Entries by burghbaby (5692)
Tuesday, September 15, 2020Day One Hundred Seventy-Eight
A moment of silence, please. The froggy boots have died.
The froggy boots that Mila has worn on nearly every hike for the past two years have finally bit the dust. One boot has a rather large tear right about the ankle, which basically renders it useless.
We discovered this after a pretty fantastic hike, but at the worst possible time.
On Friday, I wrapped up work just early enough to make a run to McConnells Mill. It's the girls' new favorite place to go, which is fine, but I prefer to be there when it's not a Saturday afternoon. I just prefer my peace and quiet to be filled by the endless chatter of my own children rather than strangers. Even at its most crowded, it's not THAT bad there, but solitude. Give me solitude.
Fridays late in the afternoon/early in the evening are perfect. Absolutely perfect.
So we wandered down a new trail, one which turned out to be OMG DIFFICULT. There was a lot of crawling up and down rocks and, basically, Mila thought it was THE BEST. She laughed hysterically at one point when I slid down a giant rock like I was on a sled headed down a hillside of snow, which HAHAHAHA. THAT HURT, MILA STOP LAUGHING.
It took me three tries to make it up the rock.
And then we headed down a normal-ish part of trail, eventually landing ourselves near the Mill. It was, of course, closed, but in walking past it, Mila suddenly noticed a small waterfall that ends with a pool of sorts. Of course she ran over to it and was all about jumping in.
It was deeper than she expected.
And the frog boots were suddenly toast. Instead of protecting her from the water, one boot betrayed Mila. Soooo much water got in.
Mila was not amused. She sat down and started peeling off her boots and then sadly poured a gallon? two gallons? A LOT of water out of her boot. The look on her face was pure sadness as she found why there was so much water in her boot. She looked at the hole, looked at me, and sadly declared, "My froggy boots betrayed me!"
These things happen when you have an older sister. You know words that you maybe wouldn't otherwise.
But the real betrayel was the fact that we were over two miles from the car. With each squishy step we took on the way back, Mila was reminded of the betrayal. There were a lot of tears, y'all. A LOT.
Day One Hundred Seventy-Seven
It seems that Pinterest has been exploding with pins about making caramel in a crock pot using sweetened condensed milk, to which I say, really? Y'all didn't know you could do that?
Oh.
Sorry. I would have told you if I had realized it was a secret.
I've known for a while and even know of a few recipes that call for ye old sweetened condensed milk in a crock pot trick. This one, for Caramel Apple Pie, came to me via my mother-in-law, who has been making it for years.
It's ridiculously easy, especially because there are only a couple of ingredients.
You start with a can of sweetened condensed milk. Peel the label off of the can, and then submerge it completely under water in a crock pot. Turn that crock pot on low and wait eight hours. Once it has cooled a bit, if you open the can, you'll find a caramel that is reminiscent of dulce de leche.
I swear to you that it works. I've seen other instructions online for cooking it at high for less time or even on a stove top, but I prefer the 8-hour method since that is pretty much "overnight." I like having stuff ready for me when I wake up.
Next you'll need a graham cracker crust, which you could buy pre-made, or you could throw some crushed graham crackers, melted butter, and sugar into a pie pan. Both ways work just fine.
Then grab some apples.
Core the apples and then slice them really thinly. Place them in your graham cracker crust.
There's no need for neatness. I'm just a bit of a freak about stuff like that. Oh, and if I had remembered, I would have poured a little bit of the caramel in after each layer of apples, but oh well.
I managed to get my caramel on there just fine. Just all at once. Heh.
Once the caramel is on there, top it with some crushed nuts.
Look at me avoiding the obvious nutty jokes!
That's it. That's how you make a Caramel Apple Pie. I mean, you need to put it in the fridge for a bit to let the caramel solidify a bit, but still. That's it.
Could it get any easier? I think not.
Caramel Apple Pie
1 can sweetened condensed milk
1 graham cracker pie crust
3 small apples (use a "dry" apple like Granny Smith), sliced thinly
1/2 cup chopped mixed nuts (I used the ones that are in the ice cream topping aisle)
1. Remove the label from the sweetened condensed milk. Submerge it in water in a crock pot, put the lid on the crock pot, and allow it to cook on low for eight hours.
2. Allow the cooked sweetened condensed milk to cool a bit. Remember physics class? You know how we all learned that things expand when they're hot? Yeah. That includes sweetened condenses milk. Don't get impatient with opening that can. I like to wait an hour.
3. Core and slice three small apples.
4. Layer the apple slices in your graham cracker crust.
5. Pour the caramel over top and smooth it with a spatula, working the caramel into the lower layers. (You can also alternate adding apple slices and caramel as you build the pie. Really, either way works fine.)
6. Sprinkle nut topping over the top.
7. Refrigerate at least 30 minutes.
The crisp apples, sweet caramel, and salty nuts all come together perfectly in this pie. Trust me. It's good.
