Peanut Blossom

Beat the winter blues: Roasted peppers & pineapple

Right about this time every year I start to get super sick of hearty casseroles, winter stews, roasted meats, and chili and start craving fresher tropical type foods. I'm sure it is a desperate attempt to take a mental vacation out of the snow and cold and into the sunshine but if ever there was a recipe that actually worked towards that goal it would be this one!

I found this recipe for roasted peppers & pineapple in an old Rachael Ray cookbook. It was part of a peanut butter noodles dish that was a huge hit with the family. The noodles part was a little too time consuming for me to try again regularly, but the roasted veggies stuck. This is a surprisingly versatile combination!

I roast a huge pan of this mix and then use it in the following:

- Served over white rice with terriyaki meatballs (premade from Costco!)
- As a sidedish with multiple preparations of chicken
- Taco toppings for ground turkey browned up with traditional taco seasonings
- Over a bed of romaine with shredded rotisserie chicken for a tropical tasting salad
- And really, any recipe for peanut-y asian noodles would probably go absolutely fantastically with this.

The sweet juicy pineapple is a perfect compliment to the peppers & onions. Be sure to roast them long enough that the onions get nice and charred--the "burnt" black ones are the tastiest! Unbelievably sweet and savory all at the same time.

This recipe & photo are part of a monthly food photography challenge I'm participating in over at Develop. If you'd like to read about the photography part of it, you can see the post here. Otherwise, please be sure to keep clicking through the blog circle to see the other 14 submissions for this assignment. You're sure to come away with lots of veggie inspiration!

Next in line is Allison Jacobs | Orange County Photographer.

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Roasted Peppers & Pineapple
from Rachael Ray's Yum-O

Ingredients:

2 red bell peppers
2 red onions
1 pineapple
2-3 tbsp of olive oil
salt and pepper

Method:

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Chop all the veggies and the pinapple into large bite-sized chunks. Toss on a rimmed baking sheet with olive oil. Sprinkly liberally with salt and fresh cracked pepper.

Roast for 40 minutes, tossing mixture with a spatula every 5-10 minutes to prevent burning on the bottom. Continue to roast until the mixture begins to char.

Serve warm or at room temperature.

A tip for cookbook lovers on iPad/eReaders

I obsessively love cookbooks. I love to sit next to a tall stack of heavy hardcovered beauties and flip through the gorgeous photo-laden pages. When I'm planning a party or a special meal, that is how I get my inspiration for the menu. I swore up and down I would never ever convert to reading cookbooks on an eReader.

Never say never.

When I wanted to start focusing on homemade soups this winter, I found a fantastic book of soup recipes on Amazon. The only drawback? It was only available as a Kindle edition. The print version is too old and was a rare find starting at $100+. No thank you. So against my better judgement, I downloaded the ebook to the Kindle app on my iPad.

I was desperately disappointed that there were no photos for the recipes (so I quickly decided to start taking my own) but was thrilled with the recipe content itself. Normally, I'd flag the pages of recipes I want to try but other than scroll back to the table of contents, I didn't know how to index the things I wanted to keep. Particularly because the bookmark function stores it by location and the first words on the page, which didn't always reference the recipe I wanted.

That's when I decided to use the Notes feature:

Under, "My Notes and Marks", I highlighted the recipe title, added a note, and then typed the title into the notes section. Now when I press that little bookmark button up pops my own index of just the recipes I want tagged by location along with the title. I LOVE this! It is so much easier to quickly scan the titles of just the things I found appealing.

Have you tried a cookbook on your eReader? It's too soon to tell whether I could be a potential convert, but that photo is just a smidgen of my stash! It might be a space-saving effort alone!

*Thanks to Florabella for the adorable Valentine template! I used them last year for a Valentine with my girls and they print beautifully. Get your own set here!

Hidden veggie tomato sauce

My roasted tomato sauce has been one of my favorite freezer staples ever since I discovered it. In the last 2 years I think I have purchased "maybe" 3 jars total of spaghetti sauce. I much prefer to make my own with big batches of tomatoes from Costco and whatever combination of onions and peppers maybe be laying around in my fridge. 

After two years of making this sauce, you'd think it would have occurred to me earlier what a great opportunity it would be to hide a few more veggies in while I did the roasting. I can be pretty slow sometimes. I happened to have an abundance of zucchini and carrots from my recent soup making ventures and decided to toss a few in at the last minute before roasting. 

I added 4 chopped carrots and a single thickly sliced zucchini to the mix. I didn't want the zucchini to turn the sauce too green so I left it at that. My favorite part of the roasted tomato sauce is how sweet everything tastes from the high heat of the oven. I love roasted carrots and just felt they'd be right at home in there. 

I'm thrilled with how this combination turned out. The resulting sauce is very thick, sweet, and flavorful. My girls (and Handyman Tim himeslf) will absolutely never guess the extra veggies I've hidden inside. Since Little Pea has turned into quite the picky eater, I'm grateful for a recipe like this to sneak a little extra nutrition into her! 

Tuscan Chicken Soup

During a recent trip to visit family in the Twin Cities area, we stopped in at a cafe called D'Amico & Sons for a quick lunch. Too much heavy food and greasy fast food on our trip had left me with an upset stomach so all I wanted was a light and veggie-laden soup. When the server brought my bowl, I immediately knew I had picked a winner.

This soup is a tomato-based broth with just a hint of creaminess without being a full-fledged cream soup. It is thick with veggies and teeny tiny pasta but still brothy enough to be a soup and not a stew. It might possibly be the most perfect vegetable soup I have ever had. The little bits of chicken give it that nice savory taste but it is truly the carrots and zucchini that are the heroes of this dish. 

I could NOT stop thinking about this soup for days. I'm not exactly a soup fantatic but it hit the spot and kept me wanting more even after I returned home. In total desperation, I hunted the internet for a similar recipe. I found nothing that came close until I finally decided to just search for the restaurant's name and the name of the soup. Sure enough, an employee who's grandmother's recipe is used for the basis of the soup posted it on their blog last year! Score! I literally yelped with excitement.

My version of the soup was not a dead-on match but it is my own fault. Next time I'll take the time to dice my veggies smaller. I may consider adding more tomato and more broth (or less pasta). I added too much pasta in my original attempt and it soaked up too much of the broth. (The recipe below is adjusted with that in mind, no worries!)

Serve this with some fresh warm bread and butter and it is total cold winter day heaven. Even the Peanut gave it two thumbs up. She practically licked her bowl clean and I couldn't feel better about the ingredients in it. 

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Tuscan Chicken Soup

adapted from "Grandma Mary's Soup" a.k.a. the Tuscan Chicken Soup from D'Amico & Sons

Ingredients:

2 cups shredded rotisserie chicken
1 medium yellow onion (medium dice)
4  carrots (peeled, washed, and medium dice)
4 stalks celery (washed and medium diced)
2 zucchini (washed and medium diced)
3 cloves fresh garlic (chopped finely)
1 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp dried basil 
1/2 cup heavy cream (optional)
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
28 0z can crushed tomatoes 
6 cups chicken stock
Kosher salt-to taste
Fresh ground black pepper -to taste
1/2 cup Acini de pepe pasta 

Method:

In a large pot add 2 tbsp olive oil and saute onions, celery, and carrots over medium high heat for 8-10 minutes.  Add zucchini and garlic.  Saute until tender about 4-6 minutes.

Add chicken stock, tomatoes, basil, oregano, chicken. Simmer soup for 20 minutes, vegetables should be tender. Add the pasta and cook right in the soup for another 10 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.  Add heavy cream if using and allow to simmer for 6-8 minutes.

Top with grated parmiggiano reggiano or pecorino romano cheese and serve!

NOTE: I let my soup set in the fridge overnight and the pasta absorbed far too much of the liquid. I just added a few more cups of chicken stock when I reheated it to make it more brothy and soup-like.

Stock your pantry: Gnocchi soup with lemon and dill

Our kitchen is running on fumes today. I am due a very large and very extensive trip to the grocery store but I am still in the middle of making the list. Lunchtime waits for no one and I had to come up with something out of what felt like nothing. How I love my pantry stash! Out of a few random ingredients, I was able to make homemade soup and fresh bread from the oven for a quick and relatively healthy (albeit starchy) lunch for the girls and myself.

Want to know the best part? All the ingredients came from Costco! You could honestly stock up on all these ingredients in bulk and have a great little emergency meal on hand at all times. I've had this trio of gnocchi from Costco sitting in my cupboard for months but haven't been sure what to do with them. They made an amazing soup filler: light, fluffy, and very satisfying in place of noodles or rice.

And a side note, if you haven't already tried the french bread loaves from the freezer section at Costco, I HIGHLY recommend them. $10 for 10 loaves. They are flash frozen in France and shipped here. You just thaw for 10 minutes on the counter and bake them for 10 minutes in your oven. I am a total bread snob and they have my absolute seal of approval.

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Gnocchi soup with lemon and dill
recipe adapted from Enlightened Soups by Camilla Saulsbury

Ingredients:

8 cups low-sodium chicken broth (I had to use the organic chicken stock I had on hand despite the higher sodium)
1 16 oz package of dried gnocchi
5 carrots, peeled and diced
Garlic: use one whole clove or just a very few pieces of Penzey's freeze dried minced garlic
1/2 lemon juiced
1/2 tsp dried dill
salt and pepper to taste

Frozen french bread loaves

Method:

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

Combine the chicken broth (or stock), diced carrots, and the garlic in a large saucepot and bring to a boil. Gently simmer for 10-15 min until the carrots are tender. Remove the garlic clove if you used a whole one.

By now the oven should be preheated. Put the french bread into the oven and set the timer for 10 min. Add the potato gnocchi to the saucepot and simmer while the bread bakes. With 2 minutes left on the timer, squeeze half a lemon into the pot, add the dill, salt, and pepper, and stir.

When the bread comes out, the soup is done.

Growing Veggie Lovers

Today my good friend Zina from Let's Lasso the Moon joins us for a few tips for getting your little ones to eat veggies. It's been a busy week at the house and over at Develop. I look forward to checking in with you again soon.

Have a wonderful weekend,
Tiffany

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Want to grow veggie lovers? Last month Tiffany and I were chatting on the phone when I heard her Peanut scoff at the idea of eating carrots. I mentioned, “Tell her Santa’s reindeer love carrots; that they are one of their dietary staples.” We continued on with our conversation and I hadn’t thought much of the comment until today when Tiffany said her lady is obsessed with carrots now. Ah, it is all about parental marketing!

Today I am going to share five basic (sometimes overlooked) tips for getting your kids to, not just eat veggies, but actually like them.

1. Let them play—I walked away for a moment, when I returned to chop up my stalk of broccoli I found this. {smiles} Of course, I made a big deal out of it, laughed and yelled, “Hey, who’s eating my broccoli tree?” Generally we insist on good manners at dinner, except when it comes to veggies. We let the girls eat green beans with their hands if they wish. If they are putting vegetables in their mouth, I let it go. *Check out the “play” scenario showcased in the video below!
   
   
2. Buy it fresh—I have purchase about a million & one bags of mini, pre-cut, pre-washed carrots in my life. Last year I noticed regular sized organic carrots were only 98 cents; they were sitting next to my $3 bag of minis. The first time I bought whole carrots, peeled, and then cut them I was so enchanted by the fresh smell that I posted on Facebook. I asked, “What have I been missing all these years?”
   
   Let’s Lasso the Moon Tip: Cut your carrot into very small, thin sticks. We usually cut the carrot down to about 2 inches long by ¼ inch thick.
   
   
3. Never utter these infamous words, “You may have dessert after you eat your vegetables.” It is the equivalent of telling your child veggies are yucky & something they inherently should not enjoy. When’s the last time you said, “You’re welcome to play outside after you finished your sucker?” Take away that ‘you have to eat them or else’ stigma. At our house we actually serve dessert with dinner (mind you, a small portion). You’d be surprised how much this has simplified our lives.
   
   
4. Participate—Gandhi once said, “Be the change you want to see in the world.” I follow in his footsteps by telling you, be the change you want to see in your family. If you want your kids to like eating veggies grab a carrot once and a while. Make vegetable recipes you enjoy.  Stumped? Check out the Peanut Blossom Bring Back the Family Meal board on Pinterest for ideas.
   
   
5. And my favorite, sure fire approach for getting kids to eat veggies? Pop on over to my kitchen table over at Let’s Lasso the Moon & I’ll whisper the secret in your ear.

I’d love to hear any additional suggestions you have… let’s chat in the comments below.

How to spell "Mom": S-U-C-K-E-R

I have been at my wit's end with both my girls and their sudden and forcible pickiness. During the last couple months they seem to have clamped down on the selection of healthy fruits and vegetables they allow to pass those sweet little lips. 

So what's a mom to do? Pull out all the stops. I cracked open an Annabel Karmel cookbook I've had waiting. The thing I love the most about her books is the variety of produce she manages to work into each dish. The photography is gorgeous and super appealing as well. Knowing full well that the recipes take quite a bit more time to prepare, I sat the Peanut down with "Finger Foods" and allowed her to pick ANY recipe she wanted. Her dish of choice was the Welsh Rarebit Rabbit.

We talked about how if I went through the effort to buy the ingredients and put it together, she absolutely HAD to eat every last item on the plate whether she liked it or not. I got a slightly scared, slightly skeptical look but she agreed. Off to the store we went. 

Have you ever had Welsh Rarebit? I have not. Even I was a bit skeptical about this one: It involves shredded cheddar, an egg yolk, a bit of milk, and worcheshire sauce mixed together then spread over an english muffin and broiled. I put my doubts aside and started prepping the veggies.

The plate in the picture above is exactly what I served each of my girls for lunch this afternoon. And shocker of all shocks, both plates were CLEAN when the meal was over! My fussier than fussy girls each ate: snow pea pods, cherry tomato, raw carrot, green onions, and two servings each of blueberries. Are the quantities tiny? Yes. Does it even count as a single serving of vegetables? Probably not. But they tried it. 

I asked the Peanut what she thought of her meal when she was done. "Mommy, I didn't like it." I laughed out loud at her response. But then she surprised me with, "But some of the parts were ok." I asked her which ones: "The tomato, bunny ears, bunny eyes, and the carrot." So apparently the Welsh Rarebit part was the part she didn't like. Even funnier if you ask me.

I told her how proud I am that she cleared her plate of all the things she had been nervous about and promised that since she was so adventurous we could experiment with another recipe from the book sometime.

Do I cook like this every day? HA! No. Was I willing to try this crazy experiment to get some new veggies in? Definitely. I count it a success.

So I may be a sucker for those gorgeously unattainable serving suggestions, but there is definitely something in the magic of presentation.

Autumn Staples: Pumpkin mini muffins

I have a mini stockpile of canned pumpkin just waiting to be baked up into treats. Ahead of the Halloween weekend, I thought it would be fun to whip up a batch of pumpkin muffins for breakfast. The first recipe that came to mind was Annie's Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffins that I've heard many rave reviews about.

Knowing our home would be invaded by more sugar and chocolate than we could shake a stick at after Trick or Treat Day, I decided the streusel topping and cream cheese filling had to go. To try and make them a little more fun, I put them in a mini muffin tin. What a hit with my tiny fingered ladies.

The muffin recipe base makes a most excellent muffin. I would love to try the full version before autumn is over. But, if you're looking for a pumpkin-y treat this side of over the top, I'd highly recommend these simple muffins.

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Basic pumpkin mini muffins
edited from Annie's Eats 

Ingredients:
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 tsp. ground nutmeg
1 tsp. ground cloves
1 tbsp. plus 1 tsp. pumpkin pie spice
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking soda
4 large eggs
2 cups sugar
2 cups pumpkin puree
1¼ cups vegetable oil

Method:

Preheat the oven to 350˚ F.  Line 2 mini-muffin pans with paper liners.  In a medium bowl, combine the flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, pumpkin pie spice, salt and baking soda; whisk to blend.  In the bowl of an electric mixer combine the eggs, sugar, pumpkin puree and oil.  Mix on medium-low speed until blended.  With the mixer on low speed, add in the dry ingredients, mixing just until incorporated.

Fill the muffin liners with batter about 3/4 the way full. Bake for 15-20 minutes. Keeps very well in an airtight container for a few days or freeze a few for later!

(I got lazy and ended up baking one batch of mini's and one batch of full-sized muffins. The batter makes a nice large quantity and I didn't want to have to fill more mini pans of batter. The recipe makes enough for one pan of mini's and one full sized.)

How I torture my family: Philly steak pizza

Oh what a gorgeous failure this pizza dinner was. Steak, cheese, pizza crust, HOW can my family not just devour it?! I'll tell you: because I put red peppers and onions on the top. For shame! Not just one, but all three of the members of my family acted as though I was torturing them slowly by enforcing they eat this homemade pizza. 

I found a recipe for steak and onion pizza in the November issue of Everyday Food and I had to try it. For some reason I thought I could get away with it because it was pizza. Pizza is almost it's own food group in this household. So I thawed my homemade crust from the freezer, grilled up the flank steak, chopped and sauteed the veggies, and proceeded to sit in abject horror as Little Pea threw the food to the floor, the Peanut burst into tears, and Handyman Tim not so discreetly used his fork to pick every single piece of produce off the top of his serving. 

But from the ashes of this disaster rose one of the most delicious day-after lunches I've made in a long long time. Is anyone else out there as addicted to the naan bread packs from Costco as we are?? I took the leftover beef and cheese and made personal sized "pizza" the next afternoon. The significantly softer bread crust paired with just the steak and cheese passed the taste test for both girls. (Tim was out of town but I'm certain he would have loved it and it will be appearing again someday soon.)

The beauty of this treatment is that I slathered my portion with double helpings of peppers and onions. I swear it tasted JUST like a Philly steak sandwich in openface pizza form. Even I can admit that the naan crust was significantly tastier than the homemade pizza crust. So much so, that I might forgo the effort of making pizza crust for a while. It misses the "crunch" but is far less doughy than my pizza crusts have been lately. 

So if this is how they reacted to peppers and onions, what do you think they'd do with a spinnoccoli? Hmmm...

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Philly steak pizzas
adapted from Everyday Food 

Ingredients

1 flank steak (mine weighed 1 pound)
2 red bell peppers, sliced thin
1 red onion, sliced thin
olive oil
Monteray Jack Cheese, shredded
olive oil, salt and pepper
Naan bread (an Indian flatbread. I find it at Super Target in the bakery section and in large packages at Costco by the packaged breads) 
Fresh parsley, chopped 

Method:

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

Heat a large saute pan to medium high heat. Drizzle a tablespoon of olive oil in the pan. Season the steak with salt and pepper. Saute the steak for 6-8 minutes until medium rare. Remove to a plate and tent with tin foil for 10 minutes.

Add another teaspoon or two of olive oil to the pan. Saute the veggies until softened with browned charred bits. Remove from heat and set aside. Slice the steak against the grain as thinly as you can. 

Place the naan breads on a large cookie sheet. Brush with a scant bit of olive oil. Top with steak slices, veggies, and the shredded cheese. (Or, leave all veggies off if your family is like mine.) Heat in the oven for 5 minutes or until the cheese has melted. Sprinkle with fresh parsley (or not) and serve.

Super secret recipe: Chocolate peanut butter chip cookies

I have a secret recipe I've been keeping from you. I've made these cookies more than any other treat in my repertoire. Of all the baked goods I make, this is the only one where I have the recipe nearly memorized. So why haven't I shared it before now? Because of the photo! 

Handyman Tim's all time favorite cookie that I make is a chocolate peanut butter chip cookie from Barefoot Contessa. Chip not chunk. I've made that mistake a few times, it's so counterintuitive for me. Just seems like he'd prefer the chunks, but I digress. These cookies are dark as night. They look like tiny black discs when they come out of the oven. Do you have any idea how hard it is to make a chocolate crispy cookie look appetizing?? 

I did show you a pile of ingredients once. But what's a recipe post without a picture of the final product?? Especially when it comes to baked goods. When I decided I needed to add chocolate to my food portfolio, I couldn't believe I didn't immediately think of this recipe. Thanks to those of you who gave me suggestions over on Facebook for other treats, you can bet they'll be appearing over time here as well. But since Tim was headed home after a week away for work, this was the obvious choice.

These cookies have been a standard "mommy meal" dessert staple for me as well. I've had recipients tell me they are the best cookies they've ever had. They freeze awesomely (which is why I like to give them.) It's easy to package them up and enjoy them slowly over time. Tim eats them straight from the freezer, they are excellent cold.

At Christmas time, I swap the pb chips for chopped Andes Candies. They end up being flatter and chewier but are perfect for that time of year. I've always meant to try chopped Heath Bar candies. Someone will have to try it and let me know how it goes.

This is definitely a dry-ish, crispy cookie. I'm a huge fan of softer and chewier but for some reason it really works in this recipe. Goes great with a tall glass of milk for sure! Just be absolutely sure to set your oven time for 15 minutes exactly and take them out! They really do look underdone and raw but will firm up fast on the baking sheet. 

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Handyman Tim's Favorite Cookies

Chocolate Peanut Butter CHIP cookies
adapted from Barefoot Contessa Parties!

Makes 36-40 cookies

Ingredients:

1/2 pound unsalted butter at room temperature
1 cup light brown sugar, packed
1 cup granulated sugar
2 tsp pure vanilla extract
2 extra large eggs at room temperature
2/3 cup good unsweetened cocoa
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp kosher salt
1 1/2 pounds peanut butter chips (I just use 2 bags of chips/chopped candies)

Method

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Cream the butter and two sugars until light and fluffy in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Add the vanilla, then the eggs one at a time, and mix well. Add the cocoa and mix again. Sift together the flour, baking soda, and salt and add to the chocolate with the mixer on low speed until just combined. Fold in the chips.

Drop the dough on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper, using a 1 3/4 inch ice cream scoop or a rounded tablespoon. Dampen your hands and flatten the dough slightly. Bake for exactly 15 minutes (the cookies will seem underdone). Remove from the oven and let cool slightly on the pan, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. 

Can be stored in the freezer if you have any leftovers. 

Stock your fridge for fall!

Even though I was happy to welcome the cooler weather with the arrival of fall, I thought I'd miss the strawberries and tomatoes and other fresh summery produce. Somehow I've been shocked by all the delicious fall things we've been enjoying this last week. 

So if you're looking for a little autumn inspiration, here is my recommended "Stock Your Fridge for Fall" shopping list. Some items seem obvious, some you might already have, others are brand new (to me) finds. Together they make an awesome combination:

- pears
- plums
- apples (honeycrisp specifically or go pick your own!)
- red potatoes
- arugula
- caraway seed havarti cheese 
- dijon mustard
- deli ham
- cottage dill bread
- canned pumpkin
- homemade caramel sauce

From those main ingredients (plus a lot of things already prepped in my freezer), here are some of the items that have appeared on our menu in the last week along with some things on my to do list:

Lunches & Dinners:

Grilled ham, pear, and arugula sandwiches: Thank you, Martha! Inspired by the latest Everyday Food magazine, this recipe is my new favorite sandwich. 

Beef stew with roasted smashed potatoes: Found this recipe for potatoes over on Pinterest. Reason enough you should join me there! The leftovers make fantastic breakfast potatoes with eggs in the morning.

Chicken pot pie: I switched things up and made my standard filling but baked it with biscuits in place of the phyllo dough. Extra comforting comfort food.

Pork roast with mustard roasted potatoes and applesauce: This was our favorite method for potatoes until we discovered the roasted smashed ones. Enjoy with a pork roast on the first night and make Saucy Pork and Noodle Bake with the leftover meat! 

Autumn havest salad: Haven't tried this one yet, but it is in the queue! Also a Pinterest find.

 

Snacks:

Homemade applesauce: Made in the microwave and couldn't be easier!

Fruit tray with caramel dip: mix things up and slice those pears, too! Hard to beat a honeycrisp apple, but a nice ripe pear comes close.

Pumpkin bread: Still the best, can't wait to make a fresh batch this year.

Fruit and cheese tray: Over the summer, I suggested apples and Laughing Cow cheese. For fall, try plums or pears and caraway havarti!

 

Desserts:

Pear bread pudding: Shared this recipe earlier this month. Makes a nice breakfast treat, too!

Apple crisp: A fall freezer staple. I have baskets of apples to process this week and I know some will be going into this recipe. Also a great partner for a ladle full of caramel sauce.

Pumpkin blondies with caramel: Swoon!! Made these and devoured them over the course of a weekend. Be prepared for a more muffin-like texture than a "blondie" but still worth the effort!

Homemade applesauce from Kristina

I'm so pleased to share with you a guest post by my friend Kristina today. A loyal reader and one of my book club cohorts, Kristina knows her way around the kitchen as she feeds her family of five. I'm always drooling over her recipes and I pounced on this one for applesauce when she mentioned it. I'm so glad she agreed to share it with you.

Welcome to the Peanut Gallery, Kristina!

When a friend of mine, Renee, posted on Facebook that she was making batches of applesauce, she had no idea the effect this would have on her circle of friends. I quickly inquired if it was the recipe I had previously shared with her (secretly I knew it must be, because really, this is the simplest and most delicious applesauce recipe on the planet). Soon, many of our mutual friends asked for the recipe, so I emailed out on request. 

Lo and behold, our Tiffany tried the recipe.  After falling in the love with it, she didn’t just TRY it, she made batch after batch after batch to stock that freezer she holds so dear. 

Not being a regular blogger, but always wishing I was, I jumped at the chance to share this fabulous fall recipe that I look so forward to making year after year. My family and I head out to pick at least a ½ bushel of apples (Honeycrisp being our favorite variety). Picking goes quickly with this family of five. Then, the best part: we come home and I fill the kitchen with smells of apples, cinnamon and brown sugar.  

We enjoy this fresh out of the microwave (can you even believe I’m saying that…a microwave?!) or chilled.  Or even frozen and then whipped into a yummy slushie. Let me tell you, when it’s slightly warm, it’s absolutely divine over vanilla ice cream. It is the most versatile and scrumptious recipe I have found for those fall apples. 

You can tweak the recipe to make it your own. Add as much or as little cinnamon and sugar as you like.  Make it chunky or make it smooth. Anyway you make it, I promise you, it will be yummy.

I, and my applesauce loving friends, hope you enjoy this recipe as much as we do. Nothing says fall-eating like homemade applesauce (that’s done in 20 minutes).  

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Homemade applesauce
from Book Club Kristina

Ingredients:

- 6-8 medium apples, peeled, cored, and cut up  (Use a mixture of sweet apples with tart apples for best flavor)
- 1/4 cup water or apple cider/juice 
- 1/2 tablespoon lemon juice 
- 1/3 cup sugar
- 1/4 cup brown sugar 
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon 

*Ingredient amounts are subject to taste…add more or less sugar and cinnamon to your taste preference. You can also add allspice or other flavors. 

Method:

In 1 1/2 quart glass casserole, combine all ingredients. (If making unsweetened applesauce, omit the sugars.) Microwave on high for 4 to 6 minutes, or until apples are tender. Add a little more water if needed. Mash the apples with a fork to see how soft they are. I usually have to microwave them for another 4-5 minutes to get them the right consistency. Since some apples are juicier than others, use your personal preference about how smooth or “liquidey” you want the applesauce. (Note from Tiffany: I found 10 minutes to be perfect for the apples I was using.) 

For a chunky applesauce, mash apples with a fork or potato masher. For a smoother texture, put cooled mixture through a blender or food processor until you have the desired consistency. 

So yummy…plain or over vanilla ice cream. 

Small quantities can be frozen and then whipped in blender for a refreshing slushy. 

If making larger quantities, package the applesauce in plastic containers and freeze. (Note from Tiffany: I have 6 batches in my freezer now!! LOVE this recipe!)

Battle of the grilled sandwiches

It's a cold blustery day, what do you serve for lunch? 

Grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup. It's almost a given around here on the weekends. Handyman Tim has been known to request this for dinner. I'd say it is in his Top 3 Favorite Foods Ever list.

While I do love a good ol' american cheese & butter grilled sandwich with plain ol' Campbell's tomato soup, I'm always eyeing up the more "grown up" grilled sandwich varieties I see around the internets. Whenever I even dare to suggest that maybe we could simply add ham or change up the variety of cheese, I get shot down with evil glares by all the members of the family.

When I saw the recipe for grilled ham, pear, and arugula sandwiches in Everyday Food, there was no turning back. Evil glares be damned, I was going to try this sandwich:   

Let me repeat the flavors going on in there: ham, pear, arugula, havarti cheese, dijon mustard, pepper, and olive oil in place of the butter for grilling. I stepped it up a notch by using dill bread and caraway seed havarti. Ooooooooh. Myyyyyyy. Gosh. I honestly needed a moment of silence while I ate the first batch. I say first batch because I enjoyed it so much, I made it three days in a row--until I ran out of pears. 

This, my friends, is autumn on a bun. Handyman Tim and both girls absolutely refused to even try a bite. Fine. More for me. The sweet pears balance out the savory ham, zippy mustard, and creamy cheese. The arugula cuts it all from being too sweet. The dill in the bread and the caraway seeds in the cheese gave it just that boost of flavor that put the whole darn thing over the top. 

And the best part of all? I can make just one for me and make the plain ol' boring variety for the rest of the family all at the same time on my griddle. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that Little Pea might be my adventurous food spirit. If I keep eating strange sandwiches, I'm hoping maybe she'll join me one of these days. 

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Grilled ham, pear, and arugula sandwiches
adapted from Everyday Food magazine

Ingredients:

- Crusty bread (I used a country dill bread I found at a local market. I've seen recipes online for making your own but can't recommend one yet.)
- Thinly sliced deli ham
- Ripe but firm pear
- Havarti cheese (I used caraway seed specifically, but plain would be yummy too.)
- Arugula
- Dijon mustard
- Cracked pepper
- Olive oil 

Method:

Spread a scant amount of mustard on one slice of bread. Top with sliced havarti, then ham, the cracked pepper, pears, and arugula. Add the second piece of bread to make a sandwich. Brush outside of sandwich with olive oil and grill it in a saute pan or on a griddle until bread is toasty golden brown.  

Sea salt and vanilla caramel sauce

I love chocolate, I really do. I know that's an odd way to start a post about caramel sauce, but I have good reason. For a several year run, Handyman Tim's favorite desserts were chocalatey chocolate fudge covered richness: tuxedo cake, brownies with chocolate frosting, chocolate fudge birthday cake, and on and on. If it was on the menu, that's what he ordered. With. Out. Fail.

Even a hardcore chocolate lover like myself would yearn for a little break after that much fudge. So I turned to caramel and vanilla inspired treats out of sheer rebellion. Now I'm the one with the obsession and if caramel is on the menu, it's what's for dessert. 

I've been seeing more and more bloggers posting about homemade caramel sauce: for desserts, for coffees, for drinking by the gallon. I've mostly resisted them all until I came across Baked Bree's Sea Salt and Vanilla Caramel Sauce. My first thought was, "Just like the Starbuck's Salted Caramel Mocha!" 

I HAD to try it. Handyman Tim's bread pudding was merely an excuse. 

I was scared to death of the similarity to candy making. I was worried my caramel would stiffen and turn to a hot chunky mess. When I poured in the cream & salt & vanilla mixture, I was convinced it was all going to bubble over and destroy my stove top. In the end, nothing bad happened! I was just left with a hot pot full of liquid gold. It was insanely easy. My fridge will absolutely never be without this stuff again. 

I might be guilty of eating it by the spoonfull. This container is not going to last long. 

In all seriousness, I do feel better about serving this caramel sauce to the girls. Have you ever looked at the ingredients list on store-bought caramel sauce? Horrifying.

This stuff makes awesome apple dip. My girls may not fully appreciate the salted vanilla aspect to it, but I do. It is a caramel lover's dream come true.

I don't feel right reposting Bree's recipe here. You'll have to click over to her blog to check it out here. The only change I made was to substitute just plain Kosher salt for the sea salt. It was amazing. If you've got the sea salt already on hand, go for it. 

Chocolate pear bread pudding

Handyman Tim is finally home after a very, very, very long work trip. The girls and I have been surviving on a lot of frozen pizza, mac and cheese, and simple dinners. I find it so difficult to gather the energy to cook elaborate meals when he is gone since it seems like such a waste of food when we have the equivalent of 1.5 persons eating it. 

The moment he returns I head back to the kitchen and we eat like Kings for a few days. What better way to welcome him home than with some of his favorite foods and yet another stab at his favorite dessert--bread pudding. I've tried and tried to make a good bread pudding. It has been his birthday/special celebration request several times and I have yet to find a recipe that is "perfect" in his eyes. 

This one still didn't hit the mark but it is as close as I've come yet. I personally think it beats out any other attempt by a mile. Today I present: Chocolate pear bread pudding from the latest Everyday Food magazine:

I used our favorite challah bread, sliced very thin vs. cubed like other variations I've tried. Fresh ripe pears are also sliced very thin and layered amongst the bread slices. 3 oz of bittersweet chocolate is chopped and sprinkled on the bottom of the pan. It melts and forms a nice dark layer beneath the pudding. 

I know the best bread puddings usually have a little drizzle of sauce to go with them. The recipe didn't state any suggestions, so I went out on a limb and made a batch of Salted Caramel Sauce. That stuff is nectar of the gods and is deserving of it's own post tomorrow. 

Could someone please push that bread pudding off to the side so I can lick the plate clean of the caramel? Thanks.

I should note though, Little Pea thought this dessert was fantastic. She loved the pears and gobbled it up. Minus the chocolate and caramel sauce, I would feel ok about serving this as a breakfast casserole for a special occassion too. But then again, if the occassion is "special", maybe leave the chocolate.

Chocolate Pear Bread Pudding
from Everyday Food magazine

Ingredients:

- unsalted butter, room temperature, for baking dish
- 3 oz bittersweet chocolate, coarsley chopped
- 7 oz challah bread, cut into 1/2 inch slices, halved diagonally
- 1 1/2 pounds firm but ripe pears, such as Anjoy or Bartlett (about 3), cored and very thinly sliced
- 3 large eggs, plus 3 large egg yolks
- 1 1/2 cups whole milk
- 1 1/4 cups heavy cream
- 1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp fine salt
- 1 tbsp sanding or other coarse sugar

Method:

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Butter a shallow 2-quart baking dish and sprinkle bottom evenly with chocolate. Arrange brioche in dish, alternating each slice with 3 or 4 pear slices.

In a large bowl, gently whisk together eggs and egg yolks, milk, cream, brown sugar, cinnamon, and salt. Pour mixture evenly over bread and pears and let sit 5 minutes. Sprinkle with sanding sugar.

Bake until bread is puffed and custard is just set. The original recipe calls for 50-60 minutes, mine took nearly an hour and a half. Let cool slightly. Serve warm or at room temperature. To store, refrigerate, covered, up to 2 days.