Recipes: Homemade Apple Pie

One of the things I knew I would do with this blog is post recipes.  I am pretty well known for being a good cook and I am especially gifted with desserts... probably because I have such a big sweet tooth.  In our house, I am the one that does the cooking.... mostly because this is one skill my husband doesn't have and I am a picky eater.  I would rather go hungry than eat something I don't like (which is a real problem for me and having to eat Army food).  Anyway, I am not one of those women that demands that my husband cooks and then complain because he makes something I don't like.  So we have a deal, I cook and then I don't complain.  If I want a certain type of food, then that's what I make.  (My husband has gotten pretty handy with the grill though, I must say).  

So, since I always cook, I have accumulated a lot of recipes.  And I am pretty good at tailoring them to my own tastes. I am sure this will be the first recipe of many...

This is my favorite homemade apple pie recipe.  I am not great at making it pretty, but my husband and neighbors were very happy with the results.

IngredientsPastry:

• 2 1/2 cup(s) All-Purpose Flour
• 1/2 teaspoon(s) Salt
• 10 tablespoon(s) Cold Butter Or Margarine, cut up
• 6 tablespoon(s) Vegetable Shortening
• 6 1/2 tablespoon(s) Ice Water

Apple Filling:

• 2/3 cup(s) Sugar
• 1/3 cup(s) Cornstarch
• 1/2 teaspoon(s) Ground Cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon(s) Nutmeg
• 1/4 teaspoon(s) Salt
• 3 1/2 pound(s) Granny Smith, Golden Delicious, And/Or Braeburn Apples, each peeled, cored, and cut into 16 wedges
• 1 tablespoon(s) Fresh Lemon Juice
• 2 tablespoon(s) Butter Or Margarine, cut up
• 1 large Egg White, lightly beaten
• 1 teaspoon(s) Sugar

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Directions

1. To prepare pastry: In food processor with knife blade attached, blend flour and salt. Add butter and shortening, and pulse until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Sprinkle in ice water, 1 tablespoon at a time, pulsing after each addition, until large moist crumbs just begin to form.
2. Shape dough into 2 balls, 1 slightly larger. Flatten each into a disk; wrap each in plastic wrap and refrigerate 30 minutes or overnight. (If chilled overnight, let stand 30 minutes at room temperature before rolling.)
3. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 400 degrees. Place cookie sheet on rack in lower third of preheating oven to bake pie on later. To prepare apple filling: In large bowl, combine sugar with cornstarch, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt. Add apples and lemon juice, and toss to coat evenly.
4. On lightly floured surface, with floured rolling pin, roll larger disk of dough into 12-inch round. Ease dough into 9 1/2-inch deep-dish glass or ceramic pie plate. Gently press dough against bottom and up side of plate without stretching. Trim dough edge, leaving 1-inch overhang; reserve trimmings. Spoon apple mixture into pie crust; dot with butter.
5. Roll remaining disk for top crust into 12-inch round. Center round over filling in bottom crust. Trim pastry edge, leaving 1-inch overhang; reserve trimmings. Fold overhang under; bring up over pie-plate rim and pinch to form stand-up edge, then make decorative edge. Brush crust with some egg white. Reroll trimmings. With knife or cookie cutters, cut out apple and/or leaf shapes; arrange on pie. Cut short slashes in round to allow steam to escape during baking. Brush cutouts with egg white, then sprinkle crust and cutouts with sugar.
6. Bake pie 1 hour 10 minutes or until apples are tender when pierced with knife through slits in crust. To prevent over-browning, cover pie loosely with tent of foil after 40 minutes. Cool pie on wire rack 3 hours to serve warm. Or cool completely to serve later.

Health & Exercise: My Journey into Alternative Therapies

I mentioned in my yoga post that I see a massage therapist and thought I would share about the alternative medicine that changed my life.

My pain began probably somewhere between my junior and senior years of college.  I had experienced joint pain in my knees (mostly from running long distances on hard surfaces and years of improper running shoes) before but I started to experience pain in my shoulders, especially when doing push ups.  Slowly the pain grew and I occassionally had painful popping in my right shoulder and then the left.  My treatment... ignore it! Suck it up! Rub some dirt in it! Drink water! And every other terrible piece of Army advice.

Then about a year ago, I started having neck pain.  I thought it was from bad pillows and some lack of sleep.    I tried some Aleve and of course, that did very little.  So I ignored it some more.  Then in January I had the worst headache of my life.  I was sensitive to light, my right hand went numb, and I was slurring my words, when I could find them.  I went to see my doctor after and she was concerned that it was either occipital neuralgia, migraines or a stroke.  I was having lots of what I called residual headaches (basically two weeks of minor headaches constantly) and so she gave me medicine for that.

At this point, I had never considered that the shoulder pain was related to the neck pain was related to the headaches.  So, I kept ignoring it.  Then I had another crazy headache in May.  I took two fast dissolving pills that are over $100 each and it did nothing except make me nauseous and sick the whole next couple of days.  So I went to see my doctor again.  Though still concerned about occipital neuralgia, and about why I wasn't going to the ER about possible strokes, she knew that since I didn't respond to the migraine medicine, it wasn't that.  So she wondered if it was tension headaches.  And, being the best Army doctor I have ever met, she sent me to Acupuncture and a Chiropractor to see if some of the tension in my neck, shoulders and back could be causing the headaches.

Both the chiropractor and acupuncturist believed this to be the case.  My chiro explained it like this: The muscles in the neck and back are connected to the nerves at the base of my skull.  There is so much tension in my back and neck that when it gets too tense my muscles are pulling on those nerves causing terrible headaches.   So I started seeing each of them weekly.  The chiropractor's adjustment helped more than the acupuncturist's needles, but both were only causing temporary relief.  I was still in so much pain and it was really interferring with everything by that point.  The little relief I was getting made it feel that much worse when the pain came back.

My chiropractor then told me that really what I needed was a massage therapist who could specialize in trigger points, because I have so so so many of them.   Unfortunately, massage therapy is one thing that Fort Carson doesn't offer, so it wouldn't be covered by Tricare (the Army's medical insurance), like acupuncture and chiropractor were.  

However, my husband's flexible spending account (FSA) would. Anyway, seeing Parker at The Shade Tree Massage in Colorado Springs changed everything for me. She is a neuromuscular massage therapist and I see her for trigger point massage. It is a very painful type of massage because it goes deep into very tender areas, but Parker helps increase circulation to the areas and always keeps moving around to cause less pain in the trigger points. After all the pain I have been in for months, I am finally reaching a point of being pain free. I am certainly not there yet, but there are many days where I have little to no pain. And most of the time, even when the pain comes back, it isn't as bad as it was before I started massage therapy. I was in so much pain that I pretty much quit doing outdoor activities, couldn't clean my house without pain and headaches, and simple things like laundry became nearly impossible. I needed so much more sleep and rest and I was begining to feel like I couldn't do anything else. But with Parker's help and a lot of trigger point massage, I am truly getting my life back! *For more information about Parker and The Shade Tree please visit her website at theshadetree.massagetherapy.com.

Health & Exercise: Yoga daily

So, I get a lot of questions about what workouts are like for us Army people.  Well, right now, my Army workouts are decidedly lacking in stretching.  Another time, I will post how I have gotten myself into a position where health care professionals believe that stretching needs to be apart of my workout routine but the important part is, it does.

Before, I used to get most of my stretching out of Tae Kwon Do.  I was actually President of the Illini Tae Kwon Do Club in college and was an assistant instructor.  Anyone who remembers me during practice probably also remembers my inflexibility.  I have always been inflexible, but taking stretching out of my workouts has not only made my inflexibility worse, but it has also hurt my overall fitness levels.  (Flexibility is one of the five components of fitness).

But the important part in Tae Kwon Do wasn't about being more bendy than a bendy-straw, it was about constant improvement and effort.  However, I am no longer in a position to continue taking Tae Kwon Do classes because of time and scheduling as well as the money issue.  So, I needed to find a good exercise routine that focused on stretching and, of course, yoga came to mind.

Not knowing much about it except that it has the same principles towards flexibility as Tae Kwon Do, I started asking questions.  I learned the Sun Salutation from a free class on Wednesday mornings at the Iron Horse Physical Fitness Center on Fort Carson.  My massage therapist (who will likely come up again), Parker, also mentioned that there was a Moon Salutation.

So here is the basics of both.  The Sun Salutation is a great set of stretches to help you start the day and increase circulation. It helps boost your energy and a couple of iterations can take less than ten minutes.  Here is a link to the video I use in the mornings: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n2VSdskq73g&list=FLT66Y_-UNAry38C3t9Jm6MQ&index=1&feature=plpp_video.  The Moon Salutation is a great way to stretch out before bed without waking yourself up.  It takes less than five minutes to go through a couple of iterations.  In fact, it usually makes me yawn and more ready for bed.  Here is the link to the video I use in the evenings: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B1eF-Wl2AlU&list=FLT66Y_-UNAry38C3t9Jm6MQ&index=2&feature=plpp_video.  And of course, all you need is some space to stretch out and a tablet or computer, or even phone with some YouTube access.

Our living room.  My preferred Yoga room for some obvious reasons. 

So, this has just become part of my daily exercise routine.  It only adds about 15 minutes (at most), of exercise to my day, but I am already noticing subtle differences.  However, it means being diligent when I get up in the morning, before physical training (PT) and before I go to bed.  And getting up even a little bit earlier always sucks when you aren't a morning person (which I am not and am convinced I never will be).  But, I figure this is part of what starting a blog is for, some degree of accountability.  As a way for me to hold myself accountable to this new commitment.  And heck, maybe some day I will be flexible enough to post a video of the routine I go through.  But for now, I will just need to stick with it and see how it goes.  And for those of you that need a little boost of energy in the morning or need a chance to clear your head at the end of the day (which is such a stress reliever and can really help you sleep), should give it a try too!

Recreation: Hiking in North Cheyenne Canyon

Time for my second post.  So today my husband and I went hiking as we enjoy doing.  It was about 4 miles hiking up and down upper gold camp road to seven bridges trail and then up trail 622 until we reach the white aspens.  We normally pack a lunch of Subway sandwiches and sit down by the stream to enjoy a nice meal together.  It is lovely this time of year; but I really look forward to hiking there for the first time this fall with all the leaves changing.  The mountain stream through the canyon is beautiful and has many waterfalls.  It is incredibly peaceful.  Our dog Hoeffer, a Havanese, loves the hikes and runs around the trails and up the steep hills.  Next weekend, we are hoping to climb Mount Rosa and then Pikes Peak soon after.  There isn't much time left to the hiking season.  Supposedly the first snowfall around here is in October so it doesn't give us much time.  Most people don't really train for Pikes Peak, but my husband wants to make sure we are ready for the trip.  Pikes Peak is 13.something miles up bar trail and then back down.  It has the greatest elevation change of an of Colorado's 14-ers even though it is not Colorado's tallest mountain.  So it will definitely be difficult, but lots of people do it. So I guess will just have to give it a try and see how we do! 

          

Introduction: A little bit about me

So,

I have thought about writing a blog many times, and with some encouragement from my friend Sam, (http://madmedmommy.blogspot.com/) and reassurance from my husband, Kevin (http://newrealestateinvestors.blogspot.com/) I figured I would go for it. But as my husband pointed out, I needed to find a topic.

So here it is: life.  Specifically mine.  I will write about what is important to me.  So here are some things you should know about me.  I am a Christian, I am a wife, and I am an Army Officer. Thus my posts will likely be about my work in the Army, being a wife, preparing for an upcoming deployment to Afghanistan and before that a National Training Center rotation.  I also will likely post some recipes and favorite meals.  Occasionally, I may post a political opinion or two.  To remain positive, I will not post anything I am against, only what I am for.  I was a political science major at the University of Illinois Urbana- Champaign and am considering running for Congress someday.  I also may occasionally write about my faith and what I believe and why.  Also, I may post about my new experiences in home buying, life plans and goals, my experiences with alternative medicines (like acupuncture, Chiropractor, trigger point massage therapy and yoga). And, of course, I reserve the write to post about whatever else is on my mind.

So I guess I will start with my work.  I am a Second Lieutenant in the United States Army.  I am a Quartermaster Officer (which basically means I focus on supplying the Army with the things it needs like food and subsistence).   I am currently stationed at Fort Carson, CO and am in a Combat Sustainment Support Battalion (CSSB).  I currently work in our Operations section which means my focus is to plan basic training and operations for our battalion.  Our battalion has somewhere near 1,500 Soldiers in it and we are the only CSSB directly supporting Fort Carson.  We are fairly removed from the battlefield because our job is to provide direct sustainment support (food, clothing, equipment, maintenance support, HET support, etc.) to units who may be otherwise incapable of providing that service to themselves.  This means our battalion takes on many tasks directly supporting the 4th Infantry Division.  My job, is to help coordinate this support as well as coordinating training for the seven companies in my battalion.

It is an unusual job for someone of my rank. I currently am filling a job two ranks above my pay grade.   This leads to unusual situations when I have to tell company commanders (rank of Captain and two pay grades above me) what they need to do.

My big project for this week is to create a training exercise for two of our companies rear detachments (a small portion of the unit that stays behind when the rest of the unit deploys).  It is called a mission readiness exercise.  The jist of what I am doing is coordinating with many agencies on post to create a training scenario where we tell the unit that several Soldiers from their unit down range (or deployed) were either killed in action or wounded in action and they need to plan notional memorial services and notify the families of the hard ship.  We also call on our GO teams and Care teams (predetermined persons, normally spouses, who have volunteered to help the family after notification and will go into the home, if requested, to help take care of the Spouse and family).  It is a good way to judge if the companies are prepared to handle such a thing, because you don't want to find out you are ill-equipped to handle something when it is actually happening.  (If you are in the Army and trying to create a similar training exercise for your unit, please feel free to leave me a comment with either your AKO or global email address and I can give you more details.)  So that is what I will be working on all next week so we are ready to run the training exercise the following week.

Recreationally, my husband an I like to get outdoors with our dog, Hoeffer, and either hike, play disc golf, climb mountains, ski or just whatever.  It's great living in a place like Colorado where there is so much to do outside, though being in the Army, it is not always easy to find the time.  But, when I get the chance, I will post pictures from our escapades, especially of the beautiful scenery.

As for now, I think that this post if quite long enough and I am going to have many chances to reveal even more of my life in the coming future.