Yes, Mom... it's National I Love Food Day!

Are you like me... there's just too many to list!

The following are my favs, and in no specific order...

1.  See's dark chocolate scotchmallows

2.  Hot cinnamon rolls with raisins (Fred's has the best!)

3.  Toast with something savory and something sweet (cottage cheese and fruit or honey)

4.  Onion rings (well done, of course)

5.  Grilled salmon where it's crispy on the outside

6.  A yummy veggie salad with a little drizzle of olive oil, lemon & salt

7.  A deliciously BBQ'd hamburger, rare

8.  Tropical fruits

9.  Delicious tomatoes, red onions, basil, israeli feta and herbs

10.  Melon with cottage cheese

11.  Ice cold, crispy fresh veggies

12.  A white pizza with extremely thin and well-done crust (pref. Pizzeria Mozza)

Yes, i do love food!

Now please tell me... what are your favorites?

Bon Appetit!

Summer Berry Crumble

This is based on the apple crumble i made in the past, but since berries are so sweet and delicious (and i forgot to buy apples) i doubled up on the berries and used all strawberries and blueberries.  I also used whole wheat flour instead of regular white flour, and demerara instead of brown sugar... my attempt to make it a bit healthier in a natural way.  And then i decided to get creative and made an individual serving in a small dish.  This might be fun to do with a small dinner party.  Now the question... is this crumble as good as the last? 
 

Ingredients -

• 1 cup of demerara or brown sugar
• 1 cup of rolled oats
• 1 cup of whole wheat pastry flour
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, melted
• 6 fuji apples, peeled and sliced
• 1 large basket of blueberries
• 1 2 large baskets of strawberries
• 1/2 cup of white sugar
• 2 teaspoons of cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350°F.

In a medium bowl, combine the brown sugar, oats, flour and melted butter and mix until crumbly. 

Place half the mixture in a baking dish.

Spread apples and berries over mixture.
Sprinkle with white sugar and cinnamon.
Top with remaining crumb mixture.
Bake 40-45 Minutes or until golden brown.

Serve with vanilla schlag (whipped cream) or vanilla ice cream.  In fact, a little of both is great!

Berry crumble for one... or be nice and share it with someone for a smile.

By the way, this posting is after i served the berry crumble, and this was a hit!  It was completely devoured as was the schlag.  I'm a happy blogger.  :)

Buon appetito!

Spiced Cranberry and Dried Fruit Chutney

About 5 years ago, my friend Leslie turned me onto this easy cranberry recipe.  Like i said, it's easy and interesting and, with a few of my own touches, it's become my "go to" cranberry dish for Thanksgiving dinner.  It's actually good year-round with turkey or on top of yogurt or cottage cheese.

You can use any kind of dried fruit.  In fact, this year i ventured into a completely different variety -- figs, bing cherries, and blueberries.  But get creative and use whatever you like.

Dried apricots, figs, bing cherries, blueberries and fresh cranberries

All the fruits getting to know each other in this hot bath.

Ingredients --

• 4 cups of fresh cranberries
• 1 cup of dried apricot halves
• 1/2 cup of dried blueberries
• 1/2 cup of dried bing cherries
• 1 cup of dried figs
• 1/4 cup of chopped crystallized ginger
• 2/3 cup of packed golden brown sugar
• 1 cup of frozen concentrated cranberry juice cocktail, thawed i forgot to pick this up at the market, so this year i used apple juice instead.  Great alternative!
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper
• 4 teaspoons of balsamic vinegar

Stir all ingredients except vinegar in a large saucepan over medium-high heat until sugar dissolves.
Increase the heat to high and boil until thick, stirring often - about 4 minutes.
Transfer to a bowl and mix in the vinegar.
Season with salt & pepper.
Cover and chill.

Yields 5 or 6 cups.

Can be made 2 weeks ahead of time.

Autumn Beet and Kale Salad

I enjoy beets, and really appreciate the beautiful colors in "golden" beets.  Yellows, oranges and reds.  At the farmers market i picked up a bunch of baby golden beets and a bunch of baby purple beets.  The man said i can get a third one for $1, or pick any bunch of greens.  Since i only knew i wanted to make a salad, i opted for fresh kale.  And while i was there, i picked up mint and persian cucumbers.  How could i go wrong? 

Baby golden and purple beets

Fresh kale and mint

Then i suddenly realized that i can add golden raisins and dried cranberries to pick up the colors from the beets while adding a sweet touch.  Fun!  My only dilemma was what kind of dressing?  And then i remembered i still had some of the vinaigrette from Sunday Suppers at Lucques (recipe, below).  The dressing was delicious then, and equally good on the beet salad. 

Beets waiting for their jacuzzi to warm up

 

Cooked and peeled beets

Salad Ingredients -

• 1 bunch of baby golden beets
• 1 bunch of baby purple beets
• 1 bunch of kale
• 1 handful of fresh mint leaves
• 2 persian cucumbers, chopped
• 1/4 cup of golden raisins
• 1/4 cup of dried cranberries

Wash and scrub the beets well and cook in a pot with covered water until al dente.
I like to put on rubber gloves and then firmly rub the beets so that the peel falls off.
Cut the beets into bite-size cubes and refrigerate.

In a bowl, add chopped kale and fresh mint.
Add persian cucumbers, beets and then add golden raisins and cranberries.
Crumbled goat cheese and toasted nuts are a delicious option to this salad.

I then lightly tossed with Suzanne Goin's (Sunday Suppers at Lucques) vinaigerette (recipe below)...

~

The beginning of a delicious vinaigrette

Vinaigrette Ingredients -

• 1 T oregano leaves
• 1/2 clove garlic
• 1 1/2 T red wine vinegar
• 1 T balsamic vinegar
• 1/4 t kosher salt

Using a mortar and pestle, pound the oregano, garlic and 1/4+ t of salt until it is a paste.
Transfer the paste into a bowl and stir in both vinegars.
Whisk in remaining 6 T of olive oil.

Buon appetito!

An apple crumble a day...

 

I really enjoy making desserts with apples this time of year.  I think it starts with Rosh Hashanah and i stick with apples for a while.  Especially since i found a "keeper".

Beth and I were talking about our Rosh Hashanah dishes, and we both mentioned that we do an apple crumble (or maybe she calls hers an apple crisp).  She told me hers is a super easy apple crumble that her sister-in-law made and everyone loved.  I thought the apple crumble i made for Rosh Hashanah was good, but apparently there was room for improvement.  I then decided to make Beth's/Andrea's apple crumble for break fast, and i practically got a standing ovation.  Debbie said this latest one was definitely much better than the earlier one, and Enrico devoured two plates full.  So now we're all making Andrea's super easy apple crumble, and this is definitely a keeper.

This afternoon at lunch, Karen mentioned that she wants this recipe, and I realized i never blogged about this delicious crumble since i had forgotten to take pictures of it.  When i went into the market today the Fuji apples were staring at me so i decided to buy a few apples to add to the ones i have at home and make this "keeper" to bring to my office.  I'm hoping it comes out as good as the last one because i realized while making it that i have one big problem -- no oats.  Instead of going back to the market, i decided i could use a cereal i have that i use in my morning yogurt.  It's Nature's Path Organic Pumpkin Flax Plus Granola.  I was confident this would work.  The question is: will it be as good as using regular oats?  We'll find out tomorrow.  (Debbie, Karen, Elliot, i hope you'll post your honest opinion of this crumble.)

Oops... one more ingredient i didn't have was brown sugar.  I opted to use three-fourths demerara (partially refined cane sugar, as opposed to regular brown sugar which is fully refined with molasses) and one-fourth muscovado (unrefined natural cane sugar with a natural flavor of molasses).  I guess i should have some regular brown sugar sitting around, just in case.

Now that i've finished cooking this dish, my only question is, why did this dish come out with much more liquid than the last two?  Perhaps we should pat the apples dry before adding them to the baking dish.  (I keep the sliced apples in an acidulous bath until i've finished peeling and slicing all of them.  Perhaps they take on too much water.)

 Mixing oats, flour, sugar...

... and now i've added the melted butter.

Ingredients -

• 1 cup of brown sugar
• 1 cup of rolled oats
• 1 cup of flour
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, melted
• 7 apples, peeled and sliced
• a few hand fulls of berries (I used raspberries, but Beth's recipe called for blueberries)
• 1/2 cup of white sugar
• 2 teaspoons of cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350°F.

In a medium bowl, combine the brown sugar, oats, flour and melted butter and mix until crumbly. 

Place half the mixture in a baking dish.

Spread apples and berries over mixture.
Sprinkle with white sugar & cinnamon.
Top with remaining crumb mixture.
Bake 40-45 Minutes until golden brown.

Ready to pop in the oven.

Serve  warm, and enjoy with fresh whipped cream or vanilla ice cream!

 

Girls' Summer Lunch

I had two friends over for lunch and wanted to think of something light, yet classic so i could put my own twist on it.  I decided a caprese salad would be ideal since heirloom tomatoes are in the height of their season, and i'm always game for celebrating the delicious tomato.  When i was at the market, the produce man said the heirloom tomatoes were not as good as some years, but the little baby heirlooms were good, so i bought a variety of big and baby heirlooms.  I then decided that i would cut the tomatoes and the buffalo mozzarella and basil and serve it on a bed of wild arugula.  I also decided to grill some white peach slices and throw those into the mix.  I used a delicious store-bought salad dressing -- although i either should have used a bit more of it, or i needed something else with more of a "punch".

Unfortunately, I found that none of the tomatoes had the delicious sweet taste that heirlooms usually have.  I was very disappointed because i LOVE LOVE LOVE a good tomato.  I even threw a dash of salt on the tomatoes while they sat hoping that the salt would bring out the sweetness.  No such luck.  Overall, it was a pretty bland salad, but i think i'll work on spicing it up for the future since it's overall healthy, easy, and should be delicious.

Wild arugula.

Grillin' peaches.  Delish!!!

A variety of heirloom tomatoes - although this wasn't a great batch.

Here goes...

WILD CAPRESE SALAD
1 package of wild arugula
3 or 4 large heirloom tomatoes
(optional - 1 basket of baby heirloom tomatoes)
2 white peaches (too firm to eat, but perfect for slicing and grilling)
basil leaves
Lucini's Fig & Walnut Savory Balsamic, or a vinaigrette of your choice

I thoroughly washed the arugula and kept it in the fridge while i prepped the rest of the salad.
Slice the peaches into quarter inch thick slices so that they don't fall apart while you're grilling them.
Grill the peach slices and set aside.
Cut the baby heirlooms in half, and slice all the other tomatoes into bite-sized chunks.
Sprinkle with salt to bring out the sweetness of the tomatoes (if there's any sweetness to bring out).
Chiffonade the basil leaves and mix into the tomato mixture.
Slice the buffalo mozzarella into bite-sized pieces also.
I then tossed the arugula with the balsamic vinaigrette and placed the tomatoes and cheese on top. 

Easy-peasy!

For dessert i decided to serve fresh strawberries and blackberries with my homemade schlag.  Can't go wrong with berries if it's their season.  (Although who would think you could go wrong with heirloom tomatoes?)