Yum...Yum....Apple Crisp

One of my most favorite fruits to eat is an apple. Be it a green apple, yellow apple, or red apple, I have no prejudices and I will eat them all. My favorites have to be Granny Smith apples, Gala apples, and Golden Delicious apples. Therefore naturally I also love any dessert that has apples in it with my favorite one being an apple crisp dessert. So today I went perusing the World Wide Web for various apple crisp desserts. I came upon a recipe that looked very promising on the food network website: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/neelys/apple-crisp-recipe/index.html. So this recipe is one I adapted from The Neelys on this website.

Filling

• 6 apples
• 2 tbs of lemon juice
• 3/4 cup of light brown sugar
• 3 tbs of all purpose flour
• 1/2 cup of old fashion oats

Topping

• 3/4 cup of all purpose flour
• 1/3 cup of light brown sugar
• 1/4 tsp of ground cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp of salt
• 6 tbs of chilled butter
• 1/4 cup of old fashion oats

To begin with you must prepare the apples. May I suggest you purchase an apple slicer as well as an apple peeler. I have neither of the two and the peeling, slicing, and chopping of these apples took a wee bit longer than the “suggested” prep time of 15 minutes. The recipe calls for 5 Granny Smith apples. After reading the reviews, I decided to use 6 apples and decided to vary my apple selection because of the tartness associated with the green apples and to make it more sweeter.

After cutting the apples and placing them inside the mixing bow, I added squirts of lemon juice to the mixture to keep the apples from turning brown. Then I added the light brown sugar, flour, and oats and mixed it up thoroughly.



After mixing, I added the filling portion to a small pyrex dish and set it aside while i prepared the topping.

The topping part of this crisp was a little more difficult than I had expected, seeing as I have never made a crisp topping before. I first combined the flour, brown sugar, cinnamon, and salt.

After making this mixture through and through I added a total of 6 tablespoons of chilled butter in small pieces and rolled it around to make pea sized balls. When balls started to form, I added the oatmeal to the mixture and then added it to the top of the filling.

This crisp was baked in the oven preheated to 350 degrees for a total of 35 minutes or until
the crisp topping turns a nice golden brown.

Put a small portion in a bowl and add a little vanilla ice cream and you are in Yum Yum Apple Crisp Heaven!

Snap Back to Reality...

So last Friday I took a trip down south...


The reason for my going home involved my little sister and her participation in the Roxboro Junior Miss Program. This weekend also happen to coincide with my Fall Break which landed on the following Monday thru Wednesday. So needless to say this was a coincidence that made me very happy!! Since I got out of my lab early, I was able to start on my 4 and 1/2 hour drive early enough to make it back in time for the PHS football game. This was the first time I made this 4 and 1/2 hour drive all by myself. The only other times I have ventured to Winchester I have been accompanied by my mom two times and my Kappa Psi pals a third time. So I was a little anxious driving that long distance. Now don't confuse me with someone who hasn't driven long distances before. I have been driving to my parent's place at the beach since I got my license at least once or twice a year. That trip is almost as long, weighing in at about a 4 hour trip. However, the difference in those trips have been my lovely companions that make the drive way more interesting. The first hour of the trip was the easiest of course, then came the second hour and then the third hour and it was about that time that boredom really started to sink in because I had already gone through my playlist that I made specifically for the drive down. (Note to self: make sure that when making a playlist, make one that is the length of driving time to ensure new music is always available and so the playlist does not end before the drive.) However, the silver lining was that I was able to spend some "ME" with the radio off and just think about life and in a way it cleared my mind and relaxed me.

Wow! Friday Night Lights, I did not realize how much I missed performing on that field until that Friday night. Seeing the Drill Team in the Big Blues and those trademark boots made me sad that I was unable to make the Drill Team Reunion. But, hey I guess I couldn't have had Jr. Miss, my Fall Break and Drill Team Reunion on the same weekend that would have been too easy. We finished off the Friday night the way I used to in high school after football games, at Torerro's.

Saturday was Junior Miss and I was so excited for my sister. For those of you who do not know her, she and I are complete opposites. Well not completely but mainly personality-wise. She is more quiet and reserved, and well you know that I am not. She also has the tendency to be a behinds the scenes type person and has not been involved in any leadership role. So her participation in this program, I thought would be great for her to allow her to come out of her shell a bit and gain more self confidence. Well, I must say that I was SO PROUD of her that night that it literally brought me to tears. She did so well and portrayed such confidence on stage that I knew no matter what the judge's results were, it did not matter because she had gained something so valuable and grew as a person from this experience. For Preliminary awards she received the same two that I received when I participated back in '07. She received Scholastic and Self-Expression (formally Poise). Then she was even placed 1st runner up!




Sunday and Monday I took a trip to the city painted Carolina Blue! I went out to eat with my roomies (+ Amber) from last year to PF Changs. Which was a-Mazing since I have not had it in so long, and the company wasn't have bad either since I haven't seen them in just as long. No, so I am lying, the company was fabulous, we could have been eating bread and butter and I would have loved it just for the mere pleasure of being able to spend time with them again! I think all that catching up was tiring because we were in bed by 10. The next morning I tried to do some work (wasn't very successful) and went to lunch at BoJangles with Cory and Amanda which I also had not had in FOREVER!! Okay, so up here they have this place called Popeye's and they claim it to be cajun chicken and fries, well it does not have a thing on Bojangles! Also got to visit with my Kappa Psi pals and joined them for dinner at the house and got to meet the new pledges.

The rest of my time home was spent visiting with my CVS family, my legit family, and friends who I have not seen in far too long! The only hard part about coming home was having to leave Wednesday!

Since I have gotten back, things have been moving steadily on as I have come back to the reality that is known as Pharmacy School. This upcoming week I have 2 exams, 2 quizzes, and another exam the following Monday. So, needless to say I spent my entire Saturday studying and getting stressed out. So to calm me down a bit I decided to clean! My condo looks fabulous and believe it or not, I have found that vacuuming is a great stress reliever as well as writing this post. So since I am working all day tomorrow, I think it is time for me to call it a night!

Bacon Cheddar Potato Soup

Now it is officially Fall and the weather is starting to get cooler and its time for the 3 S's. Sweaters, Scarves, and of course Soup! One of my favorite types of soup is anything with potatoes in it. I absolutely love the Loaded Baked Potato soup at Cheesecake Factory and the Bacon Potato soup at the Daily Grind. My love for these soups led me to try to make my own potato soup from scratch. I made this for the family and everyone enjoyed it!!

• 4 tbs butter
• 4 medium sized potatoes
• 1/2 onion (chopped finely)
• 3 tbs all-purpose flour
• 4 cups milk
• 2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp ground black pepper
• 1/2 tsp paprika
• 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
• 1/2 cup bacon chopped (I used Real Bacon Bits from a bag since they are already chopped)
  
• 1 cup sour cream ( i used light to save on calories)
  

The first thing you are going to want to do will be to wash your potatoes and then wrap them in saran wrap and either place them in the oven or the microwave to cook. I chose to cook mine in the microwave for a total of 7 minutes.




While your potatoes are cooking, you will need to chop up 1/2 of an onion very finely and then add it to the 4 tbs of butter in the saucepan on the stove. Cook the onions until they turn translucent and then add the flour and milk.

(Side note: I will have to admit this was my first time chopping an onion and boy was I crying in the kitchen. My eyes were tearing up so badly that I had to stop every few seconds and walk away. So if you have any tips for chopping an onion without crying please let me know)

Next you will add the salt, pepper and paprika. Then bring the mixture to a slight boil and continue to stir until the soup starts to thicken.

As your soup mixture is thickening on medium heat, you will retrieve the cooked potatoes from the microwave. You will need to peel the potatoes and then proceed to cut the potatoes in 1 inch cubes. If you do not enjoy the larger chunks of potato in your soup, you can also cut the potatoes smaller. You will add this to the soup and then cook for 10 minutes to allow the potatoes to gain the flavor.



Next you will add the cheese and bacon and stir the soup. Allow it to cook for another 5 minutes on the stove before adding the sour cream to the soup and stir.

Kristen gives this soup a thumbs up and a request for a second bowl!

Midweek Mayhem.....

This day has definitely been a busy one in comparison to my previous Wednesdays!! I go to work in about 30minutes and decided I had just enough time to write a quick post :)

Monday marked the first exam of our second module for pharmacy school and it was quite successful! I keep asking myself, how is it that I am making more A's than I ever did in undergrad?? Oh yeah, thats right I went to UNC for undergrad! But, I do like this change because instead of studying my butt off and receiving the average grade at UNC, I am studying my butt off and doing well above the average and that is definitely a key motivator for me to continue to do well.

Yesterday, was my first night at my new intern position at CVS Pharmacy. Well, this CVS is much different than mine back home and slightly more busy. This store has 2 drive thrus. Yes, 2!!! I can hardly stand the existence of 1 drive thru and this one has 2!!! And you will never guess where I was place for my first shift??!!, Yes, you got it, at the drive thru ! The one thing I was dreading with moving to a new CVS was the people that I would be working with. I have worked with some of the people at my CVS for the past 3 years and developed great relationships with them and I was scared of walking into a lions den that lacked southern hospitality. However, much to my dismay, I was welcomed quite genuinely. There are many pharmacy students that also work there which made me feel more at ease. So all in all I think I will be okay with this change.

And Today, well this is supposed to be my day of relaxation. Well nope, not today. I visited with my resident this morning and then got on my shopping shoes to hunt for a dress. Okay, so let me just say that the shopping here is very limited and I really miss having Southpointe at my fingertips!! This weekend I will be going home to watch my sister participate in our county's Junior Miss program, so of course I needed something to wear because of course ( much to mother's dismay) I had nothing to wear in my closet :) Well after 3 hours of shopping I finally found a cute simple black dress at Target!!! On that note, I am soooooo excited to be coming down to NC this weekend to spend time with family and my friends!!! But I am getting ahead of myself because before I can leave Friday afternoon, I have a Pharm Calc quiz, Lab quiz, and a Patient counseling Assessment to complete!! WHoo Hoo! But the time has now come for me to head off to Day 2 of work, wish me luck!

Baked Bean Casserole

Have you ever seen a picture of a meal in a magazine or advertised on tv that made your stomach leap for joy and have you thinking, Man, I really want some of that right now. That is my reaction any time Olive Garden has a commercial and they advertise for their pasta, salad and garlic bread Oh man, now I really want some! Well, the meal this week is not one of those meals. To be quite honest, its looks do it no justice; however, once you have a bite your stomach will be sending you back for more. This is a dish that my mom has baked over the years and it is one of my favorites because it is so easy and inexpensive!

• 1 can Bush's Original Baked Beans (28 oz.)
• 2 cups of Shredded Mild Cheddar (8 oz.)
• 1 cup of ketchup
• 1 cup of light brown sugar
• 1 lb of ground beef (you can also use ground turkey for a healthier alternative and it tastes the same)
  

The first thing you are going to do will be to brown your meat. I would recommend using a large soup pot since you will be adding other ingredients to the meat and you will dirty less dishes.

Next, you will want to add the baked beans, brown sugar, and ketchup, stirring between each addition to make sure the mixture is even.

Once you have combined all of the ingredients will need to pour it into a casserole dish and add 1 cup of the shredded cheese to the top of the dish and now you are ready to bake it in the oven.

Prior to the prep section you should preheat your oven to 350 so that it may begin preheating while you are preparing your meat and compiling the ingredients. You are going to bake the dish for a total of 25 minutes. After 15 minute of baking have elapsed you will want to remove the dish and stir the dish mixing the cheese up. Then before returning the dish back to the oven, you are going to add the remaining 1 cup of shredded cheese and will bake it for the last 10 minutes.