Sour Cream Raisin Pie

I grew up having this pie for Thanksgiving every year. My Dads' mom made it every year as well. 

1       cup raisins                             

3/4     cup sugar                               

1       cup sour cream                      

3       Tbsp. corn starch                    

2      eggs separated

1     tsp vanilla

1     Tbsp butter

1/2   tsp salt

Add sugar to raisins in a sauce pan.  Barely cover with water and simmer until tender, (it just takes a few minutes).  Add sour cream and bring to a boil.  Thicken with cornstarch that is thinned with cream ( my grandma used cream, my mom used milk so pick which you prefer. I usually use milk).  Add egg yolks and cook 2 minutes.  Remove from heat and add vanilla, butter and salt.  Cool.  Pour into a baked shell.  Cover with meringue. 

I grew up with French meringue. I never liked it, but this year I tried a Swiss meringue and it was amazing. Next year I might try an Italian meringue. 

Here's the Swiss meringue recipe. 

4 large eggs, whites only

200g of caster sugar (I used regular sugar because that's what I had at the time)

1 pinch of salt

Bring a pan of water to a gentle simmer

Combine the egg whites and sugar in a metal or glass bowl and place over a pan of water. Gently whisk until the sugar has dissolved or a temperature probe reads 80°C (about 8 minutes). If you don't have a thermometer, you can pinch some of the mixture between your fingers, if you can still feel grains of sugar, it needs a little longer

Remove the bowl from a heat and either transfer to a stand mixer with whisk attachment or use an electric whisk on medium setting to whip up the egg whites into a thick, glossy Swiss meringue

The meringue is now ready to transfer to a piping bag to make it easier to use

Brown Butter Creamy Apple Pie

One of the pies I make every Thanksgiving.

 

Ingredients

Filling

• 1/4cup Butter
• 1/2cup granulated sugar
• 1Egg
• 2tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1teaspoon vanilla
• 5cups sliced peeled apples (5 medium) : I like a mix of granny smith and honeycrisp

Crust

This is a pillsbury recipe, so they recommend:

• 1crust from 1 package (12 oz) frozen Pillsbury™ Deep Dish Pie Crusts (2 Count)
• But I've made my own crust or used a roll-out pillsbury crust and they've both been fine

Streusel -- I double this and use as much as I want to cover the pie. 

• 1/2cup  all-purpose flour
• 1/4cup granulated sugar
• 1/4cup packed brown sugar
• 3/4teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4cup cold butter
• 
  

• 1
  Heat oven to 400°F. Place cookie sheet in oven to heat. In 1-quart saucepan, cook 1/4 cup butter over medium heat, stirring constantly, until melted and lightly browned. Cool completely, about 15 minutes.
• 2
  In large bowl, beat 1/2 cup granulated sugar and the egg with wire whisk until light and fluffy. Beat in 2 tablespoons flour and 1 teaspoon vanilla. Beat in cooled butter. Gently stir in apples. Pour into crust-lined pie plate.
• 3
  In medium bowl, stir together all streusel ingredients except butter. With pastry blender or fork, cut in 1/4 cup butter until mixture looks like coarse crumbs. Sprinkle over apples. Place pie on cookie sheet in oven.
• 4
  Bake 20 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 350°F, and cover edge of crust with strips of foil to prevent excessive browning. Bake 40 to 50 minutes longer or until apples are tender and crust is golden brown. Cool 2 hours.
  

Chocolate Cream Pie

 One of the two pies I make each Thanksgiving. 

Chocolate Cream Pie

1 pre-baked oreo crust
1 1/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup cocoa
1/3 cup cornstarch
3/4 tsp salt
2 1/2 cup whole milk
1/2 cup whipping cream
3 tbsp butter
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
sweetened whipped cream

Stir together sugar, cocoa, cornstarch and salt in medium saucepan. Gradually add milk and cream, stirring until smooth. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until mixture comes to a boil. Boil 1 minute.

Remove from heat; stir in butter and vanilla. Pour into prepared crust. Press plastic wrap directly onto surface, being careful to remove all air bubbles. Refrigerate 4-6 hours. Top with whipped cream and oreo pieces.

Flour Tortillas

 

This is the recipe taught to me by my friend Marcela Gonzalez.

2 C flour

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

3 T shortening (or lard or butter or bacon grease or some combination of those)

1 C (plus extra if needed) hot- but not scalding- water

Mix flour, baking powder, and salt into a mixing bowl. 

Add the fat and pinch it into the flour with your hands until it's evenly combined and sandy-textured.

Add nearly the full cup of hot water and knead it into the flour until you have a soft, but not sticky ball. If you add too much water, you can add a little flour. 

Let the dough rest, covered with a lightly damp dish cloth, for a half hour. 

Divide the dough into 6,8, or 10 balls, depending on how big you want your tortillas. Let the dough rest for at least another half hour, and up to a couple hours. 

Roll out the a ball from the center to the edges, and then stretch the dough very thin from the center outwards with your fingers. I sometimes lay it over my fist and gently tug as I spin it in a circle.

Ideally, heat a cast-iron pan or skillet over medium-high heat until it's nice and hot. Otherwise, you can use an electric skillet at about 350-375, or a heavy frying pan.

Place the rolled tortilla on the hot pan until it looks drier and begins to puff. Turn it over and cook through, until there's light brown spots, using a spatula to pat down the tortilla. Careful of the steam!

Creamy Chicken Zoodles

I made this while Randy and Rebecca visited and we all (the adults and most of the kids anyway). 

 INGREDIENTS

1 tablespoon butter

1 1/2 lb skinless chicken thigh fillets , cut into strips

4oz fresh semi-dried tomato strips in oil , chopped *See Notes ( I usually can't get this - seems to always be out of stock, so I just do the full 7-8 jar of sun dried tomatoes in oil, adding only the 1 tbsp of the oil as recommended)

3.5oz jarred sun dried tomatoes in oil , chopped

4 cloves garlic , peeled and crushed

1 1/4 cup thickened cream , reduced fat or full fat (or half and half)

1 cup shaved Parmesan cheese

Salt to taste

Dried basil seasoning

Red chilli flakes

2 large Zucchini (or summer squash), made into Zoodles (use a vegetable grater if you don't have a Zoodle grater)

INSTRUCTIONS

Heat the butter in a pan/skillet over medium high heat. Add the chicken strips and sprinkle with salt. Pan fry until the chicken is golden browned on all sides and cooked through.

Add both semi-dried and sun dried tomatoes with 1 tablespoon of the oil from the jar (optional but adds extra flavour), and add the garlic; sauté until fragrant. (While the chicken is browning, prepare your Zoodles with a Zoodle maker OR with a normal vegetable peeler. Make sure to squeeze the zucchini in a towel after shredding, otherwise it gets really runny in the end. I don't have a zoodle maker so I just shred in my food processor. i don't know if you'll need to squeeze the zoodles if you make it like that.)

Lower heat, add the cream and the Parmesan cheese; simmer while stirring until the cheese has melted through. Sprinkle over salt, basil and red chilli flakes to your taste.

        Stir through the Zoodles and continue to simmer until the zoodles have softened to your liking (about 5-8 minutes) and serve.

NOTES

*If you can't find semi-dried tomato strips (usually found in a deli), sub with extra jarred sun-dried tomatoes

A Week of Salad

 

My brother in law made the salad in the picture for Thanksgiving a couple years ago. It was delicious and I made it once myself. It just takes too long. So I've streamlined it into something I can cook for once and then eat for lunch all week long. Here's the result:

1 bag of greens- spinach or spring mix

1 butternut squash or a couple sweet potatoes

1/2 cup dry quinoa cooked in chicken broth 

Cheese- goat, feta, parmesan

Nuts or seeds- cashews, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, sliced almonds, pistachios

Dressing for 1:
2 tsp olive oil

1 tsp vinegar- rice, red wine, apple cider, or balsamic

1/4-1/2 tsp mustard

1/4-1/2 tsp honey

• Peel your squash or sweet potatoes and cut into 1/2-1 inch cubes. Toss with olive oil, salt, pepper, and a generous amount of dried sage. Roast at 400* for 30-40 min tossing once.
  
  
•  Cook  1/2 C of dry quinoa in chicken broth, or in water with some chicken bouillon according to the package directions. You could also used wild or brown rice, or even buy those microwavable grain pouches.

Every day when you want to eat your salad

1) Mix together the dressing ingredients in a little bowl with a fork

2) Toss the dressing with a big handful of greens

3) Scoop out 1/5 of the quinoa and 1/5 of the squash/sweet potatoes and heat them in the microwave for 30 seconds. Put them on top of the greens

4) Add some cheese and nuts/seeds

5) Lightly salt and pepper the salad

Repeat for the rest of the week.

Mom's Turkey Enchiladas

Mix cut up turkey with 1 can of cream of chicken soup, a can (or two) of diced green chilies , 8 oz sour cream , grated cheese, and 2-3 beaten eggs (depending on how much turkey and cheese you use). Put about 1/2 cup filling on flour tortilla and roll up. Place side by side in baking dish. Top with more cheese and/or more cream of chicken soup. You can add cream cheese to filling to make it even richer. Bake 325 until eggs in filling are cooked and cheese has melted.

Taco Soup

Brown

1 lb ground beef or turkey or plant-based "ground beef"

with 1 diced onion

add 1 packet taco seasoning. 

Drain and add:

1 can black beans

1 can kidney beans

1 can carrots

1 can corn

Add

1 can beef broth (14 oz)

1 can diced tomatoes (14 oz)
1 can diced green chilies (4 oz)

1 can tomato sauce (8 oz)

Simmer for 10-15 min. OR put in crockpot on low until warmed through, up to 6 hours.

Top with sour cream, cheese, avocado, tortilla chips, etc.

Curry Pizza

We've been imagining all sorts of crazy pizzas to try out. This one was born of the fact that my pizza crust is so much like naan. It was amazingly delicious. We will be making it again.

Pizza dough*
Leftover curry
Mozzarella cheese
Pickled red onion**
Cilantro

Spread your pizza dough on a baking sheet till it's 1/8-1/4 in thick. Spread the curry on top, chopping up your chicken if the bits are too big. We used leftover chicken tikka masala with chicken thighs.

Sprinkle some mozzarella over the top and bake for 10 min at 450*

Sprinkle with chopped cilantro and pickled red onion before serving.

(If you don't want to pickle your own red onions, use fresh red onion or chopped jalepenos or something to give it some tang. Just the curry and dough was a little too tame. Definitely try the pickled red onions, though. It takes like one minute to make the brine and they aren't spicy at all, I really do love them on anything I've thought they might work with.)

*I made this pizza dough but I added about 3-4 TBSP of plain yogurt. Don't add too much extra flour to account for the wetness. You want a really wet dough. This will make 3 large, thinner crust pizzas.

**Pickled Red Onions: Mix 1/4 cup red wine vinegar + 1/4 cup cold water + 1 1/2 teaspoons granulated sugar + 1 tablespoon Diamond Kosher salt or generous 1/2 tablespoon Morton or another brand of kosher salt until sugar and salt have dissolved. Add thinly sliced red onion. Let marinate for 30 minutes (for very light pickling) or up to a week in the fridge. Put on everything.

Triple Chocolate Cheesecake

I only make this once every other year or so, so I never remember the adjustments I make and decided to write them down this time.

• 1 package (9 ounces) chocolate wafer cookies (or 1/2 pkg family size oreos or 2/3 pkg regular size oreos)
• 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
• 3 bars (8 ounces each) cream cheese, room temperature
• 1 cup + 2 TBSP sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3 large eggs
• 3/4 cup sour cream
• 6 ounces semisweet chocolate, melted
• Rich Chocolate Ganache, for topping
• 1/2 C heavy ceam
• 4 oz semisweet chocolate
• 1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Assemble a 9-inch springform pan with the raised side of the bottom facing down.
• 2. In a food processor, pulse cookies until finely ground. Add butter, and pulse to moisten. Transfer to prepared pan, and press crumbs firmly and evenly into the bottom. Place pan on a rimmed baking sheet; bake 10 minutes, and set aside.
• 3. Wipe out bowl and blade of food processor. Add cream cheese, sugar, and salt; blend until smooth. With motor running, add eggs, then sour cream, and finally chocolate; blend filling until smooth, scraping down sides of bowl as needed.
• 4. Wrap bottom half of springform pan in foil, using one long piece, the length of the circumference of the pan. Pour in filling; place in a roasting pan. Place roasting pan in oven. Pour in boiling water to come halfway up side of springform pan. Bake just until set, 1 hour. Turn oven off, and let cheesecake sit 1 hour in oven, without opening (this helps prevent cracking).
• 5. Remove foil. Run a thin knife around the edge of the pan (this helps prevent cracking, too); leave in pan, and cool completely on wire rack. (After 1 hour of cooling, gently loosen pan edges to release any trapped water. Cover loosely and refrigerate, at least 6 hours or up to overnight.
• 6. Prepare Chocolate Ganache: Mix cream and chocolate in glass measuring cup. Heat in microwave at 10 second intervals stirring after each heating, until smooth and melted, about 1-2 min.
• 7.Unmold cheesecake. Spread ganache in center of cheesecake; let set before serving.
• 
  

sookhi murgi

Sookhi murgi means dry chicken. It is basically curry chicken without any water. This is my made-up recipe for it, just from having eaten it at various Indian all-you-can-eat restaurants.

2 tbsp butter
2 tbsp curry powder
1 tbsp cumin powder
2 tsp caraway seeds
1 can chicken

Melt the butter in a saucepan. Add everything else and stir it up. Serve with cooked rice or cooked potatoes with peas.

caraway seed cake

I was thinking about how much I like rye bread with the seeds in, and it occurred to me that you could probably buy just the seeds, and eat as many of them as you wanted. I looked on Amazon, because it didn't seem like the sort of thing you would find at Walmart when you buy your weekly seven gallons of milk and its not like I'm going to drive to another store, and it turns out you can get a pound of the pokey little puppies for eight dollars.
The first thing I decided to make was a seed cake. (This was mainly because I have successfully made cakes before, so it seemed doable.) The ingredients list looked pretty easy: eggs, butter, caraway seeds, sugar, a bit of milk, and  self rising flour. I figured that just meant flour with baking soda mixed in. But it turned out I didn't have any flour, and I wasn't about to drive to a store,so I thought for a bit and I saw a box of lemon cookie mix from 2014. I looked on the ingredients and it looked like the mix was flour, sugar, baking soda, and a little lemon flavoring. I figured it was probably the right mix of flour and sugar, but since cookies are not as fluffy as cakes I added a teaspoon more of baking soda. So this is the recipe I used:

1 and a half sticks of butter
1 box of lemon cookie mix
1 tsp baking soda
3 eggs
1/3 cup of caraway seeds
1/3 cup (or so) of milk

The website had this complicated method where you were supposed to beat the butter and fold in the eggs and flour or something, but I just put it all in a bowl and used the mixer. The batter tasted okay, so I greased the small square glass pan and poured it in. I cooked it for half an hour at 350F, but it was all jiggly in the middle so I put it in for another 7 minutes and that seems to have been just about right. It turns out that cookie mix is still not bad after 5 years in a sealed bag, which I wasn't really sure about. Walnuts and olive oil seem to go bad really fast, but apparently not lemon cookie mix.
It could have been moister though, so maybe next time I'll add some applesauce, or maybe pour some kind of sweet liquid over it.

One Pot Cheesy Mexican Lentils, Black Beans, and Rice

Rachel found this recipe at https://reciperunner.com/one-pot-cheesy-mexican-lentils-black-beans-and-rice/ It's delicious. I could eat the whole pot by myself, it goes down so smooth, but it's enough food to feed a family of eight if six of them are kids or teenagers.

ONE POT CHEESY MEXICAN LENTILS, BLACK BEANS AND RICE
yield: 5 SERVINGS
prep time: 20 MINUTES
cook time: 50 MINUTES
total time: 1 HOUR (if you overlap some of the prep time with the cook time)

INGREDIENTS
1/2 of a yellow onion, diced
1 clove of garlic, grated or minced
1/2 cup uncooked long grain brown rice
1/2 cup uncooked French green lentils, rinsed (red or brown lentils may also be used)
2-3 cups low sodium vegetable stock
1 teaspoon chili powder
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon ground chipotle powder (optional)
Kosher salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste
15 ounces black beans (canned), rinsed and drained
1/2 cup fire roasted tomatoes, drained
4 ounces diced green chiles (canned)
1 small zucchini, shredded
1/2 cup frozen corn, defrosted
1 cup red enchilada sauce
3/4 cup shredded cheese, I used sharp cheddar and part skim mozzarella
Cilantro for garnish (optional)

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Heat a large pot or saucepan over medium high heat.
2. When the pot is heated spray with cooking oil and add in the onion and garlic.
3. Sauté for a couple minutes then add in the brown rice and lentils.
4. Add in the vegetable stock, stir and bring to a boil.
5. Once boiling, cover and reduce the heat to low.
6. Simmer for 30-40 minutes, or until lentils and rice are tender.
7. If there is any excess liquid drain it.
8. Season the rice and lentils with salt, pepper, chili powder, cumin and chipotle powder.
9. Add in all of the remaining ingredients except 1/4 cup of the cheese and stir together.
10. Heat the mixture until the cheese is melted.
11. Top with the remaining cheese and cover with a lid.
12. Heat on low until the cheese is melted and the mixture is bubbly.

NUTRITION INFORMATION: YIELD: 5 SERVING SIZE: 1
Amount Per Serving: CALORIES: 498 TOTAL FAT: 14g SATURATED FAT: 8g TRANS FAT: 0g UNSATURATED FAT: 5g CHOLESTEROL: 39mg SODIUM: 1274mg CARBOHYDRATES: 65g FIBER: 18g SUGAR: 11g PROTEIN: 30g

Apple Streusel Pie

1 hour 30 minutes,plus cooling time to prepare serves 8-10

INGREDIENTS
1(9-inch) pie crust
Pie filling:
6 large baking apples,peeled,cored,and sliced,1/2 inch thick
1 cup sugar
2 tablespoons flour
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1 large egg
1 cup heavy whipping cream
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

For streusel topping:
1 stick cold,unsalted butter, cubed
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup flour
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

Preparation: is
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Press pie crust into a 9-inch round baking dish.
Prepare streusel topping.Combine brown sugar,granulated sugar,1/2 cup flour,1teaspoon cinnamon,ginger,salt,cubed butter. Mix with clean fingers until crumbly. Set aside.
Mix 1 cup sugar,2 TB flour, 1/2 tsp cinnamon and 1/4 tsp nutmeg,in a bowl.Set aside.
Beat egg,heavy cream,and vanilla in a large bowl until well combined.Add sugar mixture to egg mixture and whisk to combine.Evenly distribute apple slices around pie shell.Pour liquid mixture over top of apples.
Place pie on a baking sheet and bake for 18-20 minutes. Remove from oven and evenly spread streusel mixture over top of pie. Return pie to oven and bake for an additional 45-50 minutes. Let pie cool completely before slicing.

Chicken and rice "casserole"

This is the laziest meal that doesn't come in a prepackaged box to be microwaved. This is for when you don't even have any leftovers or lunchmeat in the fridge, and there is nothing in the freezer but strange dark splotches left over from when the door was left open the last time and mysterious tupperware with ominous chunks of something freezer-burned. I make this for supper, like, once a week.

1 bowl of 1-minute microwave rice
1 can of peas
1 can of chicken
2 tbsp mayonnaise

Drain off the peas and chicken. Microwave the rice for 1 minute. Add everything to a bowl and stir it up. 

Peach dump cake (aka peach cobbler)

This is good for if you have too many peaches.

12 small peaches (some not ripe yet, some ripe, some slightly overripe) quartered with pits removed
1 box of Duncan Hines Apple Caramel Decadent Cake Mix (that's what I used)
1 stick butter
1/3 cup water

Preheat oven to 350.
Mix the caramel mixture from the cake mix box with the water.
Throw the peaches in the bottom of the glass pan. I don't mean you have to actually throw it. Just dump it in. That makes it a dump cake.
Pour the cake mix over top of them.
Chop up the butter into slices and place them on top of the cake mix.
Drizzle the caramel mix all over the top. By doing it this way with the butter and caramel you are making some variety in the flavors of each bite which makes it more interesting.
Cook uncovered for 45 minutes. This seems like a long time, but that's just how long it takes for cakes to cook, I guess.

Serve with vanilla ice cream.

It looks kind of like this.

The nice thing about this recipe is that you can substitute whatever is handy. The fruit can be any kind of sweet fruit (apples, pears, peaches, plums, nectarines), fresh or canned, skins on or off. The cake mix can be whatever cake mix you have handy, although I haven't tried chocolate-- that would be a very different kind of dessert. Or you can make your own from flour and sugar, with a little baking powder and salt, maybe a little vanilla extract. Sometimes people like to use dried oats in the topping, too. The cake doesn't have any eggs or water in it, so it is more crunchy than a real cake.

Portuguese Cauliflower Soup

When I visited Lisbon, I had delicious soups of a kind I had never tasted. They had a smooth, creamy consistency and subtle flavors. When I asked my hosts, they explained, in words and gestures, that the white one was cauliflower. It was a lot like potato soup.
When I got home I looked up how to make it, and was pleased to find that it fit my two criteria for cooking dinner: it costs less than five dollars, and it takes less than five minutes to prepare. The only really necessary parts of the recipe are boiling and blending the cauliflower, though you at least need some kind of spice or it's too bland. This is my way of making it.

1 head of cauliflower
1/3 stick of butter (2 or 3 tbsp)
garlic salt
pepper
dried onion bits
1 cube of chicken bullion in gold foil
1 cup milk

Start some water boiling. Chop the cauliflower into half-inch pieces or smaller. Drop it in the water and boil for four minutes. Strain the boiling water and drop all the cauliflower in the blender.
In a glass two-cup measure, mix the rest of the ingredients and microwave for two minutes and stir. Pour this in the blender with the cauliflower. Blend on high until it is all looks like foamy mashed potatoes.

McIntosh Apples

McIntosh is by far the best variety of apple that is widely available. The flavor is tart, almost as sour as a Granny Smith (which would be, perhaps, a less ironic choice for a Scottish moniker), but unlike a Granny Smith the flesh is the tenderest of any variety, and the skin is the thinnest. McIntoshes are juicy: when you bite into one the skin tenses and gives way with a satisfying pop of flavor. They are round but somewhat oblate, with only a shallow impression at the calyx end.
The color is patchy, freckled light-green and red, a natural appearance that brings to mind songbirds or traditional Raku pottery. As the poet-monk Gerard Manley Hopkins wrote:

Glory be to God for dappled things –
   For skies of couple-colour as a brinded cow;
      For rose-moles all in stipple upon trout that swim;
Fresh-firecoal chestnut-falls; finches’ wings;
   Landscape plotted and pieced – fold, fallow, and plough;
      And áll trádes, their gear and tackle and trim.

All things counter, original, spare, strange;
   Whatever is fickle, freckled (who knows how?)
      With swift, slow; sweet, sour; adazzle, dim;
He fathers-forth whose beauty is past change:
                                Praise him.

 They are in every way the opposite of that most pernicious and ubiquitous breed of apple, the Delicious; whose uniform color, hard or woody texture, thick skin, and flavorlessness are the antithesis of every quality that makes an apple good to eat. In their sourness, irregular coloration, small size, and susceptibility to bruising, McIntoshes are closer to the wild apple than the artificiality of many other breeds.
The very delicacy of the McIntosh makes them difficult to store. The process of bringing them home from the store in a bag is often enough to bruise them. For that reason, you rarely can find good McIntosh in stores out of season (late September). In its peculiar way, this very rarity enhances their appeal; like eggnog, it is a seasonal treat one looks forward to and then longs for, and is all the sweeter for it.
However, the reason I am writing this is that I frequently find that what is marketed as McIntosh is no true Scotsman, as it were. Frequently they tend toward more yellow coloring, a sweeter flavor and a firm texture more reminiscent of a Jonathan or Gala.
I recognize that categories are defined by their members, and not a single ideal (as Plato would have it) of which the members are imperfect copies. Surely the people selling these apples are more expert in the lineage and cultivation of apples than I am, and can say with more authority to which variety their apples belong. On the other hand, there must be strong financial pressures to sell as the authentic McIntosh hardier forgeries. So which is it, dear reader? Am I mistaken in taking a preferred subvariety as defining the variety as a whole, or have I fallen victim to some dark conspiracy of greed and deceit among apple growers? Is the industry, I must ask, rotten to the core?

Rachel's preferred hummus

I'm posting this because Rachel's copy of the recipe is getting so filthy that I can hardly read it.

2 19 ounce cans of chickpeas drained and rinsed
1/2 cup tahini
1 tablespoon olive oil
Three cloves garlic
Juice from 2 to 3 lemons
3/4 cup water

1 teaspoon cumin

1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper

Place chickpeas, tahini, olive oil, and garlic in food processor, then process until smooth. Next add lemon juice, then add water until desired consistency is reached. Then add remaining ingredients. Process again until smooth, scraping sides occasionally. 

Instant Apple Pie

I like pie a la mode. Here's my instant recipe:

Cut up an apple
put a couple spoonfuls of sugar on it
and some cinnamon.
Microwave it for one minute
top with a scoop of ice cream
and Golden Grahams for the crust.

No, it's not a real pie. But is a pie really what you wanted? What you really wanted was to spend time reading about Aztec philosophy, while eating baked apples and ice cream and Golden Grahams.