Recipe: Apple Bread

I think of this a lot like banana bread . . . it's the perfect way to use up apples that are a bit overripe and no good for eating any more. I tweaked this recipe a bit, adding a more spices and baking it for way longer. For some reason, the first time I made this, it was way underdone so I put it back in the oven . . . and then forgot about it. I was bottling cider out in the shop and had a "oh shit!" moment, ran inside, pulled the bread out, and miraculously it was not burnt, just crusty and delicious. It's a very dense bread and I recommend slathering a slice with butter as soon as it comes out of the oven. Pure happiness.

Apple Bread

3 cups flour

2 tsp. cinnamon

1 tsp. cloves
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 cups sugar
2 eggs, beaten
1 tsp. vanilla
2 cups apples, peeled and chopped
1 cup walnuts, chopped

Mix all the dry ingredients together. Mix together wet ingredients and the apples. Combine the two (this takes some serious arm muscle). Stir in walnuts. Spoon mixture into two greased loaf pans and shake, tap, and smooth to get the very thick batter to settle. Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes or until the bread is very done. It should be almost burnt, but don't let it go too far! 

my favorite cold remedy

. . . is a Hot Toddy. I'm sick right now and this is the only thing making life worth living at the moment. Sore throat, headache, sniffles . . . I've got it all. If you're feeling similarly under the weather, mix grated ginger, fresh lemon juice, honey, and whiskey with a generous splash of hot water. It's basically DIY cough syrup.

warm spinach breakfast salad

You guys, this is like the BEST food I've ever come up with. I don't have a real recipe, but basically you chop up a few slices of bacon and fry those until they're starting to get crispy. Throw in a ton of spinach and cook until just wilted. Dump spinach and bacon onto a plate and fry an egg (or two!) in the remaining bacon fat. While your eggs are frying, sprinkle some dried cranberries, walnuts, and blue cheese over the spinach and bacon. Top with your fried egg, drizzle with balsamic vinegar and salt and pepper. When you eat it, break the yolk so it mixes with the balsamic to basically create a vinaigrette on your plate. It is seriously SO GOOD.

wild rice with miso dressing

I have been basically living on this salad lately. It is SO good. Wild rice is tasty and healthy (but surprisingly hard to find! I get mine at Trader Joe's but everywhere else it's really expensive) and the miso dressing is delicious. Seriously, I want this stuff on everything. I didn't have any edamame so I subbed some frozen green beans, which were ok. I skipped the tofu because I suck at cooking it. I also didn't have shallots for the dressing so I just threw in some garlic. I also like to cook my rice with a little more water than the package indicates so it turns out a little softer. I found the recipe on this amazing food blog. I've been getting a lot of really good recipes from Sprouted Kitchen, including an amazing lentil "meatball" with lemon pesto. Tasty stuff. also, the pictures are so incredibly gorgeous, I really cannot recommend the blog enough.

Wild Rice Salad with Miso Dressing
1/2 cup wild rice
cooked or raw veggies
3 tbsp. sesame seeds

2 tbsp. miso
2 tbsp. agave nectar
1 tbsp. sesame oil
2 1/2 tbsp. rice vinegar
garlic
juice of half an orange

Cook your wild rice according to the directions on the package. Prepare whatever veggies you're using. I like raw carrots, sliced thinly and some green beans or broccoli, lightly steamed. The edamame in the original recipe would be delicious but I don't usually have that on hand.

Mix miso, agave nectar, sesame oil, rice vinegar, crushed garlic, and freshly squeezed orange juice. I use my immersion blender to get it nice and emulsified.

Toss rice, veggies, miso dressing, and sesame seeds to combine and enjoy!

polenta with magic sauce

I found this recipe quite some time ago and pinned it on Pinterest. Last night I came home exhausted but I really wanted something tasty to eat and more filling than the salad I already had. I had some polenta in the fridge, the kind that comes in a tube, so I sliced that up, fried it in a little butter, and topped it with my new favorite thing, magic sauce!

This stuff is seriously so good. I think I like it so much because of all that paprika. Not that long ago, I was putting paprika on everything to the switch to magic sauce only adds more flavor. I bumped up the garlic just a little because I always like extra garlic. I also didn't measure the lemon juice and I think a half a lemon was more than was called for, but I liked all that freshness. And one last deviation . . . I didn't have fresh herbs so I used dry and honestly I didn't really measure a single thing and it all turned out ok. Actually, it was amazing!

Magic Sauce
1/2 cup olive oil
1 tsp. fresh rosemary
1 tsp. fresh thyme
1 tsp. fresh oregano
2 tsp. sweet paprika
2 cloves garlic
1 bay leaf, crumbled
pinch red pepper flakes
1/4 tsp. sea salt
1 tbsp. fresh lemon juice

Heat olive oil until it is warm and remove from heat. Crush rosemary, thyme, and oregano. Smash garlic into a paste. Add garlic, paprika, red pepper, and salt to the warm olive oil. Then add the herbs and squeeze lemon into the pan. You can keep it in the fridge for a week or a bit longer and the flavor should develop more after a couple days, although you can and should use it right away as well.

Jordskokker Soup

So my awesome friend Line from Denmark translated this recipe for me. It is seriously so good. I had it when I visited Denmark and then I wanted to eat it all the time but sunchokes are only in season in late winter it seems so february/march seems like the time to make this. In Denmark, they call these root vegetables jordskokker, but here we call them sunchokes or jerusalem artichokes. They are the root of a small variety of sunflower, which I have tried without much success to grow. My flowers bloom but I get tiny roots which aren't worth the effort of digging and peeling.

Sunchoke Soup

1 lb sunchokes

1/2 onion

1 big clove garlic

2 tbsp olive oil

3 sprigs thyme

1 quart chicken broth

1/4 cup heavy cream

sea salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

2-3 tbsp apple cider vinegar

bacon

chives

Peel sunchokes and roughly chop sunchokes into large chunks, setting aside one or two small ones for garnish. Peel and chop onion and garlic as well.

Heat olive oil in large-ish pot. Add sunchokes, onion, and garlic, and saute without browning for a few minutes. Add thyme, and let get all aromatic and yum.

Add chicken broth and simmer for 10-15 minutes. Add heavy cream and simmer for a few more minutes.

Take the pan off heat and blend using hand blender (or transfer in batches to regular blender) and after blending season with salt and pepper. Don't add salt until after blending or it will never get smooth, don't ask me why.

Fry up a few strips of bacon (or chorizo but I think bacon is best because bacon is awesome) until crisp and chop into bits.

Chop reserved sunchokes into small bits and marinate in olive oil, apple cider vinegar, sea salt, and freshly ground pepper, and chop and add chives.

Serve in soup bowls, topped with raw marinated sunchokes and bacon. You could also add scallops but I haven't tried that because bacon is where it's at.

note: I typed this recipe while drunk so apologies if there are typos/other errors.

y'all wanna see my turkey?

So I realized I never posted about Thanksgiving and I really wanted to because I cooked a turkey! I need to brag, I cooked a whole turkey. I did a cider glaze and it was delicious. Mom and I spent all day cooking and drinking prosecco and we ended up with a huge amount of delicious food. Below, you can see on my plate the cider glazed turkey of course, mashed potatoes and gravy (pan drippings are yum), a mushroom-y stuffing, this bomb-ass cranberry walnut cranberry relish with maple syrup, brussel sprouts with bacon, and roast acorn squash and sweet potatoes. Yeah...yum. I'm kind of jealous of Amanda, who has a mini-thanksgiving every New Years Day, because I want to eat all this stuff again. Oh, and some of our homemade cider as well!

I'm pretty proud of how all our food turned out, as well as how our table looked. I bought my mom some new plates from Ikea because ours were all chipped and ugly. These are a nice simple style in a pretty light green color. I also found some nice green napkins at the thriftstore (just wash in hot water!) and even though they're not the same green I think they look nice. I bought a ton of them because they were super cheap and finding a nice big set is unusual. We paired that with crystal and silver from my grandma, some pretty flowers from Trader Joe's, and some seasonally appropriate orange tapers in my great grandmother's silver candle sticks. I kind of love the combination of modern/thrifted and antiques and heirloom pieces. And yes, the silver needs to be polished, especially the teapot holding the flowers but I reallly like tarnished silver so I let it go.

sweater - icelandica, dress - francesca's collections, tights - mp, clogs - jeffrey campbell

Even though we didn't have many people over for dinner and just a few friends came over drinks later that evening, I like dressing up for holidays, so I wore this new dress I got when I was shopping with Amanda. The pattern along the hem was what really made it for me, since it reminded me of city skyline. And the black and brown seemed perfect for fall! Of course, when A stopped by later, she was wearing her classic hand-turkey tshirt which I LOVE. Seriously, check that shit out. Maybe I need a guest post from her next year?

My new Thanksgiving tradition is having friends over for drinks and a movie after everyone's long done eating. I tend to get bored in the evenings of holidays where most of the action happens earlier in the day, so I like to do things with friends in the evening on Thanksgiving and Christmas. Anyways, last year my family was out of town, so after dinner at A's, Shane and Shiloh came over for some homemade hard cider. This year, I added Fantastic Mr. Fox to the evening, since I think it is the perfect Thanksgiving movie. So much food! I think that may become an annual tradition too. This year though, I invented a cocktail! It's called the Apple Snap and it's delicious. Inexact recipe after the picture!

Apple Snap

2 parts bourbon

1 part boiled cider (aka apple molasses)*

squeeze of lemon

dash bitters

Shake with ice and strain into ice filled glass and top with soda water. Garnish with a slice of apple.

*Boiled cider or apple molasses is an old fashioned sweetener made by boiled apple cider to one seventh the original volume. I made my own as a way to preserve some of our excess apple cider this year, but if you're on the east coast you may be able to find it. Out here on the west coast, you'll either have to order it online from the one or two places that will ship it, or make it yourself out of the freshest apple cider you can find. Don't use apple juice, but if you're limited to grocery store stuff, just try to find something unfiltered/as little processed as possible.

(I'll try to update this next time I make this drink and actually measure stuff.)