Baked Apple

Happy 100th post!!!

It's snowing here today, so it got me thinking.  Is there anything better, on a cold day, than hot comfort food?

Here's one of my favorite, simple desserts.  Baked apples.

I modified this recipe:  Bloomin Baked Apples Recipe

It uses store bought caramels, which of course are a no-no in  my house.  So a simple caramel recipe gets poured in the middle instead.  And the rest of the caramel goes in the fridge for ice cream.  :D


Step 1: gather your ingredients.


 I use small apples most of the time, but every now & then, I can find these monsters!





Those are really good.


Cut the apples as described in the recipe, pour some caramel in the middle, and bake.  Yum!!!

For the non-regulars, here is my favorite caramel recipe:  Caramel Sauce

Unfortunately I don't have a picture of the apple after it was baked.  It was too good, that I ate it before realizing I needed the picture!  Ugh...next time, I promise.

Happy eating!
Kathy

Pots and Pans

Morning!

I'm siting here watching Ree, the Pioneer Woman, cook up some very yummy chicken based dishes today.  I love watching cooking shows, if not for the recipes, but for the tools they use in the kitchen.  I get lots of great ideas for things to add to my already packed drawers and cabinets.

Speaking of a packed kitchen, is anyone decluttering?  My kitchen is already organized, so I am currently cleaning each item as it come up on the challenge; taking out all the pots and & pans and scrubbing down the inside & outside of the cabinet before putting everything back where it came from.  I'm not a big "stuff" person, so my kitchen is pretty streamlined.  We'll see what happens when next month we leave the kitchen and head into other rooms.

But I digress.  As usual.  But not really...since I was talking about the cabinet with my pots and pans, and that's the title of this post, right?  Right.

I love the tools they use on cooking shows; and I find myself wanting each and every one of them.  I've been married almost 25 years, and some of my pots and pans have been around that long, but they were high quality when we purchased/were gifted them so they have lasted.  And lasted.  And lasted!  I really want some new ones, but can't justify the expense when I an work with what I have. Sigh.

So here is my wish list:

a pasta pot - the kind that you pull up the strainer and the water stays in the pan

a dutch oven - the kind that you start the meal on the stovetop, then put the whole pot in the oven

That's it.  For now.  I'm not asking for a lot, right??  Just a couple items... :)

Happy cooking!
Kathy

Post Thanksgiving Yumminess

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving, Thanksgivukkah, or how ever you spent the day.  Our meal was delicious, and very filling.

We spent the day at my sister-in-law's house.  Alas, as hard as I tried I could not get good photos of most of our meal.  Hard when it's not your place.  I wanted a pic of my herb infused olive oil & artisan bread from my bread maker, but it was not displayed in a form pleasing to the camera.  Again, hard when it's not your house.  I should have done it at home before I left.

But I can share some of my desserts; again, not nicely displayed but in their travelling containers.

 Pecan pie rugelah 

Sugar cookies in seasonal shapes.  Only veggie based colors used. 

Apple pie!! 

My hubby made this yummy veggie turkey for an appetizer!

Now...time to plan Christmas!

Happy Eating!

Kathy

Breakfast in a mug today

This is going to be a two post day, I think.  Want to get both this yummy breakfast and my product review in.

So this morning I opened the fridge and took out my steel cut oats that were waiting for me.  I make 4 servings at once, then when it's gone, make more.  I took one look at it, covered it back up and put it away. Not in the mood.  Three hours later all I had eaten was my coffee (ha) so I figured since it was now snack time I better get some food in me.  Plus, my acid reflux does not like it when I have coffee on an empty stomach, so I will be paying for this decision soon!!

Having a muffin craving after seeing a donut commercial on tv is not a good thing normally.  But it IS a good thing when you follow someone like Nana Clare, cause she has come up with some of the most yummy alternatives.  So off to her site I went, and am now enjoying a super yummy cinnamon muffin.

Her recipe is here: Cinnamon Muffin in a Mug

I had to make a few adjustments, cause well ya know, it's Friday and there is not much left in the house.

In place of the walnuts (which I shouldn't eat anyway cause of the fat) I used 1T coconut (yes, fat) & 1T craisins. Cause I LOVE cinnamon & craisins together.

In place of the flax, I used a T of white whole wheat flour.

I don't use quick oats but keep old-fashioned on hand for cookies, so used that.

And 2 egg whites (plus a TINY bit of yolk to help blend) instead of the whole egg.

YUMMINESS!!!!!

One of the things I like about these mug muffins (or muggins as Nana Clare calls them) is that I can pre-mix the dry ingredients, put them in a small container.  I can pre-mix the liquid ingredients, and put them in a small container.  Then I can throw them in my lunch box for a healthy, freshly basked afternoon snack at work. !!!!!

Enjoy...I would have taken a picture but it's gone already.  Kathy

And go check out the chocolate cake in a mug I made the other day...

Ummm...wow.

I am craving something chocolate today. Like need it bad.  But I don't want a lot, just enough to settle the craving without over indulging.

I remembered seeing some pins for "cake in a cup" - single serve cake portions, made in a coffee mug in the microwave.

So off to search Pinterest I go!

Well...I found this yummy place called "Nana Clare's Kitchen."  How can you not stop at a site with "Nana" in the name.  It's got to be good, right???  Nana Clare has a series of posts about single servings.  And this masterpiece is one of them.

Chocolate Cake in a Cup. OMG. Sooo good!!! Made with your own choice of clean ingredients, I substituted 2 egg whites for the whole egg, as egg yolk is really bothering my gallbladder right now, but otherwise made as directed.

So good!! Nana Clare's Chocolate Cake

Thank you Nana Clare, and I can't wait to try the next one.  Kathy

Disappointments

Disappointments stink, don't they? Especially when you THINK you are doing the right thing.

We have an apple orchard not too far from us. They have lots of seasonal fruits & vegetables they grow on their farm, and each year they are offering more and more organic produce.  Their prices are reasonable.  Last year they opened a winery made from a lot of their fruits.  They offer various raw honeys, home made apple cider, pies, and assorted baked goods. 

Like apple cider donuts.  When you walk up to the store barn, the smell from the bakery barn is incredible.  You can see the steam rising from the bags when they walk out with a tray-full on a cool Fall day.  When you bite into a freshly baked donut, you feel like you are in heaven.  You know they are making them on site, throughout the day, and they are all gone by closing.  Guaranteed.  So you kind of expect a certain level of "cleanness" in the donut, right?  If there is someone in the bakery barn mixing and baking, most likely they are not adding spoonfuls of preservatives, chemicals, etc.  That's what the big bakeries do. 

On my way home yesterday, I looked at the bag the donuts came in.  Honestly, they don't usually make it the full car ride home.  They are lined up in small quantities at the registers, so it's the last thing you grab when you go to pay. So we get to the car, all grab a donut and start eating.  Then a second gets consumed on the ride home, with the bag going in the garbage can before even getting into the house.  This time I decided to read the bag. 

BIG MISTAKE.  I will not be eating these donuts anymore. Here are the ingredients:

Enriched, malted wheat flour (malted with malt barley; flour enriched with niacin, iron, thiamine mononitrate, riboflavin, folic acid,) apple cider, sugar, soybean oil, soy flour, non-fat milk, gelatinized wheat starch, sodium acid pyrophosphate, baking soda, dried egg yolks, salt, dried sweet dairy whey, lecithin, dextrose, vegetable emulsifiers (mono & diglycerides with BHT and citric acid to protect flavor,) toasted ground wheat, natural and artificial flavor, xanthan gum.  Cooked in: partially hydrogenated vegetable oil (soybean, cottonseed,) TBHQ and citric acid added to protect flavor, di-methyl polysiloxone.

What the heck?  What happened to flour, eggs, baking soda and apple cider??  

So disappointed.  Kathy

The 12 Treats of Christmas - 11th

"On the eleventh day of Christmas, the treat lovingly baked by me...
 
snowmen and reindeer!"

What is Christmas without some sugar cookies? Last year my kids decided that they were not interested in rolling out dough, cutting out shapes with cookie cutters, then decorating afterwards.  My husband and I ended up doing all the work.  So this year I found some fun cookies to make that still kept it seasonal but did not require all the work.

My sugar cookie recipe of course is not clean, but as we established earlier I'm trying my best to make clean and tradition work together, and a little every now and then does not hurt.  My way, :).

I have a Cookie Book from Betty Crocker dated 1975 that I get most of my recipes from. The peanut butter cookie recipe that did not clean up well came from this cook book too.  I am going to make this recipe as written, cause I want to make sure these come out well.

Mary's Sugar Cookies
Source: Betty Crocker's Cookie Book 

1 1/2 c sifted confectioners sugar
1 c softened butter
1 egg (I used 2 egg whites)
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp almond flavoring
2 1/2 c flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cream of tarter

Mix sugar & butter, blend in flavorings.  Mix dry ingredients together then blend into sugar/butter mixture.

Refrigerate for 2-3 hours.  By hand, roll balls of dough and flatten to make circles  For the reindeer, I squished in the sides to make a face shape.  Bake at 375.  The recipe says 7-8  minutes, but time will depend on the size & thickness of your cookies.  Once the cookies are baked & cooled, decorate. 

I made a drippy icing with confectioners sugar, bit of vanilla, a some milk to thin.  I usually use 1 c sifted confectioners sugar, 1/4 tsp vanilla, and 2 tablespoons milk.  Adjust milk to the consistency you want.  For chocolate, add 2 teaspoons unsweetened cocoa powder. 

For the reindeer I used red peanut M&Ms for the nose, broken pretzels for the antlers, & candy eyes that I found.  I have seen on the internet people used chocolate chips or brown M&Ms for eyes as well.  Here they are drying on the tray, sorry they don't look pretty!

For the snowmen, I took a large marshmallow (I am saving the ones I made for hot cocoa) and some icing. I did not buy this icing for these cookies, all are leftovers from my pre-clean days.  I hate wasting money, so I don't want to throw away anything I paid for!

Happy Eating!  Kathy

The 12 Treats of Christmas - 9th

"On the ninth day of Christmas, the treat lovingly baked by me...
 
a savory Chex Mix!"


Not every treat has to be sweet, does it? A treat can be savory too!  A tradition in my home was to make Chex Mix on the holidays.  Now a days that is not so special, since you can buy it already done for you in a bag.  But...we all know that those bags are not clean.  There are so many varieties of Chex Mix too.  The more stuff you put in it, the less clean it gets.

One of the BEST things about making Chex Mix is that you can make it as clean as you want by choosing what you put in it.  YOU choose whether the pretzels are clean or not. YOU choose the peanuts, and most importantly, YOU choose which cereal goes in.

The recipe card left to me basically puts in a box each of Corn, Rice and Wheat Chex.  It adds a bag of pretzels, a box of plain Cheerios, and a box of Cheeze-Its. For that much dry, it says 2 sticks of melted butter mixed with 2 tablespoons of worchestire sauce, some garlic and onion powders to taste, and some seasoned salt.

I looked up what is in seasoned salt and there is a lot! But it is easy to make, according to this recipe: Seasoned Salt

In an effort to stay true to my mom's recipe, here is mine:

This is pre-baked. Busy evening coming up, and I know I won't have time to get a picture when it comes out of the oven.  250 degrees, about an hour or so, stirring every 15-20 minutes.

Here is a link to the Official Chex Mix site:  Original Chex Mix Recipe

You'll notice it's not the same as mine.  Quite honestly, if you look at the recipe ingredients, this is not original. The bagel chips give it away. There were NO pre-packaged bagel chips in the 1970s when my mom made this recipe. But you see the spices are the same as mine. At the top of the page, you'll see where you can scroll thru other Chex Mix ideas.

Happy Eating!! Kathy

The 12 Treats of Christmas - 8th

"On the eighth day of Christmas, the treat lovingly baked by me...
 
peanut butter Kiss cookies!"

I used my old stand by recipe, substituted my clean versions of the ingredients, and was disappointed. Here they are anyway, one with a Kiss on top and one without (since I know the Kisses are not clean I wanted some for just me.)  The cookies came out too dry; they cracked too much when putting the Kiss on top.  Even the ones I did not put the Kisses on were dry. I know I did not overbake them, as the middles were still a bit uncooked.  Even the dough was dry & crumbly before baking.  But they taste okay. For next year I will research a better clean peanut butter recipe.  I won't post the one I used here since it was not so awesome.

But I will give you a picture!! 


Happy Eating! Kathy

The 12 Treats of Christmas - 7th

"On the seventh day of Christmas, the treat lovingly baked by me...
 
a yummy yule log!"

 We have wanted to order one of these for years!  So this year I got a bit..ummmm...brave and tried to make one. Came out pretty cute.  And pretty clean too!!

Using the King Arthur Flour moist chocolate cake recipe from Day 5, and the whipped cream recipe I talked about for Thanksgiving, a buche de noel was born!!

I was going to stop here and just lightly dust with confectioners sugar to look like a light snow had fallen, but a friend of mine talked me into adding a chocolate layer on top. Hard to do cleanly, but I found something on the internet I was able to adapt.

And whalla!!  What do you think? I was going to make it look pretty, make little mushrooms from the marshmallows I made the other day, maybe paint some leaves with the chocolate, but my kids dug into it as soon as the chocolate was hard. I was lucky I got this picture!

The chocolate coating is made from chocolate chips (use whatever brand is clean enough for you) and oil (again, which ever type you feel is clean, as there is so little the taste is not important.) 1 cup chocolate chips, melted in microwave, stir then stir in 1.5 tablespoons oil.  Spread over the top, let cool.  Give you a slight crunchy coating, kind of like a Yodel. :)

Enjoy!! Kathy

The 12 Treats of Christmas - 5th

"On the fifth day of Christmas, the treat lovingly baked by me...
 
chooooooclate cake!"

 Make sure you  sing that line properly!! Feel like I am stretching this song a bit, but it's all in fun, right?

My most favorite flour, King Arthur, has a very yummy chocolate cake recipe on the back of it's box. You can find it here: Moist Chocolate Cake

I use the King Arthur Cake Flour and organic white sugar for this recipe. I have a mini cupcake pan with tree shaped holes, so we made some trees, a round cake, and saved some to make the base for tomorrow's treat; the yule log!  My kids are not big on frosting, so we eat the cake as is.

Come back to tomorrow to see how that turned out.   Happy Eating!! Kathy

The 12 Treats of Christmas - 4th

"On the fourth day of Christmas, the treat lovingly baked by me...
 
home made marshmallows!"

OMG this was so much fun!! And for those of you who do not eat sugar, well. just move onto Day 5. Cause this was ALL sugar!! My mixer took a beating, would have been better with a KitchenAid, but my friend who makes them who DOES have one says it puts a strain on hers too when it gets to about 10 mins of mixing.

What you need:

1/3 cup cold water
2 envelopes unflavored gelatin
large bowl
1 1/2 cups white sugar
1/4 cup cold water
1/4 cup light corn syrup
pinch of salt
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
confectioners sugar
colored sugar (optional)

Step 1: pour the 1/3 c cold water into large bowl. Sprinkle gelatin on top and set aside.

Step 2: in a medium saucepan on stove, combine white sugar, 1/4 c water, corn syrup & salt.  Over medium heat, stir until dissolved.  Stop stirring and heat the mixture until it boils; maintain slow boil until mixture reaches 240 deg on candy thermometer. Looks like this when done:


Step 3: carefully pour hot mixture over gelatin then beat with an electric mixer on high speed for 10-12 minutes. Looks like pic 1 first, then will turn to pic 2 when done.

Be careful this does not happen. Sigh.



Step 3: Blend in the vanilla extract.


Step 4: Prepare your pan. My recipe says to lightly coat with cooking oil. My friend's recipe says to coat with oil then dust with a mixture of confectioners sugar and cornstarch. My recipe wants one side kindof sticky, so you can dip that end in colored sugar once they are done. I won't do artificial colors on  my house, so that option was not okay for me.  I lightly oiled the pan, then when I was done just lightly dusted the other side with confectioners sugar.  Getting the  mixture INTO the pan is difficult, I will NOT lie to you.  My recipe was NO HELP WHATSOEVER in this; my friend's recipe said to lightly oil the spatuala.  Wish I had know that, would have helped. So I suggest you do.  You can see by the pic on the left that it is really sticky.

Step 5: Spread into pan, and let dry.  My recipe says 12 hours...friends, 4 hours. You be the judge.  Next time I will lightly coat the top with confectioners sugar so they have that extra layer of protection from sticking once cut.

Final step: Lightly oiled or wet hands will help you get them out of the pan. Flip them onto cutting board lightly dusted with confectioners sugar.  I cut them in all sorts of  shapes and sizes.  My kids loved them!!  I think they were just excited to see a marshmallow again, it's been a REALLY long time!! Those top two circles? They were cut using the top of our cocoa cups...perfect for the cocoa we had to have once the marshmallows were done.  These stayed sooo creamy in our cocoa; and were still there once we got to the bottom of the cup, unlike the store bought marshmallows.

Lot of work, and clean up, but lot of fun and enjoyment. May make again this winter season.  What's up next tomorrow?  I'll give you a hint...chocolate. :)  Happy Eating!! Kathy

Edit: found this and thought I'd share...alternative ways of making marshmallows using liquid agave or honey.
thegraciouspantry.com marshmallows

The 12 Treats of Christmas - 3rd

 "On the third day of Christmas, the treat lovingly baked by me...

was 3 ingredient meringue cookies!"


This recipe was brought to me by my son, courtesy of his French teacher.  They were having a party and the teacher asked for parent volunteers to make some traditional French foods.  My kids are programmed to volunteer me for anything baked.  This recipe came out so yummy he asked me to make them again for Christmas.  Perfect recipe for the season, as they look like little white piles of snow.

You will need:
4 egg whites 
1 cup white sugar 
       (I know, not clean but some recipes you just HAVE to use the white stuff, so I used the organic I keep in the house for just that.)
1/4 tsp cream of tarter



 


Beat the egg whites until stiff; make sure you keep ALL the yolk out, as it will ruin the consistency and hence ruin the cookie.






Mix together the cream of tarter and the sugar in small bowl; SLOWLY add the sugar mix to the egg whites.  The recipe says 1 tablespoon at a time. Well, to me this seemed like it would take forever so I dumped it in 1/3 at a time. Big mistake, and had to start over. The next batch I followed the instructions and perfect they came!!  




The recipe says to brush the cookie sheet with oil & lightly flour, I used parchment paper and it worked good.  When the cookies were done, I could slide them off the baking stone and let cool on the paper. They come off the paper so easily when cool!  I tried to use a scoop to put the dough on the paper, but it kept getting stuck, so I just used a tablespoon and my clean finger. Easy!!



Bake the cookies at 300 for 10 minutes, lower heat to 250 and bake for 25 minutes more.   They came out a little browner than you can see in the picture.  They do not spread at all, so you can put them as close together as you want.

So yummy!!!  Come back tomorrow for day 4!  Kathy

The 12 Treats of Christmas - 2nd

"On the second day of Christmas, the treat lovingly baked by me...

2 batches of popcorn cake!"

OMG there is NOTHING clean about this recipe. But it is a tradition in  my husband's family, handed down to me by his aunt, so make them I will.  We eat soooooo good, that this treat is okay once a year. And yes, I do make it only once a year.  

This recipe is one of those that you have to control yourself when eating. I can easily eat the whole batch in one sitting. Easily. Thank goodness I only make it once a year.

You need: 
1 10.5 oz bag mini marshmallows 
1 c vanilla chips
6 T butter
12 c air popped popcorn (what for small kernels)
1 c salted peanuts
1 tsp vanilla extract
red & green gumdrops, sliced into small pieces

Melt the butter in large saucepan. Add vanilla chips, stir till melted. Add in marshmallows, stir till melted. Quickly stir in vanilla and peanuts, then remove from heat.  Mix in popcorn (make sure you have removed all kernels and hard pieces) quickly; like a rice krispie treat the marshmallow mixture can get cool fast. 

Spread into buttered baking dish; 13 x 9 or slightly larger.  Using lightly greased wax paper, lightly press mixture down into pan.  Lightly press the gumdrops around the top of the popcorn cake, randomly or in patterns.  Let cool, then enjoy!!  

Also makes a pretty gift. Line cookie tin with wax paper, press warm mix into any shaped pan to make more festive, then give it away in the tin or wrapped in a fun way.

Enjoy!! Come back tomorrow for day 3...Kathy

The 12 Treats of Christmas - 1st

"On the first day of Christmas, the treat lovingly baked by me...

was banana bread, size mini!"

It does not look mini here, but it is!! This yummy banana bread recipe comes from Elise at Simply Recipes.  So easy, one bowl, no mixer.  Delicious every time!!  I use King Arthur White Whole Wheat Flour and Turbinado sugar, which gives the banana bread an extra touch of flavor.  Super!!!

Banana Bread Recipe

The pan is a four-loaf mini loaf stoneware pan by Pampered Chef.  The recipe above makes all four mini loaves.  You can find it here: Pampered Chef Mini Loaf Pan

The beauty of these mini loaves? You can eat a whole one and not feel guilty, as a whole mini-loaf is 1/4 of  a normal banana bread. They are also perfect gift sized - wrap up in something pretty!!  The loaves freeze well too, so you can make in advance.  You need to adjust baking time from the recipe, don't forget!

Come back tomorrow to see the 2nd Treat of Christmas!  Kathy