Fall Flavor Profile: Apples

It's apple season and I'm in heaven!

Always one of my favorite foods, apples are wonderful ingredients to many of our fall favorites.  I usually try to pick several new apples each year to try.  This year I've been eating a lot of Envy apples.  Nice, crisp, and sweet/tart.  I've also devoured my share of Jazz apples, and just recently bought several Honeycrisps.

Have you been apple picking?  This is something I want to do this year!  I've found a town outside of Los Angeles, that has many different farms that produce an array of apples. I'm on my way!

I've gathered some of my favorite apple recipes to share with you today to get you in the mood.  The mood for cooking with apples that is.  Or, the mood for fall...your pick!  (oops a pun, 'pick' apples...get it?)
Anyway, I hope you try a recipe or two and let me know what your favorite apple dish is.

Apple Cider Quick Bread - so moist an delicious.  One of my favorite fall breakfast dishes...or dessert...or with tea!

Crispy Chicken, Apple, and Spinach Salad - oh my this is a good salad.  A must try!

Fuji Apple Chicken Salad- another great salad that's very, very popular.  My version of Panera's salad by the same name (copycat recipe)

Apple Cider Iced Tea - boy do I love this tea.  Just a hint of apples makes this tea extra special.

Honey Apple Pancakes - one of the best comfort foods for breakfast!

Verna's Apple Crisp - a down home country favorite.  YUM YUM!

Happy picking!

Sicilian Spaghetti Sauce

It's officially fall and today is a nice balmy day at 64 degrees so far.  I do love the cool mornings, but I'm sure that this won't last for long as we've had one hot summer...and it's not over yet.

As I'm sitting here watching Rick Steves' ITALY Cities of Dreams shows I'm taken back to my trip to Italy with my mom and the wonderful memories we made.  One of my best vacations ever!  Of course the food was outstanding.  I can remember every dish we ate all those years ago.  Now that's an impression, and that's some good food.

So I'm getting a hankering for some comfort food.  So let's make some pasta.  Fall is the perfect time for comfort food.

You may recall that a neighbor of mine is from Sicily.  She's passed on now but I treasure the time I got to spend with her hearing her stories of traveling to America at the age of 14 on a boat, landing in New Orleans!  What an adventurous woman.  And her food?  to die for.

Today's recipe is a meaty pasta sauce and is a variation of her Sicilian Spaghetti Sauce. Oh! this is soooo good.  The recipe makes quite a bit of sauce, but not to fret, this freezes wonderfully.  I've placed my extra sauce in a airtight container and it will keep in the freezer for several months to take out and have again on a cold fall night.  Perfect double duty!  It also takes a while to make this sauce so make sure to do this on a weekend.

While I've never been to Sicily it's certainly on my bucket list. Thank you Nettie (my 4th grandmother!) for all your stories and your inspiration. Nettie's tomato marinara, Sicilian Sauce is wonderful if you don't like meat in your sauce.

Manga! Manga!

Sicilian Spaghetti Sauce

adapted from my Sicilian neighbor Nettie

serves 6

1/2 lb. sweet or hot Italian sausage, ground or casings removed
1/2 lb. 10% lean ground sirloin

1 medium yellow onion, diced

2 garlic cloves, minced

2 15oz cans of good quality tomato sauce

1 6oz can of tomato paste

3 cups water

1 t salt

2 t dried parsley

1 t dried basil

1/2 t dried thyme

1/2 t red pepper flakes

Cooked spaghetti

Grated Parmesan cheese (optional)

Cook sausage and ground sirloin in a large skillet over medium heat about 6 min.  Stir meat as it cooks until it crumbles.  Add onion and garlic to the meat and continue to cook and stir another 4 minutes or until onion is soft and meat is no longer pink.  Drain if necessary.  Set aside.

In a large soup pot or Dutch oven, add tomato sauce, paste, and water.  Stir to combine.  Add your spices, salt, parsley, basil, thyme, and red pepper flakes.  Stir to combine.  Add your meat and onion mixture. Cook on medium low for about 40-50 minutes or until sauce thickens slightly.  Serve over hot spaghetti and top with grate Parmesan cheese if desired.

Fall Flavor Profiles: Pumpkin

Falling leaves, falling temperatures, and comfort food remind me of Fall!

While it's not quite fall here...(still dang hot!) it's lurking around the corner though.  I can feel it.
Or at least I think I can...

So let talk about Fall seasonal ingredients...Pumpkins are on the list today.

Pumpkins:

Small pumpkins start appearing in the markets in late September; larger varieties become available in October, although I seen quite sizeable pumpkins available already. Choose pumpkins that feel solid and heavy for their size. For cooking, choose small, sweet varieties with a thick flesh and a fairly small seed cavity, such as the Sugar Pie, Baby Bear or Cheese pumpkin. Hard shells will protect pumpkins from easy spoilage. Most will keep for a month or longer if stored in a cool, dry place. Once cut, pumpkins should be wrapped tightly in plastic, refrigerated and used within 3 to 4 days.

Or you can use canned!

Here are some of my favorite pumpkin recipes.

Chicken and Pumpkin Stew
Comfort food at it's best!

Pumpkin Pie Bars
Oh yum!!

Spicy Pumpkin Fool
A quick and easy dessert.  Kids love it!

Layered Pumpkin Bread
Oh, this is a good one...

Low Carb Pumpkin Pancakes

Let's not forget pumpkin for breakfast.

Pumpkin Pie with Orange Marmalade
A special pie with a little umph.  Great for Thanksgiving!

Fall, I'm waiting for you!

Dessert To Go: S'mores in a Jar

Hi there, I'm back!

I've been having computer problems and have decided it time to retire my laptop and upgrade to something new.  I've been looking at Chromebooks lately.  Anyone have one and want to share their likes or dislikes? As such with my current laptop it takes me about 2 hours to complete one post!  So, I'm sorry that the posts slowed down, but I'm working around that with an interim fix.

Last time I brought you Dinner To Go.  This was a wonderful Asian Pasta Salad dish that we took to a concert at the Hollywood Bowl.  It was the perfect dish in every way; taste, and ease of transport.  I hope you enjoyed this and if you haven't made it...do so right away!

Today I wanted to bring you the perfect Dessert To Go. Again, this was born out the need to create a comforting yet delicious dessert that was easy to transport.  I could have made a cake and cut it into pieces, but I wanted something a little more special.  This is my take on S'mores in a Jar!

I love putting desserts in a jar so that each person have their own individual serving.  I use these jars which you can get here.  I love the design but any regular jar or container will do.  These Peach Raspberry Crisps were baked straight in the jar and we took these to a concert several years ago. 

Peach Raspberry Crisps

As chocolate was on my mind I wanted to get on the S'mores train and create a portable dish.  I wouldn't have a fire to roast marshmallows so I improvised and used the flavor of S'mores and built a wonderful layered dessert.  Using chocolate fudge pudding, graham cracker crumbs and small marshmallows worked perfectly.

Layering these ingredients in a jar, makes it cute!  It also allows you to get all the flavors in one bite.  The desserts were easy to pack and totally hit the spot during the concert intermission.  We even got comments from our neighbors on how pretty the dessert was, and what a great idea to use the jars.

Enjoy!



S'mores in a Jar

serves 4

1 3.9 oz box of Jello instant pudding, chocolate fudge flavored
2 cups 2% milk
2 sheets of graham crackers, crushed
1/2 cup of miniature marshmallows
4 mason or other canning jars - 8 oz.

Make the pudding according to the directions on the box and refrigerate until set and ready for use.

To assemble jars:  Evenly distribute half of the graham cracker crumbs in the bottom of 4 mason jars.  Divide half of the pudding among the four jars layering on top of the crumbs. Divide all of the marshmallows on top of the pudding.  Follow with the remaining pudding divided equally and topping with the remaining crumbs.

Secure lid and keep cold until ready to serve.  NOTE:  if packing these for travel make sure that they are packed with ice packs and that they stay upright.

Dinner to Go: Asian Pasta Salad with Hoisin Grilled Chicken

Last week MGG and I got to do one of our favorite summer things...taking in a concert at the Hollywood Bowl!

It was a night of Hitchcock.  There is nothing better than listening to music under the stars.  The program was absolutely amazing.  They showcased 17 Hitchcock movies taking popular scenes from each and showed them on the big screens while the LA Phil Orchestra played the music in time with the movie. FABULOUS!!!  

We arrived early to eat alfresco while the sun was setting. Sometimes we buy hot food to share for our picnic, but quite often I cook our meal, planning out a great dinner and dessert.

This time I decided to fix a dish that would be delicious either cold or at room temperature.  Flipping through my memory I recalled a dish that a wonderful chef taught me that I fixed for a concert my mom and I attended.  This Asian Pasta Salad is filled with good things such as Hoisin flavored chicken, carrots, and strips of crunchy sweet red peppers among spaghetti.  This is all tossed in a Ginger Cilantro dressing that is to die for.  This meal is really all about the dressing....trust me and don't skip this part!

It's the perfect item to pack in individual containers making it travel ready and also easy to eat.  I served it along with some small appetizers to round out the meal.  MGG was bragging about the flavors of this dish for about 1 week. Now that's a compliment!

So if you are eating under the stars, in a park, or the backyard, this dish is perfect.  

Enjoy!

Asian Pasta Salad with Hoisin Grilled Chicken

source:  slightly adapted from Phillis Carey "Fast and Fabulous Summer Chicken"

serves 4

4 boneless skinless chicken breast halves

salt and pepper, to taste

1/4 c vegetable oil

2 tablespoons Hoisin sauce

1 tablespoon dry sherry

1 tablespoon soy sauce

1 teaspoon fresh ginger, minced

12 oz spaghetti, uncooked

1 tablespoon Asian sesame oil

1 small red bell pepper, cut into julienne strips

1 small carrot, cut into julienne strips

Ginger-Cilantro Dressing:

2 garlic cloves, peeled

3 slices fresh ginger, peeled

1/2 cup chopped cilantro

1/4 cup rice vinegar

2 teaspoons Dijon mustard

1 tablespoon sugar

1/2 cup vegetable oil

Instructions:

Trim chicken and pound to an even 1/2 inch thickness.  Season with salt and pepper.  Place in a zip lock bag.  In a small bowl, whisk together the vegetable oil, Hoisin sauce, sherry, soy sauce and ginger.  Pour over chicken, turning to coat.  Let chicken stand at room temperature for 30 minutes or refrigerate for 2-3 hours.

For dressing, using a mini food processor add garlic and ginger and process to mince.  Add the cilantro, vinegar, mustard, sugar, and oil.  Puree until well blended. Remove chicken from marinade and grill for 3-5 minutes per side or until chicken is cooked through.  Set aside to cool slightly and then cut into thin strips.

Meanwhile, cook the spaghetti until tender.  Toss noodles with sesame oil in a large bowl.  Add the peppers and carrots to the warm noodles.  Set aside for a few minutes to cool slightly.  Add enough dressing to coat noodles well. Serve at room temperature or may be served cold.

Grilled Chicken with Tomato-Avocado Salad

Yum

Today's dish screams summer.  

We're taking advantage of our warm evenings and grilling our dinner for a night under the stars with good food and good company.

I encourage you to take advantage of the last summer bumper crop of corn and tomatoes (Yum!) and pull together a dinner that is fresh and light. This dish was adapted from a Cooking Light recipe of the same name, and is perfect to throw together this weekend.  

The grilled chicken is flavored with a spicy rub that's easy to put together.  The salad is fresh with several types of tomatoes, avocado, and corn.  Top it with a homemade dressing made with buttermilk.  It's the perfect topping to the salad.  

Serve your fabulous dinner with a mixed fruit salad to keep the fresh theme going.

The result?  Killer dinner!!!  Your family and guest will think you are a genius! (shhh!  don't tell them how easy this was...)

Hope you enjoy this dish and take time to savor the end of summer.



Grilled Chicken with Tomato-Avocado Salad

serves 4

For the Dressing:
1/4 cup nonfat buttermilk
3 tablespoons canola mayonnaise
2 tablespoons minced fresh flat-leaf parsley
1 tablespoon minced shallots
1 teaspoon minced fresh thyme
1 teaspoon cider vinegar
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/8 teaspoon sea salt
1 garlic clove, minced

For the Chicken:

4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves, pounded thin
1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon onion powder
3/4 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon chipotle or ancho chile powder

For the Salad:

2 ears yellow corn, shucked
1 yellow heirloom tomato, sliced
1 red heirloom tomato, sliced

1 orange heirloom tomato, sliced
1 cup cherry tomatoes, halved
1 sliced peeled ripe avocado

Preheat grill to high heat. Combine first 9 ingredients in a mason jar, shake to combine. Chill buttermilk mixture until ready to serve.

Combine oil, onion powder, cumin, and chipotle or ancho chile powder. Rub evenly over chicken. Arrange chicken and corn, on grill rack; grill 8 minutes or until done, turning chicken once and corn occasionally. Remove from grill; let stand 5 minutes. Cut corn kernels from cobs.

Slice chicken. Arrange on a platter or individual plates.  For the salad, arrange tomatoes on a platter alternating colors, and adding cherry tomatoes randomly.  Top with corn and avocado evenly on the platter.   Drizzle with dressing and serve.  

source:  Cooking Light via MyRecipes.com

How to Use Your Summer Tomatoes

It's time to use your summer tomatoes!

Today I wanted to share with you some different dishes that may inspire you to use the ripe summer tomatoes that are currently available.

The best place to buy them?  From farm stands, farmer's markets or natural store foods such as Whole Foods for the best flavors.  However, many stores such as Trader Joe's, Sprouts, and your local grocery store care many wonderful varieties right now such as Heirloom, On the vine, or juicy cherry tomatoes.

You really can't go wrong.  Just look for ones that are brightly colored, plump, and free from blemishes.

Below are some recipes to whet your appetites and provide you with a little tomato inspiration.
Enjoy!

Tomato Cucumber and Onion Salad with Feta Vinaigrette

Heirloom Pizza

Tomato Salad

Big Batch Marinara Sauce

Cheese Focaccia Panzanella with Grilled Ratatouille

Love me some tomatoes!

Spaghetti with Summer Fresh Garlic Tomato Sauce

For quick weeknight dinners that are low calories and taste fabulous turn to in-season ingredients.

Today we are talking tomatoes!  I love, love, love a good summer tomato.  The flavor is unbeatable don't you think? They are at their height of their natural season, in summer, usually June through September.  To pick the ones with the most flavor, visit farm stands, farmers' markets and natural-food stores for vine-ripened tomatoes, that are organic (if possible).  But how do you keep these beauties?  You'll want to store ripe tomatoes at room temperature for up to 3 days.  That means you will want to use them pretty quickly for the best flavor.

Here is a wonderful view of the different types of tomatoes available right now.

courtesy of Williams-Sonoma.com

I'm using fresh grape tomatoes that I got from a local farmer's market in today's pasta dish.  Using the best ingredients when you have only a few in the dish makes all the difference in the taste.  You want quality oils and vinegar and fresh herbs.  This will make each flavor pop!

Coming soon I'll be sharing a side dish salad made with Heirloom tomatoes.  Big, beautiful, pretty tomatoes.  I love them as well!  What is your favorite tomato?



Spaghetti with Summer Fresh Garlic Tomato Sauce

Serves 2

4 ounces uncooked spaghetti
2 cups grape tomatoes
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/8 teaspoon crushed red pepper
2 tablespoons thinly sliced fresh basil
pinch sea salt

Cook pasta according to package directions until al dente, omitting salt and fat. Drain pasta, reserving 1/4 cup cooking liquid.

Cut each tomato crosswise into 8 to 10 thin slices. Heat a large skillet over medium heat. Add oil; swirl to coat. Add garlic; cook 1 minute, stirring constantly. Add tomatoes and pepper; increase heat to medium-high. Cook 2 minutes or until tomatoes slightly soften, stirring occasionally. Stir in pasta, reserved 1/4 cup cooking liquid, basil, and salt. 

adapted from Cookinglight.com

Strawberry Banana Bread

I'm stocking up on my summer fruits by buying large quantities and freezing them.

I love my summer fruits, especially the berries.  I can't even believe that the season is almost over.  The good thing about living in Southern California is that the summer heat doesn't actually end until October here.  I just wish there fruit would last as long!

I recently bought blackberries, blueberries, strawberries, and red and gold raspberries.  I flash freeze them in a single layer on a sheet pan in the freezer for about 1 hour and then store them in good freezer bags.  They will last me well into winter when I want a nice smoothie or dessert.

So I didn't freeze all my berries because I've been in the mood to make some fruit dishes lately.  I kept out some strawberries to try this Strawberry Banana Bread I've been eyeing on Pinterest from Lisa over at Wine & Glue.  It looked scrumptious and let me say, it is!

I hope you enjoy this bread and use up all the fresh summer berries you can while they last!




Strawberry Banana Bread

makes 1 loaf

Ingredients

2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
2 large ripe bananas, mashed well
4 Tbsp butter, melted and cooled
2 eggs, beaten
6 oz vanilla Greek yogurt 
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup diced strawberries

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and spray a 9 by 5 inch bread pan with cooking spray. 

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking soda, and salt.  In a large bowl whisk together the mashed bananas, melted butter, eggs, yogurt, and vanilla.  Gently add the flour mixture to the egg mixture, folding them together until just combined.  Gently stir in the strawberries. The batter will be very thick.

Pour the batter into the bread pan and bake for 60 to 65 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle of the bread comes out clean or with a few crumbs.

Allow to cool 10 in the loaf pan, then invert and remove the bread to a wire rack to cool.  Slice and serve.

adapted from Wine and Glue

Mediterranean Lemon Chicken Pasta

Call us crazy...

Fair warning...you will probably think so after reading this.

MGG and I like to take time for lots of little getaways. Something that is weekend doable, not quite too far from LA and worth the drive. We just want to get a mental break and relax...

Needing a much deserved break we were looking for somewhere different to go and landed our sites on Palm Springs, CA. Here comes the crazy part. If you don't know anything about Palm Springs well, it's located in the dessert.

In the middle of nowhere really. So hello? it's summertime right? What were we thinking of? Going to stay in the dessert in the middle of summer with temps of 115 degrees. Yikes! Crazy huh!

Well really it wasn't all that bad, and we did go to relax. We ended up staying at the JW Marriott Dessert Springs Resort and Spa in Palm Dessert and it was just wonderful. They have a lake that's pretty large. They offer boat rides around the lake and will shuttle you across the lake to your dinner reservation. Way cool! The grounds were really nice and we got to try several of the restaurants and bars. The food was amazing at The Rockwood Grill which overlooked the lake and the pools. MGG had a Beet Salad that was almost too pretty to eat. It was outstanding, and it even had homemade goat cheese which was just the icing on the cake. I had the Rotisserie Chicken Salad which I loved. It was a southwestern take on a salad with cilantro chipotle dressing that was killer!

So we relaxed by the pool, took in some sites and shopping and then sadly, had to return home. That's the sad part about short weekend getaways...not wanting to go home. Off we drove back to LA and back to reality.

We made it home is record time and once again, I decided to turn to a quick weeknight meal for our dinner. With what I had on hand I whipped up a wonderful dish I call Mediterranean Lemon Chicken Pasta. It's actually a riff off of my recipe for Mediterranean Lemon Chicken. I loved the sauce so much that I just made it again, but created a pasta dish with different veggies and chicken and put it all together with the wonderful lemon sauce.

You are gonna love this sauce and this quick and easy dish. MGG practically inhaled it, which is always a good sign. He even asked for seconds! Make sure to try this one, it's a keeper!



Mediterranean Lemon Chicken Pasta

serves 4-6

8 oz of linguine
3 T olive oil
3 large boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into bite sized pieces
1 pint of grape tomatoes, halved
8 oz of sliced mushrooms
1 large zucchini, cut in half and sliced
2 T flour
1 14.5 oz can low sodium chicken broth
1 t lemon zest
2 T lemon juice
1 t fresh thyme, chopped
salt & pepper
Fresh grated Parmesan

Cook linguine in boiling water according to package directions.  Meanwhile heat olive oil in a large skillet.  Add chicken pieces and cooks until just browned.  Add tomatoes, mushrooms and zucchini.  Cook until vegetables are tender and chicken is cooked through.  

Drain pasta and keep warm.  Add flour to the skillet and cook 1 minute, stirring into vegetables.  Add the chicken broth, lemon zest, juice, and thyme to skillet.  Bring to a boil and allow to cook 2-3 minutes until sauce thickens.  Add pasta to skillet and stir to combine. Season with salt & pepper to taste.  Serve with a sprinkle of grated Parmesan cheese if desired.