel in olive oil until transparent.  Combine fennel, carrots and vegetable stock in a large sauce pot.  Bring to boil.  Reduce heat and simmer until carrots are tender.  Puree soup until smooth.  Add water.  Simmer until heated throughout.  Stir in salt and pepper.