Raspberry pie

Jake and I usually make a fruit pie for Thanksgiving (either blueberry or raspberry). This year I did it all on my own :) He usually does the lattice weaving, but I think I did a pretty darn good job for my first time!

Crust:
Ingredients:

• 4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 3/4 cups shortening
• 3 tablespoons white sugar
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 1 egg
• 1/2 cup water

Directions:

• In a large mixing bowl, combine all-purpose flour, shortening, sugar, and salt. Blend together with a pastry cutter until crumbly.
• In a small bowl, mix egg with water. Blend into flour mixture. Chill in refrigerator until ready to use.

Filling:
Ingredients:

• 1 quart fresh raspberries
• 1 1/4 cups white sugar
• 8 teaspoons cornstarch
• 2 tablespoons quick-cooking tapioca
• 6 tablespoons water
• 4 tablespoons butter
• 1 recipe pastry for a 9 inch double crust pie

Directions:

• Mix together raspberries, sugar, cornstarch, minute tapioca and water. Mix and let sit while you make your pie crust.
  
• Put berries in bottom crust.
• Put on top crust and crimp edges. Make slits in the crust to allow the steam to escape. (Or lattice weave as pictured above)
  
• Bake at 425 degrees F for 15 minutes. Reduce heat to 350 degrees F and bake for 45 minutes. (Mine only cooked for 35 more minutes instead of 45)
  

Broccoli Cheese soup

Yum yum! This is from cookinglight.com. Pretty simple, and quite delicious!

Ingredients:

• Cooking spray
• 1 cup chopped onion
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 3 cups fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth
• 1 (16-ounce) package broccoli florets (used frozen florets)
  
• 2 1/2 cups 2% reduced-fat milk (used fat free)
  
• 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
• 8 ounces light processed cheese, cubed (such as Velveeta Light) (I couldnt find "light" so I used regular)

Directions:

• Heat a large nonstick saucepan coated with cooking spray over medium-high heat.
  
• Add onion and garlic; saute 3 minutes or until tender.
  
• Add broth and broccoli. Bring broccoli mixture to a boil over medium-high heat.
  
• Reduce heat to medium; cook 10 minutes.
• Combine milk and flour, stirring with a whisk until well blended.
  
• Add milk mixture to broccoli mixture. Cook 5 minutes or until slightly thick, stirring constantly.
  
• Stir in pepper.
  
• Remove from heat; add cheese, stirring until cheese melts.
• Place one-third of the soup in a blender or food processor, and process until smooth. Return pureed soup mixture to pan.

Apple Crisp

This was my first attempt at an apple crisp, and let me tell you...it was EXCELLENT. I couldn't stop eating it!

Ingredients:
Main:

• 10 cups all-purpose apples, peeled, cored and sliced
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 cup water

For the crisp:

• 1 cup quick-cooking oats
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 cup butter, melted

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F
• Place the sliced apples in a 9x13 inch pan.
  
• Mix the white sugar, 1 tablespoon flour and ground cinnamon together, and sprinkle over apples. Pour water evenly over all.
• Combine the oats, 1 cup flour, brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda and melted butter together. Crumble evenly over the apple mixture.
• Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for about 45 minutes.

Cowboy spaghetti

This is actually a Rachel Ray recipe. As much as I usually don't like her food, this was REALLY good!

Ingredients:

• 1 pound spaghetti
• Salt
• 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil, 1 turn of the pan
• 3 slices smoky bacon, chopped (you can omit this, its just to crumble over the top...)
  
• 1 pound ground sirloin
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 3 to 4 cloves garlic, chopped
• Ground black pepper
• 2 teaspoons hot sauce, eyeball it
• 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce, eyeball it
• 1/2 cup beer (I dont think I used a whole 1/2 cup...I just poured some, its to deglaze the pan)
  
• 1 (14-ounce) can, chopped or crushed fire roasted tomatoes (I couldnt find fire roasted, so I got diced tomatoes with green chilis...gave the dish a great flavor!)
  
• 1 (8-ounces) can, tomato sauce
• 8 ounces sharp Cheddar
• 4 scallions, chopped (omitted)

Directions:

• Heat a pot of water to a boil. Add spaghetti and salt the water. Cook to al dente or with a bite to it.

• Heat a deep skillet over medium-high heat. Add extra-virgin olive oil and bacon.
  
• Brown and crisp bacon, 5 minutes, remove with a slotted spoon. Drain off a little excess fat if necessary. Leave just enough to coat the bottom of the skillet.
  
• Add beef and crumble it as it browns, 3 to 4 minutes.
  
• Add onions, garlic and stir into meat.
  
• Season the meat with salt and pepper, hot sauce and Worcestershire.
  
• Add 1/2 cup beer and deglaze the pan. Cook 5 to 6 minutes more then stir in tomatoes and tomato sauce.
• Add hot spaghetti to meat and sauce and combine. Adjust seasonings and serve up pasta in shallow bowls. Grate some cheese over the pasta and sprinkle with scallions. Garnish with crisp bacon

Rigatoni Oreganata with Tomato Sauce and Bread Crumbs

This was super easy to make, and fast as well. A great recipe for a weeknight. It came out really good too. I got it from Foodtv.com. Its an Emeril recipe.

Ingredients:

• 4 tablespoons kosher salt
• 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, plus 4 tablespoons
• 1 pound rigatoni
• 1 cup small diced onion
• 4 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
• 2 tablespoons roughly chopped fresh oregano leaves (I used dried)
  
• 2 tablespoons roughly chopped fresh basil leaves (I used dried)
  
• 1 (14 1/2-ounce) can diced tomatoes
• 1 cup tomato sauce
• 2 tablespoons tomato paste
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 1 cup reserved pasta cooking water
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
• 1/4 cup chopped parsley leaves
• 3/4 cup dried bread crumbs
  
• 1/2 cup grated Parmesan

Directions:

• Preheat the oven to broil.
• Set a large, 4 to 6-quart stockpot filled with water over high heat and bring to a boil.
• Season the water with the kosher salt, 2 tablespoons olive oil and add the rigatoni.
• While the pasta cooks, set a 14-inch saute pan over medium-high heat and add the olive oil
• Once the oil is hot, add the onions and garlic and cook, stirring occasionally, until soft and slightly caramelized, 3 to 4 minutes.
  
• Add the oregano and basil.
  
• Add the diced tomatoes, tomato sauce and tomato paste and stir well to combine.
  
• Continue to cook the sauce until it is slightly reduced, about 4 to 5 minutes.
  
• Add the heavy cream to the pan.
  
• By this time the pasta should be almost al dente.
  
• Drain the pasta and reserve 1 cup of the cooking water.
  
• Add the pasta and the 1 cup of reserved cooking water to the sauce in the pan and season with the salt and pepper.
  
• Continue to cook, tossing the pasta, until it is well coated with the sauce and most of the liquid has evaporated, about 2 to 3 minutes.
• Sprinkle the parsley over the pasta and toss. Spread the bread crumbs over the pasta and place the pan in the oven to broil until the bread crumbs are caramelized, about, 3 minutes, being sure to rotate the pan after 1 1/2 minutes. Remove the pasta from the oven, allow it to cool for 5 minutes, and serve with Parmesan sprinkled on top.

**I cooked everything on the stove top but then put it all into a baking dish b/c my pan has a plastic-like handle...and well I didn't think that would go over well in the broiler ;)