Fall kitchen: baked apples

One of the easiest (and almost-healthy) desserts you can make this Fall is a baked apple. And if you've never had one, get in your kitchen right now. You'll need:

4 apples, cored
1 cup rolled oats
4 large marshmallows
1/2 cup brown sugar
teaspoon cinnamon
dash of nutmeg
(you'll divide up these ingredients among the four apples)


Once your apples have been cored, place them in a grease-free baking dish and stick half of a marshmallow in each apple as a sort of cork. Then put a spoonful of brown sugar in each.

Sprinkle cinnamon and nutmeg into your apples, following with a spoonful of rolled oats. Top with the other half of your marshmallow. Optional addition: A drizzle of honey (or maple syrup) adds an extra sweet touch. Bake about 20 minutes in a 400 degree oven and serve alongside your favorite pork dish.

Do you have any family-favorite apple recipes that make their way out in the Fall year after year? I'd love to hear about them!

white fish en papillote

While I am trying to be a better, more adventurous cook, there is little chance I would have attempted this recipe on my own. Waaay too complicated, right? When this Blue Apron box of ingredients arrived, I was pleasantly surprised - the box included literally everything you need for the meal (aside from the oven and cookie sheet). It was actually easy to cook this dish, probably because I had a nice little cheat sheet of step-by-step instructions with pictures of what everything was supposed to look like.

This might be the best way to really learn how to cook if you are a visual learner. Because who really wants to go to the grocery store and hunt through the store to find out what freekeh is? Not this girl. (Sidenote: It's a grain. And it's good!) 

Blue Apron provided me with a complimentary package of recipe and ingredients. All opinions expressed are my own.

fall days were made for apple crisp

Last Fall I gave you my favorite apple crisp recipe, which I took out again the other night. We haven't been apple picking yet, but I picked up a bag of apples at the store because I was craving some Fall goodness.

I tried to make the recipe a little differently this time, mainly because I didn't have oats at home, and I found that you can very easily make a similar version without oats. Here's what I used for this version:

• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 cup flour
• 4 apples, cored, peeled, and sliced
• 1 stick butter

All you need to do is butter your pan or glass dish and lay the apple slices. Mix your stick of butter into the brown sugar, sugar, flour, and cinnamon mixture, and put on top of the apple slices. Bake for 40 minutes in a 350 degree oven or until slightly brown on top. 

(I took this photo and then realized I forgot about the whole crumbling-in-the-butter part. Oops. But then when I went back and did it, it didn't look so pretty.)

And then explain to your fuzzy friend why apple crisp is not for dogs.

homemade fish tacos

One of my favorite dishes this time of year is fish tacos, which I've never before made at home because I thought it would be too involved. Well, friends, I was wrong. This was one of the easiest dishes I've made - and probably one of the healthiest, too!

Here's the recipe I created in my kitchen, with helpful visuals.

You'll need a mortar and pestle to grind up about a teaspoon of cumin. Add this plus a teaspoon of chili powder to a cup of sour cream and mix well. 

Chop half of a small red cabbage and mix in a bowl with a small red onion (chopped well) and a glove of garlic, minced. Also add a large tomato, chopped finely.

Grill a one-pound piece of white fish (I used cod) until fully cooked.

Layer your cabbage salad, chili sour cream, and grilled fish. Top with a squeeze of lime, fold, and serve.

Enjoy!

homemade cookie dough topping

I eat a lot of ice cream, and unfortunately, one of my favorite brands doesn't make a cookie dough version. So last night a lightbulb went off...  I decided that since I love this ice cream and don't want to switch brands (aside from summertime drives to the local ice cream stand, obviously), I could make my own cookie dough topping to mix in to the plain vanilla flavor.

In my KitchenAid mixer, I combined:

• 1 1/4 cup flour
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• dash of salt
• and of course... 2 sticks of butter (I didn't say this would be a healthy recipe)

You'll also need half of a bag of chocolate chips (about one cup).

Mix everything together until it has the consistency of cookie dough.

Pack the dough into a quart size freezer bag and put it in the freezer. After a few hours you will have a crumbly, delicious topping for your favorite ice cream.

P.S. I highly recommend eating ice cream out of a mug. This Little Mermaid mug is my favorite for a dish of ice cream.

baking and blogging: Easter cinnamon sweet bread

Growing up, Easter meant that my uncle (the baker) would bring over sweet bread, one of my favorite parts of the day. His were intricately braided versions with dyed eggs placed around the bread, and it would take us days to finish. Sweet, sugary, and full of carbs? Sign me up.

You'll need the following ingredients:

2 eggs

1/3 cup butter, warmed

1 1/4 cup milk, warmed (30 seconds in the microwave)

pack of dry yeast

4 cups flour

1/2 cup sugar

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 teaspoon cinnamon

salt

Mix together the eggs, butter, milk, vanilla, cinnamon, and yeast in a bowl. Add in the flour, stirring as you go. You should have a sticky dough when you're done. I used my KitchenAid mixer to do the combining. Knead the dough for a few minutes, and then cover and let it sit for an hour to rise.

Make 12" strands of dough by rolling it between your hands. Then braid, twist, or roll the strands together to make three breads. For this I made 2 breads with 3 strands each and then one bread with 4 strands.

Once your breads are formed, place them on wax paper on a cookie sheet and cover with a damp cloth. Let them sit for an hour to rise.

Beat an egg in a bowl and brush it onto the breads. (This will give them a nice golden brown look.) Preheat the oven to 350, remove the wax paper from the cookie sheet, and bake the breads for about 20 minutes, or until slightly browned.

While they're baking, put 2-3 teaspoons of sugar into a small container and add 2 drops of food coloring. Put the cover onto the container and shake until you have dyed sugar.

Once the breads are out of the oven, mix together confectioners sugar and water and glaze, then top with the colored sugar. They look cute with a dyed Easter egg nested in the middle. If you'd like to serve them as the bread with your meal, make smaller breads and skip the sugar glaze. Individual breads would be cute for a dinner party!

healthy snack: zucchini chips

I came across this recipe for baked zucchini chips and had to try it. They came out great, and I'm excited to make them again for a healthy snack.

Recently, I've decided to try new recipes and make more than the 5 things I know by heart how to cook well. These zucchini chips are a nice change of pace from office pretzels for the workday afternoon, and (bonus) they're healthy! 

The first batch I made were done in a frying pan with olive oil. They cooked really fast and were delicious. The next batch I made in the oven, as the recipe suggests. It took a while for them to cook, and the thinner pieces were done faster than the given time on the recipe. Next time I make these, I'll slice the zucchini thinner (and not have to wait the 2+ hours for the thicker pieces!).

With enough salt, you might be able to convince yourself that these are actually potato chips.

homemade pizza: tomato, basil, mozzarella

Occasionally, I make something and then try it and think, "My goodness, I am a good cook". This was one of those times.

Ingredients:

• pizza dough, found in the refrigerated section of your grocery store
• 3 Roma tomatoes, sliced thinly
• fresh mozzarella
• basil leaves from a plant, washed and dried (I purchased one at the grocery store and keep it in my kitchen)
• olive oil

If you are using a pizza stone, heat it up in the oven at 350 for 5 minutes. Remove it and spread olive oil onto the stone (so that the pizza doesn't stick to the stone). Stretch out your pizza dough onto the stone, and spread olive oil on top of the dough. Cover with basil leaves, approximately an inch apart, leaving space for the crust edges. Top with tomato slices. Cover with mozzarella slices from your fresh mozzarella. Sprinkle with sea salt. Bake at 425 for 20-25 minutes, until edges are browned. Then you can email me and tell me how amazing it was!

into the weekend

Unfortunately, this weekend includes 8 hours of class, but I still have high hopes for doing some awesome things.

In the meantime...
Links I bookmarked from this week:

• Pumpkin spice latte made in a slow-cooker
• Using Coca-Cola to clean the toilet!
• Fashion-themed costumes - how many Honey Boo Boos do you think we'll see this year? (Also check out the Chanel costume this mom created- so cute!)
• Sad to hear that the McDonald's in Milan is closing! Here's why:

weekend recipe: apple crisp

Hello, Fall, my favorite season. 

Apple picking is one of my ultimate Fall activities, so you can expect quite a few apple recipes on the blog in the next couple of months. This weekend: make your own apple crisp!

Ingredients
2 cups oats (I use rolled oats)
1 cup brown sugar (I use light brown sugar)
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1.5 sticks butter, softened
4 apples, cored and peeled
vanilla ice cream

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Lightly grease a 13x9 dish - I use a glass dish. Slice the apples into thick slices (I usually get about 16 slices per apple) after removing the peels and core.

In a mixing bowl, combine oats, brown sugar, vanilla extract, cinnamon, and butter. Using your hands (it's the best way!), mix everything together until there are no loose oats/brown sugar - everything should be clumped together with butter (it should be a very very lumpy mixture).

Place your apple slices in the bottom of the glass dish, covering with the oat mixture. Bake at 400 for about 20 minutes, or until the oats are golden brown.

Serve with a generous serving of vanilla ice cream, and enjoy!

a new type of summer salad

Last night I decided to branch out with my cooking (it's been a goal for a while, yes) and make my own version of a summer "salad". 

Ingredients:  1 small red onion, 2 avocados, 1 lb. uncooked shrimp, 1 lime, 1/4 c. chopped cilantro, 1 grapefruit

Prep:  Chop your red onion and cilantro, and mix together. Cut up your grapefruit. I like to stand it so that the edges are on the top and bottom, and cut in quarters from the top. It makes it easier to cut out pieces without getting too much of the membrane, which you need to remove. Cut up your avocado into the same bite-sized chunks as your grapefruit. Mix grapefruit and avocado together in a bowl and set aside.

1. In a pan with a few tablespoons of olive oil, combine red onion and cilantro. Squeeze half of your lime into the pan, dropping the pieces in.

2. Add your uncooked shrimp. You probably could get away with putting cooked shrimp in, but it's about half the price to buy uncooked, and then the lime and cilantro flavors will be cooked into your shrimp. Cook thoroughly, until shrimp is a pink color (and not at all see-through).

Spoon avocado and grapefruit mixture onto a plate and top with the cooked shrimp mixture. Add a lime wedge and serve.

T actually said I should make this one again - something I strive for when I try to cook!

specialty pizza, made at home

I'm a huge fan of specialty pizzas, so for dinner tonight I decided to try my own at home.   After a small mishap (sorry, singed bangs. Note to self: Don't stand over the grill when lighting it...), I thought it looked great! And then I realized it was missing something...

Of course - goat cheese!

Note: These are "before" images.

Ingredients:
1 small bunch fresh asparagus
1 small red onion
Ken's Balsamic with Honey dressing (to drizzle)
pizza dough from the refrigerated section
1 can pizza sauce
2 oz. crumbled goat cheese

Cooked on a pizza stone (thanks, Dad!) on the grill on medium heat for 30 minutes. I highly suggest investing in a pizza stone - it's a great item to have in the kitchen, no matter what season it is.

happy fourth!

Wishing you a very happy Fourth of July!

flag cake via

iced coffee at home

A few years ago, I found an amazing iced coffee recipe in In Style magazine. Luckily, I held onto the recipe.

image via

1. Soak coffee grounds in cold water (8 cups of water, 1.75 cups of coffee grounds - I use a mixture of French Vanilla and regular grounds) in the fridge overnight. 2. Strain into a fine sieve or cheesecloth into a pitcher. 3. Pour into your favorite glass, add ice, and stir in milk or cream and sugar to taste. Coffee can stay in the fridge up to 2 weeks.