|
EPISODE #56- SATURDAY OCTOBER 9, 2010
We are definitely into fall. The leaves on the
trees don’t lie! And with all of the apple festivals happening around
the area we thought it would be good to share David’s Apple pie recipe!
After you have had this tasty treat you should have the energy to tackle
the other projects around the house like your window coverings, cleaning
your gutters and cooking a great dinner! Good Luck!
Kid Painting
Here is an idea for a piece of art that can also be a family
heirloom. We met with Linda Gemal of
Rejuvenate
Your Home (503-803-8000) to see how she had her kids make a
wonderful painting for their family room. She first had her kids make a
drawing of a scene they wanted to paint. Then she went to the art store
and picked up a canvas that would fit the space on the wall that she
wanted to fill. She also picked up some nice bright acrylic paints.
These are better for kids because they are easier and cleaner to use.
You can also pick up some cheap brushes of different sizes to use. Put
some coverings down and let them go at it! Of course Linda had them add
a couple of features for her. She asked them to use their hand prints
and foot prints on the painting so they had a memento of the kids in the
painting as well. You can easily copy this for your own home and you
will have a custom piece of art that your family will treasure.
Cascade Window Coverings
We visited
Cascade Flooring America (800-942-0376) in Vancouver to learn about…
window coverings! That’s right; Cascade had so many requests from
customers that they hired a Hunter-Douglas window expert, Jim, to help
customers make the right choices on picking out window coverings.
Choosing a new window covering can be a daunting task, because there are
so many choices. Some of those choices can now save you a lot of money,
too. Jim showed us how you can get up to a $1,500 tax credit on certain
styles of window coverings. Not only can you enjoy great energy savings,
but you can also pick window treatments that will complement any décor.
Jim also showed us how you can enjoy other benefits such as light
control and privacy. If you are looking to make a change to your window
coverings, you need to make the short trip to Vancouver and visit Jim,
Sunny and all the Cascade Flooring America staff for help.
Apple Pie
What is more ‘All-American’ than a good apple pie? And at this
time of year you are going to see a lot more apples in the stores as
they come into season. David and Robin walked us through the process of
doing an apple pie step-by-step. First, David had his ingredients for
his crust set out. There was flour, sugar and salt that were added a
food processor and quickly mixed. You can also us a pastry cutter to mix
your ingredients as well, but don’t use your hands. The reason for that
is because it doesn’t work as well and it will warm up your ingredients.
You will be adding chilled butter and shortening next. These need to
stay chilled because you don’t want them to melt and the chilled pieces
make for a better consistency in your crust. You will add these pieces
to the processor and lightly mix them until you get a cornmeal-like
consistency. Add a little chilled water and mix that in until you can
make a ball out of it. You don’t want too much water and have it too
mushy. Make 2 balls of dough that are equal sized and put them in the
fridge for about an hour or so.
Now is a good time to peel and slice your apples. David likes to
use an apple that has a little tartness and firmness to it. He used a
Granny Smith apple for this pie, but you can use just about any type of
apple. Mix about 5-6 cups of sliced apples in a bowl with sugar, flour,
cinnamon and a dash of nutmeg.
Next we rolled out the dough. David rolled it out by using 2
sheets of wax paper. You can use just about anything, but this was the
best for transferring it to the pie plate. He started rolling from the
center out, and kept it to a minimum so he wouldn’t heat up his butter
and shortening. He placed the dough in the pie plate, added his apple
mixture and put a few chunks of butter on top. Then he covered the top
with his other rolled out dough, crimped the edges, made vent holes in
the top and placed foil on the edges to prevent burning. Finally he
placed the pie on a cookie sheet to prevent any possible boil-over from
making a mess in the oven. It turned out great! If you would like to try
this recipe on your own, check out the video and
get the step-by-step instructions by
clicking here.
Terra Casa Cooking Gadgets
Cooking should be fun and easy. Having the right tools in the
kitchen can accomplish both of those requirements. We stopped by
Terra Casa
(503-577-8242) in Damascus to see the latest in time saving gadgets that
are also fun to use! Kathii met with David to show him a couple of
really cool tools. We started with the Swiss made Nuscup measuring tool.
This gadget can be adjusted to measure just about any small amount for
your favorite recipe. Another benefit is that it can be mounted on your
refrigerator with the little magnet on the back. Next we went to the new
style of cheese knife. But this is not your ordinary cheese knife; this
one can cut through the hardest of cheeses without a struggle. The blade
even looks different; it is made out of resin and has ridges to keep the
cheese from sticking to the blade. The next knife we saw was the Kyocera
knife. This knife is not a steel blade knife either, but it can really
slice! It is sharp and it stays sharp too! Finally we tackled garlic.
Dealing with garlic can be messy and smelly, but Kathii had 2 tools to
help conquer that problem. The first tool helped get the peel off the
garlic by simply rolling the cloves in this little rubber mat. The
second tool chopped the garlic by using the Garlic Zoom. You just put
the garlic in the little Zoom and roll it back and forth to get finely
chopped garlic. If you need to make your kitchen more efficient, check
out some of these tools at Terra Casa.
|
