Happy Friday!

Can you believe December starts tomorrow?! You know what that means... Getting a Christmas Tree, Hot Cocoa with Peppermint Schnapps, Baking, Christmas Movies and General Cheer. I don't know about you, but I'm feel pretty blessed this Christmas Season, and am trying to remember my blessings ever day!

Photo from WeHeartIt

bitterroot

We went here for dinner tonight! So wonderful, so delectable, so relaxing!

(picture courtesy of Seattle Magazine press)

We shared the pulled pork & mac n cheese with roasted red peppers; for extra good girl points, I even had an entire ramekin of brown sugar squash to myself.

Next time, it's happy hour at Bitterroot... Just take a look at their HH menu!

Ciao,

K

Clean Eating: Mom's Apple Pie

For years now I've enjoyed my Mom's Apple Pie. The crust: flaky, thick, and warm. The apples: spicy and naturally sweet. Last night I had a strong hankering for this pie and decided to whip it up in my own kitchen.

I have so many memories of slicing the apples, sprinkling them with cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, and allspice, and then being unable to resist eating them straight out of the mixing bowl. The nice thing about this pie is that it contains no butter, no sugar, and nothing artificial. That's right, no sugar. The sweetness of your apples should do the trick. 

And while it's no Martha Stewart apple pie, it certainly is better for your waistline. I am happy to say that with the Clean Eating rage, it's nice to know that my mother had been feeding us "clean" apple pie for our whole lives! Way ahead of our time. 

Ingredients:

2 2/3 cups  flour

3/4 cup vegetable oil or 3/4 cup canola oil

4 tablespoons cold water

4-5 medium sized Pink Lady or Gala apples; or 3-4 large apples; sliced thinly

1 tbsp. cinnamon

1 tsp. nutmeg

1 tsp. allspice

1 tsp. ground ginger

Method: adapted from Mom's crust recipe and Food.com

Measure flour and salt into bowl. Add oil; mix with a fork, until particles are the size of small peas. Sprinkle with water, 1 tablespoon at a time, until flour is moistened and dough almost cleans the sides of the bowl. 

Depending on whether your dough seems to dry or wet, add either a tbsp. of oil or flour. Pick dough up and ball it together into one pressed ball.  Work the dough in your hands to make it a bit less crumbly.

Break dough in half and similar to rolling pizza dough, press it flat between two sheets of wax paper. Roll out into the general circumference and shape of your pie pan. Gently peel off one sheet of wax paper and turn dough upside down. Peel off remaining sheet of wax paper after placing bottom crust into pan leaving a 1/2 inch overlap around pan edge. Follow the above steps with top crust rolling out same as bottom crust leaving 1 inch overhang around pan edge). Fold and roll top edge over pie pan and press edges together with a fork.

Once your apples are sliced, throw them in a large mixing bowl. Add spices and stir well. Allow apples to sit at room temperature for about 3 hours, to macerate in their own juices.  Pour  apples into crust, then fold the pie dough for the top over pie pan, roll top edge over pie pan and press edges together with a fork. 

Slice about 6 slits in the middle of the pie and place in the oven for about 45-55 minutes. Check at 45 minutes and take pie out when edges are golden brown. 

Allow to cool for about 15 minutes, then serve! It's yummy with a scoop of frozen yogurt, or my unconventional favorite- Coconut Bliss. Now, off to decorate for Christmas!

Pulled Pork & Swiss Chard Sliders

Happy Saturday, darlings!

These are EASY. Super easy, yet tasty and cute enough for a small dinner party we had last week. This is a short recipe post; fortunately it's basically impossible to mess up.

Ingredients:

1 Pork Shoulder, any lb. you like
2 tsp. sea salt
2 tsp. black pepper
2 tsp. cayenne pepper
1 clove garlic, chopped
1 c. barbecue sauce of your liking, I prefer Sweet Baby Ray's
4-5 stalks of swiss chard
1 tsp. garlic salt
2 tbsp. fine quality olive oil

Method:

Using your slow cooker, set on Low or High, cook your pork according to the size. I tend to use Google to search how long to cook it for, but generally I wind up cooking most sizes for 5-6 hours. You want the pork to be soft and easy to pull apart with two forks.

Place your pork in the slow cooker, then cut little slits on the top, and sprinkle your seasonings over it. Cover with barbecue sauce, and place the lid over it. Allow to cook according to directions.

Once your pork is done, cut about an inch of stem off the swiss chard and throw it in a large sauce pan with the garlic salt and olive oil. Allow to simmer and the swiss chard will cook way down. This usually takes about 10-15 minutes. Warm up your slider buns, scoop a little pork on it, and cover with swiss chard. That's it! I told you it was easy...

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