Apple Crisp

• 1o-ish apples, peeled, cored and sliced
• 1 T lemon juice
• 1 T vanilla
• 1 t cinnamon
• 1 dash nutmeg
• 1/2 C cider (or water)
• 1 box white/yellow cake mix
• 1/2 C brown sugar
• 3/4 C oats
• 1/2 C butter, melted
  

1. Preheat oven to 350. In a large bowl, toss the apple slices with the lemon juice, vanilla, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Spread apple slices evenly in a 13x9 pan. Pour the cider or water over the apples (this can be ommitted). You could also add caramel ice cream topping here.

2. In a mixing bowl, mix together cake mix, brown sugar and oats. Slowly pour the butter, mixing, until you have a moist, crumbly 'dough'. Spread the mixture over the apples. Bake for 45-50 minutes or until crust is browning. (I put foil on for the second half of baking).


Another volume in the Apple Chronicles. We had a pizza party at our weekly radio show and since I didn't want to make pie, but I did want to use as many apples as possible, I decided to experiment in making apple crisp (which I think is better than pie, anyway).

Apple Spice Cake

• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1 egg
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 2 cups apple - peeled, cored, and chopped
• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts
• 1/2 cup raisins or dates
  

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour an 8x4 inch loaf pan. Sift together the flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt. Set aside.
2. In a medium bowl, mix together the sugar, egg and oil. stir in the sifted ingredients. fold in the apples, nuts and raisins.
3. Bake for 55 to 60 minutes in the preheated oven, or until a toothpick inserted into the cake comes out clean

Since I went a little overboard on my recent trip to the orchard and now have enough apples to put a pie on every windowsill in the country, I've been trying out some new apple recipes (A girl can only eat so much applesauce, ya know?) I made this fo rmy Monday night Church group and I was pleased with the outcome. Very easy, very moist and very yummy when served warm. I doubled the recipe and put it an extra egg, and baked it in two loaf pans.

Cauliflower Soup

• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 5 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 large potatoes, peeled and cubed
• 1 cup broccoli, chopped
  
• 2 (14.5 ounce) cans chicken broth
• 1 head cauliflower, chopped
• 1 cup milk
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1 tablespoon dry sherry
• 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

1. In a large pot over medium heat, melt butter. Stir in onion and garlic and cook until onion is translucent, about 5 minutes. Stir in potatoes and cook 5 minutes more. Pour in chicken broth and bring to a boil. Stir in cauliflower, cover, reduce heat and simmer until vegetables are tender, 10 to 20 minutes. Remove from heat.
2. Puree in batches in a blender or food processor, or in the pot using an immersion blender. Return to low heat and stir in milk, salt, pepper, nutmeg and sherry. Heat through. Add cheese and stir until melted.

This is for real my new favorite soup! 'Bloom', our local high-end grocery store, had cauliflower and broccoli on super sale this week and, incapable of turning down a deal as I am, I of course bought copious amounts of the vegetables. But this soup was so easy, and unlike most super-fattening cream soups, this one gets it's consistency from the potatoes, and therefore is a healthier option. My mom and I cooked this up and Cody joined us for dinner- even he liked it, and that's saying a lot (this kid is a major vegetable hater). My parents called me from the road today to say "we didn't really get to talk about the soup, but we both thought it was really good!" This is a toe-warming soup, and goodness knows that this time of year my toes could use some serious heat.

Autumn Casserole

• 1 lb. sausage--cooked and drained
• 3-4 apples--sliced and chopped into fine pieces
• 1/2 red onion
  
• 1 acorn squash--halved
• 1 box Stove Top stuffing (I made my own- see below)

Place the two pieces of squash face down on a cookie sheet and bake at 350 for 45 minutes or until tender. Scoop out the insides and add butter, salt and brown sugar to taste, and mix well. Mix together sausage, apple, onion, and squash and empty the mixture into a casserole dish. Layer the stuffing on top. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes or until the stuffing is browning.

Um what could I possibly love more than apples, onions and squash- together?! This dish just screams scarecrows and spiderweds to me. I love the herb-y stuffing with the sweet apples and rich squash. It's just a jumble of really great flavors and it makes me feel like I'm sitting in a giant pile of leaves while I'm eating. Perfect.

Cornbread Stuffing

• 1 (16 ounce) package dry corn bread mix
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1/2 cup chopped celery
• 1 small onion
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 2 cups chicken stock
• 2 tablespoons dried sage
• salt and pepper to taste

Prepare the dry corn bread mix according to package directions. Cool and crumble.

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease one 9x13 inch baking dish.
2. In a large skillet over medium heat, melt the butter and saute the celery and onion until soft.
3. In a large bowl, combine the celery, onions, 3 cups crumbled corn bread, eggs, chicken stock, sage and salt and pepper to taste; mix well.
4. Place into prepared dish and bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 30 minutes.

Cabbage Rolls

• 8 large cabbage leaves
• 1 lb ground beef
• 1 cup cooked rice
• 1/4 cup chopped onion
• 1 egg, slightly beaten
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp pepper
• 1 can (10.75 oz) tomato soup

Cook cabbage leaves in boiling salted water until soft; drain. Mix next 6 ingredients and add 2 T of the soup. Divide mixture among the leaves. Roll; secure with toothpicks if needed. Place in a skillet and pour the remaining soup over the leaves, Cover; cook over low heat 40 minutes or until meat is cooked through. Stir often, spooning the sauce over the cabbage rolls.

I realize a name like 'Cabbage Rolls' doesn't exactly conjure up an image of gourmet cooking, but I actually really like these. This was another recipe out my sweet nunnery cookbook, and I gotta say, these ladies of the cloth are 2 for 2.

Pumpkin Bread

• 1 cup butter or margarine, softened
• 3 cups sugar
• 3 eggs
• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cloves
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground nutmeg
• 1 (16 ounce) can solid pack pumpkin

1. In a mixing bowl, dream butter and sugar. Add eggs; mix well. Combine dry ingredients; stir into creamed mixture just until moistened. Stir in pumpkin. Pour into two greased 9-in. x 5-in. x 3-in. loaf pans. Bake at 350 degrees F for 1 hour or until bread tests done.

Applesauce

• 3 to 4 lbs of peeled, cored, and quartered apples. (Make sure you use a good cooking apple like Golden Delicious, Granny Smith, Fuji, Jonathan, Mcintosh, or Gravenstein.)
• 2 T lemon juice
• 1 T cinnamon
  
• 1/4 cup of dark brown sugar (to taste)
  
• up to 1/2 cup of white sugar (to taste)
• pinch of nutmeg
  
• 1 cup of water
• 1/2 teaspoon of salt

Put all ingredients into a large pot. Cover. Bring to boil. Lower heat and simmer for 20-30 minutes. Remove from heat. Blend to desired consistency with a hand mixer.

Recently, I had a rare Thursday night off of work, and to celebrate, I had people over for fall-things and the Office. Well my tv broke and so we missed the first 5, crucial minutes of the show, but we did enjoy some darn good pumpkin bread. For serious, this stuff was bank. Nothing I love more than a good, moist loaf cake. And the applesauce? Easy as pie (far easier, actually. Pie is hard!)

Blondies

• 1 cup sifted all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/8 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/3 cup butter
• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 2/3 cup semisweet chocolate chips

1. Mix flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a mixing bowl and set aside. Melt butter in a separate bowl, and mix in the brown sugar until blended. Let cool slightly. Mix in the egg and vanilla and blend well. Add dry ingredients and mix. Spread in a 8x8 pan and sprinkle chocolate chips on top. Bake for 20-25 minutes at 350 degrees.

I made these blondies for one of my favorite fair-haired friends for her birthday. Blondies are one of my all-time favorite sweets. Saga's best dessert was an imitation blondie, which they called 'cookie bars' but this here's the real deal. For a great alternative to brownies or cookies
(or maybe when you can't decide between the two?), this is a fabulous compromise.

Pizza that says you care

-1 tube pizza dough
-1 can pizza sauce
-8 oz mozzarella cheese
-1/3 red onion, chopped
-4 cloves garlic, diced
-1 can mushrooms
-1/2 pound chicken breast
-1/3 cup pineapple chunks


Cut chicken into chunks. Marinade in 1/4 cup brown sugar, 2 T soy sauce, and 1/3 cup barbecue sauce for at least 30 minutes. Cook in a frying pan and set aside. Saute garlic and onion in frying pan. Top pizza dough with all toppings and cover with cheese. Bake according to directions on the pizza crust tube.

There are few things I love more than homemade pizza, partially because it's so simple, and you can use whatever you have. I mostly am just posting this because the pizza looked hilarious. See, I had left the tube of pizza dough in my car for a couple of hot hourse, and it exploded out of its cardboard constraints. So, when it came time to make my pizza and I pulled the dough out, it was in a funky formation and I couldn't roll it out like a normal pizza. Thus, heart pizza! Romantic, eh?