Maggie's Winnings / Pasta / Fried Apple Pies

Happy Monday! Are you finished with your Christmas shopping? I am...thank goodness!

I can't believe I haven't blogged in 4 days...wow. Maybe I can get back on track after today.

First up for today, Maggie won some treats from Molly over at It's a Vegan Dog's Life. The treats are all natural and by Belle & Basset. Maggie was sweet and shared her winnings with me. She gave me the two stickers. :o)

Here's Maggie all excited to get her treats. I know...she doesn't look that excited, but this is her excited face....I promise. Yes, she does sit funny, but that's due to a back injury. She's almost 13 and doesn't get around very well. Honestly, I am very surprised that she walks at all. But my baby has heart and keeps on trucking along. I think our love for her keeps her going....is that crazy to think that?

Friday, I wasn't feeling very well, so I stayed home. For lunch, I thought some pasta might make me feel better, so I cooked a handful of whole wheat spaghetti. After the pasta had finished cooking, I tossed it into a nonstick skillet with some olive oil, garlic powder, a hand full of fresh spinach and some grape tomatoes that I cut in half. I sauteed it just long enough for the spinach to wilt and the tomatoes to soften a little....about 5 minutes. For such a simple sounding meal, it sure was good!

A friend of mine gave me a bunch of apples about a week ago. There were way too many for us to eat before they spoiled, so I decided to cook them and put some in the freezer to make fried apple pies with throughout the winter. Once I had peeled and cut the apples, I put them in a pot with some water, cinnamon, nutmeg, agave nectar, and a dash of ginger. I brought the apples to a boil and cooked them until they were tender. After they had cooled, I then put them in baggies to go into the freezer. Of course. I had to keep enough apples out so that I could make some fried apples pies right away.

This time in making fried pies, I used Pillsbury crescent rolls. You're supposed to use biscuits but we love crescent rolls, so I thought I would give them a try. I separated the crescent rolls and rolled each section into balls and let them sit out to get to room temp.

Once the rolls had reached room temperature I rolled each ball out onto a floured surface. I tried to get them into a circle as best as I could.

Once I had the ball rolled out I put the apple filling in a thin layer on one side.

Then I folded the dough over the apple portion into a half moon shape. I pinched around the sides to ensure that the apple filling wouldn't come out when frying them. Some people use a fork on the edges, but I just pinch them.

I fried these the same way as the apricot pies that I made a few days ago. Heat the oil in a nonstick skillet and fry about 1-2 minutes on each side. After frying, I cut one in half to check and see how the crescent roll dough was working and the inside of the dough next to the filling was still doughy(ick), so I decided to put them in the oven to see if that would help. What do you know, after about 10 minutes at 350, it finished them off and they turned out perfectly.

I have to admit, the apple was much better than the apricot, and I loved the taste and crispiness of the crescent rolls.

~Peace~