Apple Crisp

This is a super easy dessert and perfect to use to bribe little ones to finish their dinner...or at least to sit at the table.

I will get this ready before dinner, and then put it in the over to cook while we are eating.

Heat oven to 375'

4 cups sliced apples
2 T sugar (I use raw)
1 T fresh lemon juice
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1/3 cup flour

1 cup oats (do not use steel cut here)

1/2 cup brown sugar

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1/3 cup butter, melted

Combine the first 3 ingredients in a bowl.

In a separate bowl, combine the next 3.  Add the melted butter and stir until coated.

Pour apples in a baking dish, pour the other mixture on top.  I usually stir to combine a little once in the dish.

Bake for 35 minutes.

I like serving it with vanilla ice cream.  Martin liked it with plain yogurt.  It is even good plain =)

Grilled apple & gorgonzola sandwich

I just made this for lunch today, and it is so yummy. I actually found the recipe in this month's issue of Southern Living.



I probably made mine a little thick. Southern Living actually used this recipe as thinner appetizer sandwiches...but I couldn't resist piling it on for a hearty lunchtime meal.

1 pkg cream cheese (I use 1/3 less fat)
1 4-oz. pkg gorgonzola crumbles.
1 T honey
(the recipe added roasted chopped walnuts as well, but I am not a fan of walnuts, so I left it out)

thinly sliced apples
arugula
sliced bread (I used whole wheat)

Mix the cream cheese, gorgonzola, honey in a bowl, and season with pepper. Spread a T on each slice of bread. Add sliced apples, and a handful of arugula.

Grill in a griddle or a pan.

Eat....so good!!

Post-apple picking deliciousness!

Last weekend we went to our favorite apple orchard, where we have gone for the last 4 Octobers..even before Zoë was born.

And I made these yummy treats today.  I can't get enough!!

Now, I have to think up lots of ways to use our apples. So far, I have made the treats above, and apple bread, where I used my zucchini bread recipe, but substituted shredded apples for zucchini. It came out delicious. I think next will be one of our favorite breakfasts of a huge apple pancake, and may some apple cobbler, apple pie....I am up for suggestions :)

I also read this great sandwich idea in this month's Southern Living, about making a spread with cream cheese and gorgonzola, and putting it on bread with apple slices and arugula. I bought the gorgonzola today, so I will try that this weekend as well.

Buttermilk oatmeal blueberry bread

I kind of put this recipe together from other stuff I found.  I just had a craving for something "oatmealy", but more bready than a cookie, so I am came up with this.  It is easy and nutritious!  I use applesauce in place of some of the butter, and have replaces the buttermilk, at times, with plain yogurt, and it comes out super moist and satisfying.

Heat oven to 350'

1 C oats

1 C buttermilk or plain yogurt

1 large egg, slightly beaten

1/2 C brown sugar

1/4 C butter, melted

1/4 C applesauce

1 t baking powder

1 t baking soda

1/2 t cinnamon

1/2 t nutmeg

1 C flour (I use 1/2 white, 1/2 wheat)

1 C frozen blueberries

Soak the oatmeal in the buttermilk or yogurt for an hour.

Once soaked, combine with the wet ingredients.  

Combine 1/4 C of the flour with the blueberries in a small bowl.  This will prevent the blueberries from bleeding and falling apart if you were to put the blueberries directly in the batter.

Mix the dry ingredients with the wet.  Stir until combined.  Add blueberries.

Bake for an hour, or until a knife comes out clean.

I have also tried these as muffins and they are just as yummy.  Muffins would work perfectly for children's pre-school snacks too!

Enjoy!

Yummy apple dip!

Yesterday, while on Zoë's field trip to the apple orchard, one of the other mom's passed on a great recipe to me.  So super easy!

Combine equal parts plain yogurt and peanut butter.  Stir well.  Dip apples.

Simple, healthy and delicious!

Nasturtiums gone wild!

It is now the end of the season for my tomatoes, and wow, they did great! I started them from seed, and now they are massive, with hundreds of unripe tomatoes still waiting to ripen.

Meanwhile, the nasturtiums I planted from seed have gone completely wild! Interestingly, I plants the same seeds in some of my containers on the deck, and they really did not do much...but the seeds I threw into the ground are quite impressive!

You can see my unruly tomatoes as well:

The nasturtiums have completely covered up part of the path as well:

To compare this to how my tomatoes and veggie garden started out as, look here - early veggie garden.

I am sad the season is coming to an end, and I am going to have to go back to actually buying mass-produced tomatoes at the store.  It was great while it lasted.  And during the season's height, I was picking 20-30 tomatoes a day!

Being that I started them from seed indoors when it was still freezing and snowing outside, I felt really attached to them...my little tomato babies.  I look forward to doing it again next year!

No cook tomato sauce & pasta

I admit I enjoy my sauces warm, but this recipe sounded so easy I couldn't pass it up.  I always joke that I could never be a raw foodist, because I love gooey cheese and warm comfort food.

This recipe is very tomatoey!  I found this recipe in my latest issue of Food & Wine.  I actually didn't make any changes except I used whole wheat fettucine rather than the penne used in the magazine.

And I love that I was able to just go outside and take basil from my garden. I have 100s of unripe, green tomatoes, I can't wait until they are ready to eat!

16 oz pasta (I used fettucine, the recipe called for penne)
2 medium tomatoes, diced
4 oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes
2 T tomato paste
4 large basil leaves
1 garlic clove
1/3 C extra-virgin olive oil

1. In a large pot of boiling salted water, cook the penne until al dente

2, In a blender, puree the diced tomatoes, tomato paste, basil, garlic and olive oil. Pour the sauce into a large bowl and season with salt and pepper.

3. Drain the pasta, add it to the sauce and toss well to coat. Serve piping hot.

Tonight, I am going to attempt roasted beet salad (from my friend's garden with goat cheese on arugula.