watermelon and apple pie

No, not together! Just a good tip about each.

Watermelon:
We had leftover watermelon (a lot of it!) that was going to go bad any day, and it was a little bland as well. I wanted to do something with it, so it wouldn't be wasted, but what do you do with watermelon? I searched around the internet briefly and found Watermelon Lemonade.

Basically, throw all the watermelon into a blender. (Mine was seeded, so I just put the chunks in a colander w/ a bowl underneath to catch juice, and used my fingers to push out the seeds. Sounds tedious, but it actually went really fast. I threw the seedless chunks and juice in the blender.) Blend until it's juice (10-20 sec). Now stir in lemon juice and sugar to taste. I skimped on the lemonade part. I only squeezed in 1 1/2 lemons and added a little sugar, but it was enough to bring some lemon flavor to the drink. The lemons really complemented the watermelon nicely, and combined it had a surprisingly good flavor. The juice was bright bright pink, which Maddie has really liked! I also saw a variation that was something like 2 parts watermelon juice, 1 part lemonade and 1 part iced tea. That might be interesting to try sometime.

Apple Pie:
I am making a frozen meal for some friends who are in need of some prepared dinners ready as needed. As I was looking for some recipes online for meals that freeze well, I found a recipe for frozen apple pie.

Dutch Apple Pie
(from: http://www.recipelink.com/msgid/025349 )

Crust: {Makes enuf for 2-10" double crust pies and 1 single 9" pie}
5 cups flour
1 lb. lard
2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 egg
1 tbsp. apple cider vinegar
water

In measuring cup, mix 1 egg, 1tbsp. vinegar, and fill to 1 cup mark with water. Mix well. Roll out.

Filling:

5-6 cups sliced apples, peeled and cored
1 c. brown sugar
3 tbsp. flour***
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 c. melted margarine
3-4 tbsp. milk or rich cream

Slice apples into a big bowl. Mix all filling ingredients into apple slices. Fill crust. Top with second crust. Make slits in top crust. Bake approx. 1 hour at 350 degrees F. (I use glass pie plates)

***If you plan to freeze your pie, add extra tbsp. flour to filling. Do not make slits in top crust until you are ready to bake it. Freeze uncovered until it's frozen, then cover until you need to bake it. When you need it, preheat the oven to 425 degrees F., make your slits, Bake 20 minutes at that temperature, then turn down your oven to 350 degrees F. for approximately an hour or till the apples test done and the crust has browned nicely.

That's her recipe for apple pie, but I bet if you follow her tip on adding 1 extra tbsp flour to the filling plus her baking tips, it would probably work for any apple pie. I thought this was a handy thing to know. So, my friends are going to have fresh homemade apple pie for dessert! (And I'm making an extra for us too, of course!)