Apple Pie

I had never made an apple pie before, I am not sure how this happened since pies are Jer's favorite desserts, but since we went apple picking I decided to give it a go.  My mom has told me that it is not worth the effort to make a home made crust, so I took her word for it and went with premade refrigerated pie crusts.  They worked great.  I searched the internet and found a recipe on Betty Crocker that I thought looked good, making a couple of tweaks based on what I saw in other recipes.  I used cortland apples because that is what my mom uses.  I saw quite a few suggestions for granny smith, but basically it is supposed to be any type of apple that will hold its shape.  Also I saw quite a few recipes with the number of apples to use (usually 6-8), I appreciated that this one had a measurement, since I picked some really big apples and I only needed 4.

Apple Pie

2 refrigerated pie crusts
6 cups apples - peeled, cored, & thinly sliced
1/4 cup flour
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
5 shakes nutmeg
dash salt
1/2 stick butter - cold - cut into pea sized chunks
1 T water
1 T sugar


Place one crust in the bottom of the pie plate.  In a large bowl, mix flour, 1/2 cup sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt.  Toss with butter and apple slices to coat.  Spoon into pie plate.  Cut steam vents into second crust and cover apples.  Tuck edges in and brush with water.  Sprinkle with sugar and bake at 425° for 40 minutes.  Cool for 1-2 hours before serving.

Cream Cheese Fruit Dip

I haven't made this dip in a while and it is so good!  So I had to make it again now that we have tons of apples in the house.  I am pretty sure I got the recipe from a friend at game night, but it is so simple I never needed to write it down.

Cream Cheese Fruit Dip

8 oz cream cheese
7 oz marshmallow cream

Mix cream cheese and marshmallow cream, keep refrigerated.

Cheesecake Brownies

I had 3 bricks of cream cheese in my fridge so I went searching for a good cheesecake recipe to use them up.  Nothing stood out to me until I came across this recipe on allrecipes.com for Cheesecake Brownies.  It sounded pretty good, even though it only used up one brick.  They are delicious.

Cheesecake Brownies

1 box brownie mix
2/3 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup water
3 eggs
1/2 cup sugar
8 oz cream cheese

Mix together brownie mix, oil, water, and 2 eggs.  Pour into greased 9x13" baking dish.  Mix together cream cheese, 1 egg, and sugar.  Spoon globs on top of the brownie batter and then marble through.  Bake at 350° for 30 minutes.

Dirt Cups

Another delicious oreo creation!  How can you go wrong, you have chocolate pudding, cool whip, and oreos.  Yum.

Dirt Cups

1 package instant chocolate pudding mix
2 cup milk
1 tub cool whip
1 1/2 rows oreos - crushed

Mix together milk and pudding mix, place bowl in fridge for 5 minutes.  Fold in cool whip, spoon into cups (I did 8, that is good for a kid sized serving).  Pour crushed oreos on top, refrigerate 1 hour or as long as you can stand to wait :)

Creamed Turkey

If you make a turkey, what do you do with the leftovers?  Make creamed turkey, of course!  Especially if your mom and dad make it and send you home with some leftovers, even better!  The amounts are pretty flexible, I had enough turkey to fit in a 1.5 quart container.  I also used a food processor to cut up the meat - it takes less time and makes the end result creamier.  I also didn't have celery salt in the house so made do with extra onion salt. This is also great with leftover chicken!

Creamed Turkey

1 LB turkey - cooked & cubed
2 T turkey broth (or chicken broth)
1 can cream of chicken soup
1/2 tsp celery salt
1/2 tsp onion salt
1/4 tsp pepper

Mix all ingredients in a large saucepan and simmer.

Strawberry Meringue Cake

You HAVE to try this one.  It is the most delicious thing ever!!  That is all I am saying about this one, you will find out how good it is when you make it for yourself.  Note: make sure to use 9" pans, I used 8" once and ended up with a burning mess in the bottom of my oven.

Strawberry Meringue Cake

1 package yellow cake mix
1 1/3 cup orange juice
4 egg yolks
4 egg whites
1/2 tsp cream of tartar
1 cup sugar
1 tub cool whip
strawberries - sliced

Mix cake mix, orange juice, and egg yolks. Pour into 2 greased 9" round cake pans. Beat egg whites with cream of tartar until stiff peaks form, gradually add sugar. Spread meringue over cake batter. Bake at 350° for 35-40 minutes. Spread cool whip over cakes and top with strawberries.

**You can also use whipped cream instead of cool whip...I did on the one pictured and it makes it even more decadent!

Whipped Cream

1 pint whipping cream
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup powdered sugar

Freeze a metal bowl for 1 hour, then pour cold whipping cream into it.  Beat and mix in vanilla and powdered sugar (or more to taste).  Beat until stiff peaks form.

Snickers Salad

This is another fruit "salad" with the quotes because really, this is another that is more of a dessert.  My gramma always made this growing up and it is always delicious.

Snickers Salad

4 large apples
1 tub cool whip
1 bag snickers minis

Core apples and cut into small chunks.  Cut snickers minis into quarters.  Place apples and candy bars in a large bowl and fold in cool whip.  Keep refrigerated.

**You may also add sliced bananas but they do not keep as well (as if there would be any leftover).  I made it with 4 small apples and 2 bananas.

Reese’s Mini Cheesecake

 

I am cheating a bit, this is a picture of some that I took home from game night that my friend Jenn made.  I found the recipe online, but haven't seen a recipe that says how many it makes, and thus how many Reese's cups you need.  She did have enough to fill a 9x13" pan though.

Reese’s Mini Cheesecake

Reese's Peanut Butter Cups
1 box no bake cheesecake

Place cupcake liners in a cupcake pan.  Put an unwrapped Reese's cup into the bottom of each cupcake liner.  Mix cheesecake according to box directions.  Spoon onto Reese's cup and sprinkle with graham cracker crumbs from the mix.  Refrigerate at least 1 hour.

**You can also substitute Oreos for the Reese's cup.