And We're Cooking...,

The best apple pie!

Prep Time: 1hr

Total Time: 2hr 

Serves: 6-8

Ingredients

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour 

2 sticks unsalted butter (placed in the freezer for an hour) 

2 tablespoons sugar 

1/2 teaspoon salt 

5-7 tablespoons ice water 

5 Granny Smith apples 

1 gala apple 

1/3 cup sugar 

1/4 cup brown suger

3/4 teaspoon cinnamon 

1/8 teaspoon nutmeg 

1/8 teaspoon allspice 

1/8 teaspoon clove (optional)

3 tablespoons applesauce

1 tablespoon lemon juice (bottled is fine) 

Now most of these ingredients are to make the crust but I used frozen pie crust instead. I will include the directions for those who want to take that on. 

Look at my new toy

Who wants to peel, core and cut 6 apples not I. They sale this great thing at bed bath and beyond. 

Team work makes the dream work and in this case made the baking prep go faster. 

Once apples are ready place in bowl add lemon juice. Add all suger, spices, and applesauce. Mix well. 

Preheat oven 425 degrees.

Place mixture in pie dish. Add apples, but reserve the liquid at the bottom. Pour a tablespoon of the liquid on top of the apples. Discard the rest of the liquid. 

I used two frozen pie crust one for the top crust as well. I made sure it was thawed enough to come out of the pan and pinched sided down so liquid would escape. 

On top crust cut X to vent. Sprinkle 1 tablespoon of sugar on top. 

Put pie in preheated 425 degree and bake for 42-48 minutes. Take out of oven and let cool for 15 minutes. 

And if your interested in making the crust.

 

Always make it first.

Start off by mixing 2 1/2 cups of AP four with 2 tablespoons of sugar and 1/2 teaspoon of salt.

Then using a food processor or pastry blender (even 2 knives). Add 2 sticks of cubed cold butter. (The cold butter is used for flakiness) 

Combined until mixture looks like course crumbs. 

Add ice cold water, 1 tablespoon at a time. Until when squeezed between your hands it forms into dough. 

Form dough into 2 balls. Wrap separately in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour. 

Sit on counter for 5-10 minutes. 

The apple mixture should go in refrigerator too while waiting on crust and sit on counter for the same amount of time. 

Roll one ball of crust at least 2 inches bigger than pie dish. 

Placed apple mixture in buttered and floured pie dish. 2 ball is place on top and designed the same as the frozen.

Follow directions above to finish.

Hope you enjoy!

Life and Times: RVA

Date night for the ladies (no men allowed).  

This past Friday I went on my monthly, bi-weekly, ladies night out with Mrs. Keisha Smith. We're no longer shutting the club down then finding a after party but we do make the best of our time. This time around it wine and art night. 

We stopped on grove at Cafe Caturra where they have bottled wine on tap and yummy appetizers. It's a relaxing apmostpher to catch up. So relaxing that you can easierly lose track of how your glass of wine turned into a bottle. Love that place it only gets better in the summer when you catch wine happy hour on the patio. 

Next stop was the Muesum of Fine Arts for the Hollywood Costume exhibit. It was interesting to see that even Hollywood there was issues with hoarding. It honestly was an amazing exhibit though and I hope people take advantage. 

All we ever talk about is.....Men.

I'm hoping that at this point it's not a secret that I've never been in a relationship. I've dated a lot but no titles, no real commit. Now, that I'm in one I'm learning and growing so much as a person. The most recent "aww no really" thing I've learned is my man has no romantic bone in his body. I'm not getting the movie or the fairy tale but that doesn't mean he loves me any less. We both have the same feelings about PDA and anniversaries, neither one of those things happening. We still want to celebrate the relationship and show each other appreciation. Now I've done this many times, but one time that was proof of his lack of romance was the love coupons. Yes, I made him love coupons. To which his response was "what are these" and he only kept 1out of 33 which he has yet to use. This situation, with a few others, open my eyes to our different love languages. There is so many different ways to love people. Even without the flowers and surprise gifts. I'm happy with the way he loves me. Who would have thought I would have end up being the romantic one. 

The Detox Experience: Final Try

Note to self no fried foods while on cleanse. The last try went pretty well. I would recommend this to anyone who would like to reset. There were no issues on this cleanse. If you aren't a pill taker this isn't the cleanse for you. Not only do you have to remember when to take them. You have to remember how many to take and there's a lot. Other then that I felt renewed and really awaken.  Didn't miss caffeine at all. Good experience much better than the cinnamon. 

The Detox Experience:Take Two

Dr. Oz where did we go wrong. When I found the 5 ways to fight fat with Ayurveda, of course I thought what's Ayurveda. I don't know these things. Leave it to India to come up with special medicines to cleanse the body. By the way Ayurveda is a form of alternative medicine to cure ailments, well that's what Google said. Now back to my detox  which is one of the five things. Dr. Oz explains how this detox tea helps break down fat and unclog the channels. You bring 5 cups of water to a boil and add 1/2 teaspoon of whole cumin, coriander and fennels seeds. Place a lid on top for 5 mintues strain the seeds and pour the liquid into a thermos. Sip on this all day for 2 weeks. He claims without including the other five things the tea should help release the toxins and renew the body. Now that I have run down all that let me tell you where I, not Dr. Oz went wrong. 

The first mistake was that I thought I could make this "tea" fresh every morning. Running late to work missed day 3. The second mistake was that I didn't by a big enough thermos. Trying to carry two thermos of this stuff every morning was not working for me. Which means instead of drinking five cups a day I drunk two. Third mistake not tasting the "tea" before I committed to 2 weeks of this detox. Once I found out that this drink was like sipping on oodles of noodles juice all day it was a wrap. Chicken though not beef, shrimp...you get my period. This 2 week cleanse ended up being 4 days. 

I will say around the end of the cleanse I had more energy in the morning (without my morning cup of coffee) and my skin began to look better. Still the cleanse was not for me. 

Moving on to my next and final try. Whole foods here I come. 

The Detox Experience

I've been reading a lot about getting toxics out of the body. I decided to do a 3 day cleanse I found on Pinterest. 2 teaspoons of cinnamon, 2 teaspoons of honey in 1 cup of boiling water. I love sweets, I thought that sounded good. Nope not good at all, too much cinnamon not enough honey. The first night wasn't that bad. I really thought I could make it 3 days. Then day 2 came and my body and taste buds rejected the mixture. I know when to cut my loses, my first cleanse was a fail. Pinterest had never let me down before and I still would like to continue detoxing. I'm going to try again. Next the safest place to go would be anywhere Dr. Oz wants to take me. Here I come detox #2 maybe #3. 

And we're cooking...

With this nice fall weather quickly coming our way. I think it's time to bring out the griddle. It won't last long, but I'm going to not only enjoy but post it.

Cooking on the Griddle: Asian Honey Chicken and Griddled Asparagus

 

 

Ingredients

For Honey Chicken

• Boneless chicken breasts- 3-4

For marination

• Soy sauce, low sodium- 2 tbsp
• Garlic, minced- 1tsp
• Honey- 2tbsp
• Lemon juice- 1tbsp
• Ground black pepper- ¼ tsp
• Olive oil- 1tbsp

Griddled Asparagus

• Asparagus, rinsed- 1 bunch
• Ground pepper- ¼ tsp
• Salt- to taste
• Olive oil- 1tbsp

Instructions

For Making Honey Chicken

1. Cover the chicken breasts with aluminum foil or plastic wrap and flatten slightly with a rolling pin.
2. In a bowl combine all the above ingredients for marination.
3. Pour the marinade into a ziplock bag and put the chicken breast into the bag.
4. Close the bag and shake the bag so that the chicken gets coated with the ingredients.
5. Marinate the chicken in the refrigerator for at least one hour.

  6. Heat the griddle to 350-375.

  7. Spray the griddle with non-stick    cooking spray.

  8. Place the chicken breasts on the griddle and let the chicken cook thoroughly on both sides.

  9. If you like your chicken to be browned, then cook till it gets slightly caramelized on both sides.

  10. Do not over cook the chicken or make it too dry. It should be moist and juicy inside.

  11. Serve immediately while it’s hot with griddled asparagus.

For Making Griddled Asparagus

1. Cut the tough ends of the asparagus and rinse under running water.
2. Toss the asparagus with ground pepper, salt and olive oil.
3. Heat the griddle to 350 and spread the asparagus on to the griddle.
4. Let asparagus turn slightly browned.
5. It will take about 5 minutes for the asparagus to cook.
6. When it’s done, place the asparagus on an aluminum foil and cover it to keep it warm.
7. Serve the griddled Asian honey chicken with the griddled Asparagus and side of your choice.

New Randoms

Changes, I can't control them and I can't stop them from happening. I'm going to making a few changes to my blog. As, I get older the company I keep has become the company I kept. For that reason as well as some others, there will be some changes in layout and post topics. So I hope you haven't gotten used to anything because its all about to change. I'm so excited and ready to let go of the past and embrace the present. In my life and now on my blog. 

No Regrets: Great American Bull Run

Our intentions were good. Thought that it would be best to start off that way. For the first time in Virginia we had the bull run and the biggest tomato fight ever. There was no way I was gonna miss out on that. When my cousin called me I was all in. Then the night before, Emily and I made a cons list and decided we would enjoy it more as spectators. There were some sights to see at the good ole Dinwiddie speedway. First it was so hot that buckets of sweat were pouring off people. The heat didn't stop them from standing in mile long lines to get food, ride mechanical bulls, get beer and the list goes on. The day wasn't a loss just because we didn't do the events. Believe me when I tell you, we still got hit with tomatoes. We slso got to watch Brittany and Sierra in the tomato fight. I hope to never again see that many tomatoes flying in my directions. So for those of you that missed it, hopefully it will come back next year. It was a good experience and I am glad to have witnessed it.  

Life and Times: Starter Home

I'm on the search for the place I'm going to spend most of my 30s. To be honest probably some of my 40s too. My first home or starter home as some would like to call it. I am completely obsessed. I'm always on Zillow, Craigslist and Truila. The HGTV channel is now my favorite channel. I'm not just talking about love it or list it or house hunters. What you know about the property brothers, kitchen crashers and you live in what? Get on it. I even have the app. Plus, it really doesn't help that my hunny is a contractor. I'm trying to demo, design and rebuild everything but with someone else's money. Back to the subject at hand, this girl is on her way to becoming a homebuyer. Currently, I'm trying to get my finances together. I have been prequalified. I know what I can get a loan for and what I need to save. Major research is happening here. Oh, how I love to research stuff. I'm sure my friend mate (hi Emily!), Keisha ( she says I never post about her) and my man are going to be so over me. But come on who doesn't like houses. They're the new black. Sorry I couldn't help myself. 

Life and Times

Colby hits a landmark and I missed it by a few miles. 

My first big purchase was my Honda civic. And as you can see she has taken me on a few trips. Don't count her out yet we have a lot to go. 

Pause

Throwback Pic

Is this really how we open bottles now! 

Life and Time: RVA- Tourist

Tourist in my own city, yep that's me. This past weekend I rediscovered the canal, boat tour and all. 

That's Hank...he's always there. 

Had to be at the front of the boat, was sad I didn't get to guide it. 

Oh yay, he went too...

My favorite piece of art on the canal walk wall...supposedly it's a part of the Liberty trail (something new to discover). 

Life and Times: RVA- love my city

When people say there's nothing to do in Richmond my thought is they must never leave their house. I'm not on the party scene anymore which opens up a variety of new events to keep the party in my life.  That's why I am glad that I live in such a diverse city. I know that there are some that will disagree. It is so easy to get caught up in the trends. This can get you stuck in your bubble and cause you to never leave your side of town. Knowing these things keep me a tourist in my own city. Always willing to venture out and try new things in new areas. Most recently I went to a open mic night at Addis Ethiopian Restaurant on 17th street. It was a great experience. Wow, Richmond where have you been hiding this.....

It doesn't surprise me that there are so many talented people in richmond. This makes me look forward to venturing out more and finding other hidden gems.  

All we ever talk about: New Stage

Before I turn 30....

Turning thirty is a subject that is being discussed a lot in my small circle of friends. Most are excited, some are scared and then others, just don't want to discuss it at all. I don't know, is it even worth the discussion. Before I turn thirty there were things that I wanted to do. I wanted to be in a certain place in life. Which is odd because I've never been one to believe in check list for life. That things should go a certain way or life wasn't right. You're not a failure because your life doesn't look like someone else's.  You have to embrace the stages. Live a day at a time. I did it up in my twenties I experienced everything I should. I learned a lot because of my mistakes and taking chances. In my twenties I feared nothing, so why before my thirties am I full of worries. It's silly to not embrace this new age. Who cares about what I don't have it's more important about, where I've been and the person that I've become. So before I turn thirty I will embrace the independent fearless spunky 21, well maybe 25 (there was less drinking going on at 25) year old. At the end of the day my twenties weren't so bad. I have a feeling, I'll be excited about celebrating my 30th birthday. 

No Regrets: Rafting

Summer is here and its time for all things in the sun. Which means water adventures, checking groupon and living social for discounts. Love them and thanks to them, I found a great deal on rafting with River City Rafting. It's located on 100 Stockton Street and even with the sun beating down on us it was still a good experience. I will definitely be doing it again.

The view was amazing and though we spent most of the time trying not to fall out, we had a few breaks to get out and swim.

Life and Times: Dream House

Recently, I found my dream house! The house that I could raise my children, the house that I could be a wife, but there is a few problems. I am no where close to be a wife and a mother. And the main problem is that, I can not afford my dream house right now. That will not stop me from dreaming or putting certain things in place to make that dream come true.

Bedrooms:3 Bathrooms:3 Single Family:2,961 sq ft Lot:15,420 sq ft Year Built:1900