Really, Friday wasn't too black here, but I lacked a better title :) Though we did go shopping, it was just the usual bi-weekly grocery shopping. No 4 a.m. sales for us ;) And luckily the stores were not overly crowded, so it was basically a pleasant experience.
I was fortunate enough to find one thing that I've been looking for for some time:
A new diaper bucket! The one I was using, while functional, was on its last legs. There was a crack in a portion of the lid and it annoyed me every time I opened it. Thru sheer luck (or divine intervention) I found this beauty in Walmart. It was one of only two (and one was missing a lid), so I was clearly meant to have it ;)
Hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving. I did most of my baking Wednesday, and of course, took pictures. I made up four pies Wednesday (only three are pictures, because I had to wait for Mom to bring home the pecans):
(Clockwise from top: peach, apple, and pumpkin.)I wish I could say I had a recipe for the peach and the apple, but I basically just dump stuff together when I make those. I do cheat a bit when I make them, though, in that I cook the filling first:
(Sorry for the blurry-ness...my camera had just come in from the car.)On the stove top, I cook and thicken the fruit. This way, I know that the fruit is done (and I only have to worry about the crust when I bake it), and I get it to the proper consistency. Otherwise, I have a problem with runny pies. I do feel like it's cheating (I mean, surely my fore-mothers didn't do it this way!), but it works for me, and no one has ever complained about my pies, so I continue.
Also, my apple pie is what I call a "Lazy Apple Pie" but what others call a "Dutch Apple Pie."
(Pie pre-baking.)
It began out of necessity one day, when I didn't have enough dough to make a top crust, and I didn't have time to make up more. Mom told me to do a crumble topping: 1 stick of butter, 1 c. of flour, and 1 c. brown sugar, all blended together (I use a pastry blender). I (and the others) liked it so much that I continue to do it this way. Only one someone specifically requests a double crust do I do one. And while my brother felt that this particular apple pie was "not my best effort," Mom overheard one of my uncles saying, "Whoever built this pie did a good job!")
Hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving!
|