And what a good walk it was...
This past Saturday was exciting on the family front. My daughter came for a visit, a bit of a lunch, then a trip to her Grandparents. My grandson also came to spend the day.
Lunch was baked chicken and gravy, dressing, roasted root vegetables and deviled eggs. The apple pie for dessert, we decided to take with us to Mom and Dad's house. My grandson waited patiently for it.
When we arrived, the folks and their dog, Seven, greeted us all warmly, as expected, even though the weather was damp and cool. We visited for awhile before our youngest member reminded us all there was apple pie to eat. So we commenced to delving into it, regardless of the fact that we forgot the whipped cream.
Recipe for Apple pie with sorghum:
Ingredients:
6 Gala apples (or whatever pie apple you prefer)
1/3 cup of sorghum (similar to molasses or cane syrup, not Karo)
1TBSP cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/4 stick of butter or margarine
Crust for two-crust pie:
Frozen or dairy aisle canned pie crust is fine but if you prefer homemade-
2 c. all purpose flour
2/3 cup shortening
1 Tsp white, distilled vinegar
1/3 cup of cold water
Cut the shortening into the flour until it looks like coarse corn meal
Add the vinegar to the water and add this to your flour mixture, mixing until it forms a ball. You may need to add more water, but only a 1/2 tsp at a time.
Chill dough, if time permits, to make it easier to handle (about 30 minutes).
Cut ball in half and roll out one for bottom crust and the other for top.
Wash, core and slice thinly 6 gala apples - I chose not to peel them, since Gala's have a thin skin.
Coat sliced apples with lemon juice to prevent browning (or you can wait until you have the crusts ready to prepare the apples, then put them right in and bake them).
Toss apples with sorghum, cinnamon and nutmeg and place all into crust- lined pie pan.
Dot the mound of apples with pieces of butter.
Cover with top crust, make a few slits in the top and bake in a hot oven (425F) for 15 minutes then turn down to medium heat (350F) for another 40 - 45 minutes. Check to make sure crust is not getting too brown around the edges; if it is, put pieces of foil around the edge of the crust for the remainder of baking time.
Serve warm with whipped cream or a la mode.
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Back to the walk...
Having eaten the pie, we decided to take Seven for a walk. Grandson and I leashed her up and proceeded down the long hill to the creek. We had no problems until we encountered another dog minding his own business in his own yard. Grandson lost the leash and mayhem ensued! Luckily, Seven just chased the other dog farther into his substantial yard, then gave up. She languidly returned to us, after a bit of mandatory chastising, but she wasn't sorry; no, not at all.
The less frigid temps were melting the remaining sleet accumulation that adorned the roadside, but that did not prevent my grandson from making a few slush balls with which to pelt his Gramma. Needless to say, we arrived home, dog on leash and bedraggled. A nice walk, indeed.
Then, there was the magnolia fort...
Seven chose to remain outdoors, so we put her on her long leash, but grandson was not ready to go inside either; he wanted to explore the back yard, still heavily burdened with downed limbs from the previous week's ice storm. The folks have a huge magnolia tree in the back yard which really got hit hard, so there were limbs surrounding it. Southern Magnolias are umbrella shaped, with long, evergreen, leafy branches that reach the ground. They make a natural shelter. Stepping inside, it became obvious to us both that, with a little work, we could make this into a 'killer' club house.
We set to work arranging the larger broken limbs around the exterior of the tree, sticking the sharp ends into the mucky sod beneath. We filled in with smaller branches. The large, thick leaves made excellent walls. By the time we'd used up all the debris, we were pretty soggy ourselves, but the finished "man cave," as my grandson named it, was none to shabby. He decided he was going to play in this magnolia fort every time he visits.
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Thank God for Grandsons that bring out the child in Grammas.
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