from the archives :: {easy as pie}

You may have had your fill of pies this Thanksgiving, but I thought I'd share this with you anyway. Enjoy!

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Apple Pie, that is!

Today I thought I'd share my "famous" apple pie recipe with y'all. It may only be famous with the people at my church, but I think it's still pretty good. And it's easy. Which makes it all the better!

When I first started baking pies, I jumped around to several different recipes. They were all pretty simple...but I kept losing the one I had used before and having to find a new one. Pretty pathetic, huh? This recipe (that I've actually hung on to) is kind of a revised version of one I found in the 12th edition Fannie Farmer cookbook. If you cared to know.

Moving on now...

The main thing I do when I make pies is cheat:

Yep, I use the pre-made stuff. And I haven't ever noticed a difference, so it must be pretty good. I've also started pre-baking the bottom crust, because I found that otherwise, it could be pretty raw underneath all the apple goodness. So, to start off, preheat your oven to 425 degrees. Roll out the pie crust in your pie pan (8 or 9 inches), and pop it in the oven for about 10 minutes. Be sure to check on it fairly frequently to prevent burning. When it's lightly browned, take it out and leave it to cool while you move on to the filling.

Even though you pricked holes in the crust, they still might get a little bubbly. Don't worry, it's pretty easy to push the air out with a fork/spoon. Just be careful not to tear a hole in the crust! It doesn't have to be too pretty, cause it will be hidden by the filling.

Next, take 7 or 8 large, tart apples and peel, core and slice them. You can use and apple peeler/corer gadget, or just a good old fashioned knife. Whatever you have handy.

Now for the sugar and spice mixture. You'll need:

• 3/4 - 1 cup sugar
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1 tsp. cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp. nutmeg
• 1 1/2 Tbsp. flour

Use a seperate, smallish bowl and mix all of that together.

Then pour that mixture over the apples, mixing as you go. You may not need all of the sugar/spice mixture, depending on how you like it.

Now pour the apple mixture into the pre-baked pie crust. If you like, you can also soften 2 Tbsp. of butter to dot all over it (before you put the top crust on).

How you do the top crust is perfectly up to you. You can just unroll it, place it over the apples, pinch the edges, cut some holes (decorative, perhaps?), and bake it that way. For apple pies, I usually do a woven top.

If you prefer a woven top, unroll the crust onto a large plate and cut it into similarly sized strips. Then lay over the top of the pie in different directions to give it that woven look.

Trim the edges and pinch it together.

Now all you have to do is bake! Bake it at 425 degrees for 10 minutes, then lower the temperature to 350 degrees and continue baking for 30-40 minutes. Be sure to keep an eye on it; it's done when the apples are tender and the crust lightly browned. The edges of the crust sometimes tend to burn, so be careful!

You know the only thing I forgot? To take a picture of the finished pie. Whoops!

But it's as easy as that. If you have any questions, let me know!

Now it's your turn; do you have any easy recipes you love to make? It doesn't have to be a dessert. Tell me about it, I'd love to hear it!

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originally posted September 2009

{Re-Post} Revealed!

I apologize for re-posting something, but I'm still working on a blogging schedule that will work for me; hopefully to be put in effect next week. For this week, well, just bear with me. 


This was originally posted here, so if you've already seen it, I'm sorry. But for those of you who haven't seen it? Enjoy! 


Note: I still live at home and share a room with my younger sister who has very little in common with me when it comes to design. So we both had to do a little compromising. But I think it worked out pretty well.

The time has finally come.

Are you ready to see what my weekend of cleaning, painting and rearranging has produced?

(If you need a reminder of just how bad it was before, click here.)

Drumroll, please...

This is what you might see right as you walk into our room:

{I apologize if the beds look a little sloppy...have you ever tried to neatly make up a bunkbed? It's nearly impossible, and I'm not that patient.}

We never had doors for our closet. I'm not quite sure how that happened. So getting curtains was a must for me. And I love how it turned out. Now you can't see all my clothes and shoes!

{Don't the curtains look nice? I love the way it drapes.}

My poor piano, stuck in a corner.

I now have paisley sheets. I love it! And the bird pillow was not my idea. I love the pillow, but not the $30 price tag. My mom splurged and got it because my little sister loves birds. It really is a nice compliment to the room.

I tried something a little different here. Instead of hanging my mirror and picture on the wall, they're set on the dresser. What do you think of it? It's different than what I'm used to, but I like it. And don't worry, I made absolutely sure they wouldn't fall.

I love these butterflies. I'd had them for a looong time, but they never quite had a place before. I love how they stand out from the darker color.

{And guess what? I got them from our church's yard sale for like a quarter!}

This is seriously one of my absolute favorite parts of the redo:

{It's right by the door on the way out. The cute storage ottomans came from Target, and I've had the shelf for a really long time. It was always just hung somewhere random, but now I feel like it has new purpose. And I like it.}

Of course, pictures can't necessarily show the whole room...the sweetheart said I should take a video, but that would involve me being in the video, and I won't plague you so.

One of my goals it to keep the look kind of simple with clean lines. Before, I just had so much clutter. And then it looked kind of messy all the time. So I put away things that aren't important, and we'll see how it goes. I also like how the room feels light and airy.

So, what do you think? I really want to hear your input on my "design skills"!

Extra note: Be sure to stop by and enter the Cymbaline Designs giveaway for a piece of jewelry of your choice!