Yummy caramel apples

We were supposed to make caramel apples on Saturday October 29th...but the power went out...for a week!
Last night we finally made our caramel apples. I got the recipe from "Our Best Bites" website under the Gourmet Caramel Apples post.
My apples aren't as pretty to look at as those other fancy caramel apples. I guess I need some practice. And yes, that is a plastic knife sticking in the apple instead of wooden craft sticks. But man they taste so good. I may have let a little person eat one of his apples for breakfast this morning, because it has fruit in it!

Bastille Day

Yesterday was Bastille Day. Vive la France! I have been more interested in France since doing some family history and finding a lot of ancestors from there.

To celebrate we a had a little "french" dinner of Chicken Cordon Bleu, with some Pain de campagne (rustic french bread) and for dessert I tried my hand at Creme Brulee.

It turned out a little runnier than I remember it being, but the tops were getting so brown in the oven I had to take it out. It needs some work, but it was a good first try, and it was a good use of my other early birthday present---ramekins.

lunch

I have been hooked on these little concoctions for lunch for days now. They call for prosciutto, but I just spent $5 on three slices of it, and it tastes like fatty cold cuts. So I got rid of that and now it tastes awesome.

I probably smell like garlic all the time, but it's worth it- I love garlic!

Here's what you do:

Slice a nice bread. I used the french bread loaf at the neighborhood Walmart. It has a good density for this.
Brush olive oil on both sides and place on a cookie sheet.
Broil the bread until golden brown. You'll have to figure out how long your own oven takes. I have to set my timer for 60 seconds on one side, flip, then 20 seconds on the other. I burned a few figuring that out.
Take them out of the oven and rub a fresh clove of garlic across the top.
Add thinly slice granny smith apples, and top with crumbled Feta cheese.

YUM!

It's kind of like bruschetta, but the tomatoes aren't ready yet, so it's a nice variation.

Sullivan Bakery Bread

I made this rustic bread for dinner last night to go with our homemade minestrone. It would have been a perfectly timed early evening dinner. But I mistimed my bread recipe and forgot to factor in the 2 hour resting time just prior to cooking, so the bread was done by 7:00. By that time Kent had already bought us some breadsticks so we could eat before bed! McKinley and I had a bite of the bread last night and I must say it was rustic-ly delicious, and by the time I took this picture it was half gone!

Here's the recipe:

I used 1 1/2 tsp salt instead of just 1 1/4 tsp salt because the chef who made it in Utah suggested it.

It is supposed to go perfectly with homemade butter. So guess what I'm going to try to make today?

The forgotten fruit

Poor rhubarb often gets forgotten. Luckily my parents grow it, and gave me some to make this delicious treat I've eaten since I was a wee one.

It's rhubarb crunch, and it's delish! I ate this for breakfast/lunch=brunch and have decided not to feel guilty about it because 1-it has lots of fruit in it (rhubarb). 2-it has oats in it. and 3-the whipped cream that it is swimming in is a dairy product, and I really need to eat more dairy.

I mean, osteoporosis is a big deal.

Too bad you can't actually see the rhubarb crunch much in the picture. I REALLY love whipped cream, and it just melted into a puddle of yumminess due to it's straight-out-of-the-oven-warm-goodness.

mmmmmmm! mmm! mm!

Dark Molten Chocolate Cake

I soooo needed chocolate yesterday and really have ZERO in my house. So I found a recipe that had ingredients that I did have at home and whipped up these yummy chocolate satisfiers. They were very easy and yummy! I definitely want to add raspberries to the plate next time, then it would have been perfect---oh and a smidge of whipped cream! photo by me

INGREDIENTS
6 ounces Ghiradelli Dark Bittersweet Chocolate Baking Bars
10 tablespoons butter
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1/2 cup flour
3 whole eggs
3 egg yolks

DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Grease 6 (6-oz.) custard cups or souffle dishes. I just used a cupcake pan, greased with butter and dusted with cocoa powder. Place on baking sheet.
Melt chocolate and butter in medium saucpan until butter is melted. Stir with wire whisk until chocolate is completely melted. Set aside to cool slightly. . Whisk whole eggs and egg yolks; beat until well blended. Add powdered sugar, mix well. Add chocolate mixture to egg and sugar mixture. Mix with a whisk. add flour and mix well. Divide batter evenly into prepared custard cups (or cupcake cups). My cupcake sized version made 8 servings with it filled almost to the top, it was about 1/2 cup mix per cupcake cup (I left about 1/4 inch at the top).
Bake 14 to 15 min. or only 10 minutes if using cupcake cups or until cakes are firm around the edges but soft in the centers. You want to check the tops and make sure the tops are not battery, but that's it. Don't let it get over done or there will be no molten. Let stand 1 min. Run small knife around cakes to loosen. Carefully invert cakes onto dessert dishes. Sprinkle lightly with additional powdered sugar and garnish with raspberries, add a dollop of whip cream on top. Serve immediately.

Sugar dinner

I thought these looked tastey so we tried them tonight. They were yummy, but I should have made eggs and bacon to go with them. All that sugar needed some salt and protein to balance it out. I gave the kids hot chocolate with whipped cream to drink with it. So basically they had a nice well-rounded dinner of sugar with sugar.

recipe from The Pioneer Woman Cooks Blog:

French Breakfast Puffs

• 3 cups flour
• 3 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1 cup sugar
• 2/3 cup shortening (Crisco)
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup milk
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 3 teaspoons cinnamon
• 2 sticks butter

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease 12 muffin cups. Stir together flour, baking powder, salt, and nutmeg. Set aside. Pray. In a different bowl, cream together 1 cup sugar and shortening, then add eggs and mix. Add flour mixture and milk alternately to creamed mixture, beating well after each addition. Fill prepared muffin cups 2/3 full. Bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes or until golden. In a bowl, melt 2 sticks butter. In a separate bowl combine remaining sugar and cinnamon. Dip baked muffins in butter, coating thoroughly, then coat with cinnamon-sugar mixture. Eat. Faint.

***Update*** Blech! They were actually really heavy and shortening tasting. :( Try ebelskivers instead!

Sweet lil' monkeys

Tonight we had FHE with my side of the family at our house. We had brunch for dinner (because I love breakfast food), then sent the kids on a scavenger hunt, and then made these cute little monkey cupcakes. McKinley's is in the middle, and it's face is mooshed because she had already licked the mouth before I took the picture. But they're cute little monkeys anyway.

Jell-o yum yum yum

I made this the other day for dinner, and it turned our otherwise drab looking meal into a pretty plate of food. I know it's just jell-o, but isn't it pretty to look at? It's also yummy to eat!

Rainbow Jell-o Salad

6 small boxes (3 oz) of different colored jell-o. (I used purple, blue, green, yellow, orange, then red)

1 large container of Plain Yogurt

Water

Heat 1 cup of water in microwave until very hot (or boil it on the stove if you want I guess). Add 1 small box of jell-o. Stir until jell-o is dissolved. Divide the mixture in half. To one half of the jell-o mixture add 1/3 cup of plain yogurt. Wisk carefully until it is creamy looking. Pour it in the bottom of a 9x13 pan. Place pan in refrigerator for 30 minutes. When time is up, take other half of remaining mixture and add 3 Tablespoons of cold water, stir. Carefully spoon this mixture on top of the creamy mixture in the 9x13 pan. Put back in refrigerator for 30 minutes. Repeat layers with other jell-o colors until your done.

You have to plan to stay around home for this one since you have to do something every 30 minutes. If you don't wait long enough the layers blob and mix together. If you wait too long, the layers separate when you're eating them.

But it's worth it----once in a while.

Grandma's homemade chicken noodle soup

Feed a cold. And nothing's better than a hearty homemade chicken noodle soup. Comfort food from Grandma's kitchen. My family liked it (the kids liked the noodles most though), but the picky huzbin wouldn't eat it. Here's the recipe (especially for family members who may remember Grandma's soup). 'Tis the season!

Boil chicken, salt, and 1/2 onion in water until chicken is tender (1 1/2-2 hours)

Take chicken out and let cool.

Strain the water into another pan (to get the chicken frothies out) to use to cook the soup.

Add 1-2 c. carrots

Add 1-2 c. celery

Cook until tender in strained water.

Add 4-5 cans chicken broth.

Add "Grandma's Noodles" (in the frozen section of grocery stores) and cook until soft.

Add cut up chicken. Simmer 20 minutes. Add season-all, salt, and pepper to taste.

Thanks Grandma! (no she doesn't read my blog---or own a computer)

Sunday Brunch

I tried out the Williams-Sonoma recipe for raspberry filled ebelskivers yesterday for a nice Sunday Brunch. McKinley loved them and wants them every day! I must say the whip cream garnish is a must!

Ebelskivers

For Ashley, sorry for the wait.....6 egg whites

6 egg yolks

2 c buttermilk

2 T sugar

2 c flour

1 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

oil for frying

powdered sugar

Beat egg whites just until stiff peaks form. Set aside. Beat egg yolks until lemon colored. Mix in buttermilk, flour, sugar, baking soda and salt. Gently fold in beaten egg whites. Place a small amount of oil in each cup of ebelskiver pan. Heat on medium heat. Fill each cup 2/3 full. Cook until bubbly and set around the edge. Turn with a toothpick. Roll in powdered sugar. Yields 75-80 ebelskivers.

I just found this link on Williams-Sonoma for yummy variations of ebelskivers. I am going to try them all! (except pumpkin, blech!)