It's Fall

There is a chill in the air and the leaves are changing color - It's Fall in New England!  I really don't know how I lived without one of the best seasons for 20 years of my life.  Fall brings pumpkin coffee, comfy sweaters, boots, pumpkin cream cheese, apple cider, and apple picking!

The girls and I wandered out to Honey Pot Hill Orchards in Stow, MA for a day of picking apples, enjoying apple cider, and devouring apple cider donuts - YUM!  My favorite part was eating apples right off of the tree.  There is seriously nothing better than a fresh picked apple - so juicy and crunchy.  My mouth is watering just thinking about it. 

We left the orchard with almost 30 pounds of apples... Time to cook and bake! 

I originally planned to bake an apple cake as well as homemade applesauce, but I was enjoying the fresh apples for snacks so often that I was left with only enough apples to make applesauce.
Boyfriend loves this applesauce and does a little happy dance every time he eats it - it must be good if Boyfriend likes it!

Here's my recipe for baked applesauce:

INGREDIENTS:
5 tablespoons water
1/4cup packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 tablespoon fresh NH maple syrup (for a sweet New England twist!)
4 lbs apples, peeled, cored, and halved

METHODS:
Preheat oven to 375*
Combine all ingredients in a large Dutch oven; toss to coat.  Cover and bake for 1 hour, or until apples are tender, stirring once after 45 minutes.

Happy Fall!  

A Berry Fun Summer

One of my favorite summer activities in New England is berry picking.  Six years ago boyfriend and I picked 10 pounds of blueberries at a farm in New Hampshire.  When we got home he stated that he did not have to go back berry picking for 10 years - 1 year for each pond we picked... only 4 more years until he will accompany me again.  

Thank goodness for girlfriends!  Pen Pal and I ventured up north to Turkey Hill Farm in Haverhill, MA.  The farm is owned and operated by Dave.

Dave worked in the insurance industry for his entire career.  He always had a passion for fresh fruit and vegetables, and began growing blueberries as a hobby.  A few years ago, Dave retired and decided to make growing berries his full time gig.  He spends his days roaming the fields with customers, sharing picking techniques, and educating them about the plants' country of origin.  His passion for farming is evident in the large smile that is permanently plastered on his face.  Pen Pal and I were so inspired by his story that we vowed to always follow our passions and dreams.  

There are golden raspberries, red raspberries, blueberries, and fresh flowers grown on the farm.  

Pen Pal and I left the farm with 5 pounds of blueberries and 3 cartons of raspberries.  We had every intention of picking four full baskets, but those darn thorns made the raspberries a literal pain to pick.

After the picking, comes the fun part - cooking with the berries. 

Pen Pal and I made a delicious berry infused lime margarita.  We blended the berries with sparkling limeade, lime rind, and a splash of 100% cranberry juice.  Added some patron tequila for a tasty, refreshing afternoon beverage.  YUM!  The whole fruit in the cocktail was an added bonus.  

After consuming the majority of the fresh berries, I decided it was time to bake with them.  I made a summer berry tart.  See recipe below. 

Summer Berry Tart:

Ingredients

2 cups blueberries

1 cup raspberries

1 cup golden raspberries

2 cups strawberries

1 cup oats

1/4 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup flour

1/4 cup sugar

1 stick of butter

Methods
Preheat oven to 350* 
Mix the berries and pour them into a sprayed pyrex pan
Mix dry ingredients together and cut butter into the mixture
Spread the butter and dry mixture evenly over the berries
Bake at 350* for one hour, or until berries are bubbling and oats are browned


Serving suggestion: My favorite way to enjoy any fruit crisp is to add it to Greek yogurt for breakfast.  I mixed this summer berry crisp with nonfat blueberry Greek yogurt - 5 stars!

Copy Cat

Last week my friends Kitchen M, CAL, and I went to Mustard's for dinner.  Since we all work in Napa we like to take the opportunity once a month or so to discover new restaurants in wine country.  The fact that all 3 of us are dietitians, foodies, and food bloggers,  makes for a photo-filled, nutritious, and giggly meal.

After a mishap at 'Go Fish', the three of us decided to dine at a restaurant that did not smell fishy - literally!  We figured we couldn't go wrong with a restaurant that's known for their 'Honest American Fare' - Mustards Grill.   

Per our usual dining experience, the three of us chose a bunch of appetizers, entrees, sides, and desserts that we MUST try.  One appetizer especially caught my eye as it included two of my all time favorite ingredients: garlic and goat cheese! 

Warm Cabecou Goat Cheese, sundried tomato relish, roasted garlic, grilled bread

The combination of these ingredients was fab.  I don't particularly like sundried tomatoes...although this dish may make me a convert.

It's been oddly warm here for February, but it has made for some beautiful sunsets.  Such a beautiful night for dinner with wonderful friends. 

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As every football - loving American is aware,  Sunday was the superbowl.  As you can see from many of my previous posts, I will do just about anything (even cook) to avoid watching football on a Sunday afternoon.  Well, this super Sunday was no different - It was time to cook.

I could not get the delicious appetizer from Mustard's off my mind, so during my 35 mile, 2.5 hour bike ride on Sunday morning I plotted how I could run to the store to collect the necessary ingredients to make the yummy appetizer before kickoff.

Ingredients:
2 heads of garlic
goat cheese
sundried tomatoes
1 loaf of bread (I prefer seedy bread)

Method:

Cut off the tops of each head of garlic to expose all garlic gloves

Wrap the garlic in foil and bake at 400* for 45 minutes.

Cut the loaf, plate the sundried tomatoes, goat cheese, and roasted garlic

Assemble and Enjoy!

This appetizer is SO easy to make and SO SO SO delicious.  The roasted garlic disappeared within minutes.  Next time I may have to purchase 3 heads! I think I'm enjoying sundried tomatoes more and more each time... or maybe I just like them with garlic and goat cheese, who knows.

The unfortunate part of this dish being so easy and quick to make was that I still had plenty of time to watch football... Thank goodness it was the Super Bowl.  No more football till next year!!  WOO HOO

Mamma's Turkey Chili

It's the middle of November and it's still 70 degrees out - where is fall?  The leaves are changing color and falling to the ground, but the air is still so warm. I need to move back east STAT!

Boyfriend loves football - I guess most men do, but his Sundays consist of sitting on our couch watching every single game on television.  Me being the girl I am, cannot stand to watch football ALL day, so I have vowed to cook something on Sundays to take up some time and keep me entertained while the boy is glued to the television.

This Sunday boyfriend put in a request for chili.  I reminded him that it's still sunny and 70 degrees outside, but he insisted it was time for chili and rice (one of his favorite meals).   Boyfriend and I both love the mother goose's chili, so I did my due diligence and emailed Mother Goose for her recipe:

Ingredients
2 pounds ground turkey 
1 large green pepper, diced
1 large onion, diced
1 large garlic glove, minced
1/3 cup chili powder 
3 cans red kidney beans 
3 14-oz. can tomatoes
1 6-oz. can tomato paste
3/4 cup water
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon sugar
1 bay leaf
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper 


Method
1. On saucepan over high heat, cook ground turkey, green pepper, onion, and garlic, stirring frequently, until all pan juices evaporate and beef is well browned (about 15 minutes). 
2. Stir in chili powder; cook 1 minute.  Drain liquid from kidney beans into meat mixture; reserve beans. Stir in tomatoes with their liquid, tomato paste, water, salt, sugar, and bay leaf; over high heat, heat to boiling.  Reduce heat to low; cover and simmer 45 minutes, stirring occasionally.
3. Stir in reserved kidney beans. Cover and simmer 15 minutes longer to blend flavors. Discard bay leaf
4. Serve with brown rice & cheese

Browning beef with pepper, onion, and garlic

Stir in tomatoes with their liquid, tomato paste, water, salt, sugar, and bay leaf

Kidney beans reserved for later

The whole mixture before boiling

Adding the kidney beans 

 Boyfriend has a very specific way of putting the chili in the bowl....
* Not sure why these pictures turned out so yellow though. ugh

First comes the brown rice 

Then the cheese 

And then finally add the chili on top

Mix it all up and ENJOY!! 

Boyfriend attempted to make this recipe one time when we lived in Boston, but he somehow switched the chili pepper and cayenne pepper.  Yep, he added 1/3 cup cayenne pepper and 1/2 teaspoon chili powder... To say that chili was spicy is an understatement!!!  We added a bunch of sugar to the chili because it's supposed to balance out the spicy, but it was still pretty hot.  Luckily one of our friends really likes spicy food, so he had enough dinner to last him a week.

This batch had the right amount of ingredients added and it was scrumptious, even if it does still feel like spring! I'm just happy to have something to keep me busy while football Sunday continues. Until next week...

Mamma's Matzo Ball Soup

We all have those childhood favorite foods that remind us of holidays and special occasions. Well, for me it's my mother's Matzo ball soup. Everyone makes matzo ball soup differently (and equally delicious), but nothing says passover and the beginning of spring to me like mamma's matzo ball soup. Since we didn't have sedar at my parents' this year, she didn't make her soup. (Insert sad face here)
Missing it terribly, I decided to attempt the feat of re-creating the wonderfulness. I jotted down a few notes while she explained to me how she makes her soup. I had a VERY difficult time getting past the cleaning and cutting of a WHOLE CHICKEN! For those of you who know me well, you understand how difficult this is for me. I cannot handle the texture of raw meat, especially meat that actually looks like the live animal... eeeek.


So after many deep breaths, I bought the whole chicken...
I cannot imagine having to actually touch the raw meat on bones, so while I was in Safeway I asked the innocent, sweet looking butcher for some disposable gloves. When I explained that I needed them in order to make this chicken he stated, "You are kidding me, right?" Well no Mr. butcher man, I am not. But thanks for the gloves, I could not have gotten past this step without them!
I tried to take more pictures of me holding the raw meat, but I was so grossed out dealing with a whole chicken that it took 110% of my attention. After all of the torture, my matzo ball soup came out great!! and better yet, BOYFRIEND LIKES IT!!!! Food #3 that he will eat. Must be a winner!
Since my mom makes this soup from scratch and she gave me verbal instructions about how to make it, I tried to create some kind of recipe. This is what I have come up with so far:

Mamma’s Matzo Ball Soup

1.Place a whole chicken without skin or legs or wings,

WITH giblets into pot with water and bring to boil

2. Skim the ‘skum’ off the top

3. Lower the heat to a gentle boil

4. Add: 1 tsp chicken bullion and black pepper

5. Add: veggies- carrot (12), parsnip (2-3), parsley bunch, boiling onions (4), parsley (head)

6. Lower heat to simmer for at least 45 min – 1 hour. Longer = better

7. Take out giblets and chicken and pull off the bone – put chicken meat back in

8. Make matzo balls according to directions in a separate pot

9. Add mazto balls to soup 10 minutes before serving

I hope that everyone had a wonderful Passover. Next year in Jerusalem!

Passover Friendly Foods

Passover is a Jewish holiday that lasts for 8 days when we remember the exodus from Egypt. The most significant observance related to Passover involves the removal of chametz (leaven) from our homes. This commemorates the fact that the Jews leaving Egypt were in a hurry, and did not have time to let their bread rise. It is also a symbolic way of removing the "puffiness" (arrogance, pride) from our souls. For more details and explanations about Passover please visit the website. I'm pooped from educating my co-workers all week! So on to the good part: FOOD!

My good friend Gayle sent me an awesome Mandel Bread recipe that's kosher for passover:

Ingredients:

3 eggs

¾ cup sugar

½ cup oil

1 ½ cup matzo cake meal

1 tablespoon potato starch

Methods:

1. Beat eggs and sugar until thick and lemony looking.
2. Stir in oil
3. Fold in cake meal and potato starch
4. Add chocolate chips
5. Form 2 long loaves on greased cookie sheet
6. Bake at 350 forf 30 minutes
7. Sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar when taken out of oven-slice it and put back for 10 more minutes-if want crispy pieces

The Mandel bread recipe is super easy to make and so delicious too!

This year, we went to our dear friends' home for Passover Sedar. Here is a picture of the beautiful sedar plate:
...and the parsley and salt water to symbolize all those tears
What's passover without matzo?!
My absolute favorite passover treat: Charoset.

Recipe for Charoset

This fruit, nut and wine mix is eaten during the seder. It is meant to remind us of the mortar used by the Jews to build during the period of slavery. It should have a coarse texture. The ingredient quantities listed here are at best a rough estimate; I usually just eye-ball it. The recipe below makes a very large quantity, but we usually wind up making more before the holiday is over. Other fruits or nuts can be used.

• 4 medium apples, 2 tart and 2 sweet
• 1/2 cup finely chopped almonds
• 1/4 cup sweet wine
• 1/4 cup dry wine
• 1 Tbs. cinnamon

Shred the apples. Add all other ingredients. Allow to sit for 3-6 hours, until the wine is absorbed by the other ingredients. Serve on matzah. Goes very well with horseradish. Courtesy of Judaism 101

Matzo ball soup
The infamous gefilte fish - GROSS. This year I was able to get through the first bite.. but the second one induced my gag reflex!
Must have many many glasses of red wine at the sedar.
Ronnie's famous Macaroons. Simply the BEST!
Her almond apricot cookies - these are good too, but it's hard to compare anything to those macaroons.
Happy Passover! And thank you to the C's for another great sedar together!

Mediterranean Tuna Salad

I am beginning to realize that my blog is turning into a baking blog, so for this month's RD meeting / pot luck I had to make a conscious effort to make something NOT sweet or baked and blog about it... I attended an awesome nutrition seminar at the CIA in St. Helena where I received some delicious olive oil as a 'party gift' and it got me thinking - of olive oil pound cake! haha

Of course when you rule something out, it's the ONLY think you can think about. Naturally, I could think of a million items I would like to bake, but no 'real food'. I called my cooking go-to-gal (Ronnie) and asked her for suggestions. A few weeks ago, I remembered Ronnie going on a small rant about how terrible it is when people put "weird stuff" in tuna salad - like relish... Ronnie came up with a great idea of making mini tuna sandwiches, but "without anything weird in it". She e-mailed me this great recipe that incorporates my new olive oil!

INGREDIENTS:

1 tsp olive oil

2tsp balsamic vinegar

1/4 tsp oregano

3 oz. tuna fish, water-packed low sodium

5 cherry tomatoes

1/2 cucumber

1 serving of bread of choice

METHOD:

Rinse and pat dry vegetables. Cut cucumber and tomatoes into bite size pieces, and mix with drained and flaked tuna in a bowl. In a small bowl, whisk olive oil, vinegar, and oregano, and toss with tuna-vegetable mixture. Serve with toasted bread or crackers.

I used carrots and cucumbers instead of tomatoes - I personally don't like the seeds, texture, and juiciness of tomatoes in this type of dish.
The oil and vinegar actually held the tuna together better than I expected it would!
I served the tuna on croissants cut in half (so I would have enough) and sealed the deal with a cute umbrella toothpick. The mini sandwiches were such a hit at work that my boss stashed some away for dinner and lunch the next day!