Apple Crispy

The weather is getting cooler. Time to turn on your oven. Why not put an apple crisp in it. I will attempt to describe this in kid terms and then in a recipe if you are interested in how we do it. I am always trying to marry health (vitamins  minerals, etc) with good taste (sugar, butter).

 I can help you with that mommy. You want the apples where?

 For the sake of this story we will call the boy W and the girl P.

W- " Mmm, this topping is good"

 P- " So this is how you press it in, see"

W- "mm- topping, i love topping. Any more in there?"

 P- "I am pressing it like so. This will then go in the oven and you can have some after dinner."

W- "I think i can get more out. and into my mouth"

 

P- "oh my yes that is good."

Apple crisp 

6 apples sliced and tossed with

2 T lemon juice

2 T honey

and cinnamon (however much you like)

Blend together in a food processor

1 cup Oats

1/2 cup flour

1/2 cup nuts (usually we use walnuts)

1/3 cup honey

6 T butter

2 tsp vanilla

1 tsp Cinnamon

pinch salt

Press this down on top( as seen above) as evenly as possible. Bake in the oven at 375 degrees for about 30 minutes.

vegan- use earth balance non dairy margarine

baby under 1- omit the nuts and substitute sugar or agave nectar for the honey.

Happy apple picking.

Date bars

I know they have been done but i wanted to share any way.  I like the way that I have discovered how to put them together with one baby in my arms and two kids on the counter.
 I also like that they are a sweet treat that has only whole foods.  my kids are always surprised when i let them have one for snack instead of dessert.  You could have them anytime because there is enough protein to balance out all of the sugar of the dates.

Cherry Coconut
1 cup nuts (1 usually use cashews, but used almonds this last time and am very happy with how they turned out)
1 cup dried cherries ( if you can find the unsweetened kind these work best, but if not they are still great)
1/2 cup dried coconut
1-2 cups dates (you will see why soon)

So in your food processor measure out the nuts cherries and coconut. Turn on and process until chopped into pretty tiny pieces.  You just don't want to make almond butter.  Next  with the food processor on start to add the dates (without pits) one at a time.  When the mixture begins to ball up you are done. Just shape them and place on a tray. Pop them in the refrigerator for an hour or so to harden before transferring them to another container for storage.
  Sometimes I make them in a bar shape and wrap them in parchment paper like a "bar". Lately i have been making them in to small cookie shapes and sorting them in an old yogurt container. 

  Makes 8 bars or 24 small circles.

We also like just coconut date bars, peanut chocolate chip, and apricot. I apologize for the pictures. I need help Amy.

Grilled Pizza

We use the recipe that came with our bread machine... I kept these two crusts in the freezer and put them in the fridge the night before. There were perfectly ready when we were starting dinner. If I didn't use my bread machine, i also love the Artisan bread in 5 min a day no knead recipes.  They make great pizza dough.
http://www.motherearthnews.com/Real-Food/Artisan-Bread-In-Five-Minutes-A-Day.aspx
page 3-4 for recipe although it is in backwards order with the method first and ratio second. pg 5 gives you their pizza tips.

We usually have this pizza on Friday and use up whatever veggies we have left from the week or growing in the garden.

Friday grilled Pizza
 (for 1 pizza)
1T oliveoil
fresh basil- choppedor cut finely
salt and pepper
1/2 onion sliced thinly sauteed with
1 clove garlic chopped
1-2 Roma tomatoes sliced and patted dry
4-5 slices fresh mozzarella
4 T Parmesan

1. Place your pizza stone on the grill. Start up grill to warm your stone and determine the temperature your grill is, approxinatly. You want between 425 and 475 degrees so you don't burn your crust.

2. Roll out a fist sized ball of dough. You want it to be pretty thin.  Transfer it to a cutting board you have dusted with cornmeal.  (this keeps it from sticking)

3. Spread the olive oil onto the pizza tip with fresh basil, sauteed onions and garlic, tomatoes, and salt and pepper.  Sprinkle the cheese on top.

4. Now you are ready to transfer to the grill.  The first time you do this, don't go far away. You want the crust to get crispy but not burnt.  This should take between 3 and 5 minutes. Check often until you learn your grill.  Once the crust is good, move the pizza up on to the upper rack and let the cheese melt and brown, another 3-5 minutes.

 

This is actually last weeks pizza. For this week we put feta, oregano, mushrooms and chard on top of olive oil and under grated mozzarella. The nice thing is the combinations are endless. For us success is crispy but chewy crust, sauteing the veggies first and remembering the salt and pepper.  Also I tend to overload the pizza with veggies. I am getting better with moderation. My husband leans toward teeny tiny pieces of vegetation.  We are trying to meet in the middle.

Welcome, Here we are!

Here I am.
I love to create in the kitchen with and for my three growing busy kids. Our favorite things to do together are baking and measuring.

I sometimes think spend a lot of time in the kitchen but it is all worth it. Lots of recipes i have adapted for ease of use.  I also have developed strategies to do things in 15 minute increments because that is sometimes all i have in the kitchen at a time.

That works well for me as a stay at home mom and i can grab a few minutes here and there to work on dinner, etc. We eat mostly vegetarian, with some fish and the dad of the family eats meat out about once a week.
  Amy and I will be getting this blog up soon with recipes ideas and pictures.
Leave a comment , let us know what you think, and what you want to see more of.

So Not meatball sauce...

...But high in protein.

We eat meatless most of the time and so we think about the protein in each meal.  Also Amy is pregnant and so we have to make sure she gets enough for the baby.  Everyone in our family  loves this recipe.

not so meatball sauce
1/2 c walnuts, ground.
1T olive oil
1c chopped mushrooms
1T garlic
1/2 c onion, chopped
1/2 c chard or spinach
1/4 c basil
1T oregano
1 c tomato sauce
2 c lentils, cooked.
1/2 c cream (or sub 1/4 c nooch if you are vegan or out)
1 lb of whole wheat pasta.

Start by sauteing the the walnuts onions, garlic and mushrooms in the olive oil until soft.  Add in chard and basil until wilted.  Add in oregano, sauce and lentils and let flavors meld for 10 min or so.  At the end stir in the cream and toss with the cooked pasta.