the apple of my eye

I pretty much love to throw apples into anything. I love them in salads, curries, porridge and sandwiches. Granny Smith are my absolute most favorite apple ever so don't even mention the bland Red/Golden "Delicious" in my company! A "Delicious" is an insult to the apple family with it's mealy texture, lack of flavour and ornery appearance. I like my apples tart, juicy and crisp and a Granny Smith fits the bill. I'm eating one right now, in fact! It's nature's perfect snack. But want to dress up that apple and take it to the next level of awesomeness? Nature may not have born this little baby, but oh my!, it sure makes for the perfect snack/breakfast/lazy dinner. Nothing much to it but some sliced apple, sharp cheese, a little bit of cinnamon honey for sweetness and spice and a sturdy whole wheat bagel as a transportation base. Can't find cinnamon honey? Then just sprinkle some cinnamon over your honey and call it a day.

apple-cheddar-bagel snack
1 toasted whole wheat bagel
1 thin slice of sharp cheddar
1 granny smith apple, sliced
1 schmear of cinnamon honey

1. Lightly spread cinnamon honey on toasted bagel. Cover generously with apple slices and top with a slice of sharp cheddar. Broil in broiler until bubbly, brown and delicious.

the apple of my eye

I pretty much love to throw apples into anything. I love them in salads, curries, porridge and sandwiches. Granny Smith are my absolute most favorite apple ever so don't even mention the bland Red/Golden "Delicious" in my company! A "Delicious" is an insult to the apple family with it's mealy texture, lack of flavour and ornery appearance. I like my apples tart, juicy and crisp and a Granny Smith fits the bill. I'm eating one right now, in fact! It's nature's perfect snack. But want to dress up that apple and take it to the next level of awesomeness? Nature may not have born this little baby, but oh my!, it sure makes for the perfect snack/breakfast/lazy dinner. Nothing much to it but some sliced apple, sharp cheese, a little bit of cinnamon honey for sweetness and spice and a sturdy whole wheat bagel as a transportation base. Can't find cinnamon honey? Then just sprinkle some cinnamon over your honey and call it a day.

apple-cheddar-bagel snack
1 toasted whole wheat bagel
1 thin slice of sharp cheddar
1 granny smith apple, sliced
1 schmear of cinnamon honey

1. Lightly spread cinnamon honey on toasted bagel. Cover generously with apple slices and top with a slice of sharp cheddar. Broil in broiler until bubbly, brown and delicious.

playing breakfast catch-up

I'm trying to catch up on all of my recent recipes and figured a 2-recipe breakfast post would be a nice little bonus on this dreary day. Apparently Vancouver is in the midst of a wind and rain storm, charmingly called a "pineapple express". Such a sweet name for something so foul. There's nothing but grey clouds, darkness and enough rain to make me worry about our roof caving in. So what better way to spend the morning but baking muffins. I originally got this recipe off of Baking Sheet, but I made a few changes to the recipe. Although they do contain maple syrup as the sweetener, I didn't find them very maple-y tasting. They are still very delicious and very light in texture, even with the whole wheat flour.

whole wheat & yogurt cranberry muffins
1/3 c milk
2/3 c plain yogurt
1/3 c vanilla yogurt
1 large egg
1/2 c maple syrup
1 c whole wheat flour
1 c all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 t cinnamon
1/4 t nutmeg
1/4 t cardamom
2 T dried cranberries
2 T walnuts or sunflower seeds

1. Preheat the oven to 375F and lightly grease a 12-cup muffin tin. In a large bowl, whisk together milk, yogurt, egg and maple syrup.

2. In a medium bowl, stir together flours, baking soda, and spices. Pour the dry ingredients into wet ingredients and blend gently. Add in the cranberries and nuts/seeds.

3. Pour batter into muffin tins and bake for 15 - 18 minutes until muffins springs back lightly when touched. Carefully remove from tin and cool on a wire rack.



I'm not sure why it looks like this plate of crepes is sticking out its tongue at me but it got eaten up anyway! The next recipe I tried was again from my "hmmm, what am I going to make" blog favorite, Baking Sheet. During my last year of university, my roomate at the time used to make crepes as a weekend breakfast treat. She filled them with raspberry jam and cottage cheese, rolled them into cigar shapes, packed them into a baking pan and then covered the whole thing with coffee cream and baked them in the oven until they got all warm and creamy. It was a delicious breakfast treat that I made a few times but somehow I managed to forget all about them. Lately, tho, crepes seem to be popping up all over my radar. There are several crepe places downtown that serve up nutella filled crepes and other sweet concoctions. I've always been able to resist their lure because, hey, it's just a rolled up pancake...what's the big deal? But then the other week, I stumbled onto Thimble's post about her portabello & asparagus crepes and I had to do a double take. Although I still haven't gotten around to making a savory dinner crepe yet, this past weekend I did take the crepe plunge and came up with these beauties. They were "scrumptious" (Cornelius' word for them) and kinda fancy which elevated our Sunday breakfast to extraordinary without much of an effort.

crepes with fresh apple filling
200 ml. milk
100 ml. water
3/4 c plus 2 t all-purpose flour
2 eggs
1/4 t salt
1 t vegetable oil
1 t vanilla

apple filling:
2 granny smith apples, sliced relatively thinly into half moons
2 t butter
2 t rum
2 T sour cherry jam

1. Place flour in a large bowl, add milk and water gradually, whisking until the mixture is smooth. Beat in eggs, salt, vegetable oil and vanilla extract. Make sure batter is very smooth, then set aside to rest for at least 20 minutes.

2. In a small skillet, melt butter for the filling. Add apples and sautee for a couple of minutes over medium heat. Add rum and cherry jam and stir about until the sauce thickens somewhat. Turn off heat and set aside.

3. Heat a 10-inch skillet over medium-high heat. Lightly grease and pour batter onto the skillet, about 1/4 cup. Pick up the skillet and swirl the batter around until it even coats the entire bottom of the pan. Cook until the edges come away from the pan and the top of the crepe looks almost dry, about 3 minutes. Turn and cook the other side for about a minute.

4. Fill crepe with filling, roll or fold, and serve immediately. Makes about ten 10-inch crepes.

playing breakfast catch-up

I'm trying to catch up on all of my recent recipes and figured a 2-recipe breakfast post would be a nice little bonus on this dreary day. Apparently Vancouver is in the midst of a wind and rain storm, charmingly called a "pineapple express". Such a sweet name for something so foul. There's nothing but grey clouds, darkness and enough rain to make me worry about our roof caving in. So what better way to spend the morning but baking muffins. I originally got this recipe off of Baking Sheet, but I made a few changes to the recipe. Although they do contain maple syrup as the sweetener, I didn't find them very maple-y tasting. They are still very delicious and very light in texture, even with the whole wheat flour.

whole wheat & yogurt cranberry muffins
1/3 c milk
2/3 c plain yogurt
1/3 c vanilla yogurt
1 large egg
1/2 c maple syrup
1 c whole wheat flour
1 c all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 t cinnamon
1/4 t nutmeg
1/4 t cardamom
2 T dried cranberries
2 T walnuts or sunflower seeds

1. Preheat the oven to 375F and lightly grease a 12-cup muffin tin. In a large bowl, whisk together milk, yogurt, egg and maple syrup.

2. In a medium bowl, stir together flours, baking soda, and spices. Pour the dry ingredients into wet ingredients and blend gently. Add in the cranberries and nuts/seeds.

3. Pour batter into muffin tins and bake for 15 - 18 minutes until muffins springs back lightly when touched. Carefully remove from tin and cool on a wire rack.



I'm not sure why it looks like this plate of crepes is sticking out its tongue at me but it got eaten up anyway! The next recipe I tried was again from my "hmmm, what am I going to make" blog favorite, Baking Sheet. During my last year of university, my roomate at the time used to make crepes as a weekend breakfast treat. She filled them with raspberry jam and cottage cheese, rolled them into cigar shapes, packed them into a baking pan and then covered the whole thing with coffee cream and baked them in the oven until they got all warm and creamy. It was a delicious breakfast treat that I made a few times but somehow I managed to forget all about them. Lately, tho, crepes seem to be popping up all over my radar. There are several crepe places downtown that serve up nutella filled crepes and other sweet concoctions. I've always been able to resist their lure because, hey, it's just a rolled up pancake...what's the big deal? But then the other week, I stumbled onto Thimble's post about her portabello & asparagus crepes and I had to do a double take. Although I still haven't gotten around to making a savory dinner crepe yet, this past weekend I did take the crepe plunge and came up with these beauties. They were "scrumptious" (Cornelius' word for them) and kinda fancy which elevated our Sunday breakfast to extraordinary without much of an effort.

crepes with fresh apple filling
200 ml. milk
100 ml. water
3/4 c plus 2 t all-purpose flour
2 eggs
1/4 t salt
1 t vegetable oil
1 t vanilla

apple filling:
2 granny smith apples, sliced relatively thinly into half moons
2 t butter
2 t rum
2 T sour cherry jam

1. Place flour in a large bowl, add milk and water gradually, whisking until the mixture is smooth. Beat in eggs, salt, vegetable oil and vanilla extract. Make sure batter is very smooth, then set aside to rest for at least 20 minutes.

2. In a small skillet, melt butter for the filling. Add apples and sautee for a couple of minutes over medium heat. Add rum and cherry jam and stir about until the sauce thickens somewhat. Turn off heat and set aside.

3. Heat a 10-inch skillet over medium-high heat. Lightly grease and pour batter onto the skillet, about 1/4 cup. Pick up the skillet and swirl the batter around until it even coats the entire bottom of the pan. Cook until the edges come away from the pan and the top of the crepe looks almost dry, about 3 minutes. Turn and cook the other side for about a minute.

4. Fill crepe with filling, roll or fold, and serve immediately. Makes about ten 10-inch crepes.

the not-so-humble crumble

One of the easiest desserts ever is the humble crumble. Or crisp. Whatever you call it, it barely calls for a recipe and it's delicious. When a crumble presents itself on the table, Cornelius is ready to bow down in its greatness. He looks down at me (he is well over six feet tall) with utter love in his eyes, "You made this for me?". It's a win-win situation. In talking about preparation, Cornelius is all for purity. "Two fruits, max", he lets me know. To me, that's just too little and always too late. Why settle for just 2 fruits when three kinds of fruit will just make everything better. Hell, I've been known to add four kinds of fruit...the more the merrier!

This crumble is a compromise. A three fruit marriage that isn't meant to last. In fact, I was hoping to eat this for breakfast the next morning with a plop of coconut yogurt, but Cornelius finished the leftovers before bed.

three fruit crumble
2 stalks of rhubarb, chopped into half moons
1 granny smith apple, diced
1 cup of strawberries, cut in half or quarters (I used frozen)
1/4 c - 1/2 c brown sugar (or so, depending on the sweetness of the fruit)
2 t cinnamon
1 large pinch of ground cardamon
1/4 t ground cloves
1 large pinch of nutmeg

1. Mix all the above into a medium sized oven proof dish, covering all the fruit with the sugar and spices.

2. Prepare the crumble topping:

2 T oats
2 T flour
2 T brown sugar
2 T cold butter (or vegan margerine)
2 T chopped walnuts

In a small bowl, blend topping ingredients (except walnuts) with your fingers. Stop when crumble resembles small peas. Pour over top of fruit and sprinkle with chopped walnuts. Bake in a 350 degree oven for 45 minutes or until fruit becomes soft and juicy and crumble turns golden brown.

the not-so-humble crumble

One of the easiest desserts ever is the humble crumble. Or crisp. Whatever you call it, it barely calls for a recipe and it's delicious. When a crumble presents itself on the table, Cornelius is ready to bow down in its greatness. He looks down at me (he is well over six feet tall) with utter love in his eyes, "You made this for me?". It's a win-win situation. In talking about preparation, Cornelius is all for purity. "Two fruits, max", he lets me know. To me, that's just too little and always too late. Why settle for just 2 fruits when three kinds of fruit will just make everything better. Hell, I've been known to add four kinds of fruit...the more the merrier!

This crumble is a compromise. A three fruit marriage that isn't meant to last. In fact, I was hoping to eat this for breakfast the next morning with a plop of coconut yogurt, but Cornelius finished the leftovers before bed.

three fruit crumble
2 stalks of rhubarb, chopped into half moons
1 granny smith apple, diced
1 cup of strawberries, cut in half or quarters (I used frozen)
1/4 c - 1/2 c brown sugar (or so, depending on the sweetness of the fruit)
2 t cinnamon
1 large pinch of ground cardamon
1/4 t ground cloves
1 large pinch of nutmeg

1. Mix all the above into a medium sized oven proof dish, covering all the fruit with the sugar and spices.

2. Prepare the crumble topping:

2 T oats
2 T flour
2 T brown sugar
2 T cold butter (or vegan margerine)
2 T chopped walnuts

In a small bowl, blend topping ingredients (except walnuts) with your fingers. Stop when crumble resembles small peas. Pour over top of fruit and sprinkle with chopped walnuts. Bake in a 350 degree oven for 45 minutes or until fruit becomes soft and juicy and crumble turns golden brown.

the personal is political

I have a great many cookbooks and I peruse them constantly when I'm at odds on what to cook or bake. But sometimes, I can't find exactly what I'm looking for and let's just face it, sometimes it's easier to look online. The joys of the intermanet is the huge amount of recipes available at your fingertips. It's so easy to plug into Google a few ingredients and have it return a million and four recipes back for your choosing. I love technology, especially since it makes my dinner options so vast. Food blogs are another matter altogether. They can be flippant, friendly, all-business or have something important to say. With a food blog, you not only get a recipe, but you get a backstory or a bit of history or a personal connection with the author. In a world where people are less involved in civic and community life, where we more often than not "bowl alone", it's nice to be able to create and participate in an active online community. Yes, I am talking about you, food blog. I read a whole whack of food blogs and I feel connected to how others live and eat and write about something so common to us all.

Enough with the jibbery-jab and on with the recipes. All this long long winded introduction brings me to 2 new recipes this week, both found on food blogs. The first comes from Baking Sheet and a recipe I had bookmarked for quite a while now. The other day, I went to visit with my friends who had a baby and figured that along with a few presents I should bring something edible and just a bit sweet. After all, a couple with a new baby need all the sustinence and treats that they can handle. I thought this recipe for coconut bread fit the bill and it's most perfect for breakfast toasted with a bit of butter. Yum!

bill's coconut bread (from Baking Sheet)
2 eggs
1 1/4 c milk
1 t vanilla
2 1/2 c flour
2 t baking powder
1/2 t salt
2 t cinnamon
1 c and a bit caster sugar
2 c shredded coconut
1/3 c butter, melted

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

1. Whisk together eggs, milk and vanilla in one bowl.

2. Sift together flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon. Stir in sugar and coconut. Make a well in the center and pour in egg mixture. Stir until just combined. Add butter and stir until just smooth, being careful not to overmix.

3. Pour into a greased and floured loaf pan and bake for 1 hour, or until tester comes out clean. Cool in tin for 10 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack.

+++

My second recipe for this post comes from one of my favorite blogs, Bunny Pie. I originally found this blog from an art site and then clicked along to find this. Updates are seem too few and far between for my tastes, but I'm sure it's just cuz I'm being greedy and I want more of the beautifully photographed pictures and vintage dishes. When Debs recently posted a recipe for a Norwegian Apple Cake, I thought it would be a perfect no-fail recipe for my mother-in-law's birthday cake. The recipe is simplicity itself with no need for oil or butter. It's got a lovely crusty exterior and a sublimely chewy interior and is perfect served with vanilla ice cream. If you want to eat cake everyday, this is the cake for you!

norwegian apple cake (from Bunny Pie)
3/4 c sugar
1/2 c flour
1/2 t salt
1 t baking powder
1 egg
1 rounded cup diced apples
1/2 c chopped walnuts
*I also added 1 t of cinnamon & a t of vanilla to great effect

preheat oven to 350 degrees.

1. Mix together the sugar, flour, salt, and baking powder.
2. Break an egg into the center of the mixture and stir together to mix well.
3. Mix in the apples and nuts and pour into a greased 8" pie pan. I used a small floured and buttered cake tin with removable sides.
4. Bake 25 to 30 minutes.

curious orange.

butternut squash & apple soup

This soup is still simmering away on the stove, so I have no idea how exactly it will taste, but if I can go by smell alone, "Damn! This is fine soup!"

1 small butternut squash
1 granny smith apple
1 onion
1 T butter
3 cloves garlic
water to cover
vegetable bullion
1 t thyme
1/4 t cinnamon
1/4 t ginger
1 t cumin
1 t corriander
1 t red pepper flakes
1 T curry paste
salt to taste

Melt butter into a heavy pot. Add the cubed onion, garlic and apple to the pot and saute until translucent and soft. Add a dash of salt. Add cubed squash to the pot and mix in all the spices. Cover the vegetables with water and let simmer until squash is soft and the mixture is fragrant, about 30 minutes. Taste and reseason if necessary. Puree and serve with a dollup of yogurt.