Foodie Friday – Apple Galette

Apple Galette has been a go-to dessert for me when I need to make something that looks a little more sophisticated than chocolate chip cookies or brownies.  Two apples and a pie crust and your in business!  It is quick and easy and most importantly delicious.  One last thing….don’t forget the vanilla ice cream.

Below is the recipe I follow to make the crust.  If time is a factor, by all means grab that ready-made pie crust in your freezer, allow it to thaw out a little and then roll it out to be the base of your galette.

Galette Pie Crust

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 t. salt
1/2 cup chilled butter, cut into pieces (one stick)
3 tablespoons ice water

Put flour and salt in the bowl of a food processor and pulse to combine.  Add butter and pulse until the largest butter pieces are the size of peas.  Add water, one tablespoon at a time, pulsing to mix.  The mixture won’t look like it’s holding together.  Pinch it, and it should stick together.

Galette Ingredients:

3 Tbsp sugar

1/4 tsp each – ground cinnamon and nutmeg

1 large egg white, beaten

2 large apples (preferably Gold Delicious), peeled, cored and sliced 1/8 in. thick

1 Tbsp cold, unsalted butter, cut into small bits

3 Tbsp apricot preserves

Step 1: Preheat your oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit.  Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil and then spray with cooking spray.  In a small cup combine sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg and set aside.  Place pie crust on the baking sheet.

Step 2: Brush the pie crust with egg white.  Sprinkle 1 Tbsp sugar mixture onto the pie crust.  Starting 1 inch in from edge, arrange apple slices in a circle, overlapping; with remaining slices, fill center, overlapping slices.  Sprinkle evenly 2 Tbsp of sugar mixture and then dot with butter.  Fold edges of crust over apples.  Brush crust with egg white and sprinkle with remaining sugar mixture.

Step 3: Bake 15 minutes.  Reduce oven temperature to 375 degrees Fahrenheit and bake an additional 18 to 20 minutes, until crust is brown and apples are tender.  Transfer to cooling rack.  Heat apricot preserves in saucepan and then brush over apples.  Let cool.

Local Business: Aw Shucks Farms

Looking for a fun family activity to do this fall?  Well look no further Aw Shucks Farm!  With so many different activities to choose from, you will probably want to make more than one trip to the farm this fall.  General admission ($8) includes:

*Corn Maze (**The maze will celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Girl Scouts of America**)

*Hayrides

*Animal Barn

*Grain Bin Slide (**NEW**)

*1800′s train car

*Kids play area

*Boy club house & girls castle (**NEW**)

*Kiddie corral (**Re-done for 2012**)

There is also a hayride that takes you to a large pumpkin patch where you can pick your own pumpkin from the field.  And new this fall on Friday and Saturday nights in October, you can enjoy Spooky Stories & S’Mores by the fire to get you into the Halloween spirit ($5 per person in addition to general admission).

Be sure to check out their website for photos, fall prices/hours and more detailed information on the different activities on the farm.

Foodie Friday: Tomatoes Roasted with Pesto

With the abundance of fresh, local tomatoes and basil, here is a MUST TRY recipe courtesy of Ina Garten (The Barefoot Contessa)!

To the left is Kacey’s personal attempt at the recipe!  Great job!

Inspired Photography by Jessica

Last year after many failed attempts to get photos of my family for our annual Christmas card, I decided that I needed to turn to a professional.  Who knew trying to get a 10 month old and a three year old to look at the camera at the same time could be so difficult!  I wanted the photos to be taken outdoors so going to a photo studio was not going to work.  That is when I found Jessica Cook of Inspired Photography by Jessica.  Jessica’s style is casual, simple and clean.  She is able to capture those moments that many of us try so hard to create in attempt to get the “perfect” photo.

Custom photography is all about choice and experience, and finding someone who will photograph your newborn or your family and devote the personalized attention necessary, without the feeling of a crowded, “cookie-cutter” portrait studio.  I had the opportunity to sit and talk to Jessica and find out a little more about her and how she came into  photography.

LB:  Tell us a bit about yourself.

JC:  I am a southern transplant from Nebraska.  A wife, mother to two little girls only 18 months apart, tennis enthusiast, perfectionist and strive to work hard in everything I do.

LB:  How did you get interested in photography?

JC:  I have had a camera since I was a young girl and loved taking photos but it really blossomed once I had my own children.  I would take pictures of both my girls every month and loved documenting how they were changing.  Since I was taking their pictures so much, that perfectionist attitude kicked in and I started to self teach ways to make each month’s pictures better and better.  I was loving it so much and getting compliments from friends and family.   I had been in pharmaceutical sales for almost 8 years at that point and was about to get laid off.  I decided that if I did get laid off, that I would take the leap and do what was giving me so much joy.  I enrolled myself in various workshops by professional photographers and launched “Inspired” in May of 2009.

LB:  What is your favorite age to shoot and why?

JC:  I love every part of a baby just 10 days new.  The posing, ideas, props, are different than any other stage.  It’s a time of pure joy for the parents and it’s a once in a lifetime capture that you can never get again.

LB:  What inspires you on a regular basis?

JC:  My children, my faith, my perfectionist attitude, the desire to do my very best.

LB:  What 3 words would your friends use to describe you?

JC:  Organized, driven, caring.

LB:  What 3 words would your kids use to describe you?

JC:  Well at age 3 and 4, I’m afraid to ask, but my guess would be strict, silly, and busy!

LB:  How do you find time to be a mom and run your business?

JC:  It’s tough since they are still preschool age.  The wonderful part about capturing newborns, beside it being my favorite, is that the client is available and scheduled while my girls are at preschool.  I edit images during nap time and finish up other items like marketing campaigns or blogging after their bedtime.  Other clients are scheduled on the weekends while my husband can help care for our children.

Inspired Photography by Jessica is a featured business on the Local Buggy website.  Learn more about how your business can be featured on Local Buggy!  Email sales@localbuggy.com.

Support Buggy: Supporting a family member who lost a loved one.

On April 6th of this year, my husband lost

his brother in a rock climbing accident.  It

was a freak accident.  Mother Nature is at

fault.  He was a safety first kind of climber

and for this to happen to him still leaves us

all in disbelief.   He left behind his wife and their 2 1/2 year

old daughter.  So much life left to live with his beautiful family

and in an instant that all changed.

Through all this what has left me speechless is the amount of people who stepped forward

wanting to help the family.  So many people wanted to know what they could do.   My SIL’s

(sister-in-law) friend suggested setting up a calendar for people to sign up and bring meals

so SIL would not have to worry about cooking.  I used the Support Buggy on the Local

Buggy site to create a SignUp for meal deliveries.  My SIL eats VERY healthy so the

“Special Consideration” section was a good way to remind everyone.  I also liked that my

SIL had access to the calendar and could see in advance who would be stopping by to drop

off dinner.

I also created a SignUp for her to have her house cleaned using the Support Buggy.  Again,

friends wanted to do whatever they could to help out.  My SIL had a woman come and

clean her home every two weeks and she mentioned that she was going to have to stop

having that done.  Survival mode was setting in and any frivolous expenses she wanted to

cut out.  We decided to set up a calendar for her so she could continue to have her home

cleaned until school was out (she is a school counselor).  One less thing for her to worry

about as well as another way for people to help her these first few months.

My SIL and niece live about five hours from us.  To know that they have so many

wonderful friends where they live that are taking care of them keeps our minds at ease.

I am in awe of people’s generosity and kindness.  We are grateful.

Mentor Mob Mania!

You may not have heard about Mentor Mob yet.  I stumbled across it recently while reading an article on Inc.com.  As a Homeschooling Mom I am VERY excited about this site’s potential!  Mentor Mob allows the user to gather all of the most pertinent information on a subject from the internet into what they call a playlist.  This playlist can be photos, videos, websites, audio—pretty much anything you could bookmark from the web.  I found some fantastic educational playlists that I will be using for my girls.  You can share playlists, create one and mark it as public for others to use, and search for playlists already created.  I’m really looking forward to seeing this website takeoff.  To me, Mentor Mob is like Pinterest on steroids!

Check out this video to see what it’s all about!