Seedlings, puppy attack and apple pie in an apple!

My seedlings are doing very well! My Turnips and several other things are looking just dandy! I had taken to do a few science experiments with the bottom of lettuce, celery, and green onions with wonderful results!





I went out earlier this week to stake out my veggie garden with mediocre results due to a surprise attack of the puppies! I had my favorite tape measure in hand and dropped it to grab a stick to mark my lines. One of the dogs thought it was a new toy and she ran with it. Of course her sister wanted to play too, so off I was chasing the two girls! I finally retrieved my tape measure, when I noticed my right glove was left where I was working... You guessed it! It didn't go unnoticed by my furry pals and away I went again to grab my glove. After a vigorous workout of running after the pups. I was back on track... By then Terry arrived to see me looking rather frazzled and not much work done. He just laughed when I shared the adventure time that was had. With his help and the dogs inside we were able to get the job done. I hope to have my herb garden mapped out soon too!

Over the course of the last few weeks, I believe I have successfully made some type of new meal or dessert at least twice a week! I am very pleased and feel that there is still some tweaking to be done on many of the new menu items. I made Calzone's and they were such a hit we have had them the last two pizza nights! Super simple and I will have to post the recipe another time.

I had a hankering for apple pie a few days back and recalled this adorable looking apple pie baked in an apple! Yes, the apple!

 UH-OH!

 Looks pitiful and I ended up cutting through this one...

 My helper!

 Done!

After some searching on the web I found it! And tried it! I won't be doing these again any time soon. As cute as they were, the work involved was a bit much. I could have made 2 whole apple pies by the time I got the 4 apples cored and scooped out. I managed to break my melon baller as I started on apple two, so I improvised with a spoon... Definitely not a great substitute! But I was determined to make my pie and eat it too! The results were nummy!

Find it here-

http://domesticdilettante.com/2012/01/11/applepie/

Step 1: Cut off the top of 4 apples off and discard. Remove the inside of each apple with a spoon or melon baller very carefully, as to not puncture the peel.

If you’re a skilled interior apple excavator, salvage as much as you can so you can use it for Step 2.  I, on the other hand, am not skilled so I just had to throw my interior apples away and chop up additional apples for filling.

This recipe will make 4 baked apple pies (in the apple).

Step 2: Remove skin from remaining apple(s) and slice very thinly. These apple pieces will give you the additional filling needed to fill the four apples you are baking.

Mix sliced apples with sugars and cinnamon in a bowl. If you prefer more or less cinnamon make adjustments as desired. Same goes for the sugar.

Scoop sliced apples into hollow apples.

Step 3: Roll out pie crust and slice into 1/4 inch strips.  You can also add a strip of pastry inside the top of the apple almost like a liner to add a little more texture/sweetness to the pie.

Cover the top of the apple in a lattice pattern with pie crust strips.

Step 4: Place apples in an 8×8 pan.  Add just enough water to the cover the bottom of the pan.

Cover with foil and bake for 20-25 minutes.

Remove foil and bake for an additional 20 minutes or until crust is golden brown and sliced apples are soft.

 

How neat does that look? The entire thing is edible and best served with ice cream if you ask me.  Enjoy!

But again I don't think I will do these again soon. For now I will stick to my tried and true apple pie... Of course those apple pies on a stick do look adorable...

Ramblings and late recipes

I posted a few weeks ago about my misadventures learning to cook from scratch and kind of blew off posting the recipes...


Sorry!

Fresh Tomato sauce

4 lbs of ripe fresh tomatoes
1/4 cup olive oil
2 cloves garlic, chopped or 1 small onion chopped
2 sprigs fresh sweet basil chopped
Salt and Pepper to taste

Cut tomatoes into small wedges and cook in stainless steel or enamel pan for 10 mins over medium fire until tomatoes are soft (I scored the bottoms to make the skin easier to come off). Cool and rub through a strainer. Brown garlic in hot oil until golden brown. And add tomato puree and seasonings. Cook uncovered until thick about 1 1/2 hours, stirring occasionally. Enough for 1 lb of pasta. Serves 6.

I had much left over! I think it came out a little too salty for my taste. I also like a sweeter sauce but the gang seemed to like it. I had dried basil and did add an onion for good measure. It went well as our pizza sauce as well! Pretty easy peasy. The hardest part was that I don't have a metal colander anymore. I have one of those fold-able plastic ones. And I did break out our smoothie maker, I don't have a blender, pitiful I know but it did the job!

A few days back I was puzzled at what to do with my spinach, cherry tomatoes, green peppers and pineapple and I found this on here: http://www.yummly.com/recipe/Stir_fry-Spinach-Salad-Allrecipes
I will definitely go back to this website!

Stir-Fry Spinach Salad

Ingredients         Serves 6 servings            

8 ozs pineapple chunks

1 lb boneless skinless chicken breast halves (julienned)

2 tbsps cooking oil

1 green pepper (julienned)

3 tbsps brown sugar

1 tbsp cornstarch            

14 cup ketchup

3 tbsps soy sauce

6 cups spinach (torn fresh)

1 cup cherry tomato (halves)

Drain pineapple, reserving 3 tablespoons juice in a small bowl; set pineapple aside. (Discard remaining juice or save for another use.)

 In a skillet or wok, stir-fry chicken in oil for 5 minutes or until no longer pink. Add green pepper; stir-fry for 2-4 minutes or until crisp-tender.

Meanwhile, add brown sugar and cornstarch to pineapple juice; mix well. Stir in ketchup, vinegar and soy sauce until smooth; add to skillet and cook until thickened.

On a large serving platter, arrange spinach, pineapple and tomatoes. Top with chicken and green pepper; serve immediately.

IT WAS SUPER YUMMY! I wish I took a picture! Oh my goodness! The girls are picky and sadly didn't want to try it, but Terry and I made much it all gone... 

Then I was on the search for the recipe for those wonderful Biscoff cookies. I figure it may take me a bit to find a good recipe and sadly the first one I tried is not quite them. BUT! They are still good!
 http://www.cupcakeproject.com/2010/07/biscoff-cookies-from-scratch-recipe.html
 

The Biscoff Cookie Recipe

Here is my reprinted version of Matzo & Rice's Biscoff (speculoos) cookie recipe with a few notes.  The only change I made was to omit sprinkling sugar on top of the cookies.  I didn't think that was necessary.

• 2 C all-purpose flour
• 2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
• 1/4 tsp ground ginger
• 1/4 tsp ground allspice
• 1/4 tsp ground cloves
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp baking powder
• 1 C unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1/2 C sugar
• 1/4 C firmly packed brown sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

1. Preheat oven to 350 F.
2. In a medium-sized bowl, mix together flour, spices (cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, allspice, and cloves), baking soda, baking powder, and salt.
3. In a separate large bowl, cream together butter, sugar, and brown sugar with an electric mixer on low speed. Mix in the vanilla extract.
4. Gradually blend the flour mixture into the butter mixture until it is well combined.
5. Roll out dough to 1/4 inch thickness. From here, you can either bake it as a large sheet of cookies to cut later, or, you can use cookie cutters to make cookie shapes. (I used my awesome Williams-Sonoma cookie cutters!  I had a bit of trouble rolling the dough and found that if I chilled it for a bit, rolling was easier.)
6. If you choose to bake it as a large sheet, bake for 20-25 minutes. Cut out cookies to shape as desired.
7. If you choose to bake it as shapes, place dough shapes onto parchment paper and bake for 12-15 minutes.
8. Cool on cooling rack before serving. These are best once they have cooled.

BISCOFF COOKIES OR LOTUS SPEDULOOS

(Belgian cookies)

2 cups all purpose flour

1 tablespoon ground cinnamon

1 1/2 teaspoons ground ginger

1/2 teaspoon ground cloves

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 1/4 cups (packed) dark brown sugar

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature

1 large egg

Combine flour, spices, baking powder, and salt in medium bowl; set aside.

Using electric mixer, beat brown sugar and butter in large bowl until light.Add egg and beat until fluffy. Gradually add dry ingredients and beat just until combined. Divide dough in half. Flatten each half into rectangle. Wrap with plastic; chill 1 hour.

WHEN READY TO BAKE:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly butter 2 large baking sheets.

Remove one dough piece from the refrigerator and roll on lightly floured work surface to 13x9-inch rectangle. Trim edges to form 12x8-inch rectangle. Cut into 24 (4x1-inch) rectangles. Lightly press miniature cookie cutter into each rectangle to make imprints (do not cut through dough). Arrange cookies on prepared baking sheets, spacing 1 inch apart.

Bake until edges begin to darken, about 8 minutes. Transfer cookies to rack and cool. Repeat with remaining dough piece.

Gotta run have visitors!

Chocolate Chip Scones!

I found this on the web and have tweeked it for my own. It is a very versitile recipe, add fruits (flavored oils for added flavor), or whatever floats your boat!

Pre-heat oven to 425

2 c Flour
1 c of Chocolate chips
1/3 c Sugar
1 Tbsp Baking powder
1/2 tsp Salt
1 1/4 c of Heavy Cream
(Don't skimp on the Heavy Cream, I tried regular milk and 1/2 and 1/2 and the dough came out too sticky!)
A wee bit of extra cream and sugar for topping

Whisk flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and chocolate together in bowl

Add cream to mixture

Mix until moist

Knead dough 5 to 10 times into a ball and this should clean up the sides of the bowl. (The more you knead the dough the tougher your Scone will be just a warning!)

Transfer dough to slightly floured surface and pat out to  8" circle about 3/4 tall

Brush or use your fingers to add your extra sugar and cream on the top of your circle

Use a pizza cutter to cut 8 or 12 pcs

Transfer to cookie sheet

Bake for 12 to 15 mins!

Have with eat warm with coffee or milk! YUM!