As American As Shopping and Apple Pie

Good evening everyone. Hope you had a great Sunday! Scott and I did a little house cleaning – OK, I did the cleaning while he made an apple pie – but that definitely counts as work.

9.13 pie2

Scott comes from a long line of pie-bakers so I was highly anticipating the first apple pie of the season. Except for the crust, my husband made this pie from scratch – even peeling all of the apples himself. But, at the end, I had the important job of taking the pie out of the oven.

With the pie cooling at home, we headed for lunch at the local Italian eatery.

9.13 lunch1

I had a cup of minestrone soup and a veggie-goat cheese personal pizza. I was getting full after the soup and two slices of pie (pizza, not apple) so I saved two pieces of pizza for lunch later in the week.

After lunch, we headed to Williams Sonoma so that I could sign up for my first-ever cooking class! It’s not that I don’t know how to cook (although Scott may disagree), but I’ve always wanted to take a culture-specific cooking class. This one, which is next Wednesday, is all about French cooking. So cool! And anyone who reads my other alter-ego blog knows how much I love France and Europe in general.

The rest of the afternoon was full of more shopping with a trip to Barnes and Noble and a highly worthwhile trip to Ann Taylor Loft! They have these new very feminine t-shirts in all different colors. I may or may not have bought the shirt in a few different colors, as well as a few camis.

For dinner, I made homemade chicken soup with orzo soup (see I can cook!).

9.13 dinner

The soup was really easy to make, full of flavor, and very low in calories. 

After soup, I got busy making homemade caramel sauce for the apple pie. I’ve made caramel sauce before but just couldn’t find the recipe anywhere. So, I found a simple recipe on the Internet and went to work. Well, the first batch I made burned so bad it turned back into hardened sugar. Not fun. The second batch turn out ok, although I did not let the sugar brown as much as I could have and the color looks more like dulce de leche, rather than caramel. But, it still tasted good over the apple pie…

9.13 dessert

So messy, gooey, and yummy – all at the same time! The flavor of the caramel was fantastic! Along with sugar, water, and cream, I also used a very posh vanilla that was sent to me called Nielsen-Massey Mexican Vanilla. Oh my gosh, if you’ve never had high end vanilla, this is so worth it! Nielsen-Massey also sent me several other extracts – coffee, lemon, etc. – which I can’t wait to try this holiday season! FYI – you can get the extracts at Williams Sonoma but they are expensive!

Now, it’s off to bed for me. Monday mornings have been coming very early these days.

Night all!

Comments

  1. wow that is SO cool that you signed up for a cooking class at Williams-Sonoma…I hope you blog abt it! And veggie-goat cheese pizza? Wow!

  2. I LOVE that the hubbie makes such delicious pies. I think that had to be a cincher in the marriage. 😉

    And what a delicious soup for dinner! Homemade soups are always the best kind.

    xxoo
    Heather

  3. I wish I had a pie making husband. It looks delicious! I’m glad you did it right with the vanilla ice cream on top. It must have been so good!

    I’ve always wanted to take a Williams Sonoma cooking class but have no one to go with. I should just work up the courage and go alone. Can’t wait to see how it goes 🙂

  4. OMG, I hope to marry a pie making hubby one day! 😀 You are one lucky girl. 😉
    Your soup and pizza both look fantastic. Now, I’m craving homemade soup. It’s gotten chilly all of a sudden here.

  5. Sophia – I know! I’m so excited about the class. The woman said that we actually get to eat the food too and it’s enough for a meal. I’ll be sure to take a few pics!

  6. Heather – Yes, Scott is definitely a keeper. I ate soup from a can for many years before I met him. I’m so glad I found a guy who can cook!

  7. Mia (Runs and Rests) – I am very lucky! He not only cooks, but he’s also a computer programmer/software developer. So I guess you could say I married a nerdy cook. I am definitely well fed and always have a tech guy in the house.

  8. Christina, I would definitely go to a class alone (as long as it’s safe for you). I took a French class by myself at the local college two years ago (I already have a Master’s degree, so it was just for fun). I had a great time doing something on my own – just for me! I highly recommend it.