TWD All-American All-Delicious Apple Pie

There are few things better than good, old fashioned apple pie.  It was one of the first things that I tried to make when I was learning to cook.  Back then I turned to the red and black plaid Better Homes and Gardens cookbook.  Surprisingly, the recipe I found there is very much the same as Dorie's.  It makes a delicious pie that is really hard to improve on.  I used a mixture of Gala and Jonagold apples and substituted flour for the tapioca. The super buttery Good for Almost Anything Pie Crust made this pie taste extra special.

 My family gobbled this pie up so quickly that I barely got to take a picture.  They asked why I hadn't made two.  Thanks to Emily of Sandmuffin for this great pick.

FFwD Hachis Parmentier

 This weeks recipe for French Fridays is Hachis Parmentier.  What is that you ask?  Well, I think that it can best be described as a French Shepherds Pie.  This is a very simple dish of meat (I used  cubed steak and spicy sausage) topped with creamy mashed potatoes. You can even use leftover beef.  My family loved this and I think that yours will too.

Vietnamese Spicy Chicken Noodle Soup

Welcome to my first edition of French Fridays with Dorie. I am very excited to begin cooking through Dorie Greenspan's new book, Around My French Table. I am also a little apprehensive at the same time. I love to bake, but to be honest, I'm not a very good cook. This will be an opportunity to try lots of new things and improve my cooking skills. We will see.

This weeks recipe is Vietnamese Spicy Chicken Noodle Soup and it was picked by Dorie herself. It's one of those recipes that I would have never picked, but I thought that it was very tasty. The list of ingredients is rather long but the soup comes together very easily and is ready to eat in less than a hour. The soup is very flavorful but I didn't think that it was all that spicy. Overall I was very pleased with the results.

TWD Fold Over Pear Torte

This weeks recipe for Tuesday with Dorie is Fold Over Pear Torte. This is an interesting name for a slightly different dessert, and I admit that mine turned out slightly different than it was intended. This recipe features pears baked in a custard filling with walnuts and raisins added in. The crust is to be fitted into a spring form pan and then folded over the filling. This is where I went wrong. I accidentally used the wrong size pan didn't have enough crust to fold over. Oh well, it still tasted great. There was just the right amount of custard to pear ratio for a yummy bite every time. Thanks to Cakelaw of Laws of the Kitchen for picking this great fall recipe.

Double Apple Bundt Cake

Nothing says fall like apples and especially apple cake. My family loves apple cake. I think it may be their favorite cake. I was a little scared to serve them a different one. I worried for nothing they loved it. No complaints at all. After all this is a very good cake. It is very moist because of the apple butter and it has just the right amount of spice and sweetness. Thanks to Lynne of Honey Muffin for choosing this great cake, it is perfect for fall baking.