Damn this Crappy Weather!! (Plus Low-Sugar Apple Pie) (And Pig-Tale Link!)

:::sigh:::

Summer Weather is GONE (but I soaked-up literally every last minute of it!!!)

Am I ready for winter?  Oh HELL no!  But Rent-A-Son Services is (hopefully) coming over this weekend to help me "put the yard away."

How 'bout all those other Wild-@ss Ideas you've been yammering about?!

Is Laundry caught-up?

Green Tomato Relish?  Uhhhmmm, no! But the tomatoes *did* ripen - all on their own even! - so I might still whip out one more batch o' Tomato Bisque.

Cranberry Apple Chutney?  Still have the ingredients - but no, I haven't made it yet.

How 'bout that Apple Pie?

Apples - mostly from my tree, but some are from the Farm-Share

As a matter of fact...  I DID bake a pie today (Yay!!!)

Funny thing, those apples...  I planted an espaliered grafted tree with 6 different varieties of apples, several years ago.  Lost the individual "tags" the first year (so I have NO clue which variety is what).  Then we built the greenhouse directly in front of the tree and I always FORGET that there are apples to harvest (Ooooops!).  As usual, most ended up rotting on the ground, but I did harvest a sizable basket's worth (Yay me!)...

Soooo I Googled a bit, and made a mental note of all the necessary ingredients, and this is what I came up with:

QT's Low-Sugar Apple Pie
Yields 1 @ 9" deep-dish pie

Ingredients

• 8 cups peeled, cored apples (assorted varieties) (~3 lbs)
• 2 TBS lemon juice (bottled is fine)
• 3/4 cup C&H Light (50/50 Cane Sugar and Stevia)
• 2 heaping TBS Splenda Brown Sugar Blend
• 1/8 cup all-purpose flour (I think I might bump that up to 1/4 cup next time)
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
• 1 egg-white
• 2 pie crusts suitable for a 9" deep-dish pie
• 1-2 TBS butter

Instructions

1. Pre-heat your oven to 425* and pull your crusts out to thaw (if you're a cheater like me!)
2. Whip out the W-A-D - or you can peel/core the Old Fashioned Way (I love my Peeler/Corer Gizmo)
3. Chop the apples into apple-pie sized chunks and toss 'em in a bowl, sprinkling lemon juice as you go (to keep 'em from browning).  Keep peeling/coring/chopping apples 'til you have appx 8 cups.
4. Add your sweeteners, spices and flour to the chopped apples and toss 'til everything is covered.
5. Fill the bottom crust with sweetened apple spice mixture.  It's okay to heap the fruit up to appx 1" above the crust edge (the apples will shrink during cooking).
6. Put a few blorps of butter on top of the fruit.  
7. Dampen the edges of the crust with a wet finger.  Add your top crust, cut off any excess and pinch the two crusts together.
8. Mix the egg-white with a little water and brush the top crust lightly (so you get a nice shiny crust).  Optional: Add coarse granulated sugar crystals.
9. Cut vent holes/slits in the top crust
10. Place pie in your pre-heated oven.  Be smart and put a foil-lined big-pan underneath it (it will gooze a bit!).
11. Cook for 10 minutes @ 425*, then reduce heat to 375* and continue to cook for appx 30-45 minutes or until golden brown (I was using my convection oven and it took a lot longer than anticipated)

Pie is delectably delicious - although a bit runny (and therefore not photo-worthy!)

In other News (Random Rambliness!):

Project Pork:  I have a full freezer!  And Finny has posted the Final-Final Piggy Update here - including pictures of Spreckles and her SCARY-NEAT Chestie Freezer (No, I will *not* be posting pictures of OUR freezer!).  We still haven't sampled Spreckles - but I found a tasty-looking glazed pork chop recipe that I am eager to try...  Maybe tomorrow - and if it's tasty, I'll share!

Psoriasis Woes: Have returned with a vengeance.  Not sure what to attribute that to (Unfortunately, that blows my theory of cannabis-based topicals being a panacea), but I'm back to using steroid creams (Hate 'em!), and still take Humira (Abso-f**king-lutely DETEST that sh*t!).  I'm actually pretty convinced that "what I've got" is far more insidious than "just" psoriasis (and "just" diabetes).  I think there is something hormonal and/or metabolic at work here - and some of my Googling leads me to believe that my theory MAY pan out.

I'm going to see my endocrinologist in a couple of weeks.  Of all of my doctors, she is the ONLY one I can have an intelligent dialogue with, and I'm "pretty sure" she'd be open to discussing it further and exploring other options (although her initial response - when I first brought up my skin woes - was to refer me to a dermatologist).  I need to research this further, but I want her to order any and all tests that MIGHT help get to the root of this because I am SICK TO DEATH of being a freaking invalid! (Srsly!  I'm back to walking with a cane! Sh*t F*ck P*ss!).

Ceramic Artistry:  I did manage to crank out a few more pieces, and most of my Christmas Crap is well underway, and I squoze-in a couple more firings (still wanna do 1-2 more firings in the next week).  My company had a Holiday Bazaar up in Pleasanton, earlier this week, and P and I shared a table.  I sold appx $80 worth of stuff (Yay!), but had to put $71.00 into Willie's Gas Tank afterward (Wahh-Wahh-WAAHHHHHH!).  Still, it was fun to go into the office and see my buddies - AND sell some of my "stuff!"

Holiday Bazaar @ Work

Glass Artistry:  Going to BAGI again tomorrow - this time to make a glass bowl.  Hopefully I can post some cool pictures.  And I want to sign up for their "Make A Snowman Ornament" class - just for grins...  I like their one-off classes where you sign-up to "Make A [Whatever]."  I'm not "into" glass to the point where I'd want to fork over the $$ for classes and renting Hot-Shop Time - but I do enjoy creating the individual projects (let's see, so far I've made a paperweight, a flower, a heart, and a teardrop-shaped ornament).

Okay, well, that's about all the news that's fit to print.  Rambly? Yes - but if you made it this far: "Thanks!!!"