Everything Apple

The last few months I haven't felt very inspired to tell you about my cooking. I don't know if it's because it's summer, but I just haven't felt like anything I made was very interesting. The fall makes me want to cook. I made Ratatouille last week. Chili another night, and banana bread yesterday. These were all recipes I have shared before, so there was no reason to post anything again.

However, today we went apple picking. We always go apple picking at the Eplegaarden in Fitchburg, WI. We went there the very 1st year that we were here. Or at least I think it was the 1st year - maybe it wasn't. It doesn't really matter. It's a great place no matter how many times we have been.

It's always odd to go and get these massive amounts of apples because I really don't like cooked fruit - even apples. It's always a challenge to figure out what to do with ALL those apples. My kids, however do like cooked fruit, so I figure out a way.

I decided to make cinnamon apples for them. It's easy and very much a fall recipe.

After apple picking, I pulled out my crock pot and peels and sliced about 8 apples (Blake does NOT like cinnamon apples with the peel, so this is a must for us). We picked a variety of apples so I couldn't really tell you what type I used - I know it wasn't red delicious - probably more like Redmax or Gala's mostly. We picked those as well as Spartan's and the Red Delicious.

About halfway through slicing and putting the apples in the crock pot, I put about 2 tbsp of butter as well as some sugar - about 2tbsp of raw unrefined and 1tbsp of brown sugar -- and a lot of cinnamon. I don't really know how much, but maybe about a tablespoon.

I continued slicing up the apples and then after I was done I added about the same to the top -- although it was probably less cinnamon and a little more sugar.

I supposed I should measure this stuff out. Sorry 'bout that.

They cooked for about 4 hours. I opened up the crock pot and stirred to get all the good juice all over the apples. I also couldn't help  but think these would be incredible with some ice cream on them. I have to admit that although I am not a big fan of mushy apples, I had to try them since they smelled so good and they were pretty decent. I didn't want to eat a whole bowl or anything, but I could see why the kids liked them.

After dinner my kids declared that these apples were better than any they'd had before. I'd like to think it was my whipped up recipe for the apples, but I suspect most of the credit goes to Eplegaarden for growing such fantastic apples.

Stay tuned for a few more apple ideas later this week. I promise.

Finally....

you may have noticed a change or 2 to the site. I have indeed changed the name. My focus has moved away from not dining out, to just cooking from scratch and cooking well. So, I changed it. Nothing big. Just me and my recipes and hopfully Hx will share some of her fall Colorado cookin' with us too. No pressure, Hx.

Cucumber & Tomato Side Salad

My favorite side salad for a long time has been Noodles' cucumber tomato side salad. I love to get a small dish of Noodles and the salad for a meal. I have always wished you could get this salad as part of the "Trio", but the don't allow it. Since my garden is producing a TON of tomatoes and LOTS of cucumbers, this seemed like a no brainer. A few weeks ago I asked Hx if she had tried it and if she had any thoughts of what was made from. May sound silly - cucumber & tomatoes, right? Right and wrong. It's cucumber, tomatoes and red onions, but then they put a vinegar based dressing on it and sprinkle with sesame seeds and a seasoning. The vinegar was the mystery though. It wasn't red wine, it wasn't just rice  hx suggested champagne, but I couldn't find that. (I also didn't look hard).

Faced with a mountain of cucumbers I decided it was time. I opened the red wine vinegar and knew it wasn't right. The dressing was definitely a "brownish" - not red. I had the rice vinegar (I have about 4 or 5 different vinegars at any given time) and decided to get wild and crazy and mix it! It worked. I think it's pretty darn close. I decided to add just a dash of kosher salt and not add any seasoning when done - if I had to guess I would go with a paprika mix with salt. I don't really need the salt though.

So my basic receipe for this is as follows :

1 cut cucumber (halved or quartered and peeled)
4 roma tomatoes (halved or quartered)
1/2 medium red onion
a little over 1/3 cup rice vinegar
enough red wine vinegar to fill it up to 1/2 cup
1 tbs sugar (I used organic cane)

Mix the vinegars and sugar together. Pour over the veggies just prior to serving.

Just like the rat made

Ratatouille!

I had this back in the spring at Disney (get it... the movie ratatouille and they MADE ratatouille?!) I had it at the Crystal Palace which had excellent food. My husband had it and didn't even believe me that eggplant was in it - it was that good. I wanted to find the Disney recipe, but never did. Since all the ingredients are in season, I decided it was time to make it.

I selected a fairly easy recipe - Rachael Rays. You can find it here - Ratatouille. It's actually very, very easy to make - even without a chefs hat and a rat hidden underneath. The only think I would do different is to make more sauce and perhaps a little thinner - perhaps adding more EVOO to the sauce.

Theorietically my garden should be able to produce all these veggies, with the exception of garlic. So, this really could be a home grown dish. Sadly, my garden has been somewhat angry at me and hasn't given me squash yet. Perhaps soon though... perhaps soon.

In the meantime, eat your veggies and make some ratatouille!

Weirdest. Dinner. Ever.

With all the summer goodness, I can't decide what I want. Many of our meals are just "grazing" - grabbing something yummy and eating. This might be fruit, or fresh veggies or what ever. My meals are definitely a little more low key. On Saturday, I went to the Madison Farmers Market for the 1st time this season. I am usually a regular down there, but between working and swim meets, I hadn't gotten down yet. I of course chose a busy, busy day - the 3rd of July - and a peak time - around 10am - to go. It was crowded! BUT I picked up a few great things. Much to my surprise they already had Door County Cherries! I also got a few herb plants at a great price since it's time for the nurseries to move them out. I also picked up some potatoes. They were small potatoes. I wasn't sure what to do with them.
Then it hit me!
SALT POTATOES!

They are a specialty from UpState NY where my husband is from. They are a summer staple - you will find them at fairs and local/regional events. They are simple - salt, water, butter - YUM! I did find a recipe on the NY Times site - but you really don't need one. About a cup of salt to 8 cups of water is what I used. I mixed Kosher and Pacific Sea salt because I was almost out of Kosher! Let them cook until tender. Because of the high temps, the potatoes get nice and creamy. It's hard to explain. After draining, add some butter and let it melt. The potatoes should just soak in the butter now. I added about 1/4 cup butter. Then - eat! David said that the potatoes at the Fairs look different - they are all wrinkled up - probably from spending hours cooking in salt water.  I am growing potatoes in my community garden plot and have all intentioned of making many of my potatoes from there into salt potatoes!

Here's a little blurb from Wikipedia as to why they came about up in the Syracuse area.

"The Syracuse, New York area has a long history of salt production. Salt springs located around Onondaga lake were used to create consumable salt that was distributed throughout the northeast via the Erie Canal. Salinated water was laid out to dry on large trays. The salt residue was then scraped up, ground, and packaged. Salt potatoes were created in the nineteenth century by Irish immigrants working the springs who cooked their potatoes in the salty brine."


So... why was the weirdest dinner ever?? Because I had bought pineapple the say before with the intention of grilling it. I think I have mentioned before that I HATE cooked fruit - jams, jellies, pies, YUCK! However.... grilled pineapple. Oh my heavens, it's so... so... fantastic. Love it. So, to go with my potatoes I grilled pinapple. Sounds logical to me, right? No matter what you might think, my plate was like a little piece of heaven. 

Tried & True -- but time to try something new

Up until now, I had one banana bread recipe that I always used. It was ripped from a bag of bulk ripen bananas that I got once at the store -- you know -- the paper bag with a handle that has random single bananas that the store is selling at a discount to get rid of. It worked well... I didn't quite have it memorized, but remember the basic ingredients. Today I went to make banana bread for the neighborhood kickball that happens most Monday evenings and I couldn't find it! I used handy dandy google to help me. I found a recipe on allrecipes.com that resembled my favorite - but wasn't exactly. The biggest difference was the use of brown sugar as opposed to white sugar. There was also a measurement for the bananas as opposed to quantity. I decided to give it a go.

Well... I am thrilled to tell you I have a NEW tried & true banana bread recipe. It was so good... so moist and yummy. I did add some vanilla to it - as well as some chocolate (milk chocolate - it was all I had). 

Banana Banana Bread

Prep Time:
15 Min

Cook Time:
1 Hr 5 Min

Ready In:
1 Hr 20 Min

Servings  (Help)

 Original Recipe Yield 1 - 9x5 inch loaf

 

Ingredients

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup butter
• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 2 1/3 cups mashed overripe bananas

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease a 9x5 inch loaf pan.
2. In a large bowl, combine flour, baking soda and salt. In a separate bowl, cream together butter and brown sugar. Stir in eggs and mashed bananas until well blended. Stir banana mixture into flour mixture; stir just to moisten. Pour batter into prepared loaf pan.
3. Bake in preheated oven for 60 to 65 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into center of the loaf comes out clean. Let bread cool in pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack.

Back to the Blog

Yikes! It's been more than a month since I posted ANYTHING. To tell you the truth, I haven't really been making tons of dishes. I am not sure why, but my meals have been more about grazing. Not really dining out at all... which feels great... but instead of planning big ornate meals, I just open the fridge and see what's there. Sometimes dinner consisted of watermelon, cantaloupe and a pita sandwich. Nothing really to blog about. I love summer food, but it's been very simplistic lately.

But now that my community garden plot is about to start producing some veggies, and the farmers markets are staring to brim with seasonal goodies, I am starting to feel a bit more inspired. I still think my recipes will be simpler during the summer, but isn't that what summer is all about?

I do want to restart with an ice cream recipe.

I got an ice cream maker probably about 6 or 7 years ago. I never made a decent batch, until now. Either it was too icy or one time it had bits of egg (I was making a custard and I guess I didn't temper the egg properly and/or I didn't strain it). It was awful. Now that I have my handy Cooks Illustrated membership, I decided to see if one of their recipes would redeem my ice cream making track record. It did. I try to find local cream and milk as well as local eggs. It really makes for good fresh ice cream. The 1st time I made it I made a chocolate version which was really quite the main in my rear. I think I used nearly every bowl I had - there were that many steps. From now on, I am sticking with vanilla. It's easy, straight forward  and I can top it with chocolate if I need to. I even use fresh strawberries on top as well (not cooked! FRESH!) and it's delicious! Here's the receipe from Cooks Illustrated. Again, I cannot reiterate enough how much the membership to the site is worth.

Cooks Illustrated Vanilla Ice Cream

Makes 1 quart.   Published July 1, 1993.  

If necessary, two teaspoons of vanilla extract may be substituted for the vanilla bean. To maximize the extract’s potency, stir it into the chilled custard just before churning.

Ingredients

1 1/2	cups whole milk
1 1/2	cups heavy cream
3/4	cup granulated sugar
4	inch piece vanilla bean , slit lengthwise and seeds removed, pod reserved (see illustration below)
4	large egg yolks

Instructions

1. 1. Position a strainer over a medium bowl set in a larger bowl containing ice water. Heat the milk, cream, 1/2 cup of the sugar, and the vanilla seeds and pod in a medium saucepan over medium heat, stirring occasionally to break up the vanilla seeds, until steam appears and the milk is warm (about 175 degrees), about 5 minutes.
2. 2. Meanwhile, whisk the yolks and remaining 1/4 cup sugar in a medium bowl until combined and pale yellow. Whisk half the warm milk mixture into the beaten yolks, 1/2 cup at a time, until combined. Whisk the milk-yolk mixture into the warm milk in the saucepan; set the saucepan over medium heat and cook, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon, until steam appears, foam subsides, and the mixture is slightly thickened or an instant-read thermometer registers 180 to 185 degrees. (Do not boil the mixture, or the eggs will curdle.) Immediately strain the custard into the bowl set in the ice bath; cool the custard to room temperature, stirring it occasionally to help it cool. Cover and refrigerate until an instant-read thermometer -registers 40 degrees or lower, at least 3 hours or up to 24 hours.
3. 3. Remove and discard the vanilla pod from the custard (or add the vanilla extract, if using) and stir well. Pour the custard into the ice cream machine canister and churn, following the manufacturer’s instructions, until the mixture resembles soft-serve ice cream. Transfer the ice cream to an airtight container, press plastic wrap flush against the surface, cover the container, and freeze the ice cream until firm, at least 2 hours. (The ice cream will keep for up to 2 days.)

Hittin the Motherload

Last weekend was Mother's Day. A few years ago, my favorite mom moved away from her favorite daughter (sniff). As her only human child (there are furry ones as well), this holiday is starred, highlighted, bold and set up with both 1- and 2-week reminders on my calendar so that I don't miss it (this is why I'm her favorite daughter -- lucky her). Babs also has the same situation with her lovely and sweet mother (Hi Mrs. Robinson!). We only-children with single parents have a lot of pressure and guilt (and we understand how important it is), so we try and do our best. It helps that we have awesome moms.

Anyway, my mom has a food itch like I've never known. Most sweets and desserts just don't cut it. No pie, no cake, no cobblers or cookies. No no.. Chocolate *only* please. She's not just any average chocoholic. If it doesn't include DARK CHOCOLATE, then she puts down her eating utensil and steps away from the table. It's just not worth it. And it HAS to be dark chocolate. Milk and whatever that "white" stuff claims to be (puh-lease) is just not good enough. As one who likes to cook, I know that I better make the dessert with dark chocolate unless I plan on eating alone.

Lucky for her, she makes this so well known to everyone (she's not much of a hinter), that I decided to bake up some Chewy Brownies (uncopyrighted free version) for Mother's Day to send to her. This recipe has been twice recommended to me, even from a source who claims to be 'picky about my chocolate.' Well, ok then. Plus, it's a Cooks recipe, so I have a fairly good chance of success. And they are SO FREAKING GOOD and easy to make (hellllooo sugar!) that I'll definitely be making these again.

I also decided to make some sugar scrub labeled as Gardener's Soap. Fun and easy. I sent that along with a pretty silver spoon with the word 'mom' inscribed on it.

Oh, and one more thing was in that big box o' love. A rag rug I crocheted from fabric to match her new red decor kitchen. Now this one took a long time to make and I butted up against the mail deadline a little too close for comfort (the night before I had to send it). However, I think it looks great and was worth all the effort. Even Rob ripped some of the fabric strips for me. Colby made sure many of the fabric balls had a loop or two around the living room (in his mouth), and even the cat took a nap atop it. What a great gift. Happy Mother's Day Mom!