the best apple pie...

the best apple pie i've ever made-(the only one i've ever made but i plan to make many more!)

serve warm with vanilla ice cream

finished apple pie- yummy

Here are the recipe's i followed:


Barefoot Contessa Perfect Pie Crust:

12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) very cold unsalted butter
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 tablespoon sugar
1/3 cup very cold vegetable shortening
6 to 8 tablespoons (about 1/2 cup) ice water

Dice the butter and return it to the refrigerator while you prepare the flour mixture. Place the flour, salt, and sugar in the bowl of a food processor fitted with a steel blade and pulse a few times to mix. Add the butter and shortening. Pulse 8 to 12 times, until the butter is the size of peas. With the machine running, pour the ice water down the feed tube and pulse the machine until the dough begins to form a ball. Dump out on a floured board and roll into a ball. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

(notes: i don't have a food processor so i used a cheese grader to shave my butter into the size of peas)

Cut the dough in half. Roll each piece on a well-floured board into a circle, rolling from the center to the edge, turning and flouring the dough to make sure it doesn't stick to the board. Fold the dough in half, place in a pie pan, and unfold to fit the pan. Repeat with the top crust.

(note: i made a streusel topping instead of a top crust see recipe below)



Barefoot Contessa Streusel Topping: 

3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup light brown sugar, lightly packed
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) cold unsalted butter, diced

For the topping, place all the ingredients in the bowl of a food processor fitted with the steel blade and pulse until the butter is in very small pieces. Pour into a bowl and rub with your fingers until crumbly.

(note: again i used the cheese grader to shave my butter into the small pieces. below i am covering the pie with the streusel topping)

adding the streusel topping- yummy

Grandma Kilner's Apple Pie:

2 1/2 pounds of apples

1/3 cup brown sugar

1/3 cup white sugar

2 tablespoon flour

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon salt

Mix everything above and let stand for 10 minutes. Add to your pie crust and cover with streusel topping. Bake at 400 for 25-40 minutes.

mixing the apples

adding the apples to the pie crusts

french hen farm barn sale

always looking forward to the french hen farm barn sale... (its a good thing my friend from marysville told me about them). will you be attending their sale this weekend? friday and saturday 9-5




french hen farm



abk design- halloween cards

don't forget to order your abk design stationery for halloween- they make great gifts for parties, neighbors, trick or treaters, teachers, or anyone that loves halloween. they are $5 a set (includes 8 note cards and 8 envelops). see additional images below...

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wanted: groundhog... reward:$100

since we have moved into our house we have a pesty ground hog that lives under our deck- we see him time to time and for the most part he doesn't bother us... UNTIL he decides to dine on my plants- we had just gotten back from the springfield extravaganza sale and dutch mill green house (will blog about those experiences soon). we planted my cale and set up my pumpkins on the front porch- not but 3 hours later i caught the hog enjoying a free dinner on my kale and pumpkins! i was so mad and chased him through the yard- afterwards i was laughing at myself. i heard a trick if you put ground pepper on your pumpkins then it will keep squirrels from snacking on them- this is true with groundhogs- i added ground pepper and he hasn't been back- i hope for good!

LESSON LEARNED: PUT BLACK PEPPER ON MY PLANTS AND PUMPKINS TO KEEP WILD LIFE FROM EATING THEM.

wedding shower....

my husband and i threw a wedding shower for his sister and now husband-2 days before their wedding...it was a chance to get the wedding party together to start the weekend of festivites. we had so much fun using some of the ideas i found from other bloggers and magazines that i've been dying to make and use. her colors were navy and green - we found green margarita glasses, navy and green m&m's, and then decorated with anthing navy and green we could think of... i think by the time we got everything made and set up it was 2am!

super easy tissue flowers/pom pom's we made and hung them with invisiable string.

bag of limes at costco- great for the margaritas and decorating

i sell these banner flags if you are interested :)!

green and navy m&m's - yum!

following up... i got the navy one...

in a past post "can't stop thinking about...." i couldn't decide to order this skirt at all or which color to order if I did.... well I did order and i got the navy and white stripe. i've worn it several times and its truly awesome... very comfortable and well made- i got my money's worth.

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when it finally arrived i was so excited ... the packaging its self was so cool- silver gift filler and a little card that read, "she was the life of EVERY party..." enjoy! how cute?!

i'm happy with my purchase and will have a classic piece for a long time.

country living fair 2011

i took the day off from work on friday and went to the country living fair-it was awesome and i enjoyed my day! this was my 3rd time attending and although i don't buy a ton of things its always so much fun to look around. i did get to meet jeni from jeni's ice cream and i bought her book on how to make her ice cream at home.

we arrived right at 10am when they opened and it was really busy and if i go next year i plan to go later in the day when the crowds slow down- as busy as it was i did run into a friend from michigan that came down just for the day.

this put me in the fall spirit and i have officially started decorating my house for fall!