Apple Crisp

This recipe is from Millie's preschool, believe it or not. It's meant to be so simple a child can do it, and other than peeling and slicing the apples, it really is that easy. It's also the best apple crisp I've ever had, possibly thanks to the entire stick of butter that goes into the crust.

4 medium unpeeled or peeled tart apples, sliced.
3/4 cup of all purpose flour
3/4 cup of packed brown sugar (I used 1/4 and it was plenty sweet)
1/2 cup quick cooking or regular oats (I used quick cooking)
1/3 cup chopped walnuts (a generous 1/3)
1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon (I used 1/2 tsp)
1/2 cup butter, softened

Heat oven to 375.
Spread apple slices in ungreased 8 inch square pan.
Mix remaining ingredients with fork (I used my hands). Sprinkle over apples.
Bake uncovered until the topping is golden brown and apples are tender and bubbling, about 30 minutes.

Rugelach

Happy New Year to my fellow Jewish friends. In honor of Rosh Ha Shana, I made Zoe Francois's "modern" rugelach, to rave reviews. Rugelach, a traditional Yiddish crescent shaped pastry is often filled with dates and apricot jam, earning it a reputation for being "old lady" food, as my husband so eloquently said.

Leave it to Zoe to make rugelach cool again. She fills hers with raspberry jam and chocolate. Now how can that be bad?

Mine turned out considerably uglier than hers, but delicious and highly addictive, which is why I left the rest at my parents.

Recipe on Zoe Bakes.

Fall is in the air

You may have noticed that I don't do a lot of cooking in the summer time. But the cool air in recent days has made me excited to bake and cook using beautiful seasonal produce like pumpkins, squash, and apples. So stay tuned, after the fair I promise I will return to the stove, and my laptop.

In the meanwhile, go have another corn dog!

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

Iced coffee on a warm June day. Life truly does not get much better than this.

Cold Brewed Coffee from Smitten Kitchen

Deb at Smittenkitchen suggests using half concentrate to half water or milk. I have been known to pour concentrate over a bit of ice, and add just a dash of whole milk. It's strong, but oh, hurts so good. For this morning's coffee, which I am currently enjoying on my front porch to the sound of church bells ringing (no lie, we live by a Catholic church. Why they are ringing at Noon on a Wednesday, I don't know) I added a teaspoon of raw sugar, a few ice cubes, half a glass of the concentrate, and about 1/4 cup of whole milk. Then, wait for it...I frothed some more milk to top off my creation. Hence the Ahhhhhhhhh title of this post.

Whole Lemon Tart

It's Back to the 50's Car Show time in our hood. I love this weekend, when gorgeous "old fashioned cars," as Millie calls them, troll our streets and show off their purty selves at the State Fair Grounds. No need to pay the enterance fee, even a simple trip to Target becomes our very own Car Show. The cars, and their giddy, friendly owners are everywhere!

One of our neighborhood's fun traditions is a walk to Snelling (our main road in front of the State Fair Grounds) to camp out and watch the cars in an unofficial parade. Before the parade, we invited friends over to grill. Steaks, shrimp, orzo salad, grilled asparagus, roasted beets with walnuts, green salad with home-made citrus dressing, fresh fruit, chips and salsa...is that all? 

Nope! I decided to tackle my very first tart. I have always been very intimidated by the whole tart/pie shell challenge. But this was the day, I was going to stare fear in the face, and eat it. 

The results? Fabulous. Thanks to my favorite blogger, Smittenkitchen, the process was fairly painless, even if a bit time consuming. And the filling was the easiest, craziest thing I've ever baked. An entire lemon, yep, rind and all, thrown to it's death into the food processor along with a couple of other readily available ingredients and wham bam thank you ma'am, you have a tart! Served with some fresh blueberries and it's summer on a plate. 

Did I mention there were only five of us? Left overs anyone? 

Whole Lemon Tart by Smitten Kitchen: Click her for recipe and great photos.

Carrot Curry Soup

A couple of months ago, I had a gorgeous carrot soup at The Finnish Bistro in St. Anthony Park. It was made with more cream than should be legal (I asked) so I began my search for an equally delicious but slightly less coronary inducing version.

I found it in a little book called 200 Veggie Feasts. I tweaked it by omitting the potato and adding more broth than it calls for because the original version is really, really thick. It's lighter that way and better suited for a summer dinner. It has a nice kick, which can also be tweaked to your liking.

Curried Carrot and Lentil Soup

Serves 4

2 Tbsp olive oil

1 onion, chopped

1 garlic clove, crushed

1 lbs. carrots, chopped

1 potato, chopped

1 Tbsp, medium curry paste

3/4 cup red lentils, washed

4 cups vegetable or chicken stock

1 Tbsp fresh or frozen cilantro, chopped or minced

salt and black pepper to taste

Heat oil in a saucepan, add onion and garlic, cook over medium heat, stirring frequently for 5 minutes. Add carrots, potato, and curry paste and mix well. Add remaining ingredients. Bring to a boil, cover, lower heat and simmer for 20-30 minutes until vegetables are soft. 

Transfer to food processor or use an immersion blender to process until very smooth. Return to pan and add as much broth as needed to bring to desired consistency. 

Easter Trail Mix

Or, The Day The Diet Died.

At preschool, the kids made Easter Trail Mix, which Millie raved about. All I was able to get out of her was that it included cheddar gold fish, so I decided that we could make our own. To be extra festive, we chose only Easter-y colors, thus steering away from Cheddar anything.

Easter/Passover/Spring-if-it-ever-gets-here Trail Mix

Dry roasted peanuts
Golden raisins
Annie's Honey Graham Bunnies
Raspberry yogurt covered pretzels (at Rainbow bulk section)
Bunny shaped marshmallows
Easter color candy corn (Target candy bulk section)

And anything else your little sunshine deprived heart desires. Soooo good, we are talking pastel-colored crack.  Consider yourself warned.