Earlier today I ventured into the sunshine for an adventure with my boys. There was some fetch…

Awesome. I think next weekend we’re planning a REAL hiking day trip. The park was fine for today though. I was just happy to get some sun. So was this guy, who spazzed and sprinted like it was his job.

Pant, pant!

When we got home The Roommate, being her incredible self, was in the middle of making dinner. “I think we need to eat something real,” she declared. I was behind this sentiment 100%. Especially when this was the result:

Pork chops with cooked apples and onions, asparagus, and mashed potatoes. I said yes to all of the above:

My belly was so happy after this. I decided to go healthy for dessert and munched on a clementine. I have a thing for snack foods that involve work, like clementines, string cheese or peanuts. I think I like being kept busy and it takes longer to eat. Weird? Maybe. I’m cool with it.

Off to get to some stuff started for the week while we watch the Oscars. I think every one of us should strive to look as hot as Sigourney Weaver when we are 60. That is all.

The two apartment couples spent a night in on Saturday. We watched Spanglish and ate copious amounts of cheese. The Roommie and I decided early on that we wanted cheese, wine, and crusty French Bread for dinner.

Counterclockwise from the orange cheese: smoked Cheddar (if you have not tried it, you MUST!), Brie, herbed goat cheese, and smoked Gouda.

In addition to olives and bread we had grapes and an apple.

Sometimes I think it might be nice to lose five pounds, but with so much cheese in the world, is it worth it?

NO.

With our cheese we shared a bottle of Malbec.

I don’t know anything about wine, but I like Malbecs as far as red wine goes. Later we popped a bottle of Mondoro, which is sweet sparkling wine.

Jack and Lola were happy to chill with us in the living room (and wait for pieces of cheese to hit the floor). We wore the younger pup out — Jack fell asleep on my shoulder halfway through the evening.

But Lola was ready to hang out!

Lo-lo-lo-lo-lo-lola. (Do you know that song by the Kinks? I’ve been singing it all week.)

I ate more cheese last night than I’d care to admit. Despite the large block of dairy digesting in my stomach currently, I’m thinking sometime in the future this apartment needs to have a wine and cheese party. Ever hosted/been to one??

Head on over to NuVal to see if the scoring system is being used in your area. I like having it at Price Chopper.  It’s an extra-easy way to buy good food!

In honor of the new Nu Val system at my favorite supermarket, I decided to make my favorite dessert: fruit crisp.  I make a pretty healthy version of this — for a dessert, you’re not really taking on that many calories.  This one is loaded with fruit, plus whole wheat flour, brown sugar, and oats.  Win-win.  And win again in the morning when your re-heat it for breakfast:

Fully Loaded Fruit Crisp

• 2 apples, chopped
• 1 peach, sliced
• 2 pears, chopped
• 1 c. instant oats
• 1/2 c. white flour
• 1/2 c. wheat flour
• 1/2 c. packed brown sugar
• 1 stick cold butter

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Put all the fruit in a baking dish.  Just so you know, I used fresh apples and frozen peaches and pears.  Either fresh or frozen fruit is perfectly fine. I bought the peaches frozen, but the chopped pear was from 2 fresh pears that were slowly dying on my counter.  I chopped them up and froze them for later use.  For this recipe, use any fruit that you have lying around.  Don’t throw away fruit that is going bad! Freeze it before it’s too late!

In a bowl, combine the oats, flours, and brown sugar.  Cut the butter into chunks and add it to the flour mixture.  Cut the butter into the mixture using a pastry cutter or two knives.  If you’ve never done this before, it’s pretty easy.  The idea is to cut up the butter into smaller chunks while blending it into the flour and sugar.  It doesn’t need to be completely blended, though.  You just want to moisten the dry ingredients a little.  When you’re done, top the fruit evenly with the mixture.

Bake for 35-40 minutes until slightly bubbly.

This is particularly delicious topped with fresh whipped cream or ice cream for dessert.  And I’d be lying if I said I don’t sometimes eat it with a scoop of ice cream for breakfast, too.

I’m ready for a break, yes, but it is no secret that Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday.  You eat, you catch up with family, you watch football (or just peek at the commercials in between bites), you walk around in sock feet with the top button on your jeans undone.  Incredible.  Dream day for this gal.

It’s seems that the thanks giving is starting on Monday this year, because today has been a glorious day that ended with a hearty home-cooked meal.  I worked alllll daaaay as per usual, but it was the last day of my night temping job! We were supposed to end on Wednesday but as a holiday treat to ourselves we finished two days early.  Also I found out that my sister is coming into town tomorrow night and spending the night with the roommates, the pets, and myself.

And I came home to an incredible meal.  The Roommate and The Boyfriend completely took over the kitchen tonight and turned out honey-glazed pork chops, grilled Granny Smith apples, and fluffy white mashed potatoes.

This picture is shmeh and I apologize because there were miraculous things on my plate. The R and The B truly outdid themselves and my tummy is thankful.  For dessert we put on sweatpants.

This Monday I am ever so thankful for my lovable, funny, and hungry roommates.

I chopped and peeled 16 apples (8 apples per recipe).

Pink Applesauce

This first recipe is something my aunt serves every Thanksgiving.  I always loved it as a kid because a secret ingredient makes it pink!

Start with your 8 peeled and chopped apples in a pot.  Add 1 T lemon juice and 1/2 cup apple cider.

Simmer on low for about an hour or until they become mushy enough to mash with a potato masher.

Close-up.  I like my applesauce a little chunky, but you can simmer longer or run it through a food processor if you prefer smooth sauce.

And now for the secret ingredient…!

Cinnamon dots! Sprinkle about 25 of these bad boys into the pot and let the heat from the applesauce melt them in.  Stir slowly so it absorbs all the flavor and color.  The final product:

The light is actually pretty bad in my kitchen, but I promise it’s pink! Not too pink for your macho relatives to enjoy, but pink enough to tickle.

French Applesauce

Recipe numero 2 is from my mother (it’s a real family affair in my kitchen today!).  I’m not sure why this is “French.” Perhaps it’s the butter.  The French love their butter.

Start with your 8 chopped apples. This time I left the skin on.  I like to make this applesauce really chunky and textured, so the skin stays on and I don’t mash them as smoothly.

To this pot add the 1 T lemon juice and 1/2 cup cider, along with many shakes of cinnamon (I adore cinnamon so I was not shy.  I probably used a tablespoon), 2 T butter, and 1/2 cup sugar (I always use white, but I imagine brown would be tasty, too).

Mix it well and let simmer for an hour or so.  Mash to your desired consistency.

As I said, I like this applesauce chunky.

And that’s it! It’s delectable hot or cold.  You can save it in the fridge for a bit or put it in the freezer for later.  Easy and delicious — my favorite kind of food!

Apple Potato Cheddar Casserole

• 2-3 potatoes, sliced
• 2 apples, thinly sliced
• 1 onion, thinly sliced
• 1 c. sharp Cheddar cheese (Don’t skimp on the cheese! There is not a lot of seasoning in this and you want the cheese to stand out.  The Roommate Cabot Cheddar Private Stock.)

Peel and slice potatoes and boil for 10 minutes.

Take potatoes off and run under cold water. Layer casserole with 1/2 potatoes, then layer with 1/2 of the onions. After onions, layer with 1/2 the apple slices. Then add 1/2 cup of cheese.

Layer the rest of the apples, followed by the rest of the onions, and top with the potatoes. Add the rest of the cheese, and bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes, or until the cheese on top starts to brown (usually you need the broiler for an extra 5 minutes for this).  Add salt and pepper to taste and serve.

While the casserole baked, The Roommate just, ya know, whipped together an apple pie.

It’s apple insanity in the apartment this week.  I hope you are enjoying our fruity antics!

Apples and cheese are one of my favorite savory/sweet combinations. I used to eat cheddar slices and apples slices together as a snack when I was a kid and I’ve always loved the tangy and crunch taste! Tonight I brought these flavors together in the form of pizza.

Easy Apple Pizza

• Pizza dough
• Pizza sauce
• Grated cheese (I used cheddar and Swiss — a winning pair!)
• 1 apple, sliced
• 2 strips of cooked bacon, chopped

All you have to do is assemble! The Roommate and I don’t so much like bacon, so I spread it on only a third of the pie. Before:

And after:

Cheesy goodness!

]]> http://notesonapage.com/2009/11/apple-pizza/feed/ 0 http://notesonapage.com/2009/11/tuesdays-apple/ http://notesonapage.com/2009/11/tuesdays-apple/#comments Tue, 03 Nov 2009 15:48:05 +0000 Page http://notesonapage.com/?p=767 Good morning! I have today off from BOTH jobs and that is putting me in quite the peppy mood.  I started the day off with Google Reader and a tasty breakfast.  Don’t mind the messy desk!

I chopped up a Red Delicious apple with my new favorite kitchen utensil: an apple corer! I love the ease of it and I feel like I’m in an infomercial every time I bust it out! I paired the apple with two globs of peanut butter: Trader Joe’s Chunky PB and the New York Maple Peanut Butter from Peanut Butter Principle. And the Roommate and I split a pot of Twining’s Prince of Wales Tea with milk.

The cleaning of my cluttered desk is on one of the items on my to-do list today.  Tomorrow I start a 3-week temp job from 5:30-10:30 every night (lame), so I really need to take today and prepare for that! Most days of the week I’ll be working straight from 8:30 in the morning until 10:30 at night so I’m making meals ahead and freezing them.  And I’m preparing a couple posts for the week until this weekend when I can blog in Real Time again. Applepalooza is still on and I’ve got a couple more recipes up my sleeve (and a thousand more apples waiting in the crisper.

I hope I can take a break from my to-do list to take Jacky to the dog park for the first time since his surgery.  He misses his friends! I also want to read some of my new book.  Yesterday my dad surprised me via mail with this:

My dad is a computer-saavy guy and since I am, well, neither, I enlisted his help.  He assures me that this book is very accessible.  I read a little last night (in bed!) and it kept my interest, so I think that’s a good sign.  I was an English major in college and to me “book” means novel, not textbook.  But this series is written in a friendly, engaging manner, so I think it’s going to teach me a lot! I’ve been wanting to delve further into HTML, but it is really like learning another language.  I want to take a web development class in the spring, too!

For you bloggers, do you find that you need to know HTML and CSS?

I came across the Washington Apple Commission’s site which has tons of interesting apple recipes. I took the following recipe and modified it slightly for tonight’s dinner.

Apple Turkey Burgers with Apple-Cranberry Chutney

For the chutney (this makes way more chutney than you need for the burgers, so feel free to halve the recipe):

• 3 apples, chopped
• 1 c. whole cranberry sauce
• Juice from 1 lemon
• 2 T rice vinegar
• 2 T sugar
• 1 onion, chopped

Recipe all-stars:

In a small saucepan heat lemon juice, sugar, and vinegar.  Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and add half the apples.  Simmer the apples until they are soft enough to mash with a potato masher (or the back of a spatula, if you are like me and do not have a masher.  The Roommate and I actually considered buying a potato masher at the store tonight and then, inexplicably, did not.  Ironic, isn’t it? Go sing a song about that, Alanis Morrissette.)  Add the onions and cook a little while longer until the onions soften.  Remove from the heat and add the cranberries and the rest of the apples.

Eat directly from the bowl with a large spoon Put a spoonful or two onto your turkey burger.

For the burgers:

• 1 lb. ground turkey meat
• 1 apple, grated
• Salt and pepper
• Cinnamon

In a bowl, mix the meat and apples; sprinkle a few shakes of the salt, pepper, and cinnamon and mix thoroughly.

Apparently I just use gigantor bowls — there really is a pound of meat in there, I promise.  Cook on a skillet, on the grill, or on a George Foreman.  (I used my GF to grill these just to save time, but in retrospect I recommend a real grill if you live in Florida or the stove top if you live in New York.  The GF sorta dried out the patties and for this recipe you want real juicy burgers.)  The recipe makes 4-5 burgers, depending on how big you like ‘em.

In keeping with the apple theme we enjoyed our burgers with some wine from yesterday’s trip.

The apple taste is really surprising.  The tartness takes a second to get used to — you ARE expecting grape, after all — but I really liked the flavor.

Dinner:

You can do some amazing things with an apple.

Today is National Sandwich Day (I hear) so we ate our fancy-pants sandwiches the best way we now how: pajama-clad on the couch while watching Fatal Attraction (hellooooo intense movie).  Lucky for me the only fatal attraction I have is to food.  And that is a violence-free situation.

Breakfast was all about apple-y goodness for me: I had a mug of hot cider with a bowl of apple oatmeal.  Chop 3/4 of an apple (and schmear the last quarter with maple peanut butter and devour).

Pour 1/2 cup oats and 1/2 cup milk over apples and microwave.  Top with peanut butter, flax seeds, raisins, and loads of cinnamon.

Apples! Spread the joy.