first fall dinner...

being that fall has quickly arrived here in northern indiana i decided that it was time to make a good fall dinner, complete with a nice fall dessert. i made a delicious pork roast, roasted red potatoes and amish noodles. i know i've talked several times about trying to be budget conscience and i know others of you are as well so, just so you know, the dinner portion of our meal cost about $10 and there was enough food for roughly 10 people. for dessert i made my own creation, an apple pie cup and it was delish (and with only 2 ingredients to buy because i had basic baking ingredients in the house it was super budget friendly at right around $3 for 8 servings)!

so here's the recipe:

1 can gran's biscuits (or any other 8ct. canned biscuits), 3 large apples (i used honeycrisp because they were on sale) - peeled, cored and cut into small chunks, 2T sugar, 2T cinnamon, 1/2 C oats, 2T butter, 1/4 C brown sugar, pinch of salt

*put apples, sugar, 1T cinnamon and a small amount of water in saucepan and simmer until apples are tender and sauce has reduced to slightly runny syrup (probably 20-30 minutes or so)

*preheat oven to 350

*take a muffin/cupcake pan and flip over so cups point up, flatten biscuits into large enough rounds so that one biscuit covers a whole muffin cup (try to stagger so they don't stick together) and bake until golden (10-12 minutes) then remove for cooling.

*make strusel topping with oats, butter, the remaining 1T cinnamon, brown sugar and pinch of salt (mix with fingers/fork/pastry blender until butter chunks are throughly dispersed and your mix feels like wet sand

*divide apples with sauce among the 8 biscuit cups and top with strusel topping

*return to oven until topping looks crispy (maybe 8 minutes, not really sure!)

*consume carefully, the biscuits are super flaky so they have potential to make a big mess!!!

these cups can be used for sooooo much more (thanks to Rachel Ray for the cup idea although i can't remember exactly what she used for filling). here are a few ideas:

~cream of mushroom soup, shredded chicken & veggies for mini pot pies

~eggs, sausage & cheese for breakfast cups (although for this one i'd pull the biscuits off the tins a bit earlier so they don't burn while you're waiting for the eggs to finish cooking)

~pasta sauce, pre-cooked meat, cheese, veggies, etc for deep-dish pizza cups

~sausage gravy bowls ('nuff said!)

~soups/stews of almost any sort

and yes, i know that canned biscuits are not exactly the most healthy but you really only need to eat one for dessert (or share with a loved one) and you can always make them either from scratch or use the heart healthy bisquick and, of course, you can modify the ingredients. the easiest option as always though, is moderation! i'll try to guestimate the points/calories for those that care but it will have to be tomorrow! g'nite :)