Apple-Strawberry Crisp

It's a little late, but here is my apple strawberry crisp recipe, as promised:
                                                

3 pounds sweet Gala apples, peeled, cored and diced

~1 1/2 c. strawerries, sliced

1/2 c. sugar (feel free to use Splenda Baker's Mix... I do and it is just as delicious.)

1 t. vanilla

1/4 t. grated orange zest

1 T. fresh orange juice

3 T. all purpose flour
Crisp topping

topping:

6 T. cold unsalted butter, cut into pieces

2/3 c. all purpose flour

2/3 c. oats

3/4 c. packed light brown sugar

1/2 t. ground nutmeg

1/2 t. cinnamon

1/4 t. salt
Combine all ingredients and beat on low until the mixture forms into course crumbs.

Preheat the oven to 375. Grease/butter a 9x13" dish.

In a large bowl, combine the apples, strawberries, sugar, flour, vanilla, orange zest, and juice. Transfer to the baking dish and cover with topping. Bake approx. 55-60 minutes, until topping is brown and juices are thick and bubble around edges. Let cool for about 15 minutes if you have self-control. Serve with vanilla bean ice cream.

Chicken Pot Pies

I've been on sort of a Martha Stewart binge lately. The food is delicious, the labor is... intense. No one ever said Martha was known for her simplicity. I started these Chicken Pot Pies around 6 pm one Sunday night and we were lucky to be eating by 10. It may have been the same night I was prepping my apple-strawberry crisp (recipe to come), but either way, this is no 30 minute meal.

4 T. unsalted butter

1 medium onion, medium dice
1 large carrot, medium dice

1/2 c. all-purpose flour, plus more

course salt and ground pepper

4 c. low sodium chicken brother

3 c. cooked chicken, cut into 1 inch pieces (~1 lb)

1 c. frozen peas

1 1/2 t. chopped fresh thyme leaves

1 sheet frozen puff pastry, thawed

1 large egg yolk

In a large saucepan, melt butter over medium. Add the onion and carrot and cook until the onion softens, about 5-6 minutes. Add flour and 1/2 t. salt; cook, stirring frequently until the misture is pale golden (Martha says, "until it has a slightly nutty aroma") and is the texture of cooked oatmeal, about 5 minutes.

Whisking constantly, add broth. Bring to a boil, stirring frequently, until mixture thickens, about 8 minutes. Reduced to a simmer and cook 10 minutes. It's about to smell like chicken soup in here. Stir in the chicken, peas and thyme and season with s & p. Divide the mixture among 4 12-ounce baking dishes (I only had 10 oz pyrex's, but they worked). Refrigerate until room temperature, about 20 minutes.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. On a lightly floured work surface, roll pastry to 1/8 inch thickness (I really had no idea how to figure that out, so just roll it out a little bit). Cut into 4 equal squares, 1 inch larger than the dishes; with the tip of a sharp knife, cut vents into pastry. In a small bowl, whisk the egg yolk with 1 t. water. Top the pot pies with the pastry and brush with egg wash. Refrigerate (AGAIN???) 15 minutes. I think I'm starting to remember why dinner was so late that night. Bake until pastry is deep golden and juices are bubbling, about 35 minutes.

Enjoy! You WILL burn your tongue, because, by the time you finish, you're so starving and you're determind to eat before midnight! They're also good the next day for lunch. Martha was kind enough to publish (some of) the nutrition stats for these bad boys, and I'll do the same: 478 cal, 20 g fat (10 sat), 45 g protein, 27 g carb, 3.4 g fiber.

Take that, Marie Callender.

Black Bean Salsa

This recipe is another one courtesy of a Minnesotan family member: my aunt Leanne. She gave me this recipe almost two years ago. I failed to achieve deliciousness my first time out, but over Labor Day I gave it another try. I think the problem was that I couldn't find the shoepeg corn* that the recipe required, but this time I just used raw sweet white corn cut directly from two cobs. Do not use canned yellow corn!

2 cans black beans, rinsed and drained
1 can shoepeg corn * (see above)
2 tomatoes, diced
1 red onion, chopped
2 avocados, diced
3-4 T lime juice
2 T olive oil
1 T red wine vinegar
cilantro
salt & pepper, to taste
garlic, to taste

Prepare all the ingredients as specified. Add the avocado last. I made this a few hours in advance of a party, and added the avocado + a little more lime juice just before leaving. The avocados actually kept within the dip for another day (refrigerated) or so. Very addicting and filling.

Grandma Bars

I always called these "Peanut Butter Cornflake Bars," but that seems to be a little too literal for my family, because apparently they are ONLY called "Grandma Bars"... I'm not sure if it's because my grandma actually invented them, or because she has perfected the recipe.

Here they are:

1 c. granulated sugar

1 c. light corn syrup

2 c. peanut butter

6 c. corn flakes

1 bag semi-sweet chocolate chips.

Heat the sugar and corn syrup together in a saucepan over medium heat. Stir this frequently and only until the two are combined... DO NOT BOIL OR LET IT GET TOO HOT (I always do this and it makes for a really tough Grandma Bar)! Then add the peanut butter and mix over the heat until all combined. Remove from heat and add the cornflakes. I use my silicone spatula that is supposed to be heat resistant up to a million degrees, or so I thought, because today the silicone snapped in half! You can use a good old fashioned wooden spoon to combine. Press this mixture into a 9"x13" pan using a fork, wooden spoon, or some wax paper. Melt the semi-sweet chocolate chips and spread over the top. Cool and cut into squares or triangles. Some people like to melt butterscotch chips to spread on top, but that's blasphemy (unless you're my friend Sara who hates chocolate and then I'll allow it).

Cream Cheese Frosting

I'm not really into this whole cupcake phenomenon, but I do enjoy a Sprinkles or Crumbs cupcake once in a while. I really enjoy Sprinkles' recipe for cream cheese icing and I use it on most of my recipes. Below is a picture of some red velvet Sprinkles cupcakes I made from a mix over a year ago... I just found the pics. Sprinkles' mix is not as simple as using a Betty Crocker mix. There are a lot more steps and the mix costs $14! In the end, it works out to be a little cheaper to make them yourself, unless you don't think you could eat an entire dozen anyway.

*Sprinkles* Cream Cheese Frosting

8 oz cream cheese, soft

1 stick of butter, soft

1/8 t. salt

4 c. confectioners sugar, sifted

1 t. vanilla

Beat the cream cheese and butter with the salt until fluffy. Slowly add the powdered sugar until it is all incorporated. Add the vanilla and beat until smooth and creamy. Spread onto cakes/cupcakes with a spatula starting from the center and pushing out to the edges.

Chocolate-Peanut Butter Cookie Treats

Got this recipe from my friend Betty... thanks, Betty!

The white balance on this camera is all wonky... one day I will take good pictures of good foods!

Asparagus Carbonara

Got this recipe from the Rachel Ray Everyday Magazine. It's very similar to the Super Yummy Pasta Dish I blogged about over a year ago, but I like this one better.

2 eggs

2/3 c. grated parmesan cheese

3/4 pound spaghetti (I was too lazy to make fresh so I used Barilla PLUS)

1 bunch asparagus, cut crosswise into 2 inch pieces

2 T. extra virgin olive oil

5 slices bacon, coursely chopped

3 cloves garlic, finely chopped

1/4 c. dry white wine (or use low-sodium chicken stock)

Salt & Pepper

Beat the eggs and cheese together in a large bowl and set aside. Boil a large pot of water and cook the pasta until al dente.

Add the asparagus during the last minute of cooking. Drain, but reserve 1/2 c. of the water for later. Add the hot pasta and asparagus to the egg/cheese mixture and toss to coat.

Meanwhile, heat the olive oil in a skillet over medium heat. Cook the bacon until crisp. Add the garlic and wine/stock and cook until slightly reduced (1 minute). Stir the bacon mixture into the pasta. Add some of the reserved water so that you can mix it easier. Season with salt and pepper.

My pictures have been sucking lately, but here's my result. This is the second time I've made this recipe. The recipe above serves 4, so I usually cut most of the items in half for when it's just me and John. I tend to use more bacon and asparagus.

Monkey Peeler

Last month I blogged about several As Seen on TV products that I found to be a little useless, including something called the Rotato Express, which is, essentially, a potato peeler. I've been peeling a lot of potatoes (and yams) lately, so I thought I'd share my peeler of choice.

I first became aware of this peeler when my brother and his wife asked for it on their wedding registry. I thought it was too cute, and immediately added it to my own "registry" (AKA my Amazon Wishlist). Lo and behold, my mom sent me it and a few other treasures for my birthday last September (thanks, Mom).

I was a little nervous, because my friend Jenn, who used to work at Kohl's, said a lot of people returned their peelers because the metal part came loose from the monkey's arms. Luckily, this hasn't happened to me. My monkey peeler makes quick work of peeling potatoes. I think the handle is the best part, because it allows you to hold the potato more upright, and I peel potatoes 3x as fast than with my old peeler.

If you're looking for a good peeler, I reccommend buying something like the monkey or one with a similarly designed handle, like this:

This is the sort of peeler I was operating with previously:

NEVER AGAIN!

Bread Pudding

• 3 1/2 c. bread, cubed. I used some slightly stale Italian bread, and one slice of "french toast" bread
• 3 eggs
• 1/2 c. butter
• 2 c. milk
• 2/3 c. sugar (I used splenda-sugar baking blend, so I only needed 5 1/2 T. of it)
• 1 t. vanilla
• 1/4 t. nutmeg
• 1 T. cinnamon
• 1/2 c. raisins (opt.)
• 1 banana, sliced (opt.)

Cook the milk in a saucepan over medium heat, until a film starts to form over the top. Add the butter and stir until melted. Set aside and cool to lukewarm. Meanwhile, spray a 1 1/2 quart casserole dish with PAM, and place the the cubed (I actually just ripped mine into pieces) bread into the dish.

Combine the sugar, eggs, vanilla, nutmeg and cinnamon, and beat for 1 minute on medium

speed.

Slowly add the milk mixture and beat to combine.

Sprinkle the raisins over the bread, and spread out the sliced banana throughout the dish. Pour the batter evenly over the bread, and bake for

45-55 minutes at 350 degrees. Serve warm.

Sprinkle with powdered sugar, top with a rum or caramel sauce, or serve with vanilla ice cream.

I ate a bunch before I snapped these pics... sorry!

I got the idea to make bread pudding because John brought a bunch of stale Italian bread home from one of his work lunches. I hate birds, and we have enough wildlife in my hood, so I thought I'd put it to *better use*... in my stomach!

Meatloaf Muffins

I found this recipe on SparkPeople, and I made it before to those specifications, with ground

beef, etc, and they were so delicious. I made them again last night, with a few of my own tweaks:

• I substituted the lean ground beef for lean ground turkey (Jennie-O)
• I substituted the 1 c. stewed tomatoes with 1 c. canned diced tomatoes (low-sodium kind)
• I just used a few dashes of salt.
• Also, the Ralph's brand of seasoned bread crumbs report way less sodium than I've found for traditional seasoned bread crumbs. Not sure if that's a glitch.

I worked these out* to be a little over 100 calories a piece. They're pretty yummy. If you make the beef version, you really can omit the heavy cream and they're still so yummy.

Here's what I'm having for lunch today, and this comes in at a whopping 275 calories... not bad!

*Please note: my calculations might not be exact, but they are pretty good estimates, based on accurate nutrition information for all of the ingredients I used, and divided by 12 (the number of muffins this recipe makes). Some of the carbs/fiber/sugar info might not be exactly write, because when it started getting into small decimal numbers, I just rounded the numbers.