Apple Almond Pie

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I love making food on my own instead of buying it premade at the store; it gives me a sense of accomplishment. I also like to know what I eat... have you ever read the list of ingredients on things you buy? Sometimes it's reaaaaally scary; so many scientific words and weird unnecessary ingredients. Anyway, here's my pie recipe, I hope you like it, it's really quick and easy... like most of my recipes.

Dough

Ingredients

3 cups Flour
1 cup Shortening
1 cup Water

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Steps

1. Lightly hand mix the flour & shortening.

I want to stress the word "lightly". If you over mix, your cooked dough will be hard as rock. You want it to be like in the picture. Don't worry, when you add the water it will mix more.

2. Add the water & hand mix. It's normal that it starts messy! Again, try not to over mix.

When you're done, the dough will still be a bit sticky, it's normal. The reason you want it that way is so that it doesn't become too dry when you add flour to your rolling surface.

3. Separate & freeze half in a Ziploc bag for later use.

This recipe makes enough dough for 2 & half pies. if you only put dough on the bottom you can make 5!

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Filling

Ingredients

6 Apples
1/2 cup Brown Sugar
1/4 cup Corn Starch

Optional

2 teaspoons Cinnamon
2 teaspoons Nutmeg
Handful of sliced almonds

This pie tastes great even without the optional ingredients. Also, you don't need a lot of sugar, the 1/2 cup might be too sweet for some people. If you don't like things too sweet, you can use just 1/4 cup of leave it out all together.

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Steps

1. Mix dry ingredients.

I actually added 1 cup of sugar here, because I love sugar, but I found it too sweet, next time I'll go with 1/2 cup.

2. Peel and slice apples, then add them to the dry ingredients.

3. Grease pan, roll half the dough & lay it on the bottom. Add filling.

4. Roll & place top dough. Cut extra edges with knife & press sides with fork. Don't forget to makes some holes to allow air to escape while it cooks.

Put leftover dough from edges aside... wouldn't want to waste!

5. Bake at 350 Celsius for 50 to 55 minutes. My oven heats a lot so I add an aluminum sheet on the bottom rack to absorb some heat before it reaches the pie.

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DIY: Clay Pot Decorative Stand

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Dollar store craft? Yup! Cool huh? It's unbelievable how many things you can craft with a pinch of creativity. I had a few extra clay pots lying around & wanted to do something fun. These are so easy to make & so cheap! Plus, you can use them to hold so many different things!

Materials

Clay pot & Saucer
Acrylic paint & Brushes

I bought all the materials at the dollar store for a dollar each. Cool right?

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Steps

1. Paint with a base color of your choice.

2. Turn the pot upside down & glue the saucer on top. I used a glue gun.

3. Decorate!

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I just used paint, but if you want to go crazy, you can add ribbons, glitter, gems... How would you decorate these? ...and voila! Cuuuuuuute huh? If you make one, send me a link or photo, I'd love to see them!

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Quick Rice Pudding

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I have a bad habit of never following recipes when cooking so I often end up with a lot of left overs. This is an easy recipe I made with some left over rice I had. Hope you like it.

Ingredients

1 cup cooked Rice
1 cup Milk
1/4 cup Sugar

Optional

2 Cinnamon sticks
Handful of dried fruit & nuts

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This isn't an exact recipe, you can vary the amounts according to taste. (:

Steps

1. Boil all the ingredients until most of the milk has evaporated.

2. Let cool, serve, add seasoning & eat. :)

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I usually season with powdered cinnamon or nutmeg. You can eat it warm or cold. What easy recipes do you make with left-overs?