Mrs. Smith's Homemade Apple Pie

2 Mrs. Smith's 9" deep dish pie crusts
4 1/2 cups granny smith apples - peeled cored and sliced
3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup packed light brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon of salt
2 teaspoons ground cinammon
1/2 teaspoon of ground cloves
1 1/2 tablespoon cornstarch
2 tablespoons butter
3 tablespoons apricot preserves or jam, heated

Directions;
1. preheat oven to 375 degrees
2. in a large bowl, combine apples, lemon juice, sugars, salt, cinammon and ground cloves. Let stand for 30 minutes.
3. Strain apples, reserving liquid. Toss apples with cornstarch before transferring to a frozen pie crust.
4. Bring reserved juices to a boil in a medium saucepan. stir until mixture reduces to a syrup.
5. Add butter to syrup and stir until melted.
6. Pour mixture over apple slices in pie crust.
7. With rolling pin, roll second pie crust flat. Using apple-shaped cookie cutter or other decorative shape, cut holes in dough; top pie with crust and bake at 375 for 60 minutes or until juices bubble and apples are golden brown.
8. Warm apricot preserves on low heat, stirring constantly, until melted. Drizzle over top of pie before serving.

Slow Cooked Pineapple

Slow Cooked Pineapple
From Food Network Kitchens

Prep Time:10 minInactive Prep Time: -- Cook Time:4 hr 0 min
Level:
Easy
Serves:
8 to 10 servings, about 6 cups

Ingredients
2 medium pineapples (about 2 1/2 pounds or 8 cups fresh pineapple, sliced)
1 cup brown sugar
1 (6-inch) piece fresh ginger (about 5 ounces), thinly sliced
1 to 2 cinnamon sticks
Coconut or Vanilla Ice cream for serving
Directions
If using whole pineapple: Peel, quarter, and cut away the core from the pineapple. Discard the core. Cut each quarter in half lengthwise then slice 1/4-inch thick slices crosswise.

Stir the pineapple together with the sugar, ginger, and cinnamon in a slow cooker. Cover and cook on HIGH for 4 hours, until the pineapple is very tender and slightly sweet.

Serve warm with scoops of coconut ice cream on top. The compote keeps for up to a week tightly sealed in the refrigerator.

Cook's Note: Add some lime and fresh cilantro leaves for a delicious savory compote, perfect for serving with roast pork or grilled chicken.

Got this from Food Network, but saving to blog so I don't lose it! YUM

Outback Green Beans

Outback Steakhouse Steamed Green Beans
Author: CopyKat RecipesRecipe Type: Side DishPrep time: 10 minCook time: 10 minServes: 4
You can make seasoned steamed green beans like the Outback Steakhouse in your own kitchen. Fresh green beans are steamed, and then seasoned with a garlic butter sauce, and served of fresh. Maggi seasoning is found in a bottle in the ethnic section of your grocery store. It may be found in either the European or Asian parts of your grocery store. Maggi seasoning offers a beefy, smokey, and complex that flavor that adds so much to these green beans.
Ingredients
1 pound fresh green beans - french style are best
1/2 cup butter
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon Maggi seasoning
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon fresh cracked pepper
Instructions
Steam green beans in either a steamer or your microwave until they are just done, you want them still firm. In my microwave it takes about 2 minutes to steam up the green beans, while the green beans are steaming, begin your seasoned butter sauce.

In a small saucepan over medium-low heat add 1/2 cup butter, 1/2 teaspoon Maggi seasoning, brown sugar, garlic powder, salt, and pepper. Stir until the brown sugar is completely dissolved. When the green beans are done, place in a bowl. Add about half of the butter mixture, in the bowl, and add the fresh steamed greens in the bowl. Stir the green beans until they are coated with the butter seasoning.

Puppy Chow (Humorous Treat for Kids at Halloween)

Ingredients

1/2 cPeanut butter
1/2 cButter or margarine
6 ozChocolate chips
10 cCorn Chex cereal
2 cPowdered sugar

How to Prepare Puppy Chow (Humorous Treat for Kids at Halloween)

Melt peanut butter, butter or margarine, and chocolate chips in a saucepan over medium heat.

Pour over Corn Chex, being sure that all cereal is coated.

Put 2 cups powdered sugar in a large paper bag. Put cereal in bag and shake gently until all cereal is coated. Pour out on wax paper to cool.

Manhatten Clam Chowder via Emerel and Chris

Manhattan Clam Chowder
Recipe courtesy Emeril Lagasse, 2001

Prep Time: -- Inactive Prep Time: -- Cook Time: --
Level:
Easy
Serves:
6 to 8 main course servings

Ingredients
8 pounds quahog or large cherrystone clams, scrubbed and rinsed, opened clams discarded I used Wegman's already shucked clams AND glass jar of clam juice
4 slices bacon, cut into 1/2-inch lengths
2 cups finely chopped onion
1 cup finely chopped celery
1/2 cup chopped bell pepper
3/4 cup diced carrot (I omitted this because I didnt' have carrots)
1 1/2 tablespoons minced garlic
3 bay leaves
1 1/2 teaspoons dried oregano leaves
4 sprigs fresh thyme
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper
1 1/4 pounds potatoes, peeled and cut into 1/2-inch cubes (about 3 cups)
1 cup chicken stock
3 cups peeled, seeded and chopped tomatoes or 1 (28-ounce) can whole tomatoes, chopped and juices reserved
1/4 cup chopped parsley leaves
Freshly ground black pepper
Salt

I also added Better than Bullion flavoring at the end to add additional saltiness and flavor

Directions
In a large stockpot bring 2 cups of water to a boil. Add clams, cover and cook for 5 minutes. Uncover, quickly stir clams well with a wooden spoon, and recover. Allow clams to cook 5 to 10 minutes longer (this will depend on the type and size of clams you are using), or until most of the clams are opened. Transfer clams to a large bowl or baking dish and strain broth through a fine-meshed sieve into a bowl. (You should have about 6 cups of clam broth. If not, add enough water to bring the volume up to 6 cups.) When clams are cool enough to handle, remove them from their shells and chop into 1/2-inch pieces. Set clams and broth aside.

In a large heavy pot add bacon and render until golden and crispy. Pour off all fat except 4 tablespoons. Add onions, celery, bell pepper and carrots and cook for 10 minutes, until vegetables are softened. Do not allow to color. Add garlic, bay leaves, oregano, thyme and crushed red pepper and cook an additional 2 minutes. Increase heat to high and add potatoes, reserved clam broth, and chicken stock and bring to a boil, covered. Cook for 20 minutes, or until potatoes are tender and the broth has thickened somewhat. Add tomatoes and continue to cook for 10 to 15 minutes. Remove the pot from the heat and add reserved clams and parsley and season with pepper and salt, if necessary. Allow chowder to sit for up to 1 hour to allow flavors to meld, then reheat slowly over low fire if necessary. Do not allow to boil.

Pierogies

3 cups of flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1 egg
water
Cheese onion filling
1 lb. of pot cheese
1 onion chopped
2 eggs
salt and pepper

Combine flour, salt, egg and about 3/4 cup of water.
Dough - roll 1/16" thick. Cut 4" circles - 1 tsp of filling fold and pinch.
Drop in boiling water, let rise, drain.

Kulich

2 packages of Red Star active dry yeast
1/2 cup warm water (105 to 115 degrees)
1-1/4 cups buttermilk
2 eggs
5-1/2 to 6 cups of gold medal flour* * if using self-rising flour, omit baking powder and salt.
1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened
1/2 cup of granulated sugar
2 tsp. baking powder
2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. vanilla
2/3 cup of raisins
2/3 cup of chopped blanched blue diamond almonds
1 cup confectioners sugar
about 1 tbsp of water
tiny decoration candies

Grease three 1-lb. coffee cans. In a large mixer bowl, dissolve yeast in 1/2 cup warm water. Add buttermilk, eggs, 2-1/2 cups of the flour, the butter, granulated sugar, baking powder, salt and vanilla. Blend 1/2 min. on low speed, scraping bowl constantly. Beat 2 mins. at medium speed, scraping bowl occasionally. Stir in raisins, almonds and enough remaining flour to make dough easy to handle. (Dough should remain soft and slightly sticky.)

Turn dough onto well-floured board; knead 5 min. or about 200 turns. Divide dough into 3 equal parts. Shape each part into well0rounded bun-like shape; place in coffee can. Cover; let rise in warm place until double. 1 to 1-1/2 hours.

Heat oven to 375 degrees. Bake 30 to 35 minutes or until loaves sound hollow when tapped. Immediately remove from cans. Blend confectioners' sugar and about 1 tbsp. water (if icing is too stiff, stir in a few drops of water); frost coffee cakes. Sprinkle with candies.

Jewish Apple Cake

Bake at 350 degrees for 1-1/4 hours

3 cups flour (whole wheat)
2 cups sugar or 1 cup of honey
1 cup of wesson oil
4 eggs
1/4 cup of orange juice
3 tsp baking powder
1 tsp. vanilla
1 tsp. salt
cube 3-4 apples, toss with 2 tsp cinnamon
raisins
1 cup of walnuts

Mix well in a large bowl, add 1 cup of chopped walnuts and raisins.
Pour half batter in tube pan.
Add half apple mix
Rest of batter on top of apple mix
Top with apples and flatten in.
Slice to mix in slightly.