Apple Blueberry (Pear) Crisp and Mashed Potato Sculpting

As I sat at my dining room table (ah, to be home) eating remnants of my Apple Blueberry (Pear) Crisp for breakfast, I realized I still had yet to post about Thanksgiving! I didn't do half as much cooking as I did for our RA Thanksgiving, but everything was there in full and oh-so-delicious. I made a crisp and after I realized my picture perfect dinner rolls were ruined (the shortening was from...well, I won't tell you when), I threw together an adapted version of Trader Joe's quick cornbread.

Upholding the single Thanksgiving tradition we have in our family, we also brought our annual mashed potato sculpting event from our house to the Pickels'. Read on...

Apple Blueberry (Pear) Crisp

Ingredients
•1 C flour
•1/2 t salt
•1 t baking powder
•1/2 C sugar
•1 1/2 t cinnamon
•1 egg
•1/3 C butter, melted
•5-6 C chopped fruit (I used apples, blueberries, and one pear)

Directions
Preheat oven to 375˚F. Fill an 8x8 square pan with fruit until just barely below the rim. Mix all dry ingredients together in a large or medium mixing bowl, and then add egg, stirring until mixture is coarse. Spread dry/egg mixture evenly across the top of the fruit in the pan. Drizzle with melted butter as evenly as possible, and bake for 30 minutes, or until top is just browned.

This crisp is great, simply because it is SO easy to make and it turns out delicious! Definitely a nice alternative to pumpkin pie on Thanksgiving, and also a great way to use up all of the frozen fruit that is hiding in your freezer.

5th annual mashed potato sculpting event!
Buy a large box of instant mashed potatoes. Make them using only water--adding butter and/or anything else is just a waste, and takes away from prime sculpting optimization! Divvy up the potatoes into 5 or 6 different bowls, leaving a large amount of white in the pot for a base color. Color the mashed potatoes in the bowls using food coloring to your liking, but remember, a little bit goes a long way. Make sure you pick up a cheap plastic WHITE table cloth to sculpt on, or get some large white paper plates. Then you're ready! 1, 2, 3...sculpt!