Homemade Applesauce

The first time I made applesauce I was in college. A friend taught me how to make it in the crock-pot. It was nothing like applesauce from the store. It was lumpy and we at it warm- it was heavenly! It was like apple pie without the crust (and I never really cared for crust).

This Barefoot Contessa Applesauce recipe is full of spices, very much like apple pie filling. Kurt loved it, but I thought it was a bit strong... so I added a scoop of vanilla ice cream. Yum! Next time I think I'll half the citrus called for... but probably still add the ice cream.

(Don't mind that it's in a measuring cup.)

2 navel oranges, zested and juiced

1 lemon, zested and juiced

6-8 granny smith apples, peeled and quartered

6-8 macintosh (or other sweet red apples), peeled and quartered

1/2 cup light brown sugar, packed (you could probably reduce this if you cut some of the citrus)

4 T unsalted butter (I think I left this out)

2 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp allspice

1/2-1 cup water*

In a large pot toss apples in juice and zest. Add the brown sugar, cinnamon and allspice. Add some water and cover. Cook on medium heat, stirring occasionally, until apples are soft. Remove from heat and mash with a potato masher.

*The actual recipe doesn't call for water since you bake the apples in a Dutch oven, but I don't have one so I just cooked it on the stove and I added some water so it wouldn't burn. You could probably cook it in a crockpot w/o the water.

Another note, the actual recipe says to add the peel while cooking to add color and then remove after. I would say skip it. It was impossible to remove all of it and left you picking peel out while eating it.

yummy yams

Here is a picture of my homemade, from scratch candied yams. Mmm...

I never liked yams growing up. I never ate them at Thanksgiving, but I always thought they should be on the table. Like a decoration. Then a few years ago I went to a mini-enrichment where they talked about cooking thanksgiving dishes and had samples to try. That was the first time I ate and loved yams. This year I finally got the chance to make them myself.

My husband's reaction after tasting them, "You've reinvented yams! This has to be part of our Thanksgiving tradition from now on."

It really is that good. Imagine pecan pie on top of pumpkin pie and you can kind of get an idea. (Probably not as healthy as eating a baked yam, but you just make it once a year.)

YUMMY YAMS

1 can of yams, drained (or I used 2 fresh yams, cut and boiled)

1/3 cup sugar

2 eggs

1/4 tsp salt

1 tsp vanilla

1/4 c butter, melted

1/2 cup milk (I used a 1/4 c of condensed milk I had left over from the pumpkin pie)

Mix together with an electric beater and spread in a 8x8 pan.

Topping:

1/3 cup brown sugar

3 Tbsp flour

1/3 cup butter

1 cup chopped pecans

Cut butter into flour and sugar. Mix in nuts and sprinkle on top. Bake at 350 for 35 minutes.

Next year I want to try and make another recipe I discovered at that mini-enrichment, Summery Succotash. Anyone ever tried it?

Hot Fudge Sauce

Hot Fudge Sauce (Dani Carbajal)

1 bag chocolate chips

1 stick butter

1 can condensed milk

2 cups powdered sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

Melt butter and chocolate over a low heat in a heavy saucepan. Slowly add canned milk and powdered sugar alternating a little at a time. Turn up heat and cook for 8 minutes stirring constantly. Take off heat and add vanilla. Refrigerate any unused sauce.

(…but make sure your kids don’t know you put it in there. ‘Cause they might get up early and eat it all for breakfast while you’re still sleeping- which is why I have no picture for you.)

Pumpkin Cookies

These just say "autumn" to me. It seems they are the first of the holiday baking that I make each year. I always have to give away half cause it makes so many and I can't stop eating them. ;)

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

1 c margarine/butter
3 c sugar
3 eggs
2 t vanilla
1 large can Pumpkin
5-6 c flour
3 t baking soda
1 1/2 t salt
2 t nutmeg
3 t cinnamon

1 t cloves

1 bag chocolate chips

DIRECTIONS: In large bowl cream together butter and sugar. Add eggs, vanilla, pumpkin. In separate bowl sift together dry ingredients. Combine with wet ingredients. Mix well and add chocolate chips. Spoon onto greased cookie sheet. Bake at 375º 10-15 min. (In my oven it's always 15.)

Strawberry Shortcake

We checked out this book from the library and my daughter insisted we make the recipe, so we did. It was a fun book with little facts, tips, and explanations about cooking along the sides of each page. I even learned something: strawberry shortcake is called "shortcake" because of the shortening in it (though we used butter). Maybe I'm behind, but it was news to me.So pretty much it's like a gigantic biscuit slathered with whip cream and strawberries. I've always thought real strawberry shortcake (not those little angle food cakes they sell by the strawberries in the store) was rather dry and bland, but this was really good. The only thing I did different from the book was add some sugar to the strawberries and let them sit to bring out the juices while the cake baked.

Fruit Pops

You might have seen these "All Natural" Dryer's Fruit Bars. Well, I made some by chance the other day. Only better, and healthier.

I was starting to make a smoothie by blending some frozen strawberries with a little apple juice and when it was pureed it smelled so good I just wanted to eat it straight from the blender. And I did. Like Strawberry Sorbet. Mmmm So then I had the idea to scoop it into these Ikea popsicle forms and voila! The kids loved 'em. With summer coming I'm going to have to try some other popsicle recipes.

Late Lemon Bars

Lemon Bars are Kurt's favorite so I make them for his birthday instead of cake. I was a little late this year.

I kind of used different parts of the Barefoot Contessa recipe and the Better Homes Recipe because I was low on some ingredients.

(The powdered sugar melted into the top before I took the picture.)

Lemon Bars

1/2 c sugar

2 c flour

1/4 tsp kosher salt

3/4 c butter, room temperature

4 eggs slightly beaten

1 1/2 c sugar

3 T flour

1 T lemon zest

3/4 c lemon juice

1/4 milk

powdered sugar

Cream butter and sugar. Add flour and salt. On low speed add butter until just mixed. Press into the bottom of a 9x13 pan. Chill for a minute, then bake 18 min at 350.

Mean while whisk eggs, sugar, flour, lemon juice and zest and milk. Pour over crust and bake 20 minutes- until filling is set. Cool completely and sift powdered sugar on top.

Chocolate Buttercream Frosting

I decided since the frosting we are supposed to make to decorate the cakes for my cake decorating class is not very good (to be honest, it seems completely inedible to me) that I would make a yummy filling.

This buttercream frosting actually uses butter (amazing, huh). A whole pound of it! It's in the first Barefoot Contessa cookbook. It was so light and fluffy it seemed like chocolate mousse. I couldn't help but lick the beater afterwards.

It was a bit involved to make, so I don't know how often I'd use this recipe, but it was fun to try it out.

*caution: it calls for unsalted butter (her recipes usually do) and I only had salted butter and forgot to reduce the amount of salt it calls for to compensate. Kurt said it tasted a bit on the salty side. Also I used regular salt since it didn't specify kosher, so that might have been the problem.

10 oz bittersweet chocolate

6 oz semisweet chocolate

1/2 c egg whites

1 teaspoon salt (kosher?)

pinch cream of tartar (1/8 tsp?)

1 lb unsalted butter

2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

2 teaspoons instant expresso, dissolved in 1 tsp water (I just used some cocoa powder mixed with a little water)

Chop the chocolates and place them in a heat-proof bowl set over a pan simmering water. Stir until melted and set aside until cooled to room temperature.

Mix the egg whites, sugar, cream of tartar, and salt in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a whisk attachment. Place the bowl of egg whites over the pan of simmering water and heat the egg whites until they are warm to the touch, about 5 minutes. Return the bowl to the electric mixer and whisk on high speed for 5 minutes, or until the meringue is cool and holds a stiff peak.

Add the butter, 1 tablespoon at a time, while beating on medium speed. Scrape down the bowl, add the melted chocolate, vanilla, espresso, and rum, if using, and mix for 1 minute or until the chocolate is completely blended in. If the buttercream seems very soft, allow it to cool, and beat it again.

This recipe is pretty much the same as her Chocolate Buttercream Frosting recipe at foodnetwork.com it just looks to be reduced 2/3.

Swedish Pancakes

Mom's Swedish Pancakes

2 c flour

4 c milk

2 eggs

1/2 teaspoon salt

butter to fry in

Whip up eggs first. Alternate adding a little milk and then a little flour, etc. Put a little butter in warm frying pan. Add enough batter to thinly cover the bottom of the pan (try about 1/4 cup); tilt pan rotating in a circle to spread the batter out evenly. Cook until edges become dry. Use pancake turner to flip over and cook the other side. Should be golden brown.

Fill with cut up fruit or spread with Nutella or jam and roll up. Top with whipped cream.

(As a kid we usually just ate them with maple syrup like regular pancakes. I'm sure my mom thought we were so strange. hehe)

Chocolate Puddin' ... Surprise!

I heard about chocolate pudding made with avocados. I thought it would be a good way to get the kids to eat some extra veggies and a low sugar, chocolatey treat. So I googled it and found a lot of variations. I decided to try two different kinds and see which I like better. I changed them a bit to my own liking.

I liked the 1st one better. I thought the banana flavor was to strong in the second. My husband even ate it. I didn't think he would since he saw me making it. I know, it sounds weird. But seriously, go buy an avocado and try it. You'll be surprised.

Avocado Chocolate Pudding

2 avocados

1/4 cup coco powder

1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

2 teaspoon vanilla

5 Tablespoons agave nectar

Put it all in the blender and blend until smooth. Chill for 2 hours.

The original recipe calls for 1/4 c water, but I decided to omit it cause I thought it would end up runny. I was having a hard time getting it to blend so I added a couple spoons of plain yogurt and then a couple splashes of milk when that didn't work. Later while eating it I mixed in even more milk cause it was too thick. Next time I'll add the coco powder last. Also all the comments said to make sure and let it chill long enough so the flavors can blend.

Avocado Banana Chocolate Pudding

1 avocado

1 Banana

1/4 c coco powder

1/2 c milk

2 Tablespoons agave nectar

Blend in blender. Refrigerate 1 hour. (I didn't bother cleaning out the blender between recipes.)

Rice Pudding

My mom used to make rice pudding in the crock-pot growing up. We always ate it for breakfast with jam and milk on it, but I guess it's a desert. This is an oven recipe I found that I usually make when I have left over rice from dinner. I figure it's a good high calorie, high protein breakfast for Eleanor. She and Gregory love it.

Rice Pudding

1 1/2 cups milk

3 eggs

1/3 cup sugar (I used 3 T sugar and 2 T agave, sometimes I just put in 1/4 c agave instead)

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 cup cooked rice

1/2 cup raisins (I usually put these in, but didn't have them today)

Cinnamon

Beat eggs slightly, add milk and vanilla. Stir in rice and raisins. (I usually just mix it in the dish I bake it in. One less thing to wash.) Sprinkle with cinnamon if you like.

Put 1 1/2 quart baking dish in a 9x13 glass dish and place in pre-heated oven. Fill 9x13 with 1" boiling water. Bake at 325 for 30 min. Pull out oven rack and stir pudding. Replace and bake 20-30 min more until middle is set.

birthday cake/cupcakes

I was just going to make cupcakes for Eleanor's birthday, but when I told her this she got very distressed and said "What about my birthday CAKE?!" So I did both, but tried to keep it simple (at least more simple than last year- even if Kurt doesn't believe that it was).

The Strawberry Cake was from the box, but the Strawberry Cream Cheese Frosting was homemade:

1 cup butter

2 packages cream cheese (8 oz each)

2 lbs powdered sugar

1 1/2 t vanilla (about?)

2 t imitation strawberry flavoring (I inherited this from a neighbor that moved and decided to try using it)

Pink food gel

Cream together butter and cream cheese until fluffy. Add p. sugar about a cup at a time. Add vanilla and strawberry flavoring and mix well. Then add coloring.