More playing with pictures. Feel free to move along if this bores the ever living snot out of you. Or feel free to force the conversation to something that interests you. It’s Friday, so it’s all good.

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Which do you prefer?

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So when we did the Grandmom exchange at Hancock, I picked up some fresh local apples.

Actually, I picked up a LOT of apples, because I prefer a variety of apples in my pie.

With just three of us, an entire pie is just a bit too much–either I’ll eat too much pie, or the pie will go bad before we can finish it. So last year I ordered individual pie slice dishes from the King Arthur Flour Catalog.

First things first, I had way to much filling for the dishes, so the apples didn’t cook down as much as they could have. I also guesstimated the amounts for the other ingredients, but that worked out pretty well.

I used three different kinds of apples for this pie. Matsu, Northern Spy, and Rambo. The Rambo were too soft for my liking (it all but fell apart in the peeler) but since the pies needed to be jucier, they might work well anyway.


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Appetizer:
Sesame Noodles

Dinner:
Cripsy Bean Curd in Garlic Sauce
Sesame Noodles

Dessert:
Sesame Noodles

(contented sigh)

With all the craziness over my website, I have completely neglected to mention that this week is the Buckwheat Festival!

Local buckwheat is in the stores, and you can head over to Preston County for buckwheat cakes.

Which is what we had for dinner today. Mmmmmm!

While we were gone, apple butter from Janiece arrived.

Being a good granddaughter, I opened the box to make sure nothing had broken, and then closed the box back up for my grandmother.

Since we did the Grandmom exchange with my aunt today, Grandmom finally opened the apple butter.

The jar is now sitting by her chair–presumably so no one else will open it first. :)

These are one of the things Michael makes that Grandmom really likes. She says she thinks she likes them better than hamburgers.

Turkey Burgers
~1 lb ground turkey, as high fat as you can find
1 egg
~1/4 cup bread crumbs
minced onion
parsley
garlic powder
kosher salt
fresh pepper

Mush together all ingredients. Make patties and place on foil covered cookie sheet. Cover sheet with foil. If you will eat the burgers the same day, place them in the refrigerator until you’re ready to cook them–at least an hour.

If you’re making them for later, place covered tray in freezer, and freeze several hours or overnight. Stack burgers with waxed paper between layers, wrap tightly in foil, and place in freezer bag. Can be cooked thawed or frozen.

Before summer is completely over, take advantage of fall grilling.

Grilled Veggies

Fresh veggies: zucchini, yellow squash, cherry/grape tomatoes, mushrooms, orange and yellow pepper
Olive oil
White wine vinegar
Fresh parsley
Fresh oregano
Fresh rosemary
Fresh thyme
Fresh garlic
sea salt
Fresh pepper

Slice selected vegetables into large chunks. You’ll want mushrooms (which cook faster) to have larger chunks than the squash, which cooks more slowly.

Place veggies in a gallon sized ziploc bag (or two bags if you’re making a lot of vegetables. Pour olive oil and white wine vinegar over the veggies in approximately equal measure. You’ll want enough liquid to coat the vegetables.

Mince/crush several cloves of garlic (to taste) and add to veggie bag.

Collect your fresh herbs and crush them in a mortal and pestle with sea salt or kosher salt. Add the fresh herbs, salt, and pepper to the bag with the veggies.

Add more vinegar and oil if necessary.

Seal the bag and mix until the vegetables are well coated with the herb/garlic mixture.

Refrigerate for a couple of hours, until you’re ready to grill.

By popular demand (and because I had an incredibly crappy week last week) And also as a guide for Gina, who views baking this recipe with trepidation… Bittersweet Brownies!

I do believe that these are the best brownies in the entire world. Seriously.
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The grocery stores have local peaches now, so I had to pick some up. Since we grilled out on Saturday, I decided to make bourbon peaches. In theory you make them in the oven, but they’re perfect to put on the grill to cook while you’re eating dinner.

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Well, it’s Sunday night (you didn’t really think I wrote all those 8:00 AM posts that early did you?!) and I’m still tired and cranky.

Despite a long nap on Saturday and sleeping in on Sunday.

Not sure what this means for work on Monday (or today when you’re reading this) but I doubt it’s good. if it wasn’t so hot I’d go make some cookies, but it’s almost 9:00 PM and it’s 79 F outside, which means it’s really too hot to turn on the oven. I spent all summer looking at countertop toaster/convection ovens, and think I’d really like one, but we spent enough this summer that I couldn’t justify the expense.

But I think I will get one before next summer, because it would be really nice to be able to make a single batch of cookies without heating up the entire house. Especially since I tend to keep frozen cookie dough balls in the freezer. So if anyone has one or has any recommendations, let me know.

Now I think I’m going to curl up and think of all the chocolate baked desserts I’m going to make once it gets cooler.

(There are 100 items. List after the cut.)

Directions: Copy this list into your blog or journal, including these instructions. Bold all the items you’ve eaten. Cross out any items that you would never consider eating.
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I cobbled (HA!) together this recipe in college. My only problem with it is that my house is small, and I hate heating up the kitchen in the summer. But it’s worth it.

Blueberry Cobbler

Filling:
2 pints blueberries
3/4 to 1 cup sugar
2 tbsp corn starch
1 to 2 tbsp lemon juice
1 tbsp butter

Biscuit:
1 1/2 cups flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
2 tbsp sugar
1/8/ tsp salt
4 tbsp butter
1 egg
1/2 cup milk or cream

Preheat oven to 375 F

Put filling ingredients in a saucepan. Heat to boiling stirring occasionally, and then boil for 5 minutes, until sauce thickens.

Remove from heat.

Mix together flour, baking powder, salt, and sugar. Cut in butter. (I do this step in a food processor.) mix together egg and mix. Add to flour mixture and mix together until flour is just moist. (Do NOT over mix).

Pour blueberry mixture into a 1 1/2 to 2 quart buttered pyrex dish. Spoon dough onto blueberries. If desired, sprinkle sugar over the top of the dough.

Bake at 375 for 30 minutes, until topping is golden brown.

If desired, serve with vanilla ice cream, fresh whipped cream.

Eat.

NOTE: Place a tray underneath the pan, because this is a mess to clean from the bottom of the oven.

I just wanted to say that the weather has been gorgeous this weekend.

Right now it’s 70 F and sunny.

Yesterday, when my aunt, uncle, and cousins came by, we got to have dinner on the deck. Temperatures were in the lower 80s initially, but half the deck is in the shade, and there was a lovely breeze.

We had turkey burgers and chicken dogs and blueberry cobbler (HA! Now I know what I’m posting on Tuesday!)

All in all it was an awesome afternoon.

Wraps

Since my grandmother doesn’t eat spicy foods, we don’t get to make these much anymore. Which is too bad, because they’re really good.

Chicken breast / thighs
Oil
3 – 5 cloves garlic
Several tablespoons chopped onion
~ 1 tsp Oregano
~ 1/2 tsp Cilantro
~ 1 tsp Cumin
~ 1/2 to 2 tsp Chili powder
Salt
Pepper
~1 tbsp lemon juice
~2-3 tbsp lime juice
Melinda’s Mango sauce, or other hot sauce
Taco or Spanish rice
Sharp cheddar cheese
Chopped lettuce
Chopped tomato
Spicy ranch dressing
Wraps (whole grain wraps are really good)

Make the rice. (If I had a recipe for the rice I might make it by hand. I don’t so I just use one of the packages.)

Heat sauté pan. Add oil. Add garlic and onion. Sauté for a few minutes (I tend to use frozen onion, so I sauté until the pan stops spitting at me.). Raise temperature and then add the chicken. Sauté the chicken until done. Add spices, lemon juice and lime juice. Turn chicken to low until rest of ingredients are ready.

Heat wraps.

Put everything together: chicken layer, rice layer, cheese layer, lettuce, tomato, and then spicy ranch dressing.

Eat.

Sorry Nathan and John, but y’all lose out to the loot I got today:

MAPLE SYRUP! From our enemy to the north–I mean Kim!

Michael decided to make pancakes for dinner, just for the occasion.

Mmmm! Pancakes! With maple syrup! Yummy!

Here’s the recipe for Saturday’s dinner (and today’s leftovers): Pizza!

2 tsp yeast
1 3/4 cup warm (100 F) water
3 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp honey
1/4 cup potato flour
1/4 - 1/2 tsp kosher salt
2 cups whole wheat flour
3 to 4 cups bread flour
cornmeal, for dusting

475 F

Proof the yeast in the warm water. Add olive oil, honey, salt, potato flour, and wheat flour. Mix ingredients together with paddle of mixer, and then let dough slurry rest for ~30 minutes. Switch to dough hook, and add bread flour until you have a nice soft dough.

Place dough in a oiled bowl, cover with plastic wrap and allow to rise in a warm place for ~60 minutes.

Divide dough into two parts. Roll out each ball into a disc ~12 inches in diameter. Cover with plastic wrap and place out of the way while you prepare your toppings (~30 to 45 minute rise).

Pre-heat pizza stone in oven to 475 F for at least 15. Roll out dough to desired size. Get square of parchment square the size of your dough. Sprinkle parchment with cornmeal. Place rolled dough on cornmeal. Top with desired toppings. Use peel or flat cookie sheets without sides to transfer pizza (on parchment!) from counter to pizza stone. Bake ~ 15 minutes.

Slide pizza and parchment onto cookie sheet or other large flat device to remove from oven. Place second pizza in the oven. Allow pizza to rest for a few minutes before cutting.

Eat.

Don’t forget to pull second pizza out of oven.

NOTES:

Most times are approximate, depending upon how far you are into your book when the timer dings.

The parchment paper makes it really easy to move the pizza from counter to stone and back out of the oven; and between the parchment and the cornmeal, I’m now getting nice crisp crust on the bottom.

Alternately, for a thick crust, you can roll out to dough, to the correct size, rise ~30 minutes then carefully top so as not to disturb the dough (The book recommends allowing the made pizza to rise for 30 minutes. This seems foolhardy to me) then bake.

The dough can be refrigerated or frozen in a 6 inch disc before the second rise. But I usually just make two pizzas and then have one for leftovers.

I came home today and found two packages on the porch. One was an expected package from Coldwater Creek (Cotton sweaters on SALE!) The other package was from G + H with a NY address.

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I know a good meme to swipe when I see one!

As requested elsewhere, he is our favorite chocolate pudding recipe. It’s easy enough that Michael was able to make it by himself when I had the flu.

The recipe comes from Nancy Baggett’s All American Dessert Book, which has fast become one of the first books I reach for when I want something sweet. Not only are the recipes easy to follow, the pictures in the book are real, and by that I mean the pans looked like they’ve been used for years, and the desserts look scrumptious but also look like they were prepared by a human being–things are spilled and just a little bit messy. I sometimes even flip through this book just to drool over the pictures.

I also like the paragraphs that accompany the recipes, talking about how she found the recipes, or something interesting she thought about the recipe.

Chocolate Pudding
2/3 cup sugar
3 1/2 tbsp cornstarch
3 tbsp cocoa (I use Dutch process cocoa)
1/8 tsp salt
3 1/2 cups whole or reduced fat milk (NO skim)
2 tbsp unsalted butter (if using 2% milk)
4 oz bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
2 1/2 tsp vanilla extract (I use Mexican vanilla rather than Madagascar bourbon vanilla in this recipe.)

Stir together sugar, cornstarch, cocoa, and salt. Add ~ 1/4 cup milk and stir until dry ingredients are incorporated. Add remaining milk and butter. Bring to a boil over medium heat, constantly stirring. Cook for 2 to 2 1/2 minutes, until mixture thickens, and then immediately remove from heat. Stir in chocolate, and then once all the chocolate is melted, add the vanilla.

Strain mixture through a sieve into individual serving ramekins. Cover and refrigerate for at least 2 1/2 hours. Serve with fresh whipped cream.

I particularly like it with fresh strawberries and fresh whipped cream.

Guess what I’m doing when it gets dark and the temperature drops?

So despite making threats, I didn’t actually eat any “orange melty salt“, but instead found something much better. Terra Chips. Specifically, Kettles Sea Salt White, Russet & Sweet Potato Chips.

These are really good.

Here’s the ingredient list: Ingredients: a blend of white potato, russet potato and sweet potato, canola oil and/or safflower oil and/or sunflower oil, sea salt.

That’s it. And 120 mg of salt per serving, which is quite low for chips. (The “low sodium” meals my grandmother gets are mostly 600 mg (ignoring everything higher than that.)

Are they health food? No. But a hell of a lot better for me than “orange melty salt”. Even with the vegetable dip I had with ‘em. (Sour cream is dairy! It has calcium! That makes it a health food!)

And with that, I’m off to drink a REALLY LARGE glass of water.

I know that there is no way I was good enough this year to deserve the surprise package I got from Tania.

Home. Made. Chocolates.

When I opened the package the cold packs had warmed, so I put everything into the refrigerator without looking at it. After dinner (and dessert–the last of the chocolate lava cakes) and getting my printer hooked up (my parents came over last night after dinner, for dessert, and we ended up trouble shooting computer problems for my mom) I went to the fridge to pull out the chocolates.

I am not worthy.

They’re in individual boxes! With paper ribbons! My eyes are tearing up just writing about it!

I haven’t even opened one yet, because I am stuffed from dinner. These chocolates requires that I savor the entire process from opening the package to eating the chocolate, and that’s just not something that should be done when one is uncomfortably full.

Meanwhile, I think I am lightheaded and may need to go lie down for awhile.

Came home from work today to find that Kat and Kit had received a package from Tania–I mean Skulker and Orphelia!

Boy were they excited!

But wait!
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It’s been in the 90s for the past several days, which means I am particularly unexcited about turning on the oven to bake anything.

Luckily, I’ve got an excellent recipe for chocolate pudding. So I made chocolate pudding and served it with fresh strawberries and whipped cream.

I’m still feeling moderately crappy, so I decided it was time to pull out the big guns.

I picked up fresh organic strawberries today, I have whipping cream, and I just prepared (minus the baking) molten lava chocolate cakes.
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