Apple Pie~*

  Finally Apple Pie!!! It is best fresh from oven, O-M-G I couldn't stop at just one piece. I peronally favor Gala apple so I used this variety instead of Granny Smith as suggestede in an original recipe (here).   (Ingredients/Directions via AllRecipe.com, Healthier Apple Pie by Grandma Ople)   Ingredients 1 recipepastry for a 9 inch double crust pie 1/4 cup unsalted butter 3 tablespoonsall-purpose flour 1/4 cup water 1/2 cuppacked brown sugar 8 Granny Smith apples - peeled, cored and sliced (I only used 5 Gala apples)   Directions  

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C). Melt the butter in a saucepan. Stir in flour to form a paste. Add water and brown sugar, and bring to a boil. Reduce temperature and let simmer.
2. Place the bottom crust in your pan. Fill with apples, mounded slightly. Cover with a lattice work of crust. Gently pour the sugar and butter liquid over the crust. Pour slowly so that it does not run off. (I didin't pour the sugar/butter liquid over the crust since I didn't have enough. I just brushed the top crust with egg white)
3. Bake 15 minutes in the preheated oven. Reduce the temperature to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Continue baking for 35 to 45 minutes, until apples are soft.

 

{Asian} Beauty Bliss

My new skincare regimen. It has been months since I last tried new products. Sometimes I question - are we lucky to live in this age and time when there are too many information, choices and decisions to make on literally....everything from food choices to consumer products. OMG - what to buy, right?!?! Don't you want them all??   An important factor that makes or breaks my purchasing decision is that they have to be clean and natural. I am a kind of person who pays attention to an ingredient list and read every single ingredient on the lable. So I am quite pleased to discover these two brands recently and have been testing them about a week. Hope they give great results, will come back with a full report in about a month :)

Easy as a {Pecan} Pie

  There is no denying that I have a thing for pie. Pie is easy, comforting, fast, light and full of flavors. I especially like fruit pie (hint..hint..next project comes an apple pie). In the past months I discovered this special recipe of Pecan Pie which uses "brown sugar" in place of a traditional corn syrup. As interesting as it sounded, I knew I had to try it and the result was impressive. Totally differnt in a good and interesting way, something yummy with a twist in texture. I appreciate a simple list of ingredients which are already in your kitchen. I slightly modified the original recipe by reducing sugar to 3/4 cup of brown sugar alone and 1/4 cup of unsalted butter. One cup of pecan according to a recipe is not a lot so I normally put as much as I desire. It turned out just perfect, not too sweet. You can find a full recipe {here}   Pecan - ready!     Pie crust - ready! (store bought for convenience)   Brown sugar - ready!     The rest of the ingredients - ready! Tip: Make sure you use a hand mixer and beat eggs at high speed or your filling comes out very flat.   Filling - ready, set and bake!     Hmmm.......okay I am getting fat..sigh!

Hello July~*

What?!? The first half of 2013 has already passed and here I am sitting and staring at a calendar trying to deny the fact that in the past two months I was beyond lazy and lacked of inspiration. It has been quite awhile since that last post so it felt out of place here like how do I post..literally. So until I get back in the full swing of blogging again, I shall keep this short and leave you with some photos.   4th of July     Yellow flowers growing from vegetable plant   Fruit Salad     Cupcakes to satisfy our sweet calling (bought from a cupcake place)     YUM!!!!!!!!!!