I had a couple of apples about to go bad and decided to make something new. I hadn’t done a strudel in a long time and the recipe seemed simple enough, so here we are. I made two small dishes, so I could freeze one.
Apple Strudel
8×8 baking dish, well-greased Continue reading
Not surprisingly, I don’t have a lot of processed food in the house. I generally make things from scratch. And this week I was really craving something sweet and there was not a cookie or candy bar in sight. Luckily, I keep a LOT of ingredients in the house. There are always chocolate chips, nuts and raw coconut flakes in the cupboard/refrigerator.
I didn’t have the time to make cookies, so these bars were born.
Dark Chocolate-Caramel-Walnut Bars
8×8 baking dish, bowl Continue reading
Our local greengrocer carries these things on occasion. I grabbed one the other day because I’ve never eaten one. I wasn’t sure what to expect, I knew what they looked like but wasn’t sure how to eat one.
Turns out that they are easier to eat than an apple. I understand that there is a variety that has red pulp that is said to taste better than these white ones. The pulp is slightly sweet and tastes good – not best thing ever! good, just OK.
I was telling a friend I was going to make Tahini shortbread cookies to use up the tahini I had leftover from the Tahini Walnut Rolls (recipe here). She asked if it was dairy free, because she’d like to make shortbread, but was avoiding dairy.
The original recipe wasn’t, but I thought I’d give it a try with just tahini. And then because I Iove coconut, I thought I’d do the same thing with coconut oil. So both of these are dairy free. Continue reading
I was doing some recipe searching for a project I’ll post about later and sesame seeds were heavily featured. That put me in mind of Sesame Brittle. I thought it might be nice to have it to crumble over ice cream on the Sundae Bar on Christmas Eve.
Such a simple recipe. No candy thermometer needed. I always use oiled wax paper, but I’m wondering if oiled parchment would work better. The heat of candy on the wax paper melts it in places. Difficult to peel off.
Sesame Brittle
saucepan, wax paper (or parchment) and baking sheet Continue reading
Any cookie requests? The annual cookie bake may not happen this year, but I’ll still be baking and posting recipes. Even if it’s alone. 
When I went to make Buttermilk Pumpkin Bundt Cake (recipe here) for Thanksgiving this year, I was missing an important ingredient: the bundt pan.
I know I had one at one point – I have photographic evidence – but after tearing my kitchen apart, I could not locate it. Who comes into a kitchen and steals a bundt pan? Betty Crocker? A Keebler elf? Continue reading
…asking for a friend. 🤔
A few weeks back, the city once again sent out an alert: the apples in the city apple orchard were ready to be picked. So for the love of all that is holy, come and relieve them of these apples. Branches break, people get zonked by falling apples, the ground gets covered, so they seriously encourage people to “come and get it.” They are as organic as they come – other than some pruning, the city does nothing to them.
Photo from City of Longmont
Roger’s Grove Nature Area consists of 54.9 acres adjacent to the St. Vrain Greenway and includes Fairgrounds Lake, trails, a shelter, outdoor amphitheater, restrooms, native landscaping, demonstration gardens and an apple grove with fruit free for your harvest! Design and construction of the nature area was primarily funded by the Roger and Roberta Jones Foundation. Roger Jones (1915-1995), enjoyed walking along the river with his wife Roberta (1913-1992). Both educators in the St. Vrain Valley School system, the Jones’ wanted to contribute an environment for children and adults to visit, learn and enjoy. Roger’s Grove was developed as a nature area, arboretum and outdoor learning center.
…there are about 50 apple trees, of eight varieties, planted at Roger’s Grove, and they have not been sprayed with pesticides.
With all my apples, I made my Perfect Apple Crisp, recipe here, with a bit of twist. I came away with quite a few apples, and while a few are good to eat, most are better for baking. They sat in my fruit drawer for a week, and I decided I needed to do something with them, especially since I didn’t know if any of them were buggy – I didn’t want the bugs to multiply.
So I dumped them all in the sink, washed them and then sliced them up. I put them in my Multi-Pot (Instant Pot twin) and threw in about 1/2 cup of brown sugar, a dash of salt and just enough water to keep it from burning before the apples let go their juice. I set it for three minutes, assuming much of the cooking would take place while it pressurized. It was a good call.
I did the fast-release method, and the apples were perfect. Still had some shape and I thought would be great for baking. I had planned to freeze some, but best-laid plans and all, I instead went on an apple crisp spree. I’ve baked three in the last two weeks. Mmm–mmmm.
Oh, and those chicken thighs – I’ll put that recipe up later. Until then…
