bakerella

WARNING: LONG POST AHEAD

Over the past week, I've been in a baking craze! I have tried anything I've felt like eating, which has led to a lot of fun creations!

A few weeks ago, I really wanted soup! It was only 100 degrees in July, but I was craving a creamy, flavorful soup! So, I made this one:

Fire Roasted Tomato Soup

Sweet mercy, this was a divine soup! I'm so excited to make this again in the fall and have it with grilled cheese sammies or something. Ooo, this really will be a divine fall meal - it makes a ton!

I combined it with lemon basil potatoes (both have basil in them, so next time, I'll go with the grilled cheese! haha)

Next, I made peach cobler (no pictures! sorry!) and it was gone fast! Besides, it was probably the easiest dessert I've ever made. I loved it! So simple - and whoever posted the nice baking substitution for self rising flour, you deserve a hug :)

This weekend:

Isn't this dish divine? Tyler's grandmother passed it along to me, and I love the writing, and of course, the fun directions on the plate itself :) I wish we had more things like this in our era, but I would never give up the footnetwork.com site....

I was really craving apple pie for some reason, so Saturday-Sunday, I made apple pie! Why did it take me so long, you ask? Well, friends, I am a chemist. I am not a mind-reader of recipes.

Making pie crust - its a tricky business. I expect 'chemical-reaction' type directions when its something I haven't made before. "It feels like ____" or "It should look like___" in a recipe are such a help. The recipe I used (not the one in the dish!) didn't have anything of the sort. Which means, I tried making it 3 times.....

My grandmother makes a famous, fabulous pie crust that people are always talking about. I could not give up! So, we went out to eat Saturday night (with the apples sitting in their sugar/cider vinegar/cinnamon marinade) and on Sunday, I came home from church and tried again, using a different recipe, which still omitted the chemistry comments.....

And this is the end product! The crust worked, the apples were plump and juicy (and not too tart, according to Tyler), and it was divine! I could not believe it! The crust was the perfect flakiness, and it tasted just like grandma's! (I bet I have years to go until I'm that good, but I still felt pretty dang happy!) I like that you can see the apples ready to jump out of the top!

You can see that my edges aren't even close to perfect, but I'm still trying :)

This is the yummy inside view....served with vanilla ice cream, it could not be beat!

Of course, we had friends over for Sunday dinner, so I had to make sure the pie worked, so I was really happy when it did!  Sarah and Sterling came over for dinner with baby Eliza, and we munched on her delicious appetizers while the roast and pie cooked:

Sarah made delicious lettuce wraps with crab, rice, avocado, and red pepper - they were awesome! I loved the kick from the red pepper!

Eliza might not like getting snapped without warning...

But she did enjoy eating outside!

Quick recipe for the roast:
2 lb pot roast (bone in is great)
1 pkg Italian Dressing (dry)
1 tbs minced garlic
    ---cook on high in a crock pot for 6-8 hours, or until tender, serve with BBQ sauce on buns!

Thanks to Sterling and Sarah for coming over and eating with us!