Apple Pie Pizza With Vanilla Icing Drizzle

What's better than pizza?

Dessert pizza!!

Not only is this recipe super easy but deliciously combines a pie crust, apple filling, a brown sugar oatmeal crumble, and vanilla icing drizzle. 

Are you drooling yet? 

Ok here's what your going to need...

Ingredients: 

5 medium to small sized granny smith apples

peeled, cored, and cut into slices about 1/8 in. thick  

1/2 cup plus 3 tablespoons of brown sugar

2 Tablespoons of cornstarch

1 Tablespoon of lemon juice

2 teaspoons of ground cinnamon

1/4 cup of old fashioned rolled oats

3 Tablespoons of melted butter

2 Tablespoons of all purpose flour

1 store bought, refrigerated 9 in. pie crust

1 egg, lightly beaten

1 Tablespoon of sugar

1/4 teaspoon of kosher salt

Vanilla Icing Drizzle:

1 Tablespoon of milk

1 teaspoon of vanilla extract 

1 cup of confectioners sugar

Preheat oven to 400 degrees, and take the pie crust out of the refrigerator to thaw. 

Peel the skin off of the apples, and cut into 1/8 in. slices, making sure to cut out all of the tough core. 

Add apple slices to a large bowl and combine with 1/2 cup of brown sugar, cornstarch, lemon juice, and cinnamon. 

In another bowl, combine the remaining 3 tablespoons of brown sugar, oats, butter, flour, and salt. The salt will add a great cut to the sweetness of the dessert!

Your going to need your pie crust to be a little bigger than 9 in. to be able to fit all of your filling, so you will need to roll out the dough to about 11 or 12 inches in diameter. 

Do this on a floured surface with a floured rolling pin so that it doesn't stick. 

Place on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper, or use a pizza stone like I did!

Pour the apple filling into the middle of your pie crust, leaving about an inch around the edge. 

Fold the excess dough over to create your outer crust.

Sprinkle the oatmeal crumble on top.

Lightly beat and egg and then brush onto the outer crust so that it will brown in the oven. 

Sprinkle with sugar. 

I wrapped my crust with foil, just as a way to prevent burning. 

Bake in the oven for 40 to 45 minutes until the apples are tender. 

After the pizza has cooled slightly, mix together the milk, vanilla, and confectioners sugar until it is smooth and fluid. You may need to gradually add more milk if it remains too thick. 

Drizzle the icing over the pizza. 

Fall Harvest, Pumpkin Gnocchi Soup

When the fall season rolls around there tends to be a lot of sweet pumpkin treats that pop up everywhere, but what about the savory? 

It's been pretty darn rainy here in south Florida lately, and dare I say....maybe just a tad cooler. In this type of weather I like to eat what everyone else does...warm comfort food...which makes it a perfect time to make pumpkin soup!

I feel like a lot of soups that are squash based tend to be bisque's, which are good, but they just don't fill me up. 

This recipe definitely isn't lacking in the ingredients department, yet is still super simple. 

Although, for a long time I thought that soups were just way too much work and took way too long, I promise you that this soup is super easy and fast!!

Ingredients: 

1 Tablespoon of butter

1/2 red onion, chopped 

1/2 red pepper, chopped

3 red potatoes, diced

2 teaspoons of minced garlic

1 cup of corn

4 cups of vegetable broth

1 1/2 cups of milk

15 oz. of pumpkin puree

1 (16 oz.) package of gnocchi 

When buying your pumpkin, make sure you getting
pure pumpkin, not pumpkin pie filling.

In a large pot, melt 1 Tablespoon of butter over medium heat. 

Add in the chopped onion, and minced garlic.

Stir occasionally for about five minutes or until the onion is starting to become soft, then add the peppers. 

Cook for about another minute. 

To the pot, add 4 cups of vegetable broth and bring to a boil.

Once at a boil, add the potatoes and the corn.

Simmer for 30 minutes or until the potatoes are tender.

I left the skin on the potatoes, just to have the pretty color!!!

To the pot, add the pumpkin puree and milk.

Stir until blended and then heat through. 

Bring the mixture back to a boil.

Add the gnocchi, and let simmer until it's soft and floats to the surface.

Make sure you use a large pot...as you can see, I cut it pretty close. 

You are now ready to eat!!!

Sprinkle with some dried basil, for a tasty garnish!

So many pretty colors in this soup!

Since Kevin refuses to touch anything in the squash family, I have lots of soup left over to eat tomorrow and stash in the freezer!

Fall Decorating....On A Budget!

So you may have noticed that there is no "Tasty Sunday" recipe today.

Well that's because I have been too busy decorating for the best season of the whole year....Fall!!!

Since I live in an apartment, I'm kind of limited on space to display seasonal decorations, but I try to make the best of what I have....which pretty much comes down to my dining room table. (I drool over Pinterest pictures of beautiful northern houses with their decorated fireplace mantles and front porches) 

This year I was determined to make a simple yet beautiful table by shopping smartly, re-purposing things that I already had lying around the house while also creating something that could stay up for Halloween and Thanksgiving. (Reversible sign!) 

This is what I came up with!

I hope you love it as much as I do, and can gain some ideas and inspiration. 

Things I already had (these are all things that you could easily buy at a garage sale or thrift store):

Table cloth 

White pitcher 

Cookbook stand

Bird salt and pepper shakers

Things I bought:

Candles (Dollar Tree) $1 each

Glass cups (Dollar Tree) $1 each

Fall leaves (Dollar Tree) $1 for a strand

Pumpkins (Dollar Tree) $1 each

Cast iron branch candle stick (Home Goods) $9.99

3 Wheat bushels (60% off at Michael's)  $3.99 each

Beans, yellow split peas, and green split peas (Publix) $4.33 total
Fall kitchen towels (Walmart) $1.98 each

Things I made: 

* Burlap table runner- for this I just cut from a big roll of burlap that I bought from Walmart for a little over $5. It was enough to run the length of my whole table, use for another craft, and I still have some left over. You might not be able to tell in the pictures, but it actually has gold strands running through it!

* Reversible Halloween/Thanksgiving sign- for this craft I only used items that I scavenged, had on hand from other crafts, or borrowed. 

- The wood was scrap from Kevin's shop

-The stain was borrowed from my friend Kera (thanks Kera!!)

-The white paint and brushes were left over from other crafts

Including drying time this only took about two hours to make, and then I just propped it in my cookbook stand!

The Gift Of Food

So there will be no "Tasty Sunday" recipe today because.....it's my birthday!!!!!

I find it funny that my friends and family know me so well that they gift me with food, leaving me with the pleasure of doing absolutely no work on my birthday which means the only thing I have to do is sit back and gorge myself....which consequently means that I gain five pounds every year on my birthday. 

Since I will not be cooking today, I instead decided to list all of the delicious things I have had the pleasure of eating this weekend...so far. 

First off, my sisters present to me was going wine tasting!!! We went to the Endless Summer Winery and Vineyard and I am not usually a big fan of wine, but I have to say I loved just about every single one I tasted!

This place is great, and allows you to bring your own picnic, so that once you've tasted all their wine, you can pick one (or many) you like and go enjoy the grounds while snacking. We brought cheese, prosciutto, fruit, and crackers and stuffed our faces under their pavilion. I can't wait to go back and of course get some more wine!!! 

Later that night we went to an Italian restaurant named Casa Mia and sat on the patio while eating butternut squash raviolis with a browned butter sauce....yes I said browned butter sauce. My mouth is watering now just thinking about it!! I highly recommend it.  

As if my lovely sister didn't feed me enough, after we got back to her place she gave me my peanut butter birthday cupcake. Chocolate cake, with a peanut butter frosting (which tasted like peanut butter pie!!!) and a chocolate ganache core...it was extreme!!!

Well today is my actual birthday and Kevin continued his tradition of getting me birthday donuts, and then later we are going to dinner. 

Let's just say I'm going to have to get serious about a diet after this weekend....but it was worth it. 

P.S. All I really want for my birthday is my hot water heater to finally be fixed....welcome to adulthood.