This recipe just showed up today in my inbox in an email from Whole Foods so I haven’t tried it yet. The quantities seem a little fiddly to me – I am always scratching my head over a recipe that calls for 1/2 cup of something plus 2 tablespoons – always figure I can skip the 2 tablespoons and usually it turns out fine. Anyway – I liked the idea of apples and gingerbread, so I’m going to give this a try. But probably with a little more apple and with regular whole wheat flour rather than the pastry flour called for.
apples
Tangy Apple and Beet Salad
This very simple salad comes from Fine Cooking magazine. The simplest way to “roast” a beet is to cut off the leaves, leaving about an inch of stem, scrub the beet and put it into some covered container in your microwave, making sure the beet is still wet. Steam for as long as it takes it to get tender, which is going to vary by the size of the beet. 10 minutes? 20 minutes? Depends. Carefully remove from the microwave and let it cool. Properly done, the skin just peels right off. No muss, no fuss.
Apple and Cheddar Penne Pie
Is there anyone who doesn’t love macaroni and cheese? Ok, vegans. But otherwise ….? Here’s a version with apples. It came from Better Homes and Gardens. I always love the combination of cheddar and apples. Now here it is baked into comfort food. The springform pan is just to make for a pretty presentation. Bake it in a casserole and spoon it out if there’s no 10-inch springform pan in your cupboard.
Hot Pepper Apple Pie
Last week we had an apple-cheddar pie recipe. This week it’s apples and hot pepper jelly. The idea came from Moore Farms and Friends, written in their style.
Apple and Chicken Liver Mousse
I’m pretty certain I’ve never offered a chicken liver recipe in these notes. But why not? Here’s one from “A Great American Cook: Recipes from the Home Kitchen of One of Our Most Influential Chefs by Jonathan Waxman with Tom Steele (Houghton Mifflin Company, 2007).
Apple Jalapeno Cobbler
I did not make up this recipe! I think it came from a very broad-based consumer magazine like Better Homes & Gardens. One little jalapeno provides just a hint of heat. Try it!
Apple-Sausage Rigatoni
Sorry, no idea where I found this recipe, but it’s simple and delicious. I love the combination of sausage, apples and a blue cheese. Great for a quick weeknight dinner.
Apple-Stuffed Pork Chops
Stuffed pork chops always seem so complicated, but they’re really not. Do you have a couple of beautiful Riverview pork chops around? If not, I bet there’ll be some at the one of weekend farmers markets or on the Farm Mobile.
Apple-Stuffed Biscuit Buns
And this recipe is from “The Apple Lover’s Cookbook” by Amy Traverso. It makes 9 cinnamon buns and not a hint of yeast to be found.
Apple Upside Down Cake
I don’t know about you, but I’m ready for apple desserts. The first one I’m offering is from King Arthur Flour, a riff on pineapple upside down cake. The recipe calls for making this in a cake pan, but I’m going to use my cast iron skillet. Boiled apple cider is apparently a product relatively easily found in New England, or from the King Arthur catalog. I’m going to use the apple juice concentrate instead. I love having those frozen concentrates on hand … orange juice, pineapple, apple …. they make it easy to add lots of fruit flavor without lots of liquid. Great for glazes for grilling as well. The idea about putting the apple top in the center of the cake makes for an interesting presentation. You could skip it and just use apple slices instead.