Southern Cranberry Apple Crisp

This has been a staple at my family’s thanksgivings for years! Only in recent years did I fully embrace it and now I have to admit it is quite delicious and very simple to make. If you are looking to bring something to Thanksgiving that doesn’t take a lot of work but gets rave reviews, I highly recommend this dish! I have never been one for the “traditional” (and awful looking) congealed cranberry sauce…but I know some version of cranberries are a traditional Thanksgiving dinner side dish, so this is the perfect alternative. It is sweet and almost could pass for dessert, but is a great compliment to turkey and the other Thanksgiving items too – so really it could be served with dinner (my preference) OR after. I have even served it at breakfast and that works too. So if you have leftovers, heat some up with a cup of coffee and enjoy it the next morning!

Southern Apple Cranberry Crisp

• 2 cups fresh cranberries
• 3 cups chopped apples
• 3/4 cups sugar
• 1 1/2 c. oats
• 1/2 c. brown sugar
• 1/3 c. plain flour
• 1/2 c. chopped pecans
• 1 stick melted butter

Directions:

1. Mix together apples, cranberries and sugar.

2. In another bowl, mix together the oats, brown sugar, flour, pecans and melted butter
3. Top apple/cranberry mixture with the granola topping and bake at 350 for 1 hour until granola mixture turns crispy and golden brown on top.

Butternut Squash Ravioli

I’ve been loving butternut squash this fall! It is so good plain, or in pasta, or soup…and a friend of mine recently had me over and put it on her homemade whole wheat pizza dough with ricotta cheese and onion (no sauce) – a delicious combo! So I thought I would try another recipe involving butternut squash. I did some research and combined a few things I liked from a couple of different recipes to make up the recipe below for butternut squash and mascarpone cheese ravioli with a white sauce.

I heard from a friend that using won ton wrappers was a decent/easier substitute for ravioli so I tried that. I don’t know…I guess I had high expectations but I wasn’t 100% satisfied with the result. I think I was just hoping for the same consistency as pasta and they were a little thinner and more slippery or gummy in texture. I don’t know, I guess I would have to try it again but I am not convinced yet that this is the best option. Otherwise this was delicious – I loved the filling…I could have just eaten it with a spoon! It was definitely a rich, cheesy, butternut squash-y combo that was quite good…I just need to perfect the ravioli aspect. Here is the recipe…and if anyone has feedback or has used won ton wrappers successfully, please let me know – I’d love to hear how you did it!

Ravioli Filling

• 1 medium (1 1/2 pound) butternut squash, split in half, seeds removed (about 1 lb cooked)
• 2 cloves garlic, skin on, tip removed
• 1 Tbsp chopped fresh sage (15 ml)
• two shallots finely chopped
• 1 Tbsp butter (15 ml)
• salt and pepper
• 1/4 cup mascarpone cheese

White Sauce

• 2 Tbsp butter
• 4 shallots, chopped
• 1 Tbsp chopped fresh savoury
• 1 Tbsp chopped fresh sage
• 3 cups chicken stock
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 1/2 cup freshly grated Grano Padano or Parmigiano Regianno, or to taste (125 ml)
• 2 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
• 1 Tbsp fresh chives
• Coarse salt and freshly cracked black pepper, to taste

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Rub oil over cut side of squash. Place the 2 garlic cloves into each of the hollowed out portion of the squash where the seeds were removed. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Roast cut side up until tender, about 1 hour. Let cool. Scoop out the flesh and transfer to a large bowl. Discard the skin of the squash.
2. Saute 1 tablespoon butter with shallots, sage and roasted garlic until soft and golden. Add cooked squash to onion mixture and mash together. Allow to cool slightly, then add mascarpone and combine. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
3. Brush the edge of dumpling wrapper or pasta lightly with beaten egg and put approximately 1 tsp. of filling in the middle. Fold dough over. Press out air and pinch edges securely with fork. (I used a wine glass to cut them into circles, then pinched with my fingers). Lay on a baking sheet, not overlapping.

4. Sauté shallots in butter, savoury and sage for 3 minutes in a saucepan or skillet over medium high heat. Add the chicken stock and cream and reduce by half, about 7 to 10 minutes.
5. Drop ravioli into a pot of gently boiling salted water and cook until they are tender, and rise to the surface (about 3-7 minutes).
6. Drain immediately and toss in sauce. Add chives and lemon juice. Sprinkle with cheese and stir. Season the sauce with salt and pepper.

George’s Famous Soup

One of my favorite restaurants in all of San Diego is an amazing spot in La Jolla called George’s at the Cove. If you live here (or plan to visit) and have not been, you must put this place on your list! I love the terrace upstairs on the third level…dinner here at sunset is hard to top! They have a great menu, prices are moderate for the excellent quality of food…and everything from drinks to appetizers to dessert just melts in your mouth! My good friend and former roommate Brandt and I used to have this dream of going to George’s and being recognized by the staff with a cry of “put on the mussels!” (because we always ordered them). Okay maybe that is a little weird, but we still love to laugh about it (and the steamed mussels are amazing).

One of the things they are famous for is their soup. It is a creamy soup with chicken, black beans, broccoli and more – apparently it has been featured on the Today Show and all kinds of other places…and truly, it is amazing! I was determined to recreate the masterpiece to in an attempt to welcome fall and possibly have the ability to serve this delicious meal from home. I googled “george’s soup” and found a few recipes, mostly very similar, and decided to try one. I won’t say it was perfect, but it was pretty good for a first try. I used a rotisserie chicken to make things a little simpler…and then used the extra chicken and sliced brie to make toasted baguette sandwiches, which was a nice treat to go along with the soup!

Ingredients

• ½ cup unsalted butter
• ½ cup diced carrot
• ½ cup diced onion
• ½ cup diced celery
• 1 cup broccoli stem, peeled and diced
• 2 teaspoons dried thyme
• 2 teaspoons dried oregano
• 1 teaspoon dried sweet basil leaves
• ¼ cup dry white wine
• 4 cups chicken stock, hot
• 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
• ½ teaspoon Tabasco sauce (I like Cholula)
• 1 cup diced smoked chicken or store bought rotisserie chicken(recipe follows for smoked)
• 1 cup cooked black beans
• 1 cup broccoli floret
• 2 cups heavy cream
• salt & fresh ground pepper, to taste
• 2 tablespoons cornstarch, mixed with a small amount of warm water (optional)

Directions:

1. In ¼ cup butter, sauté carrots, onion, celery and broccoli stems for 5 minutes. Add thyme, oregano and basil; sauté 5 minutes more.
2. Add wine and deglaze pan.
3. Add Worcestershire sauce, Tabasco, smoked chicken, beans and broccoli florets; simmer 5 minutes.
4. Add cream, simmer 5 minutes more and season to taste (thicken with cornstarch if desired).
5. Add hot chicken stock and reduce by one-third.
6. Drop in remaining butter, piece by piece, stirring until melted and serve immediately.

I didn’t get a picture of the final product (I am still not the greatest at the pictures part, even when I try to remember!) BUT this is a picture from my leftovers that I ate for lunch the next day. The picture doesn’t really do it justice anyway – it tastes better than it looks…and it was almost better leftover after thickening up a bit – so I enjoyed it for a few more days!

To buy organic…or not

After reading In Defense of Food (see previous post),  one of my friends in our book club sent me this list, which I thought was really helpful. Since buying organic can be expensive, and sometimes it is hard to stomach those higher prices just because you’re told it is better, this helps by breaking them down into three categories from highest to lowest contamination. I think I have been kind of skeptical for awhile, thinking the whole organic movement was partly just a marketing ploy to charge $2 for one apple. Sadly, our fruits and vegetables nowdays hardly offer the same nutrients they once did, and are full of perservatives and other chemicals. But buying organic can still be expensive, so hopefully this list will help. Participating in a CSA or buying things at local farmers markets are also great ways of assuring your fruits and vegetables have the nutrients and antioxidants than they are supposed to. Hope this helps – happy grocery shopping!

Buy Organic (Most Commonly Contaminated):

• Peaches
• Strawberries
• Apples
• Spinach
• Nectarines
• Celery
• Pears
• Cherries
• Potatoes
• Bell Peppers
• Raspberries
• Grapes (imported)

If Budget Allows, Buy Organic:

• Carrots
• Green Beans
• Hot peppers
• Oranges
• Apricots
• Cucumbers
• Tomatoes
• Collard greens
• Grapes (domestic)
• Turnip greens
• Honeydew Melon
• Lettuce
• Kale
• Mushrooms
• Cantaloupe
• Sweet Potatoes
• Grapefruit
• Winter squash
• Blueberries
• Watermelon
• Plums
• Tangerines
• Cabbage

It’s Your Call (Least Contaminated)

• Kiwi
• Bananas
• Broccoli
• Onions
• Asparagus
• Peas
• Mango
• Cauliflower
• Pineapple
• Avocado
• Corn

In Defense of Food

My book club chose this book last month for something different, and I really enjoyed reading it! I had it sitting on my shelf for a long time and was glad for some motivation to actually pick it up and get through it, and I’m glad I did. It is a great book that takes a look at the way most of us view food and critiques some of the negative aspects of the Western diet. As a guide, Pollan uses the following rule of thumb: “Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.” He sheds light on a lot of the problems with the way we eat in America, a country lacking in food culture where family meals around the dinner table are becoming few and far between.

It is interesting to think about the difference in the actual foods we eat and the nutrients in them. He points out that we often reduce the foods to the positive nutrients we are told that we need, and yet we miss the combination of elements that make up those actual foods. Milk is an easy example…we are told we need milk, but many people reduce that to a calcium supplement or try to get the protein elsewhere…but maybe it’s the combination of the protein, calcium and lactose that make up the milk that benefits the body. When we reduce it to the nutrients then we start allowing things into our diet that are manufactured to look and taste like food but are actually chemically created substances…i.e. “whole grain” Lucky Charms or “double fiber” breakfast bars. Are these things really food our body was designed to eat and break down? and do we get the same benefits?

It is a lot to think about…but it can help break down some of what you encounter in the grocery store (he asks, ‘would your great grandmother know what this is? if not, don’t buy it’) and give you a fresh way of viewing those lists of ingredients on the back of the box (he recommends not buying things with more than five ingredients, or ingredients you cannot pronounce). It is a very practical book and will help you see the FDA, cooking and even organic shopping in a whole new light!

It’s pumpkin season!

One of my favorite flavors of fall is pumpkin! I love how around October you start seeing pumpkin everything – even recently I saw that jamba juice has a pumpkin smoothie and all the yogurt places here have pumpkin yogurt. I don’t know if I would take it quite that far, but I do love baked pumpkin goods. I wanted to share two good ones with you – one homemade, and one made by Trader Joe’s!

My friend Kaely passed this recipe along to me and I made them to take to work this past week. They were a hit and I had two co-workers ask for the recipe. They are very easy to make and taste delicious…you could probably do it in loaf pans too but I did them as bars.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bars

• 2 cups flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 3/4 tsp salt
• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter – room temp
• 1 and 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 large egg
• 2 tsp vanilla
• 7.5 oz (half of can) pumpkin
• 12 oz choc chips
• cinnamon, ginger, allspice, nutmeg – to taste (I used approx 1 tsp each and a little extra cinnamon)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degress. Line bottom and sides of 9×13 pan with foil. In medium bowl, whisk together flour, spices, baking soda and salt; set aside.
2. With an electric mixer, cream butter and sugar on medium-high speed until smooth; beat in egg and vanilla until combined. Beat in pumpkin (may look curdled). Reduce speed to low and mix in dry ingredients until combined. Fold in chocolate chips.
3. Spread butter in pan. Bake until edges pull away from sides of pain – 35-40mins. Cool completely in pan.
4. Lift cake from pan – use serated (or plastic) knife to cut.

I also love the Pumpkin Pancake Mix from Trader Joe’s. I have made them the last two weekends in a row and am a big fan! They are simple to mix up – just add milk, butter and an egg…and this week I added chocolate chips to mine and they were even better! My sister said she put white chocolate chips in hers when she made them, but I didn’t have any and am not a big white chocolate fan anyway. If you haven’t tried them yet and have a Trader Joe’s nearby…go buy a box and enjoy some pumpkin pancakes along with your college football next weekend!

Chicken Tortilla Soup

Living in San Diego, we don’t really experience fall the same way most of the country does around this time of year. When my friends at home are taking out their pumpkin candles and starting to wear scarves, we are still going to the beach and wearing flip flops. Not that I am complaining…but the grass is always greener, right? So even though I am glad to be living in a city with amazing weather year round, there are times I miss the changing of the season and the things that come along with them – like certain fall foods. I love the smells of fall…all of the delicious baked goods that are in season, a big mug of hot chocolate or apple cider, or maybe just a bowl of soup or chili on a cold day. I have my fingers crossed that the weather here will get a little cooler soon so I can enjoy these things even if I have palms trees outside my window instead of changing fall leaves!

If you own a crock pot, this is one of the easiest recipes I have ever come across (thanks mom)! Last fall/winter each event I made it for was followed by people raving about how great it tasted and asking for the recipe. I even had a couple guy co-workers ask for the recipe and cook it too – which you know means it is easy! It is seriously SO simple – you cannot go wrong…and you will have a great dinner to serve with little to no effort. It works for just a couple of people (leftovers of course) or a big group.

Ingredients

• 4 chicken breasts
• 1 large jar/container salsa
• 1 can chicken broth
• 2 cans Great Northern beans
• 2 small blocks (or one large) pepper jack cheese

Place whole chicken breasts in a crock pot and add the chicken broth, salsa and beans. Cook on high 4-6 hours (or I guess you could do it all day on medium). Add pepper jack cheese about thirty minutes before serving so that it has time to melt. Mix well (you may find that you have to shred the chicken a bit with a fork depending on how long it has cooked). The spiciness of the salsa would determine how spicy the soup is. I would use at least medium…but that is up to you. Feel free to experiment or add additional ingredients too! You can top each bowl with sour cream, sliced avocado or even jalapenos for some added kick! Serve with tortilla chips.

Make that an ice cream cake, please

So, at work I am more or less known as the “Betty Crocker” of the office, which is humorous to me because I don’t think it is necessarily true, but I guess things are just different in the south. My mom always made things from scratch so to me that’s just how you do it. I like taking the time and effort to make things a little better – whether it’s making homemade icing for cupcakes or using fresh ingredients for salad dressing or cutting up a little “garnish” to put the finishing touch on a dish – the extra work is worth it and honestly just makes it more fun.

So all this to say, we do a monthly birthday celebration at work and normally buy a cake from a local bakery. I thought what better excuse for me to volunteer to make the cakes instead? Because I would have fun doing it, and it would also add a homemade touch to the office birthday celebrations. So I asked the August birthday guests of honor what type of cake they wanted and got one vote for chocolate on chocolate and three votes for ICE CREAM CAKE! So I made both. The ice cream cake was nothing extravagant – but it was super easy and a big hit, so I thought I’d share!

Layered Ice Cream Cake (serves about 10)

• one half gallon of ice cream
• one box cake mix – any flavor
• one cup heavy whipping cream
• 3 Tbsp. powdered sugar
• crushed oreos (or any candy) for topping

I made this in a bread pan because I didn’t want it to be huge (we were having two cakes) but you could change up the size to any size you want, which is kinda fun – just may need more ice cream for a bigger one! A full cake mix really makes too much cake for one bread size version but I just ate the extra cake, which was fine with me.

Bake a very thin layer of cake in two separate loaf pans (about one-two inches of batter?). Cool on a baking rack and cut the tops off if needed so that both are perfectly flat. Meanwhile, set the ice cream out for a bit to soften. Whip the whipping cream, adding in powedered sugar, until stiff peaks form.

Time to layer! You can do whatever you want here – I did chocolate cake and two flavors of ice cream…one mint chocolate chip and one cookies n’ cream. I put cake on the bottom, followed by one ice cream layer, then about half of the whipped cream mixture, then all three again – cake, second ice cream flavor and whipped cream on top. I covered the top in crushed oreos and drizzled chocolate syrup over it in a zig zag pattern – but you could really get creative – peanut butter ice cream with reeses topping…cookies and cream with oreo…mint chocolate chip with andes mints – the options are endless!

Sorry there is no picture this time (I knew Julie, my faithful blog reader, would ask!) but it got eaten so fast by my co-workers and I didn’t think to take one. What would be your birthday cake of choice? I need ideas for the coming months so let me know if you have any good ones!

Restaurant Week

For those of you here in San Diego, don’t forget this week is Restaurant Week! I am sad that I can’t partake – normally I would not pass it up, but I haven’t had a free night yet, and I am leaving San Diego tomorrow for my annual college roommate weekend (speaking of which, I am SOOOO excited – this is one of the highlights of my year!) But for those of you in town or with a spare $30 or $40 to drop on a delicious meal, there are some great menu options, so check them out!

Simple Creme Brulee

When it comes to my favorite desserts (and trust me, there are many)…creme brulee is definitely at the top of the list. For being so “plain” and simple, it is still one of my all-time favorites. I just love the crunch of the caramelized sugar on top as your spoon cuts through and into the perfectly smooth custard below. The creamy texture and vanilla flavor with the combination of fresh berries is perfect – wow I am craving it right now! Well, needless to say, I have always wanted to try making it but there were too many obstacles…it seemed complicated, no torch, etc. BUT, I recently overcame these barriers, bought a torch and made it for the first time. It was so easy! and just as good as I hoped.

The recipe is simple (see below) – the most work is the water bath (not “work” just making sure you do it right) and the torching. We tried raw sugar, brown sugar and white sugar and decided that white sugar was the best bet. It got the hardest on top without being grainy or thick. The torch itself was $19.99 at Bed Bath and Beyond – it was the bottom of the line in terms of quality (I looked at Williams-Sonoma too and theirs were more, which I may invest in later) but for now the cheap one was fine…and came with four small dishes to bake the creme brulee in. We made enough for 12, and a few extras for a “sample” to test the different sugars on top the night before we actually served it. I think it was a bit much torching them for that many people all at one time, while we were still cooking dinner too, but it is definitely a great dessert to make in advance and can be (or even should be) refrigerated overnight.

Now that I have the basic version under my belt I’d love to try other variations too – let me know if you’ve ever had a special flavored one that was good!

Creme Brulee (serves 4)
recipe from Joy of Cooking

• 2 cups heavy cream
• 8 egg yolks
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 3/4 tsp. vanilla

1. Heat cream almost to a simmer.

2. Stir egg yolks and sugar with a wooden spoon in a medium bowl just until blended

3. Gradually stir in the cream. Strain through a fine-mesh sieve into a bowl or large measure with a pouring tip. Stir in vanilla.

4. Pour into four 6-ounce or six 4-ounce custard cups or ramekins and place in a water bath (see below).

Set the pan in the oven and bake at 325 until the custards are set but still slightly quivery in the center when the cups are gently shaken, 30-35 minutes (NOTE: we only did about 25 minutes). Remove the cups from the water bath and let cool to room temperature. Cover each one tightly with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 8 hours or up to two days. Shortly before serving, cover each cup with a light layer of sugar and carmelize with a butane torch.  FYI, we tested white, brown and raw sugar and found white was the best – it got the hardest on top. I have read several differing opinions on this but that was just my experience this time around.

Water bath instructions:
Choose a pan that is big enough to comfortably fit all of the cups/ramekins without them touching each other or the pan sides. Place a dishtowel in the bottom of the pan and arrange the cups on top of the towel. Pour scalding hot tap water into the pan until it comes half/two thirds of the way up the custard dishes. It is easier if you place the pan partially in the oven on the rack and then pour the water so that it isn’t too heavy.