Uvas Apple Cake

At a past job of mine, it wasn't unusual for us to bring in sweets and treats to share with everyone in the office. And because it was a small, tight knit group we were able to uphold this tradition pretty frequently. One recipe that grew to be a favorite of mine was "Uvas Apple Cake". Now, I don't know any Uvas (I will have to ask the friend who gave me the recipe the story behind where she found it), but she makes one heckuv-an apple cake. Also, if you are looking to be more health conscience, you can substitute the 1/2 cup of oil for 1/2 of applesauce instead! It still comes out perfectly delicious and moist :)


Uvas Apple Cake

Ingredients:
- 2 Cups of White Sugar (when using sugar, I almost always go less than the norm. I will either halve it entirely or bring it down to 3/4 cup at least...depending on if the recipe is forgiving enough)
- 4 Large Apples, peeled, cored, and thinly sliced (I used Fiji)
- 1/2 Cup of oil (or applesauce)
- 2 Eggs
- 2 tsp. Vanilla
- 2 Cups of Flour
- 2 tsp. Baking Soda
- 2 tsp. Cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a large mixing bowl, mix together the sugar and apples that have been peeled, cored, and sliced.

In a small mixing bowl, whisk together oil, eggs and vanilla. Add this to the apple mixture and stir well.

Add flour, baking soda, and cinnamon to the apple mixture (I would reccomend combining these ingredients in a seperate bowl beforehand, just to make sure the ingredients get combined together). Mix until flour is incorporated and moist.

Pour the batter into a well greased bunt pan. Bake for 1 hour and 10 minutes - do not under bake!

Let cool for 1/2 hour before inverting onto a plate.

S'more Pie Please!

Nothing is more exciting than the knowledge that summer is coming; bring on the beach, camping, BBQ's and road trips! I got this recipe from the wife of a fellow Mason member. I like this even better than the old-fashioned burnt marshmallow, solid chocolate S'more.

Smore's Pie

Ingredients:
 
6oz dark chocolate (or milk if you prefer, I used 6 oz of milk chocolate chips)
1/4 cup water
1/4 cup whipping cream
2 Tablespoon corn syrup
2-2 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
4oz mascarpone cheese (you can use cream cheese)-make sure room temp 1 cup whipping cream
1/2-3/4 cup powdered sugar
1 cup mini marshmallows
Mini chocolate chips (I just used some of the chocolate chips I already had)
graham crackers (crushed)-about 1/2 cup
1 graham cracker pie crust (can make from scratch or pre-made)
 1 jar of marshmallow creme
1 Tablespoon milk
1 cup mini marshmallows

For filling: in small saucepan, mix the 6oz chocolate, water, 1/4 cup whipping cream and corn syrup.  Heat and stir constantly over medium heat.  Once mixture is smooth and melted remove from heat.  Then stir in vanilla.  Let that cool for about 20 minutes; stir occasionally while making whip cream.

For whip cream: In a chilled metal mixing bowl, beat 1 cup whipping cream and powdered sugar on medium until peaks form (this takes about  minutes).  It should look like whip cream out of a can.  While making whip cream, in another bowl add the mascarpone (or cream cheese if you prefer) to the melted chocolate mixture.  Mix that thoroughly and set aside.  Once whip cream is ready, fold the chocolate mixture into the whip cream until thoroughly mixed. 

Crust: layer bottom of crust w/mini marshmallows.  Spoon the filling over the top.  Cover and refrigerate at least 4 hours (or overnight).

Marshmallow creme topping: mix jar of marshmallow creme w/1-2 tablespoon of milk and 1 cup of mini marshmallows. Save in refrigerator until you serve pie. (2 TB of milk made it super watery/goopey/etc. I would suggest only 1 TB of milk and if you're using a premade pie crust you are going to have a mess on your hands. This pie makes a little of "filling")

Serve: before serving spread marshmallow creme spread you make on top of pie.  Then crush graham crackers and sprinkle on top of pie, then add mini chocolate chips on top of that.

Mmmmm....πππππ....

Here is my Aunt's recipe for homemade chicken pot pie. It is adapted slightly because my mom haphazardly wrote the recipe down so I kind of winged it. CAUTION: Crisco sells convenient sticks of shortening. BUT, they are not like sticks of butter. One stick=one cup.

Chicken Pot Pie

Ingredients

·         3 Cups Flour

·         1 Cup Crisco

·         1 Tablespoon Vinegar

·         1-2 teaspoon Salt

·         ½ C. Ice Water

·         1-10 oz bag of frozen mixed veggies (I used peas and carrots)

·         1 Cup of cooked, cubed chicken

·         1 12 oz can Cream of Chicken Soup

·         1-12 oz can Cream of Mushroom Soup (I used two cans of chicken because Bryan hates mushrooms)

·         Salt and Pepper

Cook your chicken according to preference; I baked mine in the oven at 350 for 20-30 minutes. I only used one large chicken breast, and it was plenty for this pie.

While the chicken is cooking, prepare the pie crust. In a medium sized bowl, measure out your flour and mix in salt, then cut in 1 Cup of Crisco/shortening. Add vinegar and water slowly, mixing to incorporate. Once the dough forms, divide in half for two pie crusts; top and bottom. Roll out one half and place in an ungreased pie plate. Prick the bottom with a fork.

In a bowl, combine your veggies, cooked/cubed chicken, soups, and seasonings. Pour onto unbaked pie crust. Roll out your second pie crust, and lay over the top of the pie. Crimp edge and if you have pie crust scraps feel free to roll them out and cut into shapes to put on top J

Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes or until crust is golden.

Mi Hermano

Oh brother! You grew up to be the older brother we never had; constant teasing and joking around. But I would give anything for you to be here just one more time. I don't care if you laugh at my made up words, or take random pictures were you always look high for some reason. I would even buy us a Super Nacho from Addie's to share and let you have ALL of the quacamole. Just give me one more chance to feel like I am cool with my little brother. Because in the end, I always looked up to you. And not just in the literal sense that you eventually surpassed me in height. I mean that you were always that shining example. We all went through the same history, and yet you came out a better person for it (let's just say someone probably shouldn't have stopped going to anger management. Heck, we all know we went so we could get Mcflurries after!)

I have been so blessed to have a brother. Even though it may not have started out that way. You see...when Garrett was little. We would put barrettes in his mullett-length hair. And take pictures. Oh what joyous childhood memories! But I do believe we got payback for that. All in all, you weren't a bad bro. We even liked each other enough to work together! I don't think I ever got to appreciate the concept of working with a sibling. Again, I think you were much more popular there than I ever was. I felt like if I was your sister, I must be cool.

I really don't think you ever realized just how much myself and your other sisters care about you. We may not have shown it, but it is coming to the surface with your absence. It makes me think back to a time when you were out with friends one night and hadn't checked in. It got to be late, and dark. And you know when it gets dark; you're either dead, kidnapped or passed out in a ditch. As my duty of mother hen over the siblings, I ALWAYS assume the worst. I went as far to scour the streets looking for you. In the end, nothing bad happened. You came home safe and sound, confused at my rage of emotional tears and sobbing. That's how much I care about you. But I never really got to tell you that. Most likely it was because I was too afraid of what you would say (most likely you would just smile and say "thanks" and go back to your video games or guitar playing).

I really am proud of you and this accomplishment in your life. And I look forward to the day where I get to be waiting at the airport to see what two years has done to my little brother.

Love ya bro,

Shy Rambler

Silent Stalker

My memory gets the best of me again. It has been so long since I have posted anything I completely forgot the name of my blog. Something...something with an S? Has to do with being quiet...is it..Silent Stalker? Wait no. That's..haha..wow.

I laughed. My sister laughed. And if it weren't for her I would question my sanity on a daily basis.

Well, I hope you enjoyed because that is all I have time for today.


Shy Rambler (or Silent Stalker...you will never know)

Muse

 For some reason unbeknown-st to me I cannot get Super Massive Black Hole-Muse out of my head. Which leads me to start thinking of Twilight. Which of course just happens to be coming out (no I don't care...well..I read the books and so now I have to see it. But really...I don't care. Go Team Emmett!) Ahem...I digress.

Oh wait...I guess I do know because I am writing an entire blog about it. The reason I have this infamous song loop holing through my mind's soundtrack is because I was just discussing with my sister my most recent Chipotle (sweet...just added another word to my computer's oh so narrow minded Dictionary) experience. Oh my gosh...sudden brain blast...Chipotle is like..elementary school. You get in line, wonder what today's special is. Okay...so Chipotle doesn't have any specials like back in the day. Anyways. You go down the line and either voice what you would like, or point in the general direction of the item you are longing for and hope:  1. They can read minds or 2.  Understand that a lower point on the glass means the one closest to you and if you point slightly higher it means THAT ONE that is near the server.
But for some reason, even though I choose the more straightforward approach of saying exactly what I wanted because I knew that the intensity of how much hot sauce to put on was of utmost importance....she still got it wrong. And I will now quote my conversation with my sister because honestly...I can't paraphrase it better then this:

"Chipotle is a bad idea...

especially if you ask for a litttttle bit of the SUPER MASSIVE HOT SAUCE and she gives you 1/4 cup worth on your burrito bowl :("

And now I have brought you full circle to where my blog has begun...Muse. Oh the wonders of how Melissa's mind works. 

Shy Rambler

Picture Explanation (because I know this needs one...): My friend introduced me to faceinhole.com; a funny site where you put your face in famous pictures etc. I forgot I had done this...so...the shoe just fits perfectly for this blog.

Lunchtime-Vacation Update

Oh the joys of lunch time. 60 entire minutes to eat (usually taking up a measly 10 mintues), browse Facebook, and finish any other tasks like paying bills online (am I weird if I actually enjoy doing this?).

Once in a blue moon I will actually venture out into the world around me when I need to get something from the store or put gas in my car so I can drive home and not worry about running out in the middle of heavy traffic. So I was pretty proud of myself for remembering I was low on gas and should probably fill up on lunch so I wouldn't have to bother with lines and more traffic after work. As I was pulling up to the pump I had a slight panic attack as I was desperatly trying to recall which side of the car my gas can was located. Really? You go on vacation for a week and can't remember how to pump gas in the car you've been driving for over a year?

To answer my previous blog's question of whether I would lose myself on my vacation and break myself of the mundane tasks of everyday life...this was an apparent yes. Although I had no problem being taxied around by family it is a little discerning to think that going just a week without driving I would forget how to function in a car.

As for the trip? It was amazing. At first I was worried about leaving my home, my boyfriend, my job, my quiet room. But in the end, it was well worth it. For those of you who have me as a friend of Facebook, I apologize for the constant photo and status updates along with "checking-in" everywhere I went. I haven't truly gotten to enjoy all the nifty features of my phone and I just wanted to share all my experiences with everyone. One thing I could have lived without was the heat...I thought I would be completely prepared seeing as I am from California but oh was I wrong!

Many thanks to my grandparnts, Felisha and Dallas (yes you! haha), and the Fadelys. I have never seen a family so connected and ready to do things for others and have the patience to share Felisha and Dallas with me. It wouldn't have been the same without all of you and I'll never forget the memories I made on this trip. I hope to visit Texas again soon! I am determined to convince California, Idaho and now Texas to relocate so they are right next to each other. Wish me luck.

Shy Rambler.