Easy Peasy Crumb Top Apple Pie

A couple of people have asked me about this recipe and now that I've come to the end of our supply of apples for this year's harvest, I'm finally getting around to posting it.

First though, I have a confession to make.

I am a pie crust failure.

People all over the country have tried to remedy this when they hear me say it.

Trust me on this.

It's not worth your time.

I have tried more recipes than I can count.

And I have come to the conclusion that the results are not worth my time either.

For now anyway.

So I cheat.

I use premade dough or crusts.

Whew... glad I got that off my chest.

This particular recipe solves two problems that I generally have with pies.

The first being the whole crust failure issue.

The second being guilt over eating a double crust pie.

I only get half the guilt with this one. 

And I do my best to minimize the guilt in general by using less refined sugars and coconut oil.

On with the pie making....

When I can get them I like these Wholly Wholesome pie shells.

Especially the spelt ones.

But for today....

It's me and the Dough Boy.

First I peel and slice 6 cups of apples using my spiffy apple peeler you might remember from this post.

I stir lemon juice into the apple slices to keep them from turning brown.
Then I add sugar, sour cream, cinnamon and nutmeg.

Stir to combine.

Spoon into the pie crust.

In a small bowl prepare the topping.

Combine flour, brown sugar and coconut oil.

Mix with a pastry blender til the mixture resembles coarse crumbs.

Spoon over filling.

Dab a little milk on the edges of the crust to keep it from getting overly browned.

Bake at 375 for 45-50 mins.

Sorry. I know this isn't my purtiest pie ever but we'll have to roll with it.

I'm out of apples and I'm just keepin' it real.

Pie doesn't get much easier than this.

My guys like to top it with some organic vanilla ice cream.

Apple Crumb Pie

adapted from Taste of Home Cookbook

1 pie crust of your choice

Filling:
6 cups chopped, peeled tart apples
4 Tsp lemon juice
1/2 cup sugar (I like Florida Crystals or Demerara)
2 Tblsp sour cream
1 Tblsp all purpose flour (I use whole wheat)
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg

Topping:
1/2 cup flour (I use whole wheat)
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup butter (I prefer coconut oil)

-Combine all filling ingredients and pour in to pie crust.
-In a small bowl combine the topping ingredients and cut with a pasty blender until it resembles coarse crumbs.
-Spoon topping mixture over filling.
-If you want to keep your crust a lighter color you can brush the edges with milk.

Bake at 375 for 45-50 mins
Cool on a wire rack.

And a cool new feature thanks to my friend Cookin Canuck who helped me figure this out. 

Click here for a printable version of the recipe

UTI Grad

On January 22 Collin completed his courses at UTI in Sacramento in automotive, diesel and industrial repair.

The guy did us proud.

For the past year and half he has given it his all.

Classes started at 6:00 a.m. and went til 1:00 every weekday

After that he went to work from 2:00 to 6:00 p.m  and all day on Saturdays.

No summer breaks. 

This is an accelerated program.

They get 5 days at Christmas, two days at Thanksgiving and legal holidays off.

That's it.

They try to simulate what working life will be like for the students.

He did manage to squeeze in a little off roading time on Sundays with his buddy Doug and a few other accomplices.

And it led to this day of celebration and honors.

Collin had a lot of standing up to do.

Stand if you have a 4.0

Stand if you have near perfect attendance ...he missed perfect by 3 minutes one day when traffic got the better of him.... they take the attendance thing seriously.

Stand if you are in the top 4% of all UTI graduates who are accepted to the MSAT (Manufacturer Specific Advanced Training)  program at the maufacturer's expense.




And then there was this....

We all had to listen to the reading of the long list of honors that he earned for himself during his time there.

There were 68 graduates on this day. Here's a portion of the written version from the program:

Doug, listed just above Collin,is his friend shown above.  He did well too and is also one of the MSAT qualified students,

* = nearly perfect attendance

ABK= Alpha Beta Kappa Honor Society - nomination are based on a combo of GPA, attendance and professionalism.

The middle column is a list of course #s for which the student was named Student of the Course

The far right column is a list of course #s for which the student was named to the Directors List - earned by scoring above 90% for three consecutive courses.

He rocked the program and made us very proud.  He says it can be whatever you make of it.

Wise words.

We're happy he gets a month off at home now before he starts his advanced training for International Trucks.

Then he will be off on new adventures yet to be determined.

Part of the deal is that the company pays for his advanced training.... since he was one of the top students...and in return he works at least one year for one of their dealers. 

Likely he will end up somewhere in the west but there are no guarantees.

He seems ready for whatever comes and we're just happy to have him under our roof eating us out of chips and salsa again... if only for a little while.

Cath

Winter Garden Update

A few people have asked how the winter garden is going so I thought I'd post an update.

As you may recall this is our first real attempt at winter gardening so it's all a grand experiment.

During the second week of December we got a little nervous.


Temperatures dropped below freezing for five days in a row.



That never rarely happens here.
Luckily this one was about ready eat cause it got the bad end of the deal.



Everything sort of sprawled out and keeled over.


We were thinking maybe we gambled and lost.













But then the sun came out and a little rain warmed things up and almost everything perked back up.
That cauliflower above got eaten.
It was the right thing to do.
Problem solved.


We've actually been really happy with how it's working out

This lettuce is an heirloom type called Marvel of Four Seasons. It's been really interesting because we have some outside and some in the greenhouse as well.

The outside plants are a little more red in color and the leaf is a little thicker.

And as you can see I don't get to the weeding as much in the winter.

Sometimes you have one day to get out there.

And if I have to choose between  weeding and harvesting....well that one's no contest.

Our older kale plants have been masquerading as palm trees.






The cabbages have been great.

We've been loving it for fish tacos and asian cabage salads.

You can never, ever have too many fish tacos.

Trust me on that.

We planted about 5 different varieties that have different days to readiness numbers in hopes that we would have some all thru the winter and spring.

So far so good.


The little brussels sprouts are still hangin in there.

I didn't plan to have any of these during the winter but I found out last year that these take a reeeeally long time to get ready so we're just trying to a jump on early summer.

We did put some covers over a few of these during the freeze cause they look so tenuous.








We've had carrots every week all winter so far.

We all take them for lunch every day so we go thru lots.

We planted the heck out of them all thru the summer.

We've had a little bit of broccoli as well.

The broccoli's not doing as much as I thought and the recent prospects are looking a little puny.

The jury's still out on that.



We also really made use of the greenhouse, figuring that if the stuff outside didn't work out we'd at least have some stuff.

So we have a lettuce and spinach bed....



A mostly carrot bed with lettuce and radishes mixed in on the edge...



And a cabbage/caulifliower/broccoli bed as a safety net in case the outside stuff didn't work out and in hopes of an earlier taste of a few things.

Everything in the greenhouse seems to be doing well and it sure is a nice place to go when it's raining now that I have the big glass window mentioned in this post there.

It's like a sunroom.

Only you have to weed.




I'll have to think about that.


After three weeks of neglect during the holidays I got out there and picked lettuce, chard, kale, spinach, cauliflower, cabbage, and carrots.  Not bad for January I'd say.

Rich got all the fruit trees and blueberries pruned.

I'm thinking about pushing the planting envelope this year and planting sweet pea flowers, potatoes and edible pod peas soon.

This season seems to be behaving like a warm and wet El Nino year so I'm thinking the gamble might pan out.

I'll keep ya posted.

Cath