It's Apple Season Again!

We went apple picking this weekend, and managed not to go overboard with the number of apples that we brought home.  That's got to be a record!

The first thing I made was apple butter.  Homemade apple butter is sooooooo good.  Store-bought just cannot compete with homemade.  The apples spent ten hours in the crockpot, which seemed to me to be a really long time.  But it was definitely worth it.  A trip in the blender made the apples nice and smooth, and this batch debuted on some biscuits the next night next to some pork chops and butternut squash.  It made for a LOVELY fall dinner.  :)

This is the recipe that I used.  "Tastes of Lizzy" Apple Butter

Itty Bitty Pies

I have fond memories of Hostess Apple pies.  You know, the sugary apple pie deliciousness that came two per waxed paper package.  (I'm pretty sure that they had blueberry and lemon pies too, but yuck!)  When I saw "hand pies" on Pinterest, I immediately thought of Hostess pies.  I think Hostess ones were fried though, and obviously not as good as fresh-made, right?

Though pie-like, I wouldn't quite call these pie.  Brian and I have been calling them "Apple Pie Cookies."  They are pretty fantastic and in a word, dangerous.  I'd make them again for sure.  Here's the recipe:  Apple Hand Pies.  I found it on Pinterest and take no claim for it.

 All of the necessary ingredients

 Refrigerated, pre-made piecrust.  This mama doesn't mess around making her own.

 Sean helping by "inspecting the biscuit cutter."

 What makes these little pies special?  A little dollop of caramel sauce in each one.

The finished product.  There WAS four on here, but Brian really wanted one.

An Apple a Day

Three-day weekends are good for cooking.  So far I've made applesauce this weekend, and overnight apple oatmeal.

The applesauce was my standard fare.  Recipe courtesy of The Joy of Cooking, aka "The Bible."  We've been using this recipe for years, and the only difference this year was using a food processor instead of a food mill.  What ease!

the overnight apple oatmeal is a thing to behold!  One must put it together kind of late in the evening, in order for it to be ready at breakfast.  I peeled and diced 4 apples earlier, and sprinkled them wit vitamin C powder so they didn't turn brown.  (you can find this with the canning supplies.)  You layer the ingredients and then the recipe warns you, DO NOT STIR.  I was skeptical but obeyed its command.  And this morning I was rewarded for my patience with the scent of apple-goodness when I staggered into the kitchen to make coffee.  (I'm kind of a mess in the morning."  This was extremely tasty.  And luckily it makes a lot, so leftovers for the week!  The only critique tat Brian had is that it's heavy on the cinnamon.  I love cinnamon though, but maybe next time I'll adjust it a little.

Next up...apple hand pies.  And then I still have more apples, so who knows.

Weekend Warriors

What a weekend in our kitchen.

First, let's talk about this pizza for Saturday lunch.  I had no idea that ricotta, arugula and caramelized onion would make such fantastic pizza toppings.  Unfortunately, you can't reheat pizza with arugula on top, because it wilts.  So we had to eat it all, tough break.

I made stuff for our freezer.  Three freezer bags of ratatouille, and this time I salted the eggplant slices first a la Alton Brown.  It definitely got some of the moisture out, making the finished product less "mushy."  It'll go great with a starch and a little grated Parmesan later.

Then it was time for a magic trick....turning a $4.23 whole chicken into two meals and then boiling the carcass for chicken stock.  (Thank you, rapidly approaching "sell-by" dates!)  And honestly, it didn't take very long.  I just sauteed some aromatics (in this case a whole sliced onion, a couple of carrots and some celery ribs) and added the carcass, covered with water and let it boil for an hour.  I'll strain the fat off the top tonight and put it in the freezer for some delightful chicken soup at a later date.

Now, I've got some overripe bananas to turn into muffins, and yesterday we went apple picking.   Thinking about what to make!  

All things Pumpkin

Last night we attended our very first "Trunk or Treat."  Don't know what that is?  It's this really cool way of doing "Trick or Treating" in a parking lot with candy in people's trunks.  Also, it's safer so yu don't worry about your kids walking by themselves.

The party also featured "Glow Chucks" (it was at Will's karate school) and the kids had a great time!  Also a costume contest and the purpose of this blog, a pumpkin cooking contest.

Brian was originally going to make individual pumpkin creme brulees, but we didn't have enough time since we were also preparing for Will's birthday party this weekend.  So I found a recipe for pumpkin cupcakes with caramel cream cheese frosting.  They were an awesome Pinterest find and really easy.  Any recipe that lets you use a box mix and a jar of caramel ice cream topping is aces in my book.  After the cupcakes are baked you take a straw and poke holes in them, then put caramel topping in the holes.  It makes for a really moist, sweet cake.  And the frosting was incredible too!  We had said that we were going to bring cookies, which I had planned on just buying.  I never got to the store though, so Brian baked pumpkin chocolate chip cookies for the potluck table.  They were really good too, chewy and just enough pumpkin flavor.

We didn't win the contest...a pumpkin-maple bar with bacon took the prize.  And who can argue with that....it's BACON!  We did get a lot of compliments, though.  There's always next year.  And stupidly....I didn't get a picture.  Use your imaginations this time.  :)

Mixed Reviews

Two meals from last week:  cheesy ravioli bake and meatloaf "cakes."  I thought that they were pretty kid-friendly.  I was apparently wrong.

The first one, cheesy ravioli bake, seemed like a slam-dunk.  Both kids adore cheese ravioli, especially Will.  I figured this was cheese ravioli with a little bit of veggies and some cheese on top, for the win.  Brian and I loved it!  The kids?  Notsomuch.  Will picked at the ravioli and Sean cried that it looked "terrible."  Later on Sean told me that he likes ravioli, but next time don't make it with the "leaves" and tomatoes if I want him to eat it.  Leaves are baby spinach, by the way.

Then on Tuesday or Thursday (all my nights run together after a while) Brian made a "meatloaf cake" recipe that I had found on Pinterest.  Now, I am not a big meatloaf person.  I have never had a meatloaf at home that I've really liked.  A bread pan with a "loaf of meat" with a big fat slick on top just isn't delicious.  Not so with these.  They were perfectly cooked and didn't resemble martian food, very flavorful.  And the slick of fat?  Nowhere to be seen.  We served it with egg noodles and canned green beans.  (aka STILL the only vegetable these two will eat without a fight)  The meatloaf was a big old No Go.  I threw in the towel and acquiesced to their request for peanut butter and jelly.

All this meant that there was more leftovers for us.  Later on in the week Brian made loaded mashed potatoes to go with the meatloaf cakes when we ran out of noodles.  We had a lot of potatoes in the house, and these were awesome.  Obviously, we will continue to soldier on, to get these boys to eat new things.

If you're interested in the meatloaf "cakes" recipe:  here it is.  We omitted the sriracha to make it more "kid friendly."  Hahahahahahaha!  :)

Apple Butter

Welcome to another episode of "Homemade vs. Store-Bought."  Today I'm talking...apple butter.

A few weeks ago, Brian made some chicken and butternut squash in where the recipe called for apple butter.  He bought a huge jar of apple butter, which served as a glaze to the meat and squash.  It was good, but not good enough.  I expected more flavor, but it was flat.  I didn't write about it for that very reason, it was disappointing because it's got a bunch of my favorite stuff in it, and I adore autumn flavors.  (Apples, pumpkin, squash, cinnamon....you get the gist.)

My mom came to visit this weekend since we were going to Rhinebeck for the NY Wool and Sheep Festival.  She was telling me about the apple butter that she had made, and was going to ask my Dad to bring a jar of it when he came the next day to celebrate my son and my SIL's birthdays on Sunday.  As soon as I opened the jar on Sunday, I instantly knew what the difference was.

I grabbed the jar from our fridge and presented it to Brian.  "Smell this."  He obliged and I asked him what it smelled like.  He said "It smells like nothing."  Exactly!  Next he smelled the homemade apple butter.  All the difference in the world!

I grabbed a couple of butter crackers for a taste test.  And another test.  And another test.  I finally sealed the jar and put it back in the fridge, because the homemade stuff that my mom made was so good, I was sure that I could eat all of it on crackers!

So....homemade is the way to go.  It's labor intensive, Mom said that it spent several hours in a crockpot, and was in the oven for quite a while too.  But so worth it.  I think that we should try the chicken and squash recipe again!

A Very Kitchen Weekend

This is how I know that Autumn is in the air....apple picking.  And cooking a whole lot!

These are all things that we made this weekend.  I lost count of the dishwasher runs after three times.

 Breakfast burritos with bacon, eggs, peppers and onions. These tortillas were a combo of flour and corn, and quite delicious.  

 Milk-chocolate chip cookies.  I was running low on butter, so I substituted half of it with Crisco.  Makes a nice, crisp cookie!

Another fall favorite, chicken and apple tacos! Saturday night's dinner after apple picking.  I could eat these for a week and not get tired of them.  :)

Not pictured:  an awesome roast chicken with rice, fresh green beans and butternut squash!  Also, applesauce!  I was a good neighbor and brought some to the guy next door when I went to pick up my older son from playing with his son.  I love this stuff, especially a dollop over my morning oatmeal.

In the wings--apple crisp.  And perhaps some banana bread.  And Hubby and I are already talking about clam chowder next weekend!  The butternut squash soup at Panera has me thinking about soup.  So happy that Autumn is finally here!

Fall Favorites in Pork

It's not quite "Apple-palooza" at our house yet but this is one of my all-time favorite fall suppers.  And the weather at night is getting chilly so it's the right time!

Pork Chops with Cider Pan Sauce!

There is no recipe, Brian makes it up as he goes along.  It's moist, perfect pork with just a little tang from the cider.  I love, love, love it!  Even Will got into it this year and ate a whole serving.  Sean, not so much.  But lately if it's not chicken or peanut butter and jelly, he won't touch it.  Everything else, in his words, is "No, no no.  This is 'au-skuskin."  (disgusting.)  Ah well.  More for us!  Sadly, there were no leftovers.

Shredded Beef Tacos

A new Pinterest recipe!   Chillier nights mean autumn is coming, and that always gets me thinking about the crockpot.  Some people like to use theirs in the summer but it's just not my thing. I've seen a lot of recipes for cooking meat in the crockpot for tacos but never tried one.   The set-and-forget was really great this weekend, too.  I'm pretty sure that this cooking at home was the only reason we didn't get dinner out on Saturday after going shopping at the mall.   This one did not disappoint!

Plus....lots of leftovers for a busy Monday at work!  Win, Win!

Soup#2: Bacon Corn Chowder

With the arrival of fall comes the cool air that makes me want to have soup.  So last weekend seemed like a good time ti to make a second soup in order to work on my Day Zero list.

This recipe came from Taste of Home online, but I found it on Pinterest.  It's a very simple recipe, and doesn't have a ton of leftovers.  The ingredients include celery, bacon, potatoes, cream style corn, onion, milk and salt/pepper. The first step, sauteeing the bacon, onions and celery on the stove made the house smell incredible. It came together quickly and made a nice lunch for a cool Sunday.  I did add a sprinkle of smoked paprika before serving to give it that extra oomph.

Pie Tonight!

The day before Thankgiving....that means that tonight is Pie Night!

After work tonight, Hubby and I will bake pies.  This year will be apple, pecan and pumpkin pies.  I roasted sugar pumpkins weeks ago and froze them, which is a good thing because there are no sugar pumpkins to be had in the stores.  We have a variety of apples on-hand, to make the perfect apple pie.  And back after a long hiatus, we're going to try our collective hand at a pecan pie.  Last time was a disaster, it was pretty much liquified.  However, it still tasted delicious.  :)

Chef Will will be giving us a hand tonight, he's pretty excited about it.  Sean, well, his job will be to watch television and stay away from the oven.  Or perhaps he'll do some "cawlah....cawlah..." at the kitchen table.  (Coloring) 

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

Cook All Weekend

We found ourselves with a free weekend with no plans, due to an early-season snowstorm.  It's not even Halloween yet, and there was a decent-sized Nor'easter knocking on our door.

Snowy weekends always make me feel like cooking.  This one was no exception!

First up:  applesauce.  Done right this time, I remembered to COVER THE PAN of apples while it was cooking.  Made all the difference in the world. 

Brian made Chicken Divan for dinner, which is one of my favorites.  It's a tricky recipe though,if you prepare it the way that it's written (on the can of cream of chicken soup, that I saved the label many moons ago) the chicken turns out raw in the middle.  We've tweaked it over the years, but it still sometimes comes out wrong.   A little microwaving saved dinner!  And the meal is cooked perfectly for leftovers at work tomorrow...it certainly won't be overcooked from microwaving.  

Then last night we lost power.  It was heavy snow falling, and a lot of Central MA was without power.  We're one of the lucky ones, losing it for only three hours.  So this morning, Brian made waffles.  (And those were so special, they need their own blog post, with a little co-authoring.)  After breakfast, I baked some banana walnut muffins.  Don't get too excited...they're a box mix.  I did stir in half a bag of chocolate chips to dress them up a little, though.  

At the grocery yesterday, I bought the last two sugar pumpkins that were in Stop and Shop.  And today, we've roasted them in the oven, to process the pulp for Thanksgiving Pumpkin Pie later on.  (And muffins, or bread, or whatever we feel like making.  Gosh, I love pumpkin!)  

On the stove right now:  baked potato soup.  I had this soup at our local coffee shop a few months ago and honestly I've wanted to have some more since!  Hubby is not usually a fan of soups, unless, according to him, they clog his arteries upon digestion.  :)  This ought to do the trick.  

My back is aching, and I should call it quits soon.  But I'm still dreaming about baking some cookies for the kids, and I just found the recipe for the Squash and Apple Turnovers that we made last year from the October 2010 Cooking Light.  AND I just found a recipe for beef and butternut chili.  Yes, I'm the only one who will eat it.  But who cares??  A girl needs lunch at work.  

Autumn-in-a-Bowl

Last year, we had lunch at a friend's house in Pennsylvania while visiting family for Thanksgiving.  We had grilled cheese and bacon sandwiches, on french bread with sauteed peppers and onions, and butternut squash and apple soup.  Well, *I* had the soup.  Brian dislikes butternut squash with the passion of a thousand suns.  (Good.  More for me.)  Since then, I've craved the soup but haven't found it anywhere.

So while shopping yesterday, I decided to do something about that.  I know that no one else in my house likes butternut squash.  And you know what?  I don't care.  I can freeze some, and give some away.  Sometimes when you want something you just want it.  And I really enjoy making soup, there's something quite satisfying about chopping up ingredients and simmering for hours.  Simmering for hours????  This time, I let the crockpot do it for me.

So at BJ's Wholesale, I grabbed two boxes of already-cubed butternut squash.  (butternuts are difficult to peel, so if "Green Giant" did the work for me, I was all about it!)

The ingredients.  (Not pictured, six cups of  chicken broth)

The recipe didn't call for sweating the onions in butter on the stove.  However, onions sauteed in butter is one of my absolute favorite smells in the world, and doing so doesn't take away from the recipe.  Saute away!

Everything into the crockpot, and set for 5 1/2 hours on low.  At that time, the spices go in.  I added allspice and cinnamon as the recipe called for, but didn't have cloves.  And I couldn't resist a little tinkering:  a bit of sage and a little ground ginger.

Then it was time for it to be blended together.  A stick blender is a really handy thing, especially one that can be dismantled for the dishwasher.  :)

The end result:  perfectly delicious butternut squash and apple soup!

I really need to do this again soon....perhaps pork and black bean soup next time.  (Cooks.....we're always looking ahead to the next challenge!)

You Will Assimilate!!

We did our family applepicking last weekend on a gorgeous fall day.  It's been kind of a busy week, so we haven't made a whole lot of things with the apples just yet.  However, on Monday night, I had the ultimate applesauce fail.  

Mom dropped off her food mill on Monday at Brian's work.  After dinner I eagerly picked out three pounds of apples and started to chop.  With a food mill, peeling is unnecessary.  Which is good because I hate peeling and coring apples.  I cooked the apples on the stovetop as the recipe indicated.  A couple turns on the food mill and it wasn't the happy experience I remembered from the year before.  Not as bad as using a wooden spoon to PUSH the APPLES through a STRAINER.  Now that's a workout!  The apples were just....not squishing into a big beautiful bowl of applesauce.  Alas, there was to be no warm applesauce to pour into oatmeal the next day, or a snack for the boys.  The trash ate well that night.

I couldn't figure out what I did wrong.  The apples, no matter how long I cooked them, never really softened and refused to acquiesce when I put them in the food mill.  I chalked it up to getting distracted, being home alone with the boys while I tried this culinary adventure.

Today I gave it another go.  Cored and chopped the apples, cooked them on the stove as indicated.  Back into the food mill.  NO GO.  What gives, man?  What kind of Frankenstein apple doesn't soften after 30 minutes of cooking?

Guess what.  Apples will assimilate under the power of a food processor.  And if you pulse it enough, you don't even realize that there's peels in there.  It tastes pretty good too, although my little applesauce taster is currently taking a nap.  Take that, apples.  You LOSE! 

Next up in Apple Land:  apple fritters, which I've never had.  And of course, an apple pie.

Perfect Fall Breakfast

Since last week's waffles came out so well AND we went apple picking yesterday, how about two of the best fall flavors together on one plate:  Pumpkin and Apple.

Ladies and Gents, today's recipe:  Pumpkin Waffles with Maple-Apple-Walnut Compote.

Yes, every bite was as delicious as it looks.!

Plus, now there are pumpkin waffles for the freezer and some compote left, so we can have this tomorrow, too!

Up next for today:  apple pie, and Brian's going to be tinkering with a  cupcake recipe.  I love weekends.  :)

Afternoon Coffee

Four nights of crappy sleep.  Sunday-Monday-Tuesday-Wednesday.  Thursday afternoon I find myself doing something I NEVER allow myself to do.  I stop at Starbucks for a coffee so that I can make it through the rest of the day.  Yes, caffeine in the afternoon is a bit counter-productive.  But it was either that or snooze at my desk, especially with the September heat beating me down. 

When I got there, I was excited to discover that their pumpkin line is in!  My favorite time of year has arrived:  Autumn.  So a cinnamon iced coffee and a pumpkin scone and I'm ready to take on the afternoon.  And because I am attempting to still behave, it's a small coffee, and half of the scone.  Almost a year after my weight loss classes at the hospital, and I'm still surprised sometimes by the fact that a small anything is enough.  But it is.  And now I have half a pumpkin scone to look forward tomorrow.

Overnight, a cold front moves in, and it is the perfect sleeping weather.  Everyone sleeps through the night with no trouble, and it is a good day.  Hello, Autumn. 

To celebrate, we're going apple picking this weekend.  Bring on Applefest!

Thinking Outside of the Can

Pie time!! We'll be bringing two pies to Thanksgiving dinner at my Mom and Dad's house, a pumpkin pie and a coconut custard pie.  I've been making pumpkin pie for years, and I've always relied on a can of Libby's pumpkin puree.  However, I really despise that said can of pumpkin puree shoots up to $5 per can at Thanksgiving time.  (Highway robbery, outrage!)  So when Brian watched an episode of (what else?) Good Eats and AB processed his own sugar pumpkins for puree, we figured why not?  Plus I've heard pumpkin pie with fresh pumpkin is out of this world flavor-wise.

BTW, you can't just pick up any pumpkin and make puree for pie and expect it to taste good.  Sugar pumpkins are smaller and more round, and yield a superior puree.  I expected sugar pumpkins to be more difficult to find but there they were, sitting at the front of our new grocery store.  I was also pleasantly surprised by their price tag of 2 for $3.00.  Yes, it's going to take a little bit of elbow grease, more than it takes to wield a can opener.

The first step is cutting off the tops and scooping out the flesh and seeds.  (We're reserving the seeds for toasting. I've never had toasted pumpkin seeds but Brian assures me that they're delicious.)  Next, each pumpkin gets cut in half and baked in a 400-degree oven for 35 minutes.  After they cool for an hour, it's time to scoop out all the flesh, and use a food processor to turn it into puree.

Yield:  enough pumpkin for approximately four pies.  Or, for one Thanksgiving pie, some for the freezer, some for the baby (who loved it with a little cinnamon) and for these:

Pumpkin Pie Creme Brulee!

As expected, out of this world.  I don't think we'll ever used canned pumpkin again!

Savory Turnovers

When you think of a turnover, what do you picture?  I see sugary, buttery dough, with either raspberry or apple filling.  After seeing a recipe in Cooking Light this month for Squash and Apple Turnovers, I knew that I had to try it.

They were pretty labor-intensive, taking several days to make.  Well, I suppose that's not entirely truthful.  It took ME several days to make them.  I bought the goat cheese at lunch one day and left it in the fridge at work, so that's one day lost.  Then yesterday while I was sauteeing the apple and squash, I discovered that the "can of dinner rolls" was actually biscuit dough.  Score for biscuits, but dinner rolls is what the recipe called for.  So I got crescent rolls and rolled them out....well I attempted and then assigned Hubby with that task since he is so much more patient with it!  I put a few tablespoons of butternut squash, braeburn apple, onion and goat cheese mixture on the dough circle, folded 'em up and sealed them with the tines of a fork. 

The end result?  Savory fall goodness that will make a fantastic lunch this week.  Perhaps with a bowl of steamy-hot soup.

Applause for Applesauce

I put together a pot of applesauce on Sunday night....just on the stove and not in the crockpot as planned.  One good thing about the recipe I used out of "The Joy of Cooking" is that it only takes about thirty minutes to make, and a good part of that is unattended while the apples soften and cook.  It's also a wonderful thing that you don't necessarily have to peel the apples, and the apple skin gives the sauce a bit of color.  I borrowed my mother's food mill and the apples dreamily turned into sauce, leaving the peels behind.

And now to introduce my new favorite thing for breakfast....instant oatmeal topped with hot applesauce!  mmmmmmm.

Next up:  perhaps the butternut squash and apple turnovers that I've been eyeing all week in this month's Cooking Light.  Even if the only person that will eat them is me!